So long stars!

[mousermerf]

For all of us who had a little bit of fear in our hearts that the Wand will go, but the stars will remain..

http://officialrecords.occompt.com/...id=29007868&file_num=20070380112&doc_status=V

".. removal of the stars on the outer skin of Spaceship Earth"

 

[SirNim]

Was there ever any doubt?

So this is the long-awaited Orange County Comptroller document spelling out the end of the "EPCOT Icon Tower." Cool.

 

[jmvd20]

Wow the NOC finally materializes! I wonder what it has been doing since 6-12...

 

[Hoop Raeb]

Thanks!

 

[WDW Monorail]

How is it that I missed this when it was filed.

 

[EPCOT.nut]

Someone on this site called them the "red fro" and everytime I see them I :ROFLOL: out loud.

Are the purple and grey fabric bits coming down also? I heard that they were and that is ok, except that we need the shade. I thought all that was quite clever.

 

[Walt_Disney]

how did i miss this when it was filed???

 

[michaelcostella]

Thanks! :wave:

 

[hardcard]

hmmmmmmm.... IF you look closely at the document, it's originally dated 4/16/07, which means the wand removal was decided on LONG before the first "They are going to remove the wand!!" posts here.... crazy.. they really do manage to keep things under tight wrappings

 

[joel_maxwell]

then it is final. amen

 

[RedGear]

so it's going back to it's pure form. . . nice.

 

[imamouse]

I think that it's interesting that the red stars appear on several of the Epcot 25 commemorative pins. I never really thought that they would remain, but including them on the pins (sans wand) seems like a last nod to the whole wand/stars element.

I wonder how big the red stars are and if my husband will let me buy one and mount it on the roof of our garage :lol: ?

 

[PhilharMagician]

:sohappy: Need I say more?

 

[Thurp]

Was there ever any doubt?

Yes, at least in my mind. Glad to see this.

 

[a2grafix]

I wonder how exactly the stars will be removed? How did they get assembled on the outer skin in the first place?

The only images I remember when I visisted EPCOT Center in the 1980s-90s (before the wand was added) is that I was told by a cast member that there is a like-roof acess on top of the dome. I remember seeing Mickey on top of SSE in a promo commercial way back when.

And once the stars are removed from the geosphere, will Disney also give it a good scrubbing?

 

[DisneySaint]

I don't think there was doubt they'd remove the stars. It would look even sillier with just the stars on there than it did with the wand.

 

[MiduraMagic4]

Thanks for the info.

 

[tirian]

hmmmmmmm.... IF you look closely at the document, it's originally dated 4/16/07, which means the wand removal was decided on LONG before the first "They are going to remove the wand!!" posts here.... crazy.. they really do manage to keep things under tight wrappings

^^ It's also why I hate it when some people indignantly quote Disney PR as a definitive source.

PR folks say what they're told to say, people. :lol:

 

[Rob562]

I wonder how exactly the stars will be removed? How did they get assembled on the outer skin in the first place?

The only images I remember when I visisted EPCOT Center in the 1980s-90s (before the wand was added) is that I was told by a cast member that there is a like-roof acess on top of the dome. I remember seeing Mickey on top of SSE in a promo commercial way back when.

And once the stars are removed from the geosphere, will Disney also give it a good scrubbing?

Looking at close-up pics of the stars, they appear to be mounted on poles that extend through the spaces between the triangular panels. My guess is that these poles are either attached to the support structure for the triangular panels (so that they move with the panels in wind or heat-expansion/contraction) or they're welded to the inner black structure of SSE (the one you see in the EPCOT construction photos as the triangular panels are being installed).

Perhaps for each star, an adjacent silver panel is removed, the star is removed, and then the silver panel is replaced. Or, perhaps there's enough room between the black and silver spheres for a worked to get in there with a welding torch... (I've heard it's only 2 feet, but if you get a skinney-enough welder) :animwink: My bet would be on the first option.

-Rob

 

[marni1971]

^ They`d have to be attached to the outer Alculabond pannels from behind, passing as you said between the few inches wide gap between each of them. The inner rubber membrane is weathertight as so I doubt would be messed with. The real geosphere, of which the membrane is the outer skin, has its support beams too far apart to be used to support the stars.