MGM Studios Hat

[Sir_Cliff]

Whatever the legal problems, it was a cheap and nasty solution to the problem. If you were designing the area from scratch and needed a weenie you would never build a giant blue hat that ruined the scale and aesthetic at the end of the art deco 1930s Hollywood Blvd you painstakingly recreated as the entry into the park. It was just a cheap, gimmicky and quick way to both have an icon for the latest pointless celebration (then 100 Years of Magic) and get around the legal issues surrounding the theatre. I'm sure the facade could have been re-built in a way that wouldn't clash with its surroundings, but that would have taken some time and effort and perhaps a little more money. It also wouldn't provide a big and flashy marketing gimmick.

If the problem in terms of the 'icon' was that the water tower was located away from the guest areas at the back of the park, they should have taken a cue from Walt Disney Studios in Paris and moved it near the front of the park. But yet again that wouldn't have given them a big gaudy gimmick to follow the wand which followed the castle cake as the center piece of the 100 Years of Magic celebration which followed the Millennium Celebration that followed the 25th Anniversary celebration.

 

[Mansion Butler]

examples of weenies in EPCOT:
Spaceship Earth....any others?

I believe you can make the case that each country has its own weenie. I'd also say from certain areas, Mission: Space (shudder), the Imagination Pavililion and the Land are weenies.

 

[Mansion Butler]

My response was on a different page so I didn't even notice that. Props for the ninja edit!

Tokyo Disneysea's icon is at the front of the park, but they have a weenie in the middle. The theater would still be a weenie, but the hat would be the icon. Get what I am trying to say?

edit: Note to self, respond slower...

So what are you going to replace, Crossroads of America? One of the only areas at MGM that's still masterfully themed?

And the water thingy in the front of TDS is the official icon, but the port in the center of the park has become the unofficial icon. So, you have the same problem that MGM is trying to avoid. The theater never was the official icon, but it was unofficial because of the beautiful, main street-eaque sight line down the enterence. If you moved the hat to the front, it would be similar to TDS and DAK ('course, the Tree of Life is the official icon). You'd pass the hat, then look down and marvel at the theater and that would once again be what people thought of as the icon.

Think about it. Put the hat at the enterence, where the crossroads kiosk currently is. You go around it and have a perfect view of hollywood that "neverwas and always will be" with the theater down at the end, luring you down into the park. Which is more spectacular and memorable: that hat just inside the gates, or the forced-perspective view of a recreation of romantic hollywood?

In this idea, the hat essentially serves the same purpose as the train station or the oasis.


Now don't get me wrong, I hate the hat. It was a terrible, cheap, ugly, stupid way to fix the problem. However, if you move it to the front then you have it in an ugly area AND it doesn't fix the problem.

 

[righttrack]

The hat from the Sorcerer's Apprentice for some reason seems like a random and stupid icon for a park celebrating movie making.

It goes with Fantasmic, thats its only relevance, and oh, wait, Fantasia was a movie I guess. I like it, its cool. I'm on the fence about where it should go.

 

[Mansion Butler]

It goes with Fantasmic, thats its only relevance, and oh, wait, Fantasia was a movie I guess. I like it, its cool. I'm on the fence about where it should go.

Disney sees sorcerer's apprentice as the crowning point of one of it's crowning achievements in movie making. Additionally, it's a representation of magic and fantays. It really makes sense, to me, from that perspective. It just doesn't make sense in its location.

I don't mind sorceror mickey being an, or the, icon of the park, it's just a stupid hat in a stupid location that's the problem.

 

[ToTBellHop]

The Water Tower should've been built from day 1 right to the side of the Chinese Theatre--they could've used forced perspective to make it look like it was far behind the theatre and very tall.

 

[DisneyWales]

Oh well, wands on its way down, onto the hat, here i was hoping for some new topics.

The hats cool i like it. Suits MGM's theme - A little lost.

 

[comics101]

The hat from the Sorcerer's Apprentice for some reason seems like a random and stupid icon for a park celebrating movie making.

I couldn't agree more, but when I asked my dad what he thought of the Hat, he said he thought it made since because of Fantasmic. He knows very little about Disney and Disney movies, but he loves the theme parks. As famouse(sp?) as the sorcerer's apprentice is, I think the hat may be better known as being from Fantasmic for an average guest, esp. one who's spending the day at studios.

 

[Astro_Digital]

How about putting the Water Tower in front of the Chinese Theatre to replace the hat?

But really if the Chinese Theatre and Hand Prints is an issue Disney should of brought the whole building down and thought of a new attraction and centre piece to the park.

The park needs reinventing any way it is not a studio.

 

[patsfan24]

If not the hat, than what other object from a strictly Disney movie would be suitable. I think the hat is a great icon of what many consider to be Disney's masterpiece. The water tower is great but it doesn't really bring the disney magic to me like the sorcerer's hat does.

 

[DisneyGigi]

I really like the hat... Although when I think of a park icon I still think of the Tower.:ROFLOL:

 

[comics101]

the reason you need the Hat where it is and not at the entrance is because Disney likes to show images looking down Hollywood Blvd. to promote the park, and they also like to take pictures of guests as they enter the park (the best time to do this, as guests are both full of energy and getting oriented to the park, and therefore willing to stop). They can't do either of these things with the Chinese Theatre as the backdrop. What would they show off at MGM during the Christmas parade (a HUGE marketing event for Disney)? The Tower of Terror would get pretty old...and images with the parades are much better facing south as opposed to looking at the nothingness at the entrance. I'm sorry to say the Mickey lightning rod is just not impressive on tv.

So replace the Mickey lightning rod with the hat. Make the hat the kiosk or whatever the lighning rod thing is and face towards the entrance whenever you take a picture. It's still the icon, and you still get the Hollywood Blvd. in with it, AND it's not blocking the theatre.

 

[wulfgeat]

I agree that the hat is great. I am not a great movie buff, and MGM is my least favorite park. But I love the hat.

Maybe Disney did not really build MGM to draw in guests like me who like Disney and the atmosphere, but are not crazy about movies. Maybe it is for the movie buffs. If that is the purpose of the park, then the hat should go.

Does Disney need to more clearly define the park's purpose?

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Put the hat on the tree.

 

[Mansion Butler]

How about putting the Water Tower in front of the Chinese Theatre to replace the hat?

But really if the Chinese Theatre and Hand Prints is an issue Disney should of brought the whole building down and thought of a new attraction and centre piece to the park.

The park needs reinventing any way it is not a studio.

Which is actually pretty likely.

 

[Mansion Butler]

So replace the Mickey lightning rod with the hat. Make the hat the kiosk or whatever the lighning rod thing is and face towards the entrance whenever you take a picture. It's still the icon, and you still get the Hollywood Blvd. in with it, AND it's not blocking the theatre.

You really think people would look at the hat as the icon instead of the theater? You really think messing up the theme of the enterence will be more memorable and recognizable to them than the reproduction of romantic Hollywood right beyond it that they walk down?

And it's not just some lightening rod thingy. It's a wonderful, Disneyfied, recreation of an actual landmark.

 

[Mansion Butler]

I agree that the hat is great. I am not a great movie buff, and MGM is my least favorite park. But I love the hat.

Maybe Disney did not really build MGM to draw in guests like me who like Disney and the atmosphere, but are not crazy about movies. Maybe it is for the movie buffs. If that is the purpose of the park, then the hat should go.

Does Disney need to more clearly define the park's purpose?

Even if you like the hat and don't like movies, you have to see how, in it's location, it's poorly scaled, tacky and out of place. What once was there was a wonderfully immersive walk, that took you to another place that did and yet did not exist, with great forced perspective and theming.

 

[skellington216]

I remember loving MGM when I was a kid. The movie sets. Attractions that actually took you 'behind the scenes' and made you feel like you were in the middle of a film production. I have vague memories of being strapped to a giant bee in front of a blue screen and being edited into a scene from Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Now the park is such a mix mash of random stuff that I don't think it has a real personality of its own anymore. When I was there last September, we left after spending 4 hours wandering around wondering 'what is there to do while we wait for Fantasmic other than RnRollercoaster, TOT and star tours'? Sounds Dangerous? No thank you. Narnia? I want those 10 minutes of my life back. Indiana Jones? Oh wait, just missed this show, maybe the next one. Back lot tour? I can't believe they even dare to call it that anymore. If I had my way the park would be split into 3 'lands'. The right side of the park would be 'Hollywood Land'. That would work well with RnRollercoaster and TOT. The back of the park would be 'Pixar Land' (and looks to be happening). And the left side of the park would be 'Lusasfilm/Henson land'. Whatever they do, it's going to have to be a lot. More than just adding Toy Story mania. The whole park needs a new identity, and a ton of work to make it a 'must visit' again.

 

[jt04]

You really think people would look at the hat as the icon instead of the theater? You really think messing up the theme of the enterence will be more memorable and recognizable to them than the reproduction of romantic Hollywood right beyond it that they walk down?

And it's not just some lightening rod thingy. It's a wonderful, Disneyfied, recreation of an actual landmark.

Uh-oh, Another copyright infringement?:hammer:

 

[comics101]

You really think people would look at the hat as the icon instead of the theater? You really think messing up the theme of the enterence will be more memorable and recognizable to them than the reproduction of romantic Hollywood right beyond it that they walk down?

And it's not just some lightening rod thingy. It's a wonderful, Disneyfied, recreation of an actual landmark.

I think it could work. It's big, in the front, and people's eyes would be attracted to it, and you sould still be able to buy pins and find maps in there. Isn't the theatre is one of the recreations of an actual landmark. I don't know if it's Disneyfied, but it is a recreation of a beautiful landmark that represents Hollywood.