jmvd20
Well-Known Member
none of you would be able to come on here and constantly complain about the place you supposedly love so much.
Now that should be a fact we can all agree on.
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Reason the Wand may come down?
- Thread starter mousermerf
- Start date
Now that should be a fact we can all agree on.
wdwishes2005
New Member
My credentials are I'm a nobody behind a keyboard with an opinion.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
No but it does equip you with the knowledge of what bugs people on the shop floor, and what guests get irritated buy.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
That is one of the most stupid things I've ever heard! Says who?
If Disney is designing their parks with this as a cardenal rule then it may explain how we ended up with the godawful and completely inappropriately themed hat and wand in the first place.
At any rate, the wand will probably stay until Disney gets a CEO with some taste.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
Says the millions who have their picture taken in front of park icons.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
I see. Why does this mean that an icon has to be located right at the entrance, though? Do people's cameras get routinely stolen as they progress through the park by marauding youth gangs? At any rate, the reasoning I was responding to still reflected a complete lack of understanding as to what has traditionally set Disney parks apart. In the past they haven't designed parks with the idea of popping a big shiny photo spot at the entrance, but rather designed layer upon layer to draw people in to the park and create an atmosphere. At D-MGM they just seemed to have figured they needed a new photo spot they could sell photos of so, for no descernable thematic reason, dropped a giant shiny blue hat with swirly ears into the middle of 1930s Hollywood.
I have to say that this thread has been an eye opener. After all the stupid things that were done to dumb down and lessen the WDW experience during the last 10 years or so of Eisner's reign, people are lambasting the current management and defending all the boneheaded decisions Eisner made, including purchasing Fox Family, a deal which Rupert Murdoch reportedly told associates he had a hard time keeping a straight face while concluding? Finally things seem to be getting slightly better rather than continually spiraling downward, and people seem to be looking back longingly at Eisner and criticising "the new guys"?
Meh, people get what they deserve I guess so maybe the wand and hat should stay.
Pumbas Nakasak
Heading for the great escape.
Makes as much sense as calling it a studio when no film tv or proper radio are made there.
The hat is a big sparkly brightly coloured piece of eye candy, the theater is a poor impersonation of a theater pretending to be a building in Imperial China.
Mind you MGM is half a dozen attractions pretending to be a theme park.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Well, I guess if you consider the park a lost cause then why not just throw random unthemed photo spots around the place. I don't think this is what guided their decision, though.
A poor impersonation? How so?
MJMcBride
Member
wht do they need an icon in the front? The fact is, the only "icon" in the front is SSE. So you're saying if people can't have a photo with a wand they'll go to Universal Studios?:shrug:
Legacy
Well-Known Member
Both Universal Icons are actually sitting outside of their respective parks...
:lookaroun
Iakona
Member
I believe the effect is the reason. You enter the park and look up ahead and immediatley get that visual of the castle or Hat or SSE or Tree of life.
Well, I think you just demonstrated either a misconception on your part or a lack of understanding. Both Disneyland and WDW MK were designed with the castle as the focal point (weenie is what I believe imagineerign calls it), by the way this was Walt's mandate I believe.
Again, not so much as a photo op (although a good photo op to record a great memory is not a small thing). However, MGM is a slightly different case because of copyright issue with the Chines Theater s that is why you have the big hat as the weenie and the focal point (which incidentally gets included on pamphlets, advertising etc).
I have no problem with either staying. As for the good things by th new regime, I think the jury needs to remain out on that. They have only been in power for a short period of time and there needs to be a much longer track record before a judgment can be made.
You are taking out bits of the statement to fit your statement. No one said they would go to universal if the wand was gone.
and
The actual statement was close to the front and identifiable with the park.
MK = Castle
AK = Tree of Life
Epcot = SSE and Wand
MGM = Hat
Has anyone ever thought that it is possible that the only group that is near unanimous in their dislike for the wand and hat are people that are the DisneyHeads (kind of like Parrot heads and Dead heads and hopefully a less insulting term than fanboys)?
Is it possible that guest surveys show that other than Disneyheads the wand and hat are liked?
jmvd20
Well-Known Member
My feeling is that, in general people who have been going to WDW for many years dislike the wand - namely because it has a negative effect on SSE. However I know many people that were not at WDW prior to the wand and in general they either like it or have no opinion either way.
It seems to me that most people who can't stand the wand are upset about what has happened to EPCOT Center and view the wand as the icon of it's transformation into Epcot.
That is one of the reasons I hated it at first, I wasn't at Epcot in about ten years. I tell my wife how great it is and then we get there - no Horizons, no World of Motion, a farce of Figment, a closed WoL, Communicore gutted and nothing like it once was, and to top it all off a blasted wand over the only unchanged part of EPCOT Center - SSE
It seems to me that most people who can't stand the wand are upset about what has happened to EPCOT Center and view the wand as the icon of it's transformation into Epcot.
That is one of the reasons I hated it at first, I wasn't at Epcot in about ten years. I tell my wife how great it is and then we get there - no Horizons, no World of Motion, a farce of Figment, a closed WoL, Communicore gutted and nothing like it once was, and to top it all off a blasted wand over the only unchanged part of EPCOT Center - SSE
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Well, 'the effect' is a very vague reasoning. At AK you enter through the Oasis with no view of the Tree of Life and Tokyo DisneySeas doesn't have an obvious 'icon' when you enter Mediterranean Harbour but rather a stunning panorama. So, once again, it seems to me that this idea of an icon at the front of each park as a design principal is more than a little artificial based mainly on how the Magic Kingdom parks are designed.
By 'weenie' he didn't mean just any random thing that would catch the attention. Mark Twain, for example, acted as a weenie in Frontierland, not a giant statue of Mickey Mouse wearing a cowboy hat. This is what I find odd about all these defences of the hat as an icon or weenie: it's both the most indistinct icon of any Disney park (with nothing to do with the park's theme) and it catches the eye by jarring with and thus completely jumping out from its surroundings. Do people honestly believe that, guided by some high principal of the icon, WDI has always been designing parks this way?
imagineer boy
Well-Known Member
Well, technically, the icon of TDS is supposed to be Mt. Promethius, the volcano. Just wanted to point that out.:wave: But I agree with what you're saying though.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Hmm, maybe I stand corrected, but is it the 'icon' though? I'd say that it's definitely a weenie, but do they use it in the logo for example?
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
The Sorcerer Mickey hat has nothing to do with MGM? I beg to differ. Fantasia was certainly a movie...
imagineer boy
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure it is the icon. Alot of TDS logos have the volcano on it.
That's only ONE movie. Isn't MGM a tribute to a bunch of other movies? Like the ones in the great movie ride, Star Tours, and Indiana Jones?
darthjohnny
Active Member
Wow. I love how so many of you love to rip on cast members. Yeah, not every cast member is good, but when you need 55,000 of them, its hard to get everyone to be perfect.
And if you really don't like it, maybe you should do something about it other than complaining about it on an internet website. The parks can't run themselves, and if it weren't for them, none of you would be able to come on here and constantly complain about the place you supposedly love so much.
and neither does posting on wdwmagic.com, although many of you would like to think otherwise.
Wow. That came out of nowhere. I can't believe you got so riled up about this. I'm just stating what I observe of certain cast members. I think you know just as well as I do that my comment about certain cast members is valid.
I was just commenting on someone else's quote. Not necessarily complaining about it.
You assertion almost seems like a personal attack. I didn't say whether or not I knew what was best for the theme park. Nor do I think posting it on this thread will change anything.
Are you a cast member Tom Morrow? Do you think I was personally going after you or what you believe? Geez....Somebody seems uptight about something.
Just relax.
Take it easy.
Iakona
Member
No not vague. In fact those images are very powerful and identifiable with each park. You seem to be stuck on "the front of the park." The Castles are not in the front of the park. You walk down Main St USA to get to them. You walk over the bridge to get AK and see the Tree of Life, you walk down the street and see the Hat. The only one right up front is SSE. The idea of the park icon is very real in my opinion and not artificial. As far as if you happen to like what WDI has made into the icon is another story. I happen to like the hat and the wand I could keep or leave, but it does not offend me.
Sorry, but I find the hat fits fine with the theme of MGM. I also understand why it was placed there, or what we have been told.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
Isn't the Magic Kingdom a tribute to the American frontier, the future, a small town in America around 1900, new england around 1776, and a jumbled look at "adventure", in addition to fantasy? Cinderella Castle fits in the fantasy part, only.
At least once the park changes to the Disney-Pixar Studios, the hat will belong to the character who started everything...
Park icons are not all AT the front of the park, but they are meant to be visible as you enter the park to draw you toward the action. Animal Kingdom is really the only exception as the Tree of Life isn't visible from the entrance, but the Oasis is more of a prelude to the park experience.