Are they getting rid of the wand at EPCOT?

[hauntedmansion79]

I've heard rumors that the wand and hand at EPCOT is going to be removed. It's probably true because every shot of Spaceship Earth for promotional reasons doesn't have the wand and hand. So they either don't like it either, or are planning to remove it. Does anyone know if and when it will be removed?

I hope it does get removed. I like the sphere all by itself, it's such a remarkable structure and the wand and hand take away from it. The wand and hand don't look quality, at least not by Disney standards.

 

[Sarangel]

Don't get too excited by all those promotional shots, they're mostly old footage that Disney's too lazy to change. I know they're lazy because my husband was in a focus group that was for the DL 50th promotion & showed the WDW castle on the pretext that "nobody would notice."

Anyway, the only rumors that I've heard about the wand & hand are from us Disney-geeks who think it's ugly.

 

[Scalemaster34]

I doubt it... the thing cost almost $9 milllion dollars to build.

 

[TheBellhop]

I doubt it... the thing cost almost $9 milllion dollars to build.

Somehow I doubt that the wand took 9 million dollars to build...?

If that's true, I think that money could have been put to much better use.

 

[Scalemaster34]

americanbridge.net/projects/struct/detail.php?jobnum=482110

This is a link to the American Bridge company who built the "sign" at EPCOT as well as many other WDW and DCL Projects.

Direct Link may not work, if not from the main Projects Page click "Structures", then click "Experience", then click "Other Complex Structures". The Millennium ICON project should be one of the listed projects, click on it for some of the construction information.

They the Contract Value at $8,926,918.00. What would be interesting to know is if this included and of the design and engineering work that would have gone into a project like this. If Disney did all the design work, you might need to add a million more to the total cost.

Either way, I agree this was a hugh waste of money.

 

[Another Voice]

Yes, the "Icons for Idiots" (the Epcot sign and the big hat at Disney-MGM) both cost roughly $10 million to put up.

But I'll gladly help rip them down for free.

 

[Lord Fantasius]

americanbridge.net/projects/struct/detail.php?jobnum=482110

This is a link to the American Bridge company who built the "sign" at EPCOT as well as many other WDW and DCL Projects.

Direct Link may not work, if not from the main Projects Page click "Structures", then click "Experience", then click "Other Complex Structures". The Millennium ICON project should be one of the listed projects, click on it for some of the construction information.

They the Contract Value at $8,926,918.00. What would be interesting to know is if this included and of the design and engineering work that would have gone into a project like this. If Disney did all the design work, you might need to add a million more to the total cost.

Either way, I agree this was a hugh waste of money.

For $9 million I would have expected the wand and hand to be able to move...in fact the first time I saw it in person, I stood there about 15 minutes waiting for it to swing side by side or do something since the latticework support really looked like they could have a couple of hinges buried in there somewhere.

The difference between contract value and actual cost can be immense, but if it did price at just below $9 million I expect the cost breakdown would show that $1 million was used to fabricate the wand, about $3 million to install it, $4 million worth of promotional material to convince everyone how cool it looked, and lastly, about a million for American Bridge to contribute to Eisner's pension/reelection campaign.

Admittedly, knowing that nothing for sale in the entire park, let alone the American Pavilion (don't get me started), is actually made in the USA, I expect they imported the steel for the whole structure as well.

Oh, yeah, forgot about the lightbulbs....

-R

P.S., the only real use for the hand and wand would be to change the wand into a sword and then sink them into the middle of the lagoon. Then, every night during Illuminations, the could do a King Arthur sequence and have the sword and hand rise up out of the lake with a lasar beam coming from the tip of the sword.

P.P.S., wait, I'm on a role...how about if we just remove the wand and then have the hand waiving hi or bye as people pass by; or better yet, make it into a thrill ride - The Hand of Terror - people ride up to the top of the hand, but there's no way to get down, you have to stay up there all day and have people take pictures of you in the hand...now that would be terror!

Any more ideas on what to do with the hand and wand (keep it clean, people, this is a family/public board)? I can think of a few more, but don't want to give away all my good ideas for free...

 

[kgilchri]

P.S., the only real use for the hand and wand would be to change the wand into a sword and then sink them into the middle of the lagoon. Then, every night during Illuminations, the could do a King Arthur sequence and have the sword and hand rise up out of the lake with a lasar beam coming from the tip of the sword.

P.P.S., wait, I'm on a role...how about if we just remove the wand and then have the hand waiving hi or bye as people pass by; or better yet, make it into a thrill ride - The Hand of Terror - people ride up to the top of the hand, but there's no way to get down, you have to stay up there all day and have people take pictures of you in the hand...now that would be terror!

Any more ideas on what to do with the hand and wand (keep it clean, people, this is a family/public board)? I can think of a few more, but don't want to give away all my good ideas for free...

You crack me up! I love the sword idea!

 

[rocketriter]

Not a joke response:
The wand and that hat are both so large that they're out of scale for the buildings around them. Beyond that their problems are different. The wand is at the wrong park, since it celebrates magic at a park that celebrates science and international culture. And its design is techno-medieval, clamped onto a Buckminster Fuller geodesic structure. In contrast, the hat's in the right park; Fantasia is welcome at a Hollywood celebration even if it's not strictly MGM (which is not strictly anything today, anyway). However, its placement is horrible, destroying the visual flow down the main avenue to the Chinese theatre. And all this for a bandstand and pin shop? That's like putting a shopping mall in the middle of the Washington Mall. I say get rid of both of them. They're both blunders.

 

[DisFlan]

Wow, I'd love to see that wand gone. I've always disliked it. But I'd rather see the Leave a Legacy "tombstones" gone first. IMO, they're an eyesore for what used to be a beautiful entrance area.

DisFlan

 

[ChrisFL]

Wow, I'd love to see that wand gone. I've always disliked it. But I'd rather see the Leave a Legacy "tombstones" gone first. IMO, they're an eyesore for what used to be a beautiful entrance area.

DisFlan

you mean you don't want to leave a legacy of a tiny, low-res black and white image of yourself?

I never understood that, oh wait, it makes money, DUH!

 

[DisFlan]

you mean you don't want to leave a legacy of a tiny, low-res black and white image of yourself?

I never understood that, oh wait, it makes money, DUH!

lol! Yup, that's sure what we saw those big slabs as - money makers. We had a "legacy" included in a package a few years ago. We didn't leave one.

We still don't understand what the "legacy" is, or why anyone would want their picture there (with a bazillion others) just to prove they'd been to WDW - much less pay for it. If anyone wants to leave a legacy, send the money to feed a hungry kid in Africa - or something else that's even moderately useful.

DisFlan

 

[I Am Clark Kent]

Well if you think about it, Walt Disney himself wanted EPCOT to be a Hotel of sorts. Just look at the early models of EPCOT, it was originally supposed to be a high rise with a wandlike appearance.

Do you think the Wand is an attempt to more accuratly convey his vision of EPCOT, the world of tommorow?

All they really need to do with the wand is extend Mickey's middle finger, and we have a perfect example of what EPCOT and Disney represent in the 21st Century.

Now EPCOT of the 22nd century will be more about the pursuit of money, instead of happiness.

But seriously both the hat and the wand are architectural blunders which augment the parks uniqueness. If it we're up to me, I'd hire someone from Frank Loyd Wright's practice, to re-design the parks.

 

[HitchhikingGhost]

OK. First, Clark, EPCOT was not supposed to be a hotel, but a community. An Environmental City of sorts. Say, a Prototype. Sorta from the future, or at the very least the way it should be done in the future. Maybe Tomorrow. I guess a good name Walt could have come up with was Environmental Prototype Community Of Tommorow. Wait, Walt did come up with Epcot, but the end result was not his vision.

Second, all this talk about the wand. . . blah blah blah. The structure was originally built to hold the 2000 for the Millennium celebration, and well, ya know, the cost-an-arm-and-a-leg-thing kinda dictated a continued use. . . if we only had an idea. Anyone?

With an idea? For the structure?

Anyone at all?


You there, on the third row. . . um-hm. But, . . . ok. Nice job there, Stu, but NASA doesn't really need another launch gantry.

Anyone else? For the structure thingy? That cost so much to build?



Anything, Please!

Wand? Did someone say Wand? OK. Great. Super. Fit in? What? Who cares?

Done.

 

[ChrisFL]

OK. First, Clark, EPCOT was not supposed to be a hotel, but a community. An Environmental City of sorts. Say, a Prototype. Sorta from the future, or at the very least the way it should be done in the future. Maybe Tomorrow. I guess a good name Walt could have come up with was Environmental Prototype Community Of Tommorow. Wait, Walt did come up with Epcot, but the end result was not his vision.

exactly...what we know as Epcot has maybe 10% similarity to the real EPCOT that Walt envisioned and it's very sad that his dream for a community never came to be as it was an incredible idea

 

[DVCconvert]

All they really need to do with the wand is extend Mickey's middle finger, and we have a perfect example of what EPCOT and Disney represent in the 21st Century.

Yo, Clark -- use your x-ray vision to look and see how many fingers Mickey has -- then get back to us with your plan

 

[Saxsoon]

I love the hat and wand, it changed it up a little. I am glad they changed it. Looking into MGM was lame with no color, kind of dull. And the leave a legacy, to me, gives a sci fi feel of an alien rocky shore. I like it a lot. It should not change.

 

[Crazy Hakim]

Try this link:
http://www.americanbridge.net/projects/struct/detail.php?jobnum=482110

 

[hucifer]

Second, all this talk about the wand. . . blah blah blah. The structure was originally built to hold the 2000 for the Millennium celebration, and well, ya know, the cost-an-arm-and-a-leg-thing kinda dictated a continued use. . . if we only had an idea. Anyone?

With an idea? For the structure?

Anyone at all?

You there, on the third row. . . um-hm. But, . . . ok. Nice job there, Stu, but NASA doesn't really need another launch gantry.

Anyone else? For the structure thingy? That cost so much to build?

Anything, Please!

Wand? Did someone say Wand? OK. Great. Super. Fit in? What? Who cares?

Done.

Call me a purist, but I really miss the simplicity and beauty of Spaceship Earth by itself. The Mickey hand is so tacky and out of place to me.

 

[raidermatt]

The wand is one thing, but if they remove the sign, how will we know which park we are in? Its already tough to figure it out in the other three. Instead of taking down the Epcot sign, they should add signs to the castle in MK, the BAH in MGM, and the Tree o' Life in AK.