The hat is an awkward dilemma, esp. from Disney's standpoint..... One of the blueprints of the parks in Florida is the central hub and spoke design of the parks, with a major centerpiece, an icon with which that park can be easily recognized/ associated/ BRANDED with.
If you look at early artwork (or in cases such as AK
very early blueprint work) its apparent that this design is the way Disney's imagineers design the parks, even when they have no idea yet what the centerpiece is, its just the way Disney does things for the reason mentioned above, it makes sense, the park itself is easily marketed/ recognizable in merch, the park can be easily navigated by guests, maps are easily and clearly presented to guests, etc.
With Hollywood Studios, this park for most part, it doesnt really doesnt follow the typical hub and spoke design. Before the hat there was the chinese theater of the Great movie ride as the "hub" or focal point of the park as you entered. While this view I personally agree looks better than the giant and most importantly
useless cartoon hat, marketing the Chinese Theater on merch. really makes no sense for Disney. That image is not a very easily recognizable/ drawnup standalone image like the TOL, Spaceship Earth, The castle, nor is it a Disney created image. It would be like using an image of the Eiffel Tower from the france pavilion to advertise/market/brand Epcot The
Earful Tower used to be this representation for the park, but it really isnt a great option as its not really visible inside the park let alone being the focal point, not to mention its not a very "magical" image to think of a water tower when remembering your favorite disney park.
I think Disney recognized this park didnt fit the mold as the rest of their parks did and started to take measures to try and make the park more like the others. Adding Sunset Blvd, Pixar place and the hat have been their attempts at this. In my opinion they didnt do a great job, while Sunset is amazing and works well with the direction I believe they are trying to go with the park, The Hat simply doesnt fit with the theming, and unlike every other focal point/hub in the other 3 parks, it doesnt do anything. Its not a ride, it doesnt have a show in it, it doesnt have a restaurant, or a hotel room in it. Its a poor centerpiece to an amazing park and the fact that it doesnt serve any function just makes it that much worse. Pixar place is one of my favorite parts of the park, but it is very much too small, (one ride for a "land" is pretty pathetic) it is jammed in an awkward small narrow location......And dont even get me started on the "Streets of NY" area, sooo poorly planned, ridiculously boring
HUGE waste of space....at the very least there should be CM's back there pretending to shoot movies or putting on various shows in the streets.....or (I cant believe Disney hasnt done this) make some the shops in those streets into functional shops to buy stuff....Plus Animation courtyard....this used to be a really cool place when I was growing up...but they have taken everything out of there....I mean use the space or redo it....right now the little mermaid show there is awesome....but the rest is another huge wasted space.
Well thats enough ranting about one of my favorite Disney parks (despite all its shortcomings
) I think its the fact that this is one of my favorite parks and with just a little more work done correctly this could easily be THE best park in my eyes.....
So should the hat go.... I dont really think it looks too bad esp at night but yes it needs to go, but in Disney's eyes it just cant yet until they have a better replacement for the parks centerpiece that meets all the requirements of a traditional Disney park focal point, which personally I completely agree with, if done correctly.....I'm no imagineer but here's to hoping the solution is themed correctly and actually serves a purpose other than to create something soley made to market the park on T-shirts and Mugs......
thanks for listening
