Ding Dong The Wicked Wand is Dead….
Although I never believe anything Disney announces until the day I see it open to the public, sometimes the day after, this removal of the wand from Spaceship Earth appears to be the real thing. I’ll be at Epcot on Sunday celebrating with a final ride on Spaceship Earth before it goes down for an extended rehab to load in the new show (I understand the exit area will remain open).
Scott Powers at The Orlando Sentinel has followed up on his lead story from yesterday with a look at how the Disney fan community is reacting.
Many of Disney’s more-critical observers have called for the arm’s removal
for several years. Independent Disney-forum Web logs such as TheDisneyBlog,
MiceAge, Re-imagineering and EpcotCentral have criticized it as tacky. John
Frost, editor of TheDisneyBlog, called it "clutter."
Indeed. Hopefully this is a trend and the new park administration has been empowered to deal with some of the mistakes made in the past. We shall see.
As is my habit. The full text of the email I sent to Scott is included in the cut below so you can see the context of my quote above.
Morning Roundup – July 6th
According to Box Office Mojo, Ratatouille continies its low boil at the box office. It’s so far pulled in over $78 million in world wide gross over the first six days. Transformers is proving to be tough competition, but Ratatouille should get a firm second place this weekend as word of mouth spreads and all… Read More »Morning Roundup – July 6th
Disney turns its back on futurism…
It was as though the people at Disney were throwing up their hands and saying, "The year 2000 is just around the corner! Without flying cars we’ve got nothing! Check your parent’s attic, there must be something cool up there!" Matt at Paleo-Future pins 1997 as the date Walt Disney Imagineering gave up on the… Read More »Disney turns its back on futurism…
Epcot Wand Coming Down, no really!
Saying its time had come Epcot’s Vice President Jim McPhee announced that starting this Monday work would begin on dismantling the Giant Wand, Mickey Hand, and other decorations that have festooned Spaceship Earth, the geodesic sphere that serves as the symbol of the park. The roots of Epcot lay in the significance of its symbols… Read More »Epcot Wand Coming Down, no really!
Morning Roundup – July 5th
I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July. The video of the WDW Naturalization ceremony was moving at times and wet at others. A Big thanks to the Walt Disney World Resort for webcasting that. I humbly request more webcasts please. City Officials in Buena Park California are buying up some of… Read More »Morning Roundup – July 5th
Tough Times For Movie Rental Houses
Movie Gallery is having trouble paying its bills, online services like Amazon continue to expand their downloadable offerings. Blockbuster, which is competing head to head against mail-delivery service Netflix and recently announced plans to close hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores, has benefitted, at least temporarily, from gaining a new CEO. With people able to buy physical… Read More »Tough Times For Movie Rental Houses
Disney World Naturalization Ceremony on webcam LIVE now
As part of its Year Of A Million Dreams promotion, Disney will be Naturalizing over 1000 new citizens this morning. They’re even webcasting the July 4th Naturalization Ceremony live from the Magic Kingdom this morning. The webcam is live now and they’ve moved the ceremony up to beat the rain. So it’s going on right… Read More »Disney World Naturalization Ceremony on webcam LIVE now