Originally Posted By FerretAfros If you look at the map there is an arrow from the words over to the location of the wheel where it's always been. It looks like they just left it to the side so the World of Color show would have space for it's name and clear signs of what will be done for it.
Originally Posted By PetesDraggin "Disney parks have never been celebrated for their characters. People look to Disney parks for the uniqueness, level of detail, cutting edge attractions and overall quality. If character identification were required for acceptance, they’d have them everywhere. But they don’t." I beg to differ. It may not be that way for you, but I don't think you can speak for everyone and say that Disney parks aren't about the characters. I happen to think the characters are an integral part of each and every Disney park that I have ever visited; they wouldn't be the same without them. Walking into Disneyland, one is confronted with the floral Mickey, not to mention all of the pumpkin characters that are everywhere at this time of year. The castle, which is the most famous icon of all the parks, is from a cartoon. It is almost impossible to go anywhere in the park and not see some reference to a cartoon. Even HM gets a "cartoon" overlay for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that the entire park should be turned over to Pixar or the other Disney toons. But the inclusion of some in areas of the park is not a bad thing, IMHO.
Originally Posted By 2001DLFan <<PetesDraggin: "Disney parks have never been celebrated for their characters. People look to Disney parks for the uniqueness, level of detail, cutting edge attractions and overall quality. If character identification were required for acceptance, they’d have them everywhere. But they don’t." I beg to differ. It may not be that way for you, but I don't think you can speak for everyone and say that Disney parks aren't about the characters. I happen to think the characters are an integral part of each and every Disney park that I have ever visited; they wouldn't be the same without them. Walking into Disneyland, one is confronted with the floral Mickey, not to mention all of the pumpkin characters that are everywhere at this time of year. The castle, which is the most famous icon of all the parks, is from a cartoon. It is almost impossible to go anywhere in the park and not see some reference to a cartoon. Even HM gets a "cartoon" overlay for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that the entire park should be turned over to Pixar or the other Disney toons. But the inclusion of some in areas of the park is not a bad thing, IMHO.>> I’m afraid you are misunderstanding my meaning about characters. Certainly the parks are about characters in that a good deal of the attractions are based on character laden films. HOWEVER, characters aren’t haphazardly plastered on attractions. The floral Mickey is one of the relatively subtle elements that I was talking about. The pumpkin Halloween themeing is not the same situation. That’s a holiday overlay like Christmas lights and some of the other overlays they add. The characters in the park, whether in meet and greet locations or general walk around, are intended to add an additional level of detail to the attractions they are related to. My point is that Sleeping Beauty’s face isn’t on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. They don’t have Mickey’s face on the Matterhorn. Just applying a character face to something doesn’t necessarily enhance it, especially if they are putting in the effort to create a theme that is weakened by the addition.
Originally Posted By ArchtMig SUN FACE - Dumb idea, typical of amateurish DCA planning and concept. Mickey face on Sun Wheel - Blatant overcharacterization for the purpose of injecting "Disney" into the "unDisney" Paradise Pier. Therefore dumb idea. What will make the pier more "Disney"-like is the Victorian theming throughout. They really ought to know the difference. The Mickey face shown dates back to the 1960s. The Victorian theme goes back to, what, the 10s? The 20s? There is a disconnect that I do find jarring. My opinion.
Originally Posted By jonvn I think the sun face is actually ok. It's very much in the style of Mary Blair. I think it's cool looking. But the mouse face, it's just a grotesque thing that is over the top. It does NOT look like the 1930s Mickey Mouse. More like the 1950s. I'm sure someone will love it.
Originally Posted By EighthDwarf If they were hoping to use the Mickey face in the World of Color Show, wouldn't it make more sense to not have it on display all the time? Think about Fantasmic, if Mickey were standing our there the whole time, what would be the thrill when he comes out at the begining of the show?? I would think Disney could be more creative than that - maybe keep the sun and have it turn into Mickey (somehow)during the show.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I would think Disney could be more creative than that - maybe keep the sun and have it turn into Mickey (somehow)during the show.> That would be MUCH better.
Originally Posted By Hans Reinhardt Seems to me that there should be a way to keep the sun emblem and have it transform into Mickey during the WOC show.
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes >>>The map was apparently provided by Disney, which means someone in Disney’s marketing/PR isn’t all that knowledgeable about DCA.<<< Yeah, they probably had only been there once, and after two hours said,"This place sucks!" and left.
Originally Posted By PetesDraggin I just noticed in the rendering of the Sun Wheel with the Mickey face, the rays of the sun face are still there behing Mickey's head. Did the image from the cartoons look like that?
Originally Posted By Brown Monkey Yes exactly like that. If you just think about the image itself it is in a sense kind of brilliant in how it's utilized over the original design.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror What would REALLY be period, would be putting Oswald's face up there. Of course, it looks a lot like that period Mickey head, but with different ears.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror Normally I hate the blatant infusion of Character junk over attractions just to scream "Disney". In this case, however, that image is cute. It's appealing, and it will "read" period, even if it isn't literally true to the 20's or earlier. It has appeal and it will look pretty good up there. Meanwhile, I can't stand the Mickey "head" on the Roller Coaster. That just seems kind of pointless and blah.
Originally Posted By jonvn I mean, take a look at any dictatorship. What do you see plastered everywhere? Photos of the dictator smiling down at you from everywhere you look. In Iraq, you had statues of Saddam everywhere. Posters of him everywhere. Everywhere you looked. It's not good. It's dystopian, and I wonder if people will be bothered by it.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror Mickey doesn't kill people or make their lives worse... Unless you count fathers with aching shoulders or those kids in the sweatshops stitching all the souvenir T-Shirts. I get your point, but Mickey's face is about as benign and friendly as they get. Psychological studies have been done (not sponsored by Disney) demonstrating how infants respond to images of a smiling Mickey suspended over their cribs, as opposed to their response to other images. Overwhelmingly, the infants gave a very positive, pleased response to Mickey's smiling face. It's a stretch to say people are going to "feel better" because his face is up on the Ferris Wheel, but it's also a stretch to say they're going to feel worse.
Originally Posted By jonvn "Mickey doesn't kill people or make their lives worse..." So you would be led to believe. "Mickey's face is about as benign and friendly as they get. " Let's take another icon. Ronald McDonald. How'd you like that staring down at you all day? Same sort of thing.
Originally Posted By BlueOhanaTerror >>>Let's take another icon. Ronald McDonald. How'd you like that staring down at you all day? Same sort of thing.<<< A LOT of people consider clowns scary. I'm not sure why, but I designed several attractions with scary clowns, and they always worked. I'd say it's a safe bet that almost nobody considers Mickey Mouse threatening. The very essence of his design is non-threatening curves, circles and ovals.
Originally Posted By jonvn Well, threatening is kind of not the right word. Overbearing may be a better choice. I don't think people will feel threatened, but they may feel it's obtrusive and in your face. You have to think about how you're basically going to be seeing that face all the time. It needs to be really very subtle or it's going to sear itself into your brain.
