Oh my goodness. This is possibly the most absurd complaining I've ever seen on these boards.
If you haven't noticed, nearly ALL attractions have a planter in front of them! Haunted Mansion has one. Big Thunder has one. What are you going to complain about next? That there's pavement leading into Space Mountain?? ("A Walmart parking lot has pavement!")
If some of you had given an ounce of thought to this, you'd realize this planter creates a very large seating area for FastPass holders and non-riders, drawing them away from the entrance, and hopefully reducing the crowd that always clogs the attraction.
"Why couldn't they have just put water in there instead of trees and plants?" some hotshot will ask.
Because you need shade to attract people (How quickly we forget the small clusters of people squeezed under the TTA track, trying to avoid the blazing sun and drizzle while watching the departed Stitch show)
Not a single person on these boards predicted the extensive rennovations that would be done to improve SM's guest traffic flow. And I bet it wasn't cheap. I'm sure some of you would have rather seen that money spent on in-ride special effects (which probably would have still been cheaper than the redesigned entry plaza). Whether SM's budget was adequate is a topic for a different discussion. But you can't deny that Disney saw a problem with SM, and spent big money to correct it.
After all, the "cheap" solution would have been to keep the Skyway intact, put up new walls to cover the openings, and slap on a fresh coat of paint.
But rather than try to satisfy the small handful of SM geeks who yearn to see that old rocket-stuck-to-a-pylon, Disney took into consideration the thousands of people who will be stuck in that area every day, either waiting to ride or waiting for someone to come out.
And again, all of this discusion is about.... a planter. A ring of concrete, some dirt, and a tree.
If I was an Imagineer or a TDO exec reading this thread, I'd lose all respect for our type of Disney fan. We ain't gonna be happy and will complain about the most obscure things, so why bother pleasing us at all? Disney can find plenty of other, more reasonable customers to focus their attention on.
Hint: they'll be sitting on a planter, under a shade tree.
