Not to cause trouble, but remember how SSE existed beautifully for 18 years before "the wand". So of course it would be SSE without it, and to most park fans, it would more like the prime years of Epcot unlike the neglected Epcot of today.
The wand taints a widely recognized, architecturally unique structure and turns it into a bright, tacky, Vegas-like sign. I can't see how people can say it fits the "theme" of Epcot or looks nice -- I mean, do people forget that they're in Epcot and need to see it in lights in order to remember? What about when you're not standing directly in front of it, and see the massive steel structure supporting it? Is that really something pleasing to look at? I really thinks its a shame that it went up at all, let alone stayed for the past 5 years.
Also, I thought I read somewhere that they had the wand lights OFF when they were doing the projections on SSE for July 4th. Not sure if that's the case, but we can only hope that's a sign that the wand will be coming down, and hopefully SOON!!!!
CoP