A teaser photo!

[KPeveler]

also, SSE is getting a massive renovation, so they may be renovating the outside too!

AT&T may not want it up there since they are sponsoring it...

 

[daber]

also, SSE is getting a massive renovation, so they may be renovating the outside too!

AT&T may not want it up there since they are sponsoring it...

AT&T no longer sponsors it. Siemans does.

 

[KPeveler]

AT&T no longer sponsors it. Siemans does.

I knew what I meant! I knew they had just got a new sponsor.

I saw the hat needs to go. the whole flow of MGM was ruined!!! you used to be able to look down and see the theatre. why build the theatre if you cant see it.

 

[Live4FW]

For the monorail playsets, they have discontinued the hat but the castle, tree and ball remain available.

 

[ASilmser]

[/QUOTE]
I saw the hat needs to go. the whole flow of MGM was ruined!!! you used to be able to look down and see the theatre. why build the theatre if you cant see it.[/QUOTE]

I was there last year, and I took a behind the scenes tour. The cast member mentioned that the owners of the Chinese theater had not renewed an agreement with Disney for use of their building facade (apparently Disney paid some sort of licsensing fee to the owners). At any rate, rather than be forced to tear it down, the owners of the Chinese Theater (it's owned by a big chain, but I don't know which one) agreed to let Disney keep it up their if they constructed something that blocked it's view, thus removing it as a focal point.

And so, the hat was placed in front of the theater, complete with a souvenir shop right below it. I don't know how much of this is true, but It seems plausible. If anyone else can confirm this, it would be appreciated.

At any rate, if this is true, we probably won't be seeing the hat go away for awhile.

 

[LGithens]

I can somewhat put up with the wand, but I HATE the hat! It was fun the first year, but then I would rather seen it come down. I also thought the Chinese theatre was the icin for MGM, guess they just had to cartoon it up!

Lori

 

[DisBride23]

I too heard the story about the loss of rights for the theatre. A CM told me when the hat first went up. Though I'm not a fan of the hat, I'm just glad the wand is going. To me, that was worse!

 

[DC7800]

If it were solely an issue of 'hiding' a Chinese Theater you don't have the 'rights' to display, it surely would have been cheaper (and easier) to just build a new facade for the front of the Great Movie Ride building. Change just enough architectural details that the place is no longer recognizable as the Hollywood landmark and the problem is solved.

That Hat was a 100 Years of Magic (marketing) symbol, placed in a rather poorly chosen location, and which should have went away at the end of that promotion (ok, it should never have been done at all, but...). The Castle Cake was eventually removed; So should the Wand and Hat.