Wand Lovers

[Gorjus]

OOOhhh perhaps we have another looming issue on our hands. While selling photos last night, I pointed out to people how valuable their SSE photos were: As of Monday, the wand, stars, hand, Epcot sign, begin coming down. If they didn't have a SSE photo, I encouraged them to get themselves to Epcot and SSE and have one taken.

When informed of the impending doom of the wand, people were not happy. Your average guest loves the wand and thinks SSE will look plain and boring without it.

Not a scientific study, but info for you none the less.

 

[djkidkaz]

It all depends on when you started visiting DW. If you were there pre-wand, you prefer it without the wand, if you were there post-wand, you prefer it with the wand. And yes, there is going to be a minority that disagree with that, but the majority of people have a problem with change. It forces them out of a comfort zone.

 

[DisneyWales]

Porpular

My feeling is it become a trend to Wand Bash, like people Window Bashed the castle when that got its 50th Overlay.

Someone starts the trend and then people do it to join in.

I have never been before the fabled wand, so perhaps im biased, and yes im looking forward to seeing SSE without the wand, but thats because i like a change, i love it when the monorails get overlays, when the castle gets a gimmick overlay or something, its keeps the park fresh and gives something new to look at. (Castle cake was nice for a day, but i have to say that would have bugged me a little after a while).

My concern is that disney will no longer be willing to put up overlays onto the Winnies (Sp), because the "Fans" moan about them the whole time they are there.

I know the wand is a bit more than an overlay, but its in that area of decoration.

Anyway please flame me.

 

[SGT623]

I've been visiting since 1981 and I will miss the wand.

 

[DiPSU224]

I do understand why people hate the wand. It never really bothered me, yet I was too young before the wand and frankly didn't care about Disney the way I care about it now as an adult . Like others said, it was a nice change for awhile. Maybe if people knew back when it went up that it wasn't going to be permanent maybe it wouldn't have caused such hatred? I think what I may miss about it is how pretty it looked all light up and glittery at night leaving the park.

I'm pretty girly, I like things glittery :lol:

 

[marni1971]

Hopefully now we`ll get a full cutting edge Silvania lighting package for SSE that`ll put the 1982 one to shame.

-something the wand would have made difficult.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

My concern is that disney will no longer be willing to put up overlays onto the Winnies (Sp), because the "Fans" moan about them the whole time they are there.

Don't worry, they'll keep doing it:

I don't mind overlays, but please let's have tasteful overlays instead of a pile of tacky crap thrown all over the icon just for the sake of having something there. I really like the tasteful way DLP has handled their 15th castle overlay, for example. If every overlay means it will remain for 5-10 years then I'm happy without them and, really, they do need to come up with more than just that as a gimmick.

 

[Dagger]

I've been visiting since 1981 and I will miss the wand.

ditto

 

[polarboi]

Yesterday I mentioned to one of my friends (who goes to WDW almost every year), "Oh guess what! They're taking the wand down from Spaceship Earth at Epcot!" I said it in a happy voice, like it's a good thing. He turned and looked at me as if I had just said they were tearing down Cinderella Castle, and said, "What?! Why?" Several other friends have had the same reaction.

The truth is, the average guest's opinions are frequently quite different from those of us die-hard fans on WDW message boards. But your average guest also isn't as concerned as we are about things like whether the theme is consistent or whether SSE looks "majestic."

My friend, for instance, goes to WDW every summer for one reason: a certain unofficial, very "happy" event where lots of people wear red. He's there for the company and the overall environment much more than for the specific attractions. Sometimes he doesn't even remember which rides he went on or whether or not he went to a certain part of the parks; he just lets it all wash over him. He's the kind of guest who could ride the new Haunted Mansion when it's all done and not even realize that it's changed.

Thankfully, Disney doesn't make decisions just to please guests like him; they know that by striving for excellence and going above and beyond on tiny details most guests will never notice, they can create a destination with a reputation for excellence, even though many guests will have no idea how much effort and money it takes to do so.

-p.b.

 

[PhotoDave219]

When informed of the impending doom of the wand, people were not happy. Your average guest loves the wand and thinks SSE will look plain and boring without it.

Not a scientific study, but info for you none the less.

Eh, some people love to hate. Some people cant be happy without misery. And some people like to think that through the internet, they can play their own epic version of Rollercoaster Tycoon by criticizing ever move Disney makes. They'll never be happy because the parks were never quite the way they remember them, because they never were.

As for the wand, eh? who cares.

 

[Mecha Figment]

I think think the whole reason I didn't love the wand is because of artistic differences. the whole front of the park is this 80's vision of the future, a metallic deco sleek and geometric look , which is why i don't mind the leave a legacy because it fits artistically with the rest of it. But the wand though colorful, just was a totally different feel and it was very carnival to me. So I'm glad it will be removed so that the true theme of the park will return.

now all they need to do is bring back the tall crystals that sat in the water fountain, and start using the original epcot logos.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I think think the whole reason I didn't love the wand is because of artistic differences.

No, you fool! Didn't you read the preceding post? You don't like the wand because you can't be happy without misery!

 

[polarboi]

No, you fool! Didn't you read the preceding post? You don't like the wand because you can't be happy without misery!

There are legitimate reasons to prefer things with or without the wand, for sure. I happen to agree that it's not in keeping with Epcot's theming and it tends to dwarf SSE, so I'm happy to see it go.

But this is also true for some people:

They'll never be happy because the parks were never quite the way they remember them, because they never were.

I run a nonprofit organization with a popular internet community, and I see the same thing all the time. Every few months, someone will post about how things were perfect when they joined, but "it's not as good anymore" because of some new decision or change. What they don't realize is that someone else was posting the same thing a few days before they joined a year earlier. It's happened over and over for all the years we've been around, and yet we keep growing.

It's easy to romanticize the past, and the first time you go to WDW, you're just focused on all the magic, not the occasional burned-out bulb or the recently-removed attraction you never knew was there. Once you've grown accustomed to it, you see the problems more readily, and you think everything is going downhill. Sometimes, it may be, in a certain area. But there are always going to be some people who complain no matter what happens, even when it's an improvement. That's just life.

-p.b.

 

[Ella's Mommy]

Lets face it the geosphere is boring to look at. I have been going to Disney for a long time. I've been to epcot with and without the wand. The wand hating thing comes from all the Epcot "nerds" that hate change. Dont miss undersatnd me I'm no trying to be mean. I am "nerd" myself. There is nothing more that I love then hiting the turnstyles at Epcot and hearing that futuristic music then heading straight for my most favorite ride of all time SSE. I dont mind the wand, it adds a little spice to the geosphere which frankly by itself is dull.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Lets face it the geosphere is boring to look at. I have been going to Disney for a long time. I've been to epcot with and without the wand. The wand hating thing comes from all the Epcot "nerds" that hate change. Dont miss undersatnd me I'm no trying to be mean. I am "nerd" myself. There is nothing more that I love then hiting the turnstyles at Epcot and hearing that futuristic music then heading straight for my most favorite ride of all time SSE. I dont mind the wand, it adds a little spice to the geosphere which frankly by itself is dull.

Meh, some people don't think everything has to have bright shiny cartoon characters splashed all over it to be colorful and interesting to look at. Sometimes less is more. Perhaps this point of view makes me an 'Epcot nerd', but I have to say that if all Disney parks were designed with the same 'Vegas but more tacky and not as elaborate' asthetic as is evident with the wand and hat I would most likely have never become a fan.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Meh, some people don't think everything has to have bright shiny cartoon characters splashed all over it to be colorful and interesting to look at. Sometimes less is more. Perhaps this point of view makes me an 'Epcot nerd', but I have to say that if all Disney parks were designed with the same 'Vegas but more tacky and not as elaborate' asthetic as is evident with the wand and hat I would most likely have never become a fan.

Well said. I never minded the concept of the sign over the sphere at night. But, what looks like a giant cardboard cut out of a blatant mickey hand and magic wand with sprakly stars felt very tacky. There are some nice elements about the wand, but I think in the way it was executed, it did more harm than good.

 

[Ella's Mommy]

Meh, some people don't think everything has to have bright shiny cartoon characters splashed all over it to be colorful and interesting to look at. Sometimes less is more. Perhaps this point of view makes me an 'Epcot nerd', but I have to say that if all Disney parks were designed with the same 'Vegas but more tacky and not as elaborate' asthetic as is evident with the wand and hat I would most likely have never become a fan.

So because of a stupid wand you would have never entered the park? That is utterly ridiculous. And last time I looked Mickey wasn't sitting on top of the geosphere it was just his arm and a wand. There is really nothing "Vegas" about the wand.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

So because of a stupid wand you would have never entered the park? That is utterly ridiculous. And last time I looked Mickey wasn't sitting on top of the geosphere it was just his arm and a wand. There is really nothing "Vegas" about the wand.

No, I'm not saying I would have fled in terror or anything. Just saying that a big part of what grabbed me about Disney parks in the first place was the atmosphere created by Imagineers who considered color, scale, composition, etc to create immersive themed environments that felt 'authentic' even though they may evoke concepts or places that never really existed.

The wand, on the other hand, is a giant, two-dimensional image of Mickey Mouse's hand holding a wand mounted on a giant scaffolding wacked down next to the park's central icon with the park's name scrawled in a sparkly letters above in a font completely out of keeping with the park's theme. It was placed in a land supposedly celebrating human ingenuity and achievement with a futuristic outlook. If all the parks were designed with a similar haphazardness I probably never would have been taken in by them in the first place.

 

[Ella's Mommy]

Nicely put. I see your point. The wand is a bit much, but I do like the Epcot sign. They should have just opted for the sign with no wand.

 

[Enderikari]

OOOhhh perhaps we have another looming issue on our hands. While selling photos last night, I pointed out to people how valuable their SSE photos were: As of Monday, the wand, stars, hand, Epcot sign, begin coming down. If they didn't have a SSE photo, I encouraged them to get themselves to Epcot and SSE and have one taken.

When informed of the impending doom of the wand, people were not happy. Your average guest loves the wand and thinks SSE will look plain and boring without it.

Not a scientific study, but info for you none the less.

I think too many threads have been devoted to people who LOVE the wand, and people who HATE the wand... Truthfully, I would be willing to bet that 95% of the people in this world are rather ambivilent. Sure, it looks neat up there, but if they come back and its gone, no one is going to throw fits. Me personally? It never ruined my vacation...