I was asked to withhold opinion of the lighting poles until I saw them in person.
So:
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I am totally going to be the Devils Advocate on the light poles...
But first you snapped a photo sitting(don't take this the wrong way ), thats a little misleading, I get it... you hope to sit in FP+ for fireworks .... Unfortunately most guests snap to their feet when fireworks happen so that isn't the proper perspective on these stupid poles
So on to all these other fun points... and not so points...
-Disneyland has very rad lighting rigs for Fantasmic (I drooled over them in January), they also have very rad paid techs that extended and react each one by one before the show. (in Disneyland's hub they have light poles and trees fighting for space, as nostalgic as it is I would take Florida or Tokyo's hub space first)
- World Showcase has more roof lighting rigs (like Main Street) a few hidden rock ones and then some in facades.. so a lot of motorized or pneumatic rigs on top of structures. BUT they are on on top of structures, no guests are near them (unless you let your darn kids on those Canadian rocks)
(not necessarily an issue....) -MK Tunnel system.. basically its a straight shot under the hub after the MO buildings but still there is infrastructure. (Hey jim where's that gas line *boom*)
But Here is the issue... Guests... Every single one of them ( I mean except for the intrepid WDWMAGIC forum members). Each stick (this a term for lighting truss, pretty or not) of these light poles holds about 1/8th of the lighting needed 10 years ago (which is a thumbs up, to the amount of cans and power on each pole) to illuminate a large space. If they were to retract / extend in an area so close to guests (imagine leaning on, getting hurt being a jerk and suing disney for ruining your dreams, life and so on.) there would need to be a tech to do so...
So lets have extra techs, more technical hours, more people that I personally like...................
But wait!
This is Florida, It rains, it pours, the world seems to be ending randomly whenever it feels like it in the afternoon... or morning.... to the point that It gets dark, Rainy, Windy....Scary... and what better thing then to have already available lighting in such a vast space, for show safety....
Which is #1 Safety... Courtesy...Show and so on...
But Yes Disney Watches the weather, So do I..
That means nothing to me living in Florida and if that means I need to have clairvoyance to call in Jimbo in to raise some light pole before the sky opens up, well I better be making better money of my "gift"
So what shall they do.. build bigger structures to hide the poles.... hmmmm
The reasons that a lot of this wasn't ever an issue before ( and trust me it is not, I am a show rigging lighting guy [not for mickey]) is there were trees, and some extra structures in the hub and so on that the lighting was on (also I think it looked worse. Also guests weren't as sue happy and well down right ridiculous, seriously ... The guests themselves make the need for way too much ambient light a thing.)
So what do you do? streamline as much as you can, make more structures to hide it, or to hide lifts to bring it up automagically, the most logical thing is to streamline the design, make it as unobtrusive as possible (not in a tree, not in a building, not in a rock formation on main street). The way it is currently done, takes so many problems out of the equation. As much as I would love a better solution there just isn't one currently, or necessarily at all... until we have LED light equipped drones... and pizza re-hydrators.
So sorry forums folks about the rant, but sometimes its just a matter of perspective, and thought in the process of form, function, design, and well... worst case scenario with the guests the hub is a victim to what is the most logical thing...
