Scrims coming down on Main Street USA

[WDW1974]

One thing I am wondering about in this discussion of trees: Whether not the multitude of cameras and pictures taken by those cameras in our lives has changed the way we view things.

Of course the trees block the view in pictures. But if you are there and can move around the trees your perspective changes. The absence of trees makes everything flat, takes away a little bit of that sense of discovery that you have when you walk to the other side of the tree and see more. Of course, as well with the trees on Main Street as with the trees on the hub, once you are on that other side of the tree you are so close to the facades or the castle that taking a picture is difficult as you are too close. But if you are there in person you are still able to take it all in as you are not restricted by the lens.

All you have to do is play with your pics today ... digital means every photographer is really a 'photo artist' ... I wish many of these Disney bloggers actually had to use film and really think about what they take ... although I did love seeing 43 pictures of Andy Castro's Starbucks at DCA! (should I say that I like his work 'cause I think I upset him when I said he might be OCD in a previous post ... I do like his pics, though, and I do think he is OCD as well!)

Trees today are no problem at all . Nothing is. You do more work on a Disney fireworks shot than Kim Kardashian gets on a magazine cover.

 

[Jim Handy]

Yes, but this is Disney where Legal demands that every possible stupid person is factored in ... you can't have curbs, you can't expect people to actually be responsible for watching where they step. Personally, I think people oughta be allowed to sue people who ram you with a stroller or ECV for $10,000,000 ... that might help the stupid quotient get smarter.

I found it interesting that Buena Vista Street opened with curbs even though original plans didn't call for them.

 

[choco choco]

When they didn't have stage shows or use the castle as a projection screen, not so much. But again, Cindy's Castle is a work of art. Why half hide it with trees? It wasn't so bad when they were baby trees 30 years ago, but even in this photo they obscure a good third of the castle and its magesty.

The castle was designed with the trees in mind. This is why the bottom of it is so monolithically grey and blocky, while the top is full of trim and detail. The castle is supposed to peek over the top of the trees, a sort of dreamy beacon luring you further in.

Landscaping is what saves the Disney parks from being too fake-y. Without it, it will look too obvious as a Hollywood set (just look at Universal Studios Orlando). This is a problem that mars MK's Fantasyland, and is the reason they came up with the "forest" expansion idea in the first place.

Restore the trees on the Hub, the castle right now looks like a naked mole rat.

 

[koryadams]

Don't forget the crowds!

Well I will be there 15-22nd so I won't be trapped in the christmas week mass lol

 

[invader]

Was at Magic Kingdom yesterday, everything looks amazing. There are four small sized trees in the front half of Main St. and in the back there are four marked places where trees could potentially go.

 

[CaptainWinter]

Did the trees in the hub create sight-line problems?

You be the judge:

That's way better. The castle is only improved by not appearing above bare pavement.

EDIT: and furthermore the trees heighten the forced-perspective effects A LOT.

 

[dreamscometrue]

And the MK of the 21st century is about Walmart

Do you have any other comparisons besides the Walmart one? I think you are using it just a tad too often. Any new material? Perhaps your posts are becoming redundant and you are running out of ways to say the same thing over and over again. Just a thought.

 

[Tom]

EDIT: and furthermore the trees heighten the forced-perspective effects A LOT.

This is the point I disagree with. Forced perspective works when you don't have something within your line of sight to ruin the effect.

If your brain knows that the tree is normal size, but it's a small-ish tree, your brain may also detect that the buildings aren't really 3 stories tall. Either that, or those are GIANT trees.

I'm sure the original intent was to plant trees that stayed small, or were properly maintained and groomed so that they did not appear out of scale. I could be wrong....but I ALMOST think I even read that in one of the many Imagineering type books.

 

[WDW1974]

Do you have any other comparisons besides the Walmart one? I think you are using it just a tad too often. Any new material? Perhaps your posts are becoming redundant and you are running out of ways to say the same thing over and over again. Just a thought.

No, that's what it comes down to ... and until things change that's what you'll hear from me.

I am not trying to rain on anyone's Pixie Dust Parade, just trying to mix some reality in with it. I was once an addict too. I know how hard it is to finally admit something you love isn't nearly what it once was. But I don't like living a lie and I don't like pretending because it gives me a false sense of righteousness.

The MK is a sad shell of what it once was in show quality (and trees definitely factor into this), entertainment, cleanliness, merchandise and probably other things I can't even remember right now.

But whether you can see Wishes better now or whether you like a bare concrete wasteland instead of a lush landscaped Hub isn't really the point. The point is the place feels off since the trees were removed because they belonged there.

 

[CaptainWinter]

This is the point I disagree with. Forced perspective works when you don't have something within your line of sight to ruin the effect.

If your brain knows that the tree is normal size, but it's a small-ish tree, your brain may also detect that the buildings aren't really 3 stories tall. Either that, or those are GIANT trees.

I'm sure the original intent was to plant trees that stayed small, or were properly maintained and groomed so that they did not appear out of scale. I could be wrong....but I ALMOST think I even read that in one of the many Imagineering type books.

I should have qualified -- I meant the effects with respect to the castle are improved with trees. As far as the Main St. buildings go, you're right.

 

[Tom]

I should have qualified -- I meant the effects with respect to the castle are improved with trees. As far as the Main St. buildings go, you're right.

Oh ok

 

[DisneyDude10]

As far as Main Street goes, it looks immaculate. We went to the world from 7/3/12-7/11/12 and it was our third year in a row to go, the first trip being in '10,and had yet to see Main Street with no scrims on it! We thought it looked amazing!

 

[RAXIP]

The two "missing" trees in front of the bakery are back.

 

[Crush Dude!]

The two "missing" trees in front of the bakery are back.

Great stuff

 

[unkadug]

The two "missing" trees in front of the bakery are back.

Now if they would just keep going and replant the rest of the hub.

 

[articos]

This is the point I disagree with. Forced perspective works when you don't have something within your line of sight to ruin the effect.

If your brain knows that the tree is normal size, but it's a small-ish tree, your brain may also detect that the buildings aren't really 3 stories tall. Either that, or those are GIANT trees.

I'm sure the original intent was to plant trees that stayed small, or were properly maintained and groomed so that they did not appear out of scale. I could be wrong....but I ALMOST think I even read that in one of the many Imagineering type books.

Correct. The landscape is an integral part of the showscene. In the case of the MK, the trees on Main Street, at the Hub and in front of the castle are all supposed to be maintained at a certain height to sell the illusion. The photo above has the trees out of scale, especially in front of the Castle.

If you look back at photos from opening, Bill Evans planted trees staggered along Main Street that reached about halfway up the height of the buildings, just above the level of the "first floor". In the hub, they were a bit taller, as the perspective against the Castle was longer. They were planted to fill in a bit, but they were to be trimmed to stay at a certain height and fullness as to appear real, not overpower. IMO, Main Street needs trees to fulfill the design intent.