Originally Posted By ssWEDguy I have always felt the Chinese Theater to be kind of an odd choice for a primary park icon. The building itself feels "mysterious" more than magical or wondrous. As a part of the Hollywood Boulevard, perhaps off on a side street along with the rest of the Hollywood buildings, of course. But given the honor of being the central park icon right down at the end of the street? I don't really get it. When a park is designed there have to have been many primary icons in consideration. What were the others like? I'd love to know more about the reality of why Grauman's was chosen to begin with. I've not read much about this. Can anyone shed some light?
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy I think the theater represents the culmination of all the elements involved in moviemaking -- the World Premierd gala event. When you look at how the original Disney MGM Studios was set up, it offered attractions that brought together all of the backstage elements that go into making a film. When you stitch all of those pieces together, you have a film that is ready for it premiere at Graumann's and time for the actors and other major film players to put their hands in cement to mark their place in filmmaking history. A lot of these behind the scenes elements are missing from the Disney MGM Studios today, which makes the Chinese Theater a less effective symbol for the whole park. I'd like to see a return to the park's original premise, but it's more likely that we're just going to end up with more cartoon character attractions that don't really have a cohesive theme from one to the other. In that circumstance, Mickey's hat makes better sense than the theater as the centerpiece for the park.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 The Theater was an absolutely perfect 'weenie' for the Studios. It was not used as an icon ... that was the Earful Tower to represent the old water towers present on film backlots in the Golden Age of cinema. The Chinese Theater was the absolute perfect choice because it sits on Disney's idealized Hollywood Blvd of the 1930s/40s and has a commanding presence, much like the real one does. As to it being magical ... well, movies are magic. It is the portal to the Great Movie Ride and it's what drew you down Hollywood Blvd. ... not a giant cartoon hat/pin shack that looks like it was just dropped down from another realm it is so strikingly out of place. I'm sure Bob Weis, the lead designer on the Studios who is now working again for WDI on the DCA redo, would have said the same thing prior to going back to work for the Mouse. Now ... I'm sure he just wishes a tornado would pick it up and drop it down on a trailer park in Polk County. The BAH doesn't fit in any sense of reality ... it doesn't mesh with what's around it and what leads up to it ... not to mention the fact it obscures the amazing job WDI did on the Theater ... but I know someone will say 'well, doesn't having a fairytale castle at the end of a turn of the century street do the same thing?' ... the answer is 'no.'
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Correct! MK is supposed to defy reality and make it better... reason why the Castle belongs at the end of Main Street. Granted, Walt's Original castle did less damage to Main Street due to the smaller scale... At DHS (gotta get used to that new name now), it is supposed to represent a Hollywood Panorama, a working studio of sorts... so NO, the BAH does not fit.
Originally Posted By imadisneygal I believe it may stand for Big (other-"A"-word-for-bottom) Hat. But I could be wrong.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> Correct! MK is supposed to defy reality and make it better... reason why the Castle belongs at the end of Main Street. Granted, Walt's Original castle did less damage to Main Street due to the smaller scale... << Doesn't Main Street end at the Hub, and the Castle is the main entrance to Fantasyland? All of the Lands have to have a transition area. It's hard to keep a constant theme with so many Lands in such a small area. I still think DHS (gosh that just doesn't do anything for me) is still a beautiful park. However I think the placement of the Hat ruined the atmosphere of the grand entrance. I really would like to know the real reason for it's placement there. For a short Millenium celebration it was OK, but I just can't believe anyone really thinks that is a good location for it. The Chinese theater just saids Hollywood in it's glory years to me.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Disney-MGM Studios is filled with design blunders, in my opinion. The long Main Street U.S.A. street that is a tip o' the hat to old Hollywood is the best part of the entire park. The architecture is neat, the 'Streetmosphere' characters were a great touch, and it captured the 'this is the Hollywood that never was.' HOWEVER, the designers flubbed it big-time by building an exact replica of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Guess what? The real one still exists in Hollywood California! And looks better than ever! My feeling is that Disney should have created their own sparkling, movie palace from the grand old days of Hollywood -- an original, spectacular looking theatre that could serve as the icon of the park. Beyond that, Disney-MGM is as convoluted and strangely put together as Disney's California Adventure. Here again, the Imagineers sort of tossed out the 'Hub' and the 'spokes of the wheel' concepts that work so well in Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom and EPCOT Center. At Disney-MGM, there's very little flow or even organization -- my gosh that area with the Sci-Fi Dine-In and Muppets and Star Tours -- it confuses me just thinking about it. In closing -- re-creating the Chinese Theatre was a dumb idea in the first place.
Originally Posted By ssWEDguy >> My feeling is that Disney should have created their own sparkling, movie palace from the grand old days of Hollywood -- an original, spectacular looking theatre that could serve as the icon of the park. << Bingo.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << HOWEVER, the designers flubbed it big-time by building an exact replica of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. >> I don't know what other type of theater would convey the same sense of Hollywood except for the Chinese Theater. A world premiere at the Chinese Theater speaks to moviemaking from past to present. Stars don't put their hands in cement outside of just any old theater -- it's got to be Grauman's. It's every aspiring stars dream to walk the red carpet to their gala premiere night at the Chinese Theater. I'm not sure that there couldn't be other icons for DHS, but if you are going to make the central icon of the park a theater that represents all of the red carpet glamour of Hollywood, I don't know what else fits better than the Chinese Theater. Also, I think the Imagineers made one vast improvement over the real-life Chinese Theater -- they put it right at the end of the street where it could be seen the entire length of their fictitious Hollywood Boulevard. In reality, the Chinese Theater is just another building on the block. I remember my first visit to Hollywood -- I drove right by without knowing that I was passing by a landmark. Sure, it's a unique piece of architecture, but it's position along Hollywood Boulevard isn't any different than the other theaters, offices, and shops that line the street. That's what makes the DHS version better than the real thing.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >> My feeling is that Disney should have created their own sparkling, movie palace from the grand old days of Hollywood -- an original, spectacular looking theatre that could serve as the icon of the park. << >>Bingo.<< Do you think the Emerald City would have been a better choice as a facade for the GMR? >>A world premiere at the Chinese Theater speaks to moviemaking from past to present.<< Exactly my feelings. At least they didn't recreate the Egyptian Theater facade...
Originally Posted By twirlnhurl I think the layout of the Disney MGM Studios was not the result of poor planning, it was because the park was planned to be one thing and became another. The corner with Star Tours, Sci Fi and Muppetvision was only intended to be Star Tours and Sci Fi, a much better combination. The park was never intended to be open to guests past that point, and those long, unthemed paths behind the Great Movie Ride were also not meant to allow guests. The Disney MGM Studios was a victim of it's own success as a theme park, and failure as a movie studio.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Disney-MGM Studios was built without a master plan for future growth unlike every other WDW park. When it needed to expand, it did in haphazard ways ... I think Cast parking has been moved 5-6 times to make space for expansion. That's the reason why things appear so chaotic and confusing in that park ... and even with the new things coming, I doubt it will fundamentally fix the basic design flaws. All those production areas were never meant to be theme park. And it shows.
Originally Posted By DlandDug I first visited Disney-MGM a month after it opened. It immediately became my favorite park at WDW. As the years have gone by, though, the chaotic additions, poor layout, and random changes to the buildings have made Disney Hollywood Studios somewhat depressing to me. The Chinese Theater was a wonderful "weenie" for the end of Hollywood Boulevard. Bear in mind that when this theme park was built, Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood was looking a bit long in the tooth. In recent years the complete restoration of the original made it look startlingly like Disney's version. I really hate the hat, especially as it put an end to the wonderful Christmas tree and train that were a big part of the holiday decorations.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I think the Chinese is a great icon. It just screams "Golden Age of Hollywood." And I haven't seen another suggestion that I think would be better suited.
Originally Posted By tonyanton I was just in Hollywood last month and the Chinese Theater...while looking better than before still looked a lot more worn than the recreation in Florida.
Originally Posted By nbodyhome >>I believe it may stand for Big (other-"A"-word-for-bottom) Hat. But I could be wrong. << Yes, I actually was the originator of the term (and I now proudly take credit for that!) Denise
Originally Posted By brotherdave The Chinese Theatre, to us non-Californians, is a symbol of Hollywood, both old and new. Besides, where else can Disney's guest 'celebrities' put there handprints in cement?
Originally Posted By TDLFAN In Toontown's Fair. There are handprints there as well... from Disney characters. Or is that in DL's Toontown?
