But the Castle *isn't* a part of Main Street USA.
Maybe, maybe not. I don't think that really matters; it certainly is just as visible from Main Street as the hat is on Hollywood Boulevard.
But using your analogy, how about if Disney recreated a 50 foot fibergalss Babe the Big Blue Ox where the Partners statue stands(since he better fits the period of Main Street) Now the only way to see the castle is to look up. And instead of telling your friends to meet you in front of the castle, you meet them under the blue cow.
Well, that's one way to twist it, but my analogy isn't any more tortured than yours. Certainly is is possible to create something that is more objectionable than the castle, and I think a 50-foot statue of a man and a blue ox would fit that bill. Although collected
stories of the two were apparently first published and gained popularity around the time represented by Main Street USA, gigantic statues of the type you describe fit the theme no better than a castle, and the stories themselves are set almost a century earlier, for the most part.
Arguing that the castle doesn't truly fit the theme of Main Street wasn't meant as a challenge to come up with something worse! If you recall, I said I don't dislike the hat
per se, but I agree it should be moved. You seem to be responding as if I said I wanted it to stay where it is. I don't. I just like for people to make consistent arguments. I say it is inconsistent to argue that the hat should be moved because it doesn't fit the theme and then turn around and defend the castle being
visually a part of Main Street. It doesn't matter whether the castle is technically a part of Main Street; the design of the street is set up to draw your eye toward it. Neither fits the theme of where they are (the castle does fit well enough from the other side, as a part of Fantasyland). Of course, I love the castle and have much less attachment to the hat.
To be fair, the castle was a day-one feature of the Magic Kingdom and everything there was designed around it being there; it doesn't block something else that was once there. The hat was a design afterthought and does block the theater. But arguing "it doesn't fit the theme" isn't such a cut-and-dried argument, and it is usually presented as if it is some sort of "ace-in-the-hole" and that it trumps all other reasoning. It doesn't.
Scott
