Is the clock ticking on the Sorcerer Mickey Hat icon at the Studios? YES!

[WDWArchitectureGuy]

*sigh* All this bickering and AGAIN people forget that the imagineers spent a great deal of time and energy researching and designing the Disney-MGM. It is a Nostalgia park from the onset. One of the great things about the nostalgia is knowing it's origins. I again refer everyone to read the 6 part series from yesterland.com about the inspiration and design behind Hollywood Blvd. Namely part 5 of the series specifically about Echo Lake and Gertie. http://www.yesterland.com/replicas5.html

Re-theming the lake? Sure! But removing it would be bad. Not in favor. I love echo lake and it would be a horrible travesty to see it paved over.

Agreed

DHS was originally built as a working studio not a theme park, they are now having to work around that and convert it into a total theme park, this may take sacrifices, namely a tiny lake that has served no purpose that the general public will not miss...

You cant tell me you don't notice the massive difference between HS and the rest of those parks, that isn't a water feature it was a way to break up foot traffic, The lagoon built for fantasmic is bigger for heavens sake!!

The theme park is entirely concrete already, the only way you barely notice this excuse for pond you guys like calling a lake, is if you go see Indiana jones or star tours. The thing is pointless and will serve the park better as space to build.

So very very wrong. Read the article above.

Pointless?
Why would imagineers build a pointless lake in the middle of a park? Hmm...

Maybe because it is a tribute to the "California Crazy" architecture popular in the 1930s, which was meant to draw attention to people. Hence why the dinosaur is huge. The Dinosaur, Gertie, starred in the 1914 film Gertie the Dinosaur which was the first animated film to use animation loops, keyframes, and tracing paper. The creator, Winsor McCay, influenced Walt Disney.

While demolishing it may open up pathways for expansion, to dismiss the lake and suggest it serves no purpose is just plain ignorant.

Agreed.

Worthless-
adjective
1. without worth; of no use, importance, or value; good-for-nothing

Echo Pond is worthless as in it is of no use or importance to the park or the general area...

No one buys ice cream from gerie let alone knows who gertie is...
People goto both of the restraunts for their themeing or characters not the area they are located in
dockside cafe is only busy because its one of a few quick service places that are edible in HS
The pond is worthless

Still very very wrong. Read the article linked above.

 

[Communicore]

They would make good neighbors. I'm sure I'm not the first one who has thought of this.

 

[note2001]

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They would make good neighbors. I'm sure I'm not the first one who has thought of this.

Love that the textures are the same, but even if they did want to move Gertie anywhere, I have no faith they could move her (?) in one piece without smashing her to bits. Best to let her be - she's quiet, and there's all kinds of critters in the Star wars universe, who's to say Gertie wouldn't fit?

 

[note2001]

Bringing this back to topic (again)
Oh look! A hat! .... wait a minute... where did it go? Must be some kind of magic hat.

 

[FigmentJedi]

View attachment 83369 View attachment 83370

They would make good neighbors. I'm sure I'm not the first one who has thought of this.

Only superficially. Gertie wouldn't visually fit in with the bland, generic, not even remotely Roadside Attraction-like "Disney-esque" look of Dino-Rama's sculpted dinos.

Now if you're wanting a California Crazy-styled Dinosaur building that would have fit into Dinoland like a glove, you'd be looking for old Dino Jack. God rest his pink-skinned shades wearing soul.

 

[Admiral01]

Obviously he's not around to refute or give a nod to the claim, but I'm standing by my belief that he had everything to do with Seven Seas Lagoon. He died in December of 1966, they broke ground in 1967. He was very involved in the planning for the project... "Let's dig a lake" is not the sort of thing that pops into one's head and is acted upon overnight.

Magic Kingdom was a means to an end for Walt Disney, as a way to get the Board of Directors to approve his EPCOT Project. He didn't really want the East Coast Disneyland, the company did, hence the placement of the park in the far northwest corner of the property (out of the way of his EPCOT). Therefore, I'm not sure how involved Walt himself was in the Seven Seas Lagoon decision - but that is kinda beside the point. His Imagineers and resort planners, who he was very involved in the decisions to hire, did make the decision. Walt may not have done it personally, but Walt Disney Productions did, and did for a purpose.

 

[MrHorse]

*sigh* All this bickering and AGAIN people forget that the imagineers spent a great deal of time and energy researching and designing the Disney-MGM. It is a Nostalgia park from the onset. One of the great things about the nostalgia is knowing it's origins. I again refer everyone to read the 6 part series from yesterland.com about the inspiration and design behind Hollywood Blvd. Namely part 5 of the series specifically about Echo Lake and Gertie. http://www.yesterland.com/replicas5.html


Agreed


So very very wrong. Read the article above.


Agreed.


Still very very wrong. Read the article linked above.

In a sucker for history and theme as much as anyone here, but I think many of us are giving this area too much credit. As the linked article points out, this section of the park is replete with references to the Hollywood of the 30s. However reference can easily cross the line from knowing wink to lazy design. Note that many buildings and facades here are very direct lifts as opposed to 'sources of inspiration'. We're all familiar with story behind the park and the reasons for its hurried development. When you compare the park itself to the Yesterland article you can almost feel the deadlines rushing towards the designers. By the same token, reference shouldn't be assumed to imbue the referencer with the significance of the referenced.
Adventureland (or any other successful land) works because it refines and improves on its inspiration, in turn transcending simple nostalgia and becoming a unique and valuable experience unto itself. This is why destroying Main Street USA would cause so much more anger than dismantling Vegas's Eiffel tower. It is also what allows people who love Fantasia to hate the BAH.

I don't want to declare myself an authority on a subjective matter, but I think it's hard to argue favorably for Echo Lake in this context. Throw in the lack of compelling attractions to attract guests and the area feels ripe for improvement.

 

[Admiral01]

Additionally, Echo Lake is one of my favorite places at DHS for the very reason that it is the only real water I can be near.

The picture is from January 9, right after the construction walls went up around the BAH...but you can see the Earful Tower poking over the tree line.

And I love the California Crazy architecture of Gertie. In an area of the park that represents Hollywood in the second quarter of the 20th century, California Crazy needs to be represented.

I do wish it was open for business more. Perhaps a cold day in January isn't the best time to judge the availability of an ice cream shop...

 

[FigmentJedi]

I don't want to declare myself an authority on a subjective matter, but I think it's hard to argue favorably for Echo Lake in this context. Throw in the lack of compelling attractions to attract guests and the area feels ripe for improvement.

Sections of the parking lot behind Star Tours are also ripe for improvement.

I always felt like Echo Lake's oasis status in an otherwise concrete heavy park made it a really good palette cleanser for going from Hollywood to some of those backlot settings and it'd certainly be good for easing you into the gateway to whatever Lucasland would be formed by new work.

 

[Seabasealpha1]

I can think of a few good places to park Gertie...the first one has been mentioned...somewhere near the Dino-rama. Let her serve her ice-cream in the world's largest and tackiest rest home for theme-park-dinosaur architecture!

Secondly...stash her in some trees on Universe of Energy...blend her in with the other Apatosaurs...rig her jaw to make that cud-chewing motion and BAM! She fits right in!

Thirdly...screw it! Take my mind off of the sub-standard dragon at Fantasmic! Park Gertie's large green right there on the little lagoon the show takes place on! Just make sure she's not near the pyro so the ice cream stays cold!

I mean all of this in fun! Don't take me seriously.

I'mma lookin' forward to hat destructo mode results this morning!

 

[Cosmic Commando]

fantasmic would be the biggest body of water I think. then the lake outside the entrance but that doesnt count.

I thought about Fantasmic, but I don't think it should really count, either, since you can't access it unless there's a show.

 

[MrHorse]

Sections of the parking lot behind Star Tours are also ripe for improvement.

I always felt like Echo Lake's oasis status in an otherwise concrete heavy park made it a really good palette cleanser for going from Hollywood to some of those backlot settings and it'd certainly be good for easing you into the gateway to whatever Lucasland would be formed by new work.

Absolutely! I don't mean to imply that the lake should be paved or that large expanses of water and graceful transitions are without value. Just that we may do ourselves a disservice by declaring the area sacred. The imagineers have time, perspective and budget well beyond what was available at the parks inception. I may be overly optimistic or even naive, but I think that a little renovation in the context of the larger improvements could really make the area blossom.

 

[FlaMel]

IMO, The lake isn't going anywhere. I have faith in imagineering. The jarring aesthetic that would be created by strolling down Hollywood Boulevard towards the majestic Chinese Theater,only to have the arid deserts of Tattooine rise prominently on your left? This would consume your view and at the same time destroy the old Hollywood/Vintage SoCal story that the Echo lake architecture tells....I for one, don't see that happening.

 

[lazyboy97o]

IMO, The lake isn't going anywhere. I have faith in imagineering. The jarring aesthetic that would be created by strolling down Hollywood Boulevard towards the majestic Chinese Theater,only to have the arid deserts of Tattooine rise prominently on your left? This would consume your view and at the same time destroy the old Hollywood/Vintage SoCal story that the Echo lake architecture tells....I for one, don't see that happening.

Unfortunately, in a toxic political culture paving over a nice chunk of the first park produced by the man currently heading up Disney's newest park, the grand China project, could be seen as a badge of honor.

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

Mornin' kids

 

[KDM31091]

Disney will "blur the lines" of themed areas where it's convenient, so relevant to this thread they would rip out Echo Lake if it suited their idea. They don't mind messing up themes. They threw a gigantic hat in front of the Chinese Theater for crying out loud!

 

[DisneyGentleman]

Mornin' kids
View attachment 83388

They've cleaned up the ring into nice little segments, all ready for the torch. Notice the cuts in the upper gutter, and the paint cleaned off the ring. Let the slicing begin!

 

[Seabasealpha1]

Mornin' kids
View attachment 83388

I knew they'd go this route!

 

[ABQ]

another angle, courtesy Caitlin

 

[danlb_2000]

IMO, The lake isn't going anywhere. I have faith in imagineering. The jarring aesthetic that would be created by strolling down Hollywood Boulevard towards the majestic Chinese Theater,only to have the arid deserts of Tattooine rise prominently on your left? This would consume your view and at the same time destroy the old Hollywood/Vintage SoCal story that the Echo lake architecture tells....I for one, don't see that happening.

If you have faith in Imagineering, then why don't you have faith that they could remove the lake and still make the transition work?