Mickey arm and wand are coming down at Epcot...

Tim

Tim

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-bk-epcot070507,0,46286.story


Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
July 5, 2007

The 257-foot-tall Mickey Mouse arm, glove and wand logo structure at Epcot is coming down.

Epcot Vice President Jim MacPhee announced this morning that the time has come to remove the structure, which has served both as a colorful, lighted Epcot sign since 2000, and as a lightning rod for criticism from Epcot purists who contended the image was out of character for Epcot's architecture.

The structure leans on Epcot's previous and future iconic figure, the Spaceship Earth Pavilion, a180-foot geodesic sphere that can be seen for miles.

The arm and glove went up for Walt Disney World's 2000 millennium celebration.

Now, however, with but with Epcot's 25th anniversary this fall, and the temporary closing of Spaceship Earth ride, MacPhee said, "We think the timing of the removal is right."

Deconstruction of the 50-ton structure begins Monday, and will be completed shortly before the park's 25th anniversary, October 1. Also coming down are the 36-foot-high "Epcot" letters and colored stars splashing across the sphere.

Also Monday, the Spaceship Earth ride will close to complete a refurbishing sponsored by Siemans AG. The work should be done by November, MacPhee said.

At 257 feet, the arm-glove-wand addition to the Epcot dome made the structure the tallest point in all of Walt Disney World.

Once it comes down, the tallest points according to Sentinel research will be two structures both estimated at 199 feet tall -- the Tower of Terror at MGM Studios and the new Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom.

The tallest point in the Magic Kingdom is Cinderella's Castle at 180 feet.

In terms of park centerpieces, Epcot's dome and Magic Kingdom's castle will both be the tallest, followed by Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life at 145 feet and then the sorcerer's hat at MGM standing at 100 feet tall.
 
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Now if they can only move the Legacy stones, put an acrylic sculpture back in the center...and voila!

<img src="http://www.themeparkphotos.us/cpg140/albums/uploads/052507/To%20be%20added/F/WDWJan9648a.jpg" />



Now wait a sec. Disney's fiscal year begins 10/1. Where did they get the budget for this?


Oh...let's see.


Budget for FY 2007:

Finalize renovation of The Seas with Nemo & Friends

Move Turtle Talk with Crush theater

Get new sponsor for Spaceship Earth; renovate exit area and attraction with funds from new sponsor

Open Wonders of Life pavilion while Spaceship Earth Closed

Remove temporary wand installed during Paul Pressler's reign over the Disney Parks (Pending since FY 2001)
 
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i know i am in the minority on this, but i will really miss the arm/wand/epcot letters.
 
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actually, it's curious why they are not opening WOL while SSE is down for an extended refurb, if only to act as a crowd swallower... i still have never been inside WOL - was going to go there at mousefest last year but never got around to it.
 
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Well Tim, there was a reason they kept calling it the "Not-so-Temporary" Wand.

It was always meant (well, at least in WDW* terms) to be only there for the Y2K celebrations, which I personally didn't mind: not as gaudy as the cake nor as frustrating as the DL 45th Anniv. (yeah, I can always tell what year I took those pics now, thanks, 50th anniv was a little less obvious and it's more special anyway)
(You know I don't have any posted of the 45th. But I have a 20x30 B&W print I made of it.)

WDW*=Don't always believe what they tell you about the plans for the parks. See WDW's skyway. I'm still waiting for the bigger and better attraction it was removed for. Oh wait? You mean the Playful Spot?
 
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well, the playful spot by all accounts is only a temp. land filler for the lagoon until the next e ticket goes into that area.
 
Probably something about the trees taking roots on the path by now.

Actually my joke is probably correct - since the rumor was that the wand removal was included on next year's budget. But it'll be down by next year. Since the bean counters (uhh yeah, like me) probably figured out the only time they'll need to have it open is the next time the park will be at capacity (12/31), and by then SE will have 4 hour long lines.

Especially with the whole section on Siemens and how they use hydrophones to communicate with clownfish, angelfish, sea turtles and sharks near their hydroelectric plants.
 
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&quot;Tim&quot; said:
well, the playful spot by all accounts is only a temp. land filler for the lagoon until the next e ticket goes into that area.
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For 8 years? (since the Skyway left to make room for an e-ticket)

12 years? (since WDW lost the subs forever)


Who knows, maybe they'll put a Ratatouille coaster in there or something. "Ratatouille: Escape from the Kitchen, hosted by Alton Brown"
 
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&quot;harra&quot; said:
&quot;rlongenbach&quot; said:
"Ratatouille: Escape from the Kitchen, hosted by Alton Brown"
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Hey!! Don't be dissing Mr. Alton Brown!
Click to expand...

Never! But if there was to be attraction based on the Rat, who else would you want to star in it?
 
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&quot;rlongenbach&quot; said:
Never! But if there was to be attraction based on the Rat, who else would you want to star in it?
Click to expand...

Well, er, you got a point. It would be much better than Emeril
 
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I can't believe this discussion has been sidetracked into Rata.. er.. (one quick copy and paste later) Ratatouille jokes.

Don't take me too seriously on this, although I DO kind of mean it.. but I feel this is a serious moment. I'm especially conflicted because I railed against the wand for so many years, only to suddenly realize that old pictures taken before it went up make SSE look naked to me now. I've realized that I've grown accustomed to it, only to find out I won't see it in person again.

Oh the irony.

I guess I have to say that I'm in support of this in the end. It's just that there are SO many other things I wish they'd change in Epcot before pulling down the wand. If I found out that the wand was coming down and that Innoventions was being transformed from a massive walk-through commercial back into a collection of ideas of better ways we could do things in the future than I'd be jumping for joy. Or if I read that Wonders of Life was being rebuilt with new exhibits utilizing groundbreaking special effects that allow people to get a never before seen first hand look at the inner workings of the human body, or indeed of ANY living organisms (I see no reason it should be constrained to people, there's no absence of wonder in the inner workings of other animals, or even plants) then I'd be grinning like a madman. How about cutting edge miniature robots designed to mimic insect behavior working away in a mechanical hive? This sort of thing is being used in research to better understand what's become known as "swarm" behavior, it would be a natural thing to put into Epcot because it's both a showy use of robotics, but it also demonstrates principles of nature.

Pulling down the wand would make things look a bit more like the Epcot of old. But it's not really going to change anything. In a way, my cynical side thinks that this is only being done because Siemans wanted it done. Perhaps so they could have their logo painted across the side of SSE with lasers without any distracting lights on the side. Or, for a slightly less nasty interpretation, maybe they just wanted to use the geodesic sphere in the new version of the ride or in some sort of promotional event and didn't want the cartoonish element spoiling the pureness of the form.

Still, big news. Despite my mixed feelings and the certainty that I WILL miss the wand when next I see SSE (Mousefest), I look forward to the return of the original flavor sphere, sans accompaniments. It gives me a great deal to re-photograph, specially the night scenes. I can spend endless time exploring all the subtle angles that will now look totally different.
 
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I'll kind of miss the wand. We always knew it was supposed to be temporary, but we thought that maybe Disney just "forgot" to take it down. Too bad.



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You know, I the only time I actually used a Tilt Shift lens was in 2000, in an attempt to get a picture of SE without the wand and with less distortion then shooting it without.

I'll have to find the negatives, I remember I shot it on Reala, but I still have pics from 2000 I haven't scanned.
 
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