Ready when you are C.B.!

[MKCP 1985]

This thread is quickly turning off topic, but to the hat's defense, MGM was the only WDW park without a true center icon. Every other park had a definite emblem that could be approached, and MGM needed one.

I personally don't mind the hat all too much, I think it looks great at night with the spotlights around it, especially when you're leaving from Fantasmic, the hat seems to fit.

Nice try, but . . . SURVEY SAYS . . . [X]

 

[MKCP 1985]

For anyone who has visited the actual Chinese Theatre, at times, its almost impossible to get around in front of it due to crowds.

Whachutalkin'bout, Willis? Here's a Saturday morning photo of the actual.

Ignore my beautiful children in the foreground, and notice the people in the background, taking photos around the footprints in the cement. There was no problem with crowds at all, but like everything else, I guess, it depends on when you go. :wave:

The Studios had an icon, (Earffel Tower) but it wasn't sufficiently centrally located. Unofficially, the facade of the Chinese Theater may have been considered an icon by some, and I suppose the powers that be weren't thrilled with a non-Disney property being front in center of a Disney park, but who built the park? Somebody shudda thought about that on the front end.

 

[dave2822]

Nice try, but . . . SURVEY SAYS . . . [X]

:lol: gee thanks, i guess ill try harder next time

 

[Thrawn]

I HATE the hat! I was so upset when they started building it. TGMR really makes it "Hollywood" and last time I checked that was the point. But, executives make disicions(sp?) for one reason or another. Personally, I like the wand and the cake/castle (pink's my favorite color). But TGMR is my Disney-MGM Studios.

BTW, I'm a movie buff too. I love all the old Audry Hepburn classics and my fav's are the "Brat Pack" movies.

I guess you never got the point then. Disney MGM Studios are not supposed to represent any kind of actual "Hollywood".

 

[Hakunamatata]

Whachutalkin'bout, Willis? Here's a Saturday morning photo of the actual.

.........., but like everything else, I guess, it depends on when you go. :wave:

What time of the day were you there? If it was earlier in the morning, understandable, cause noone gets up before noon in Hollywood...... :lol:

 

[DisneyChik17]

I guess you never got the point then. Disney MGM Studios are not supposed to represent any kind of actual "Hollywood".

Then why did they try to replicate Hollywood Blvd.? It onlt makes sense to have the whole street. Disney isn't supposed to be halfway.

 

[dave2822]

Then why did they try to replicate Hollywood Blvd.? It onlt makes sense to have the whole street. Disney isn't supposed to be halfway.

Aren't they "replicating" the Hollywood that everyone thinks was, but never actually was? Like Thrawn said, MGM Studios, or at least the section we are discussing, was never supposed to be a replica of what Hollywood actually is over in California.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Then why did they try to replicate Hollywood Blvd.? It onlt makes sense to have the whole street. Disney isn't supposed to be halfway.

Because no one wants to walk by the smoke, appliance, and cheap tshirt shops that line Hollywood Blvd when they are at the happiest place on earth......just my opine.

 

[DisneyChik17]

Because no one wants to walk by the smoke, appliance, and cheap tshirt shops that line Hollywood Blvd when they are at the happiest place on earth......just my opine.

That makes sense. LOL! I don't think I want to see that, especcially at WDW. But, I don't get why they put the Mann's replica there is they are gonna cover it up.:veryconfu

 

[Hakunamatata]

That makes sense. LOL! I don't think I want to see that, especcially at WDW. But, I don't get why they put the Mann's replica there is they are gonna cover it up.:veryconfu

I guess my point is, that the Chinese Theatre wasnt the Icon for Disney Studios, never was, never will be. They needed to put the ears somewhere, in front of the Theatre is essentially the hub of the park, so, it made the most sense.

 

[Expo_Seeker40]

I appreciate "our" Chinese Theater alot more than the real one in California. That one looks all cramped and seemingly polluted and decrepit. Ours is idealy well kept, quiet, and peaceful. Yes I do like the idea of the hat, but hate it's location. I wish it could be moved to serve as the entryway into the ampitheater for fantasmic, but w/e.

I wonder why they never made the entrance to MGM like a hollywood soundstage, so you would enter under the tower or the tower would have been the focal point, then you enter through the gates and down hollywood boulevard and see the chineese theater at the end. Oh well.

 

[bgraham34]

I dont care for the hat but I dont mind it.

 

[speck76]

Because no one wants to walk by the smoke, appliance, and cheap tshirt shops that line Hollywood Blvd when they are at the happiest place on earth......just my opine.

I think hookers would have been a nice touch

Now THAT is service :lookaroun

 

[dave2822]

I wonder why they never made the entrance to MGM like a hollywood soundstage, so you would enter under the tower or the tower would have been the focal point, then you enter through the gates and down hollywood boulevard and see the chineese theater at the end. Oh well.

Chalk it up to the long list of good ideas for park entrances, park layout, etc. Ideas that never had a chance to see the light of day because of the rushed opening of MGM.

 

[diddy_mouse]

i still consider the Earfful Tower the icon of MGM-Studios, and it seems as though ToT is inching its way up there to be considered an icon of the park as well. it does fall into the "old Hollywood" themeing in my opinion. i don't mind the hat, but i can't wrap my brain around it being the icon of the park.....it does have a pin station inside it though (is that icon worthy? )

P.S. the quote "i'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille" was from Sunset Boulevard with an actress i can't remember (and no its not Glen Close)

 

[imagineersrock]

...Disney MGM Studios are not supposed to represent any kind of actual "Hollywood".

Well thats just not true... The Imagineers went to great lengths to duplicate specific Hollywood landmarks from (the obvious) Grauman's Chinese Theatre to "The Darkroom" photography store, the Max Factor building, the "Crossroads of the World" structure, and the "Hollywoodland Gates" you see infront of our ToT. All of these and more are very much supposed to represent actual Hollywood landmarks.

Now has Disney "fixed up" the image of Hollywood... Yes. Is it referred to as the "Hollywood that never was..." Yes. However, It is very much supposed to resemble actual Hollywood.

All this info comes directly from a rather interesting article in Disney Magazine... Here's a quote that pretty much sums it all up: "'Ninety percent of what you see on Hollywood Boulevard is inspired by, a modification of, or a copy of a real building in Los Angeles,' says Imagineer Eric Jacobson, senior vice president of creative development."

---Finally, to clear up all this talk about what the centerpiece of the park was intended to be... Another Imagineer, Joseph Kilanowski(A concept architect for the Disney-MGM studios project) made this remark when referring to the replica of the Chinese Theatre and it's placement in the park: "'We looked for what would be a 'castle' for the Golden Age of filmmaking,' Kilanowski recalls. They selected Grauman's Chinese Theatre. 'That facade is one of the most dominant theater entrances ever created.'"

Hope this info helps.

 

[joel_maxwell]

I think hookers would have been a nice touch

Now THAT is service :lookaroun

and fun family entertainment......."look hugh, watch daddy work a negociating deal with that hooker over there"

lessons in life learned everyday

 

[Vernonpush]

There was talk on these boards when the hat first went up, that it was put there to cover the Theatre so the Great Movie Ride could be replaced when the MGM contract expired. They would not have a "dead ride" at end of the entrance. But it seems MGM is here to stay:
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?threadid=58514

 

[diddy_mouse]

---Finally, to clear up all this talk about what the centerpiece of the park was intended to be... Another Imagineer, Joseph Kilanowski(A concept architect for the Disney-MGM studios project) made this remark when referring to the replica of the Chinese Theatre and it's placement in the park: "'We looked for what would be a 'castle' for the Golden Age of filmmaking,' Kilanowski recalls. They selected Grauman's Chinese Theatre. 'That facade is one of the most dominant theater entrances ever created.'"

hmm...thats intresting, i didn't know that

 

[MKCP 1985]

slogan often heard inside the Disney-MGM Studios: "The Hollywood That Never Was." So, clearly on premises the intent of the theming is that you be reminded of what the best of Hollywood stood for in its golden age and what it would aspire to be today in a more perfect world.