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

Jwhee

Well-Known Member
I had my DSLR on a monopod haha. I think a Cm must have reported me, because it was a good 15 minutes after I took the shots until security showed up
 

WDWArchitectureGuy

Active Member
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).
It's all about Marketing.
Sleeping Beauty's castle was built as a marketing scheme. There are many Disneyland documentaries that mention Walt needed to market his upcoming Feature length animation Sleeping Beauty. In the original plans the Matterhorn was to the focal point or icon of DL. The castle made it possible to make the cartoon seem real and ended up being the focus in crane camera shots at the opening of the park and took the focus off the matterhorn.
And 2 years before Sleeping Beauty was released the castle had/has again a walk through attraction to sell the story and movie. Yesterland has a nice article about the history of the walk through attraction.
 

heath.sneyd

Well-Known Member
Yeah, they're called "boobies"
*ba dum tsh*
No that's Dolly, not Dollywood.
Either way, they're definitely a "visual icon that draws in guests", which is the exact definition of a "weenie"!
You ought to see the droves of people that follow that dang parade around whenever she's in the park!

Anyway, back to Le BAH ( I actually just pronounce it like "Bah Humbug" now...), I'm shedding a tear of joy... It's so beautiful!
 

wdrive

Well-Known Member
It's all about Marketing.
Sleeping Beauty's castle was built as a marketing scheme. There are many Disneyland documentaries that mention Walt needed to market his upcoming Feature length animation Sleeping Beauty. In the original plans the Matterhorn was to the focal point or icon of DL. The castle made it possible to make the cartoon seem real and ended up being the focus in crane camera shots at the opening of the park and took the focus off the matterhorn.
And 2 years before Sleeping Beauty was released the castle had/has again a walk through attraction to sell the story and movie. Yesterland has a nice article about the history of the walk through attraction.

The Matterhorn wasn't there at opening.
 

cspencer96

Well-Known Member
It's all about Marketing.
Sleeping Beauty's castle was built as a marketing scheme. There are many Disneyland documentaries that mention Walt needed to market his upcoming Feature length animation Sleeping Beauty. In the original plans the Matterhorn was to the focal point or icon of DL. The castle made it possible to make the cartoon seem real and ended up being the focus in crane camera shots at the opening of the park and took the focus off the matterhorn.
And 2 years before Sleeping Beauty was released the castle had/has again a walk through attraction to sell the story and movie. Yesterland has a nice article about the history of the walk through attraction.
The Matterhorn was not in the original plans for Disneyland (nor was it even there until 1959), and it's fairly clear that Sleeping Beauty Castle was intended to be more than just a marketing ploy if Walt placed it at the center of his park. Not saying it wasn't a marketing ploy - Disneyland itself was considered a marketing tool as a whole - just saying that it was the centerpiece, as is Cinderella Castle and the other Disney castles around the world. It sort of started the trend of an iconic element, placed near the center of the park, though not fully. I don't think that design trend for parks really took hold as a standard of practice until 1982. That was continued with WDW's Cinderella Castle, and wavered slightly with Spaceship Earth. It was the first time a Disney park would receive an icon for its theme, and a symbol for its message. Until then, the respective castles were placed there because it was a "Disneyland-style" park. Spaceship Earth is what I think created the assumption that all Disney theme parks needed an icon, because it was the first to have a true, symbolic, iconic structure that would differentiate it from other parks.
 

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