Disney's Hollywood Studios, or at the time, Disney's MGM Studios was changed forever on September 28, 2001 when it's new park icon was unveiled. It was a 100 ft tall Sorcerer Mickey hat in celebration of Disney's 100 Years of Magic Promotion. The hat size is 605 7/8 and Mickey would need to be 350 ft tall to wear the hat. While the hat was made famous by Mickey in Fantasia, it was made infamous by the guest uproar to this new addition to the studios.
People hated the fact that it covered up one of the studio's other landmarks, the Grauman's Chinese Theater. The beautiful view down the boulevard was now blocked by a giant blue hat. Well, that's because the Imagineers simply wanted it that way.
When the park opened in 1989, it needed the MGM brand to survive as a studio and a park in general. The Disney Company didn't have the vast collection it does now and didn't have enough films to support an entire theme park. So, it brought on MGM as a partner in order to acquire it's collection of great classic movies. By the early 2000s, however, the Disney Company had established it's own place in Hollywood and was able to stand on it's own as an entertainment powerhouse. Because of that, the Imagineers decided it was time to change the park's direction. It was time to move away from MGM, and make it a true Disney park.
The hat symbolizes the first step in the "Disneyfication" of the studios that ended with the changing of the park's name to Disney's Hollywood Studios. It embodies the magic of the music, films, and tv that the park represents.
At first, I was like every other Disney fan. I hated the hat. But the more I thought, the more I realized that it really was a good symbol for the park. Unlike the Chinese Theater, it itself was already a Disney icon. While the Earful tower at the studios also could have been chosen, it doesn't have the same grand scale as the hat. So over time, it has grown on me. I don't hate the hat anymore. I have come to accept it for what it is. It is not tarnishing a classic attraction, much like the wand did to Spaceship Earth. It is also much more attractive at night. With the fancy lights on the ears, it really makes a difference in the park at night.
So that's pretty much the whole story. What are your thoughts on the hat? Love it or hate it? Or even just don't care? Share your opinions in the comments. Thanks for reading!
As a ten year old, I thought the hat was plasticy, but lit up I was amazed. I loved the hat because it was just beautiful to me. But as I grew, I kinda realized the theater, a symbol of classic Hollywood, was much more to my liking (and it's huge lights reaching to the sky are much more magical).
ReplyDeleteI guess the covering up of the theater is also like the disruption of the real Hollywood from it's classic movie days.
But now I actually miss the hat cause they put a bigass stage to put a stupid show on every night where they play the cha cha slide. What has happened to Disney?
- Piratesaresuper
Thanks for your comment Piratesaresuper and I hope you enjoyed reading my article. I agree that the hat can be a good analogy for the current state of Hollywood. Form and substance are substituted for something big and tacky.
ReplyDeleteThe Hat never bothered me much until I was watching a DVD about DAK, and Joe Rohde (I think it was him) compared the Tree of Life to the other park icons. They then showed the geodesic sphere at Epcot, and the castle at MK, and I realized that the Hat just isn't in the same class as those icons. Why should this park not get an icon that matches those others? I wrote about it on my blog here: DHS - the Hat.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is there's not really one single object that can exemplify all things Hollywood. Entertainment is so broad of a subject, that its hard to represent it with a single structure.
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