News Walt Disney World's iconic Twilight Zone Tower of Terror billboard to be permanently removed

mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
brb1006 said:
Don't forget the TTC having toparies
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Happy days, remember those fondly as a kid.
 
mergatroid

mergatroid

Well-Known Member
brb1006 said:
Don't forget the TTC having toparies
1972-4.jpg
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Perhaps my memory is playing tricks on me but back then in the 70's I seem to recall the grass under the monorail and the bushes to be perfectly maintained just like in this picture? After a few years the grass became patchy and died in parts and the battle to keep everything between the TTA and the MK neat appeared to be lost? In the 80's I also noticed that around The Contemporary from the monorail that trash cans and maintenance equipment was more visible than before?

I'm not sure whether that's true or whether age and familiarity made me notice these things that I'd just not noticed before or not? I'm guessing that it was more a case of adding new parks meant up-keeping costs rose significantly and Disney spent less time maintaining these areas as they had all the extra entrances and exits to landscape and maintain so the land below the monorail took a back seat?
 
Sir_Cliff

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
techgeek said:
I have no strong feelings about the loss of this.

Honestly, I always thought it was an odd thing from the beginning. There aren't many attraction billboards on property to begin with, why was Tower given one when it opened and why was it allowed to persist for decades while other new attractions didn't get the same treatment? I also thought its location was odd, in the middle median of World Drive in sight of the ride itself. Originally I remember thinking it was sort of tacky and added a visual clutter that was out of place in the context of the rest of the streamlined World Drive entry experience. But, I can understand how its uniqueness and charm might endear it to some.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who always thought it was kind of tacky for WDW every time I went past it. I don't want to minimise anyone else's feelings, but I'm honestly surprised so many people are using the word "charm" to describe this as to me that's akin to saying the facade of a Ripley's Believe it or Not has charm. I always thought it had a bit of that tacky tourist trap vibe and the fact it stuck around for so long was one of the many monuments to how WDW went through this amazing spurt of growth and evolution through the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, when things just stopped and many parts of the place became a 1990s time capsule. If I were looking at freshening up the resort, it honestly would have been one of the things I would have suggested be taken down.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Sir_Cliff said:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who always thought it was kind of tacky for WDW every time I went past it. I don't want to minimise anyone else's feelings, but I'm honestly surprised so many people are using the word "charm" to describe this as to me that's akin to saying the facade of a Ripley's Believe it or Not has charm. I always thought it had a bit of that tacky tourist trap vibe and the fact it stuck around for so long was one of the many monuments to how WDW went through this amazing spurt of growth and evolution through the 1980s and into the mid-1990s, when things just stopped and many parts of the place became a 1990s time capsule. If I were looking at freshening up the resort, it honestly would have been one of the things I would have suggested be taken down.
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It was definitely tacky but in that sort of 90s outrageous, over-the-top Disney way that they just don’t do things anymore. In some ways I think that is more what people are responding to, the continued loss of identity.

I loathed the other billboards, didn’t much care for this one, but I’m also not going to delude myself into thinking this was due to some newfound pride in show.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
It was definitely tacky but in that sort of 90s outrageous, over-the-top Disney way that they just don’t do things anymore. In some ways I think that is more what people are responding to, the continued loss of identity.

I loathed the other billboards, didn’t much care for this one, but I’m also not going to delude myself into thinking this was due to some newfound pride in show.
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That last part is the most important part, for me - kind of the thing that sums up WDW across the last decade.

There's a reason none of us read about this with any faith that there would be something - anything, better OR worse - coming to replace it. It's because we knew there wouldn't be, and reportedly there truly isn't.

The way WDW been run for the past too-many years shows a pattern of doing away with things that spoke to the personality of the resort, but without making any real effort to establish a new personality. At this point I really believe that comes mostly down to the fact that they don't have a vision for the resort's personality.

They don't know what they want it to be, except more efficient . . . which somewhat directly opposes what the guests are paying thousands and thousands of dollars for. And if threads like this are any indication, guests are noticing more than ever, even when it comes to the "small stuff".
 
Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
That's a really good point. 90's WDW was all about being "larger than life" so to speak. Being bold, taking risks. What do they strive to be today? Streamlined... efficient... and "safe" (as in choosing designs and attractions that are not bold).

Also, anyone else have a bad feeling about this? They haven't taken care of the attraction's show quality in years... they've been in no hurry to actually restore the motors and restore the ride to full intensity... we're seeing the signs of an attraction on borrowed time. I hope this isn't true.
 
T

TrojanUSC

Well-Known Member
Tom Morrow said:
That's a really good point. 90's WDW was all about being "larger than life" so to speak. Being bold, taking risks. What do they strive to be today? Streamlined... efficient... and "safe" (as in choosing designs and attractions that are not bold).

Also, anyone else have a bad feeling about this? They haven't taken care of the attraction's show quality in years... they've been in no hurry to actually restore the motors and restore the ride to full intensity... we're seeing the signs of an attraction on borrowed time. I hope this isn't true.
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Even if the theme would change in some way, they'd still need the motors, so I wouldn't read too much into it.
 

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