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

The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer

Well-Known Member
BrerJon said:
I wonder if anyone knows where the notion of each park having an 'icon' comes from, or when it dates to? I don't, but others might. Did it start with the Earful Tower, as they had three things to market then, or was it DAK that retroactively established every park should have one?

Certainly many of the younger Disney fans moaning about the hat seem to see 'it's the icon' as being a reason in itself, instead of any sense of why an icon is important or what they even mean by an icon.

Sea World, Busch, Six Flags etc. don't seem to have them, so it's clearly a Disney exclusive concept. Has it just emerged from marketing materials over the years, or was there a specific promotion sometime that sealed the notion in place that each park has a symbol to represent it?
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Who knows. I said already that I kinda don't think DHS needs a big "icon." DAK probably doesn't need one either, the name gives the whole park away. Yeah I think it started around Animal Kingdom's opening timeframe and fans have made it point that there has to be a icon.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
KeepMovingFoward said:
Yeah I kind of forgot about that *facepalm*, but there are differences with Tokyo's and WDWs castle like the "bricks" look darker to me at TDL (I've only seen pictures/video of Tokyo) I can't compare the other two castles as I've never been to DL or seen pictures of Hong Kong. I was just trying to get the point across that I don't think the Tower of Terror will be the icon of DHS, it's just the largest structure in the park, like Everest at DAK, and therefore is shown more on film.
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The different paint schemes for the Cinderella Castles are somewhat recent. The paint scheme for Sleeping Beauty Castle at Hong Kong Disneyland is copied from what for many years was the scheme at Disneyland until the 50th Anniversary.
 
Seabasealpha1

Seabasealpha1

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
Not according to John Hench.
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Oh...you mean this John Hench?

leave_a_legacy1.jpg
 
heath.sneyd

heath.sneyd

Well-Known Member
KeepMovingFoward said:
Who knows?! This thread has become like morning coffee to me. I need to see progress!
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I've had to resort to Mtn Dew...
Tom Morrow said:
A few other parks have an icon, like the "Eiffel tower" at Kings Island and Kings Dominion, and a double decker carousel at Six Flags Great America.
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Nemo14 said:
You might want to read up about "Weenies".
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Dollywood has a couple of quite large icons, and they're definitely not "weenies"...
 
articos

articos

Well-Known Member
zarpman said:
Debatable.

I doubt Walt built Sleeping Beauty Castle to be the symbol of Disneyland. Even the original opening title sequence to the Disneyland TV show originally used the Main Street train station, not the castle. The castle was used for the Fantasyland segments. Magic Kingdom inherited the castle because it was built in the style of Disneyland. It was a recognizable structure and became an early icon for Walt Disney World (including the Contemporary tower).

This icon business started when Epcot opened, as Disney needed to market the addition to Walt Disney World. The original passport tickets were park specific and had either Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth on them. The Studios furthered the notion by using the Earful Tower as an icon to add the idea that more was added to the resort. Again, marketing. The Earful Tower is probably the beginning of building a structure for the purpose of an icon. It isn't an attraction, not near the hub or front of the park, and the addition of the Mickey ears made it decidedly Disney.
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Walt and John had differing ideas. Neither was wrong. Today's marketing teams know less about the history of the parks than many of the people here do.

Goofyernmost said:
It was visible in a place that none of the others ever were. It is visible from World Drive and seen by just about everyone that drives into the resort from 192. It was also closeup visible via the backlot tour, and in many areas of the park itself. I'm not sure why everyone is saying that it wasn't... it surely was.
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Yup, the tower was/is clearly visible from World Drive, on purpose.

Seabasealpha1 said:
Oh...you mean this John Hench?

leave_a_legacy1.jpg
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I don't have it handy, but the original sketch that John did was very different from what ended up being built, which was done by staff who were very, very green. So, no, not that John Hench.
 
Cesar R M

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
zarpman said:
Debatable.

I doubt Walt built Sleeping Beauty Castle to be the symbol of Disneyland. Even the original opening title sequence to the Disneyland TV show originally used the Main Street train station, not the castle. The castle was used for the Fantasyland segments. Magic Kingdom inherited the castle because it was built in the style of Disneyland. It was a recognizable structure and became an early icon for Walt Disney World (including the Contemporary tower).

This icon business started when Epcot opened, as Disney needed to market the addition to Walt Disney World. The original passport tickets were park specific and had either Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth on them. The Studios furthered the notion by using the Earful Tower as an icon to add the idea that more was added to the resort. Again, marketing. The Earful Tower is probably the beginning of building a structure for the purpose of an icon. It isn't an attraction, not near the hub or front of the park, and the addition of the Mickey ears made it decidedly Disney.
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the big magic kingdom castle design is now the icon of everything Disney.
specially the Disney pictures based movies.
 
Cesar R M

Cesar R M

Well-Known Member
KeepMovingFoward said:
Who knows. I said already that I kinda don't think DHS needs a big "icon." DAK probably doesn't need one either, the name gives the whole park away. Yeah I think it started around Animal Kingdom's opening timeframe and fans have made it point that there has to be a icon.
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the Icon is already the tree.
Its the centerpiece of the entire park.
 
The Rocketeer

The Rocketeer

Well-Known Member
Cesar R M said:
the Icon is already the tree.
Its the centerpiece of the entire park.
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I know that. What I mean is that it should be obvious that your going to a park all about animals by the name so you don't need to have a tree with 300 carvings of animals to know that your in Disney's Animal Kingdom.
 

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