Disney to Remove Sorcerer's Hat From Hollywood Studios

finally. I can go back now

The hat was not one of my Disney concerns. I wish they'd do a major monorail expansion, but I know it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars unfortunately. It's a PITA to catch the busses everywhere.

Orlando Sentinel article

quote:

---

Disney installed it in 2001 as a focal point. From the beginning, many people didn't like it. They complained it blocked the view of the Chinese Theatre and ruined the ambience of the park's section dedicated to Hollywood's "golden age" of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.

"A 122-foot tall hat at the end of the street just kind of threw off the story that the studio was trying to tell," said Jim Hill, an industry blogger.

---

quote:

---

"There is a generation of people who think the hat's always been there," said Robert Niles, publisher of ThemeParkInsider.com. "They don't remember looking down Hollywood Boulevard and seeing the Chinese Theatre."

---

quote:

---

Disney has talked about Star Wars playing a larger role in its parks, and the expectation is that Hollywood Studios will get more attractions based on the science-fiction series.

---

Hollywood studious is preparing for a major overhaul. It was already a thin park in terms of attraction count and they've closed or are scheduled to close almost half of the park at this point. It is even rumored to be getting a name change and possibly a layout change since it's not very intuitive. Unfortunately, this is likely to take years to complete since they won't be shutting down the park during construction and will only be doing so much work during park hours to keep the noise and distractions to a minimum.

About the only thing I'll miss about the hat is that as a family we won't have it as a reminder of Pops Midnight's last trip to Disney.

He wanted to follow a logical sequence, not realizing that every time we changed areas we had to go back through the central hub, past the hat. He was in the early stages of Alzheimers (but it was undiagnosed at that time) and his understanding was starting to go.

"We've passed that hat, 20 TIMES!"

Good times. Miss you Pops, RIP.

But, that's about it. I think our first trip to Disney with my crew, we focused heavily on Magic Kingdom but it was during the Earful Tower era at then named Disney-MGM Studios.

I'd be fine if they brought Earful back to the front. I bet it's going to be Star Wars, though.

You Disney fanatics are weird.

New beer stand?