![]() ![]() Disney magic is found in the people, the experiences of feeling as if you are flying over London in a pirate ship, sailing down the Amazon River with a jovial guide, setting out on a “two-week Safari” in Africa, journeying to the very port of imagination, or to 11 different countries without needing a passport. In this author’s experience and humble opinion, throwing sparkles and pixie dust on any and everything does not make Disney Magic™. By the same token, throwing up an over-sized bit of Disney-themed “magic” in the form of a hat, does not equal Disney quality and dedication to a properly themed environment. But as we Disney purists know, lack of Disney branding does not equal some sort of disconnect between the guest and where they are spending their hard-earned vacation dollars. It also conveniently solved that pesky issue of the main “weenie” in this park being a non-Disney entity (Grauman’s Chinese Theatre). It no doubt made loads of money in both merchandise and photo pass sales. ![]() As with many things in Disney parks these days, it became easier to leave this store up. The hat was not an icon, it was a pin store in the shape of a hat, and a temporary one at that, created for the “100 Years of Magic” celebration, when special light-up pins were sold which interacted with park elements. One major part of that mishmash was a giant Sorcerer’s hat, which while, yes, related to an animated film from Walt Disney, had no business being at the end of Hollywood Boulevard, a walkway brimming with Hollywood history, homages, and iconic architecture. Destroy the basic essence of a movie-studio-related theme park and over time, it becomes a shell of a park a mishmash of random attractions and unrelated shows which are either outdated or have nothing to do with “The Hollywood that never was and always will be.” Throw a couple of birds from unrelated movies into a classic, original WDW attraction like the Enchanted Tiki Room, and Disney purists will be unhappy. In my, and many others’ opinions, part of the disappointments in park-related decisions made by Disney executives almost always stem from this suspension of theming. Part of what drew me in to the wonders of Walt Disney World as a child were the incredibly themed environments found at each park. I hope we have this uncluttered view again with the removal of the hat. But I was lost in the moment, and just kept typing. I had never before written a blog post on my phone, save for very short updates about new purses being released while I may have been away from my laptop. My thoughts got away from me, and I had soon reached “caption limit” on Instagram, so I copied and pasted what I’d been writing into my “Notes” on my phone. I began writing this as a caption to a photo I had posted before on Instagram, of a hat-free view of Disney’s Hollywood Studios (of course, then known as Disney-MGM Studios). ![]()
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