Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2015/01/02/sorcerer-hat-removal-to-begin-january-7/" target="_blank"><b>1/2/15: Sorcerer Hat Removal to Begin January 7</b></a>
Originally Posted By dagobert Finally it gets removed. However it would have been great if they would have waited after we visited WDW.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I suspect that most of it will still be in place during your trip. It's one of the big photo locations for the up-charge photo packages that they sell during the Marathon <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.runkarlarun.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Walt-Disney-World-Marathon-Tour.jpg">http://www.runkarlarun.com/wp-...Tour.jpg</a> Given that there really aren't any other usable icons along the course through the Studios, I suspect that they'll get started on low-level stuff and other prep work, but the main structure and upper decorations will remain through at least the weekend. I would guess they would need at least 2 weeks to remove the structure, and probably another couple weeks to redo the pavement in the area
Originally Posted By FerretAfros After about a month and a half, it's gone! <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/sorcerer-hat-icon/gallery/25feb2015-sorcerer-mickey-hat-icon-demolition-complete/23346.htm">http://www.wdwmagic.com/attrac...3346.htm</a> I assume they still have a lot of below-wall-level work to do to reconfigure the planters and pavement in that area, but it's great to have the old view down Hollywood Blvd restored
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: The view looks so much better now. It's time to celebrate!!! ORGOCH: Got brew?
Originally Posted By Kidz-n-k9s WOW! I was there on Monday and they still had steel support sturctures left in place. They sure demo'd those in quick order.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt That stupid hat has to be one of the most perplexing additions in Disney theme park history. It never looked good, even as a temporary installation, much less a semi-permanent one. It's like they just decided to say screw it, we don't care about our legacy as the leaders in theme park design and decided that it was perfectly acceptable to destroy the view down Hollywood Blvd. A serious head scratcher.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip You should have seem some of the wailing about the hat's removal on FB. You would have thought Disney had torn down Cindy's Castle in the MK.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt WHAT?! Oh why am I surprised? I've seen posts where Disney fans were carrying on about a bench being removed.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip These were primarily younger folks who had never seen the park without the hat. For them it really was tearing down the park icon.
Originally Posted By dagobert Finally it is gone. The view of Hollywood Blvd looks fantastic. I just wish it would have been gone when we have been there.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>It never looked good, even as a temporary installation, much less a semi-permanent one. It's like they just decided to say screw it, we don't care about our legacy as the leaders in theme park design and decided that it was perfectly acceptable to destroy the view down Hollywood Blvd.<< Seen in the footsteps of the castle cake and SSE's wand, it sort of made sense, but I agree that it looked more permanent than the other two ever did. It's placement was always odd, since it was a giant postmodern (post-postmodern?) self-referential structure plopped in the middle of a highly-stylized environment, essentially blocking the entrance to one of the park's signature attractions. I'd like to think that they allowed it's placement because it was intended to be temporary, but the design and construction of it has always looked rather intentional and permanent >>For them it really was tearing down the park icon.<< Even though I can understand them not knowing the park before it was there (especially since it's been *so* long), I struggle with folks who are so attached to something that's so out of place in the park. With MK's current treeless hub, I even struggle with the castle that looms over everything, since it doesn't really belong in colonial or turn-of-the-century America, or in the far-off future. But even a castle makes more sense than an enormous hat, which simply exists for the sake of existing, since it's at least reminiscent of a large structure you could find in the real world. When the hat first debuted I thought it was fun and kitschy, but it quickly outstayed its welcome Although the Hat was more easily hidden by its surroundings (making it "out of sight, out of mind"), I would argue that it was worse than the Wand on SSE. At least that was clearly linked to its original celebration and took the surrounding architecture into account, even if it was clearly a later addition. The Hat just sat there with no regard for its surroundings, and no obvious connection to Walt's 100th
Originally Posted By mrkthompsn The Studios to me feels like a "freebie" park, where nothing is really be nostalgic at all. If the imagineers want to try something weird, that park seems to be the appropriate place to do it, which they have done many times. Yes, the views now are "better", but to me the whole park still seems brand new and a general haphazard mashup of "stuff". The Chinese Theater doesn't send chills up the spine as Cinderella's Castle, Spaceship Earth, or The Tree of Life does. Yes I like it, but... you know... it's the Studios. In any event, I'm glad the hat is gone, but I was indeed impressed by it to some degree. It just belonged somewhere else besides the hub of a park, photobombing the moment.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt How about nowhere in any Disney park. The only place for it that might make sense to me is outside of a suburban outlet mall adjacent to a Disney Store.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Or maybe at one of the value Disney hotels in Orlando that feature all the giant props.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^Nah, they don't need another one. Though I suppose it could use some help from its "little blue friend"... <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52c5974be4b0434170f9d23f/53d4326de4b0d2c0c0ed7384/53d432e9e4b0da36743a2221/1406416779283/Disney's-All-Star-Movies-Fantasia-Hat.JPG">http://static1.squarespace.com...-Hat.JPG</a>
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I actually like the large props/icons at the All Stars. They are very "Disney"... only Disney could do something like that and get away with it!
