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Reason the Wand may come down?
- Thread starter mousermerf
- Start date
As per the contention that the Chinese Theater cannot be professionally photographed...
1) When an entertainment company enters into an agreement with a sponsor or affiliated entity, their contract includes specifics as to what restrictions apply. This will often include professional photography or broadcast restrictions.
2) The Chinese Theater is a West Coast landmark. Its doppleganger at Disney-MGM Studios has been featured in numerous TV specials, in print advertising, on brochures for the company, all sorts of travel publications.
So copyright issues had nothing to do with putting that big hat there, UNLESS the contract with Mann Theaters (or whomever the contract was with) expired. It might well have. But the hat was a marketing/placemaking stunt, as it's a more easily identifiable, dumbed-down icon (and admittedly an aesthetically inferior one).
As for professional photography of Aerosmith's name or Kodak's or whatever, of course, that restriction doesn't include families taking snapshots or home movies. I don't know if that was inferred... but it's clearly not the case.
1) When an entertainment company enters into an agreement with a sponsor or affiliated entity, their contract includes specifics as to what restrictions apply. This will often include professional photography or broadcast restrictions.
2) The Chinese Theater is a West Coast landmark. Its doppleganger at Disney-MGM Studios has been featured in numerous TV specials, in print advertising, on brochures for the company, all sorts of travel publications.
So copyright issues had nothing to do with putting that big hat there, UNLESS the contract with Mann Theaters (or whomever the contract was with) expired. It might well have. But the hat was a marketing/placemaking stunt, as it's a more easily identifiable, dumbed-down icon (and admittedly an aesthetically inferior one).
As for professional photography of Aerosmith's name or Kodak's or whatever, of course, that restriction doesn't include families taking snapshots or home movies. I don't know if that was inferred... but it's clearly not the case.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
I think they were saying that the contract with the Chinese Theatre expired recently. Of course, they did take pictures in front of the Chinese Theatre during earlier years--many of us have such pictures.
I dunno...I think the hat is really pretty at night...I did like the 100 Years of Magic marquee more than the...swirlies...
I dunno...I think the hat is really pretty at night...I did like the 100 Years of Magic marquee more than the...swirlies...
imagineer boy
Well-Known Member
Oh dear... I'm very disturbed to read that. This is starting to get a little bit on the scary side.
jmvd20
Well-Known Member
Simple - anything natural capable of bringing the entire wand structure down would itself cause massive damage to SSE, wand or no wand. It is almost like asking why 2 high rise buildings are built right across the street from each other - after all one could fall onto the other right? And I could win the Mega Millions game after being struck by lightning while walking away from a parachute accident.
Every structure has a design life to it, a typical bridge deck may have a 20 year design life, a typical suspension bridge may have a 100 year design life. The wand would not be anymore "temporary" than any of those structures.
A tent is temporary, an awning is temporary - a 200 foot tall wand with massive pilings - and structural steel columns/beams is not "temporary".
I have seen the wand up close and was actually impressed with the way it was built - overbuilt for it's purpose. Whilst I may not know all of the inner workings of WDW - I do know construction and engineering. It is simply the "wishful" thinking of some people that believe the wand is a "temporary structure.
Mr.EPCOT
Active Member
Careful...
Careful... what?
Sorry, it just seems that you're so enamored by the wand, that you wouldn't tell us even if you knew it was being brought down.
As for the decision that's supposedly been made about it staying up for x amount of time would only last until if and when new leadership comes in that determines otherwise.
jmvd20
Well-Known Member
Don't think anyone is acting "enamored" with the wand. Fact of the matter is that ever since it was put up there have been rumors about it coming down. All of the rumors have been false - the newest rumor of it being a "temporary" structure is flat out amusing on numerous levels.
Of course things can change in the future but as of now the wand isn't "falling apart", and I can also guarantee that the steel is not nearing the end of it's "useful life".
A well built structure is not just going to be taken down on a spur of the moment decision, new leadership or not. Of course, eventually everything comes down, but I think were talking realistic future here.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
If new leadership came into town, the Wand would be the last thing on their minds. There are far more important things to fix at WDW than a Wand that a few hundred online fanatics don't like...the average guest is perfectly happy with the Wand, and even here, no more than half of us dislike the wand. I like it...
I realize you only joined here a few weeks ago, but over the years Corrus has pretty much always reported things as they are, regardless of personal bias. You can be sure the current plan is for the Wand to stay, and like all of the other "temporary" things Disney has built over the years, it will stay. The fact that the founder of this site, Steve, also thinks it is permanent ought to be a further hint, since in the nearly 8 years that I have paid attention to the site, Steve has gotten almost nothing wrong. This site isn't the most-trusted unofficial WDW site for no reason. In fact, in many cases it's MORE accurate than www.disneyworld.com, but that's a different story entirely...
Figment571
Member
Hopefully in about 9 more years I'll be helping Mr. Lasseter return Disney Imagineering to it's glory days of HM, POTC, Adventure thru inner space and a wand free EPCOT
. Hopefully.....But, seriously folks I only think we can do at this point is just say how much we either hate/love the wand and want it to stay or go. We just have to play the waiting game and see what happens to it and the Disney company in general within the next decade or so. Hopefully ,in my opinion, we will start to see a renaissance of the whole company and a return to the form of the glory days of the good ole' days.
But for now, we wait.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
No, Disney made a conscious decision to not use the park for actual production anymore... but the theme of the park is and always has been that exact same thing. If anything, it embodies "classic Hollywood" even moreso NOW than it did in 1989 with Sunset Blvd, seeing as how Sunset is entirely set in the late 1930s-early 1940s era Hollywood.
The whole reason the sorcerer hat is placed where it is is so all four parks have unity by having their large symbol at the entrance when you walk in.
The Earful Tower would not make sense to move, since the purpose for its location is that it is in what was originally the actual backlot of the Studios. Moving it anywhere else would be stupid, and it would pathetic as an entrance centerpiece.
Funny thing is, the Studios is the only WDW park with four possible icons: The sorcerer hat, The Earful Tower, and the Studio archway.
Expo_Seeker40
Well-Known Member
"The whole reason the sorcerer hat is placed where it is is so all four parks have unity by having their large symbol at the entrance when you walk in."
Yeah....you're walking into MGM...oh look park's symbol..the earful tower, let's take some photos weeeeeeeeeeee yay, now lets go get our tickets, I'm so excited now, I might even stay an extra day at WDW because I just saw the parks symbol so soon! :ROFLOL:
All four symbols would be at or near the entrance. MK's is down Mainstreet, AK's is down the way, EC's is pretty close, and MGM's would be very close.
"The Earful Tower would not make sense to move, since the purpose for its location is that it is in what was originally the actual backlot of the Studios. Moving it anywhere else would be stupid, and it would pathetic as an entrance centerpiece."
The backlot is a joke, and having the earful tower next to the road as a promotional piece circa 1989 is also a joke. It is no more stupid moving it to the main entrance plaza and then addiding some facades and themeing to incorporate it, than as stupid as killing godzilla mickey and taking his sorceror hat and plopping it down in front of the chinese theatre and saying a hat is the symbol of the park versus the correctly created and designed earful tower. After all the earful tower was on merchandise and on logos that showed all four park logos. It would be no more pathetic than the hat as an icon.
Funny thing is, the Studios is the only WDW park with four possible icons: The sorcerer hat, The Earful Tower, and the Studio archway.
You must mean three, but then again some had thought tower of terror was an icon!
Yeah....you're walking into MGM...oh look park's symbol..the earful tower, let's take some photos weeeeeeeeeeee yay, now lets go get our tickets, I'm so excited now, I might even stay an extra day at WDW because I just saw the parks symbol so soon! :ROFLOL:
All four symbols would be at or near the entrance. MK's is down Mainstreet, AK's is down the way, EC's is pretty close, and MGM's would be very close.
"The Earful Tower would not make sense to move, since the purpose for its location is that it is in what was originally the actual backlot of the Studios. Moving it anywhere else would be stupid, and it would pathetic as an entrance centerpiece."
The backlot is a joke, and having the earful tower next to the road as a promotional piece circa 1989 is also a joke. It is no more stupid moving it to the main entrance plaza and then addiding some facades and themeing to incorporate it, than as stupid as killing godzilla mickey and taking his sorceror hat and plopping it down in front of the chinese theatre and saying a hat is the symbol of the park versus the correctly created and designed earful tower. After all the earful tower was on merchandise and on logos that showed all four park logos. It would be no more pathetic than the hat as an icon.
Funny thing is, the Studios is the only WDW park with four possible icons: The sorcerer hat, The Earful Tower, and the Studio archway.
You must mean three, but then again some had thought tower of terror was an icon!
Some need to research the concept of a weenie and why the parks are set up the way they are. There is a specific reason things are the way they are, whether we agree about it or not.
Indeed. MGM used to have one. Now you only walk down Hollywood since the only other option is the exit. You have to walk towards the wand to get into Epcot; at least going west of SSE kind of hides it for a while
Expo_Seeker40
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure if that was in response to my post, but yes the parks are set up the way they are....the careful planning and design taken with developing the parks.....the chinese theatre at the end of hollywood blvd, cinderella castle at the end of main street, spaceship earth in the entrance plaza, simple and wandless with rows of flowers and palm trees leading up to the sphere in arranged patterns. Communicore plaza with its simple and modern design with once again nature and man coexisting with flowers, plants, trees, and even ponds! The grand layout of the tree of life at AK, etc
These concepts are made to be a certain way. They did after all take down all the 25th and 50th decorations on the castle, and with the exception of the very bottom of the castle looking a little too pink, I find the repaint just fine. Perhaps the wand is just too expensive to simply take down, hence 2000 becomes Epcot on the sign. I don't know why Disney feels it still has to be there. Is SSE second class to cinderella castle...perhaps so...if not true.
Things change and sometimes need to change, but sometimes I question why Certain things MUST change. It seems money converting food rocks into soarin was much more well spent than going through all the trouble of paving over the ponds and other natural features of communicore plaza when making innoventions and spending the money to add the poles and covers, etc that do nothing more than clog up the simple modern approach. Oh but yes....I guess it adds "something" to the look of the place.
Same as hiring a team to take down all the palm trees at EPCOT's entrance, and take out more flower beds that needed since leave a legacy became nowhere near succesful as it was thought to be. Even original concepts for the wand still show the palm trees there, it's not like they were blocking the wand...they have even planted palm trees around the wand!
It seems the mellenium era management if not some current magement come up with these rediculous over-the-top ideas of celebrating things...and then leave them there. The eiffel tower was supposed to be temporary, BUT the imagineers who designed SSE would never have dreamed of putting such an oject next to the world's first geosphere and then dare claim it was magical or had to dumb the company down to tourists who still for whatever reason can't fathom Epcot is part of WDW. :wave:
These concepts are made to be a certain way. They did after all take down all the 25th and 50th decorations on the castle, and with the exception of the very bottom of the castle looking a little too pink, I find the repaint just fine. Perhaps the wand is just too expensive to simply take down, hence 2000 becomes Epcot on the sign. I don't know why Disney feels it still has to be there. Is SSE second class to cinderella castle...perhaps so...if not true.
Things change and sometimes need to change, but sometimes I question why Certain things MUST change. It seems money converting food rocks into soarin was much more well spent than going through all the trouble of paving over the ponds and other natural features of communicore plaza when making innoventions and spending the money to add the poles and covers, etc that do nothing more than clog up the simple modern approach. Oh but yes....I guess it adds "something" to the look of the place.
Same as hiring a team to take down all the palm trees at EPCOT's entrance, and take out more flower beds that needed since leave a legacy became nowhere near succesful as it was thought to be. Even original concepts for the wand still show the palm trees there, it's not like they were blocking the wand...they have even planted palm trees around the wand!
It seems the mellenium era management if not some current magement come up with these rediculous over-the-top ideas of celebrating things...and then leave them there. The eiffel tower was supposed to be temporary, BUT the imagineers who designed SSE would never have dreamed of putting such an oject next to the world's first geosphere and then dare claim it was magical or had to dumb the company down to tourists who still for whatever reason can't fathom Epcot is part of WDW. :wave:
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
But, Disney DOES have to dumb down the parks. Have you ever listened to some of the simpletons in the parks and all the idiotic things they say? If they don't brand something as uniquely Disney, many guests don't realize they are on Disney. Lot's of people would think MGM was Universal and I guess the Sorcerer Mickey Hat...MAY...clear that up. The problem with MGM is that it's so hard to navigate with its lack of weenies visible everywhere. You can always figure out where you are in the MK because you can see the Castle (and, of course, the new Contemporary Tower...) from anywhere in the park. Same of the Tree of Life and Spaceship Earth. You can't even see the Tower of Terror from everywhere at MGM, let alone the Chinese Theatre or the Hat. But, from some locations up in the confusing backlot area, you can see some of the hat, so maybe that helps people navigate? I dunno...it took me years to learn the layout of MGM, but big landmarks can help people. The park just isn't designed well to have a good park icon since they built a ride right in the middle that prevents you from seeing pretty much anything at the entrance. None of the other parks were designed like this...not sure why they didn't go with the classic spoke-and-wheel model.
MickeyTigg
New Member
Costs to maintain? Like what?
One gallon of paint per year, and three light bulbs...:shrug: :ROFLOL:
MickeyTigg
New Member
Paint? Has anyone seen them paint the wand?
Ok. Three light bulbs.... :lol: