Leave a Legacy Steals Souls!

[disneydopey]

Doesn't having that many spaces on the big stone things just highlight the fact that the idea was a flop?! Surely Disney would like to move them so somewhere a little more out of the way!

It's a real pain trying to get out of the park after the fireworks trying to negotiate round the things!!

 

[Angelo-Titan]

I have a tile and think that having one is cool and a little Disney Geekish at the same time. But wasn't there some promise when we bought the tiles that they would stay up for a certain amount of time?

I could be wrong, but I thought I heard something like they would always be around in some form, since most of the people bought them.

If that is the case then move them, consolidate the images to a few plaques, call it something else and stick it in another part of Epcot.

Even though the tiles look a bit War Memorialish, the idea is getting lost here. We bought the tiles to be part of something we love, Epcot. Just the same way people bought the stepping stones over at the Kingdom.

Trust me I bet there are like 1,000 other things WDI could spend their money on besides this.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

I have several tiles, because other family members wanted them at the time, but I definitely prefer the "before" shot of EPCOT's entrance - I don't like the cluttered look either.

Since WDI keeps pushing screen-based entertainment, why not just set up kiosks with the digital images of the tiles (where the pics used to be taken?)? You can access and look at your picture anytime - actually, this is better, IMO, since some of the tiles (one of mine included) are not easily viewed because of their location (i.e. too high).

 

[Mimi]

Great article. :sohappy:

 

[MKCP 1985]

The usual hysterical ramblings of the 965 thousandth thread on the subject. If you are going to get all emotional try and stick to the reality rather than opinion dressed as fact.

Heres a news flash, your dying, get used to it move on, despite the false promises of medicine and plastic surgery you will still snuff it. passing a tile of a dead person isnt contagious.

All my family have tiles, some free some paid for. If our posing next to it offends you, Im afraid your under the misapprehension that I would actually give a monkeys.

While I have never liked the Leave a Legacy rock garden, I tip my hat to this post which is probably the funniest pro-LaL submission ever. :lol:

 

[WDW Monorail]

I don't have too much of a problem with it. My picture is there actually, put up in 2000.

When I look at LaL, I don't think that it appears to 'support' SSE. I do like the reflections off of the stones at night. Where I live, most cemeteries do not have diagonally cut granite markers so the thought of a grave yard does not immediately come to mind. I have however, referred to it as a graveyard in the past.

I have no problem with the original entrance either. I remember being in awe of the garden-like area. For me, I would like to see an open space once again but I can put up with the slabs for some more time.

Besides, there is a 20 year guarantee on the steel plates... or at least the etched image. Of course I know that the slabs can be relocated elsewhere or the images may be able to be viewed on a *screen*. But that is besides the point of this thread.

 

[wannab@dis]

the 99.9% of the other people who go there and didn't buy one of those ridiculous tiles, I'd like to say that those slabs are the ugliest thing on all of Disney property and need to go

:brick:


Dream on...




Also... I wonder how many actually know who designed LaL? I bet many don't know or if they do, don't actually understand the history of the man. He was basically the primary designer of the master plans for many of the parks and many attractions. He brought to fruition the gradient changes of themes between the lands of Magic Kingdom. He designed Main Street, Cinderella Caste, Space Mountain and yes, even Spaceship Earth. In fact, the design of LaL was to enhance SSE and provide a grand movement of architecture for the entrance.

So, for all those "haters" out there... come back when you have a hundredth of his talent and experience.

 

[SirNim]

Hench's original designs were slashed of all their sophistication...



By interns.

 

[MKCP 1985]

Also... I wonder how many actually know who designed LaL? I bet many don't know or if they do, don't actually understand the history of the man. He was basically the primary designer of the master plans for many of the parks and many attractions. He brought to fruition the gradient changes of themes between the lands of Magic Kingdom. He designed Main Street, Cinderella Caste, Space Mountain and yes, even Spaceship Earth. In fact, the design of LaL was to enhance SSE and provide a grand movement of architecture for the entrance.

So, for all those "haters" out there... come back when you have a hundredth of his talent and experience.

The wand was supposed to enhance SSE, too. :lol:

oops . . . can of worms, anyone? :lookaroun

Seriously, thanks for the insights. It doesn't change my first impression that it missed the mark and the EPCOT entrance was better without it. :shrug: Fortunately, we don't have to be architects to be allowed to have opinions at wdwmagic.

 

[JDM]

By your avatar, I can see you are biased, but for the 99.9% of the other people who go there and didn't buy one of those ridiculous tiles, I'd like to say that those slabs are the ugliest thing on all of Disney property and need to go. The entrance is supposed to entice you into starting to dream about your entry into a new world, not creep you out feeling you are walking through a graveyard. The fact that probably only 10% of the space they set aside on those slabs was actually sold should tell you that a lot of people agree.

The graveyard is horrible.

Doesn't this view look better?

While it is true that Cooleo's avatar may be indicative of his possible bias (or not), it is also likely that your posting of this picture is indicative of yours and the "99.9% of the others" that you claim to speak for: that nothing should ever change at Disney and everything should remain exactly as it was since it opened (in the case of EPCOT, 1982)....including apparently the aforementioned polyester jumpsuits.

For the record: Didn't buy a tile. Walked past them. Glanced briefly. Walked on. No big deal either way.

 

[wannab@dis]

Hench's original designs were slashed of all their sophistication...



By interns.

Of course... good rationalization.

Maybe he should have mentioned that point in the interview I saw where he was talking about how proud he was of how the entrance looked.

Here's the deal... I care less whether people like it or not. I'm actually torn on the subject. I have neither love nor hatred of the current entrance, but I do believe it's much more impressive architecturely.

I just get irritated when so many of the haters go much further than "I don't like it" and jump into some rant.

 

[SDav10495]

Also... I wonder how many actually know who designed LaL? I bet many don't know or if they do, don't actually understand the history of the man. He was basically the primary designer of the master plans for many of the parks and many attractions. He brought to fruition the gradient changes of themes between the lands of Magic Kingdom. He designed Main Street, Cinderella Caste, Space Mountain and yes, even Spaceship Earth. In fact, the design of LaL was to enhance SSE and provide a grand movement of architecture for the entrance.

So, for all those "haters" out there... come back when you have a hundredth of his talent and experience.

There is MUCH more to that story than you are doing us the service of telling. Quite a few of the most backwards, poorly-designed park elements of the late 1990s and early 2000s were officially helmed by hugely talented WDI veterans whose plans were scrapped, twisted, and, worst of all, cheapened by the infamous Disney brass of that era. I'm far from an all-out hater of the "powers that be", but those were the simply facts of the Disney hierarchy at that time. In fact, those kinds of executives still have a disquieting amount of say in WDI's creative decisions today. The fact that John Hench was "in charge" of the Leave a Legacy project absolutely does not put it on the level of older masterpieces like Cinderella's Castle and Spaceship Earth.

And the "movement of architecture" argument that people bring up doesn't...move me, if you will. Plenty of architectural hogwash out there today gets designed based on visual principles that sound smart, but still fail to properly acknowledge the older architecture around it. Sure, the curve of the LaL slabs is supposed to be a reference to the sphere behind them, but that just tells me there was some idea in the designers' heads. Doesn't mean the idea worked.

 

[wannab@dis]

Hench's original designs were slashed of all their sophistication...



By interns.

Quite a few of the most backwards, poorly-designed park elements of the late 1990s and early 2000s were officially helmed by hugely talented WDI veterans whose plans were scrapped, twisted, and, worst of all, cheapened by the infamous Disney brass of that era.

Wait... was it the big bad executives or the slashing interns that killed the design?

:zipit: :zipit:

 

[Fade_to_Blah]

Not gonna lie, I walked into Epcot for the first time in probably 10 years recently. I got lost in those stupid things!

I definitely wanted to get a picture on them though. I like the idea. Just the location could be a bit better....somewhere more off the beaten path

 

[Timmay]

Heck, I never notice the things...never have. I would wager that the majority of folks that walk in the front gates don't even give them a second thought, nor do they think they are tombstones.:brick:

 

[RiversideBunny]

IMHO- Move the LAL tombstones somewhere else, please.

They are not attractive, get in the way when entering and leaving EPCOT, and make the place look spooky.
Keep them around somewhere so the people who bought a tile can go see it but don't have them right in the middle of the entrance to EPCOT, lined up in a manner similar to graveyard markers.

One possibility is to move them over to the sides and intermingle them with some shrubbery and trees.

Good picture, Merf.

 

[jt04]

Heck, I never notice the things...never have. I would wager that the majority of folks that walk in the front gates don't even give them a second thought, nor do they think they are tombstones.:brick:

I would wager that the majority of the nice and kind thoughtful folks that walk in the front gates wonder, "Why are these tombstones here"? :brick:

 

[Kwit35]

Just in case Disney reads these posts and uses the information to make any grand decisions, I would like to put my name into the 'not crazy about the memorials' column. I like the concept of leaving your name or picture somewhere in the parks. It makes you feel like part of the magic. BUT, I think the stones at Epcot look depressing. I don't think they look cheap, just solemn and gloomy.

 

[freediverdude]

I agree that the LaL stones are missing *something*, but I can't quite put my finger on it. They're just a little too plain. Maybe if they had cutouts in them, or a little bit of decoration on the top or sides.......maybe more of a round curvature on the top of them? I bet something probably did get cut from their budget that would have made a difference. I thought I remembered the agreement being that they would stay in that place for 20 years, and then Disney had the option of moving them after that.

 

[BRER STITCH]

I would wager that the majority of the nice and kind thoughtful folks that walk in the front gates wonder, "Why are these tombstones here"? :brick:

And who can blame them?

The name of the monument itself suggests it's a death memorial.

LEGACY:

1. A gift of property, esp. personal property, as money, by will; a bequest.
2. Anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor: the legacy of ancient Rome.

Not much of a chance these things will ever be revered like ancient Roman ruins...or last in this form as long!

:shrug: