The Era of Big and Tacky

Is the era of oversized fiberglass objects over?  I think so.

I can appreciate a well-sculpted, well-painted, larger-than-life object used as a design element as much as the next guy… but where is the line drawn?  It started in the mid 90’s.  I’m not quite sure what started the trend, I only remember these things started to pop up everywhere.  We've seen very few of these recently.  Think about it.  The American Idol show would have had an 80 foot microphone stuck to the building if it opened in 2002.  I, for one, am happy to close this chapter in theme park history.

Top Ten List of Big and Tacky.

10)  Carousel of Progress Sign

A big gear to go along with the 1994 redesigned Magic Kingdom Tomorrowland.  In an attempt to make the land a little more industrial (for some reason), these huge gear shapes were implemented, including the pastel-colored shapes on the Carousel building itself.

9)  California Adventure’s Big Orange

Something about bees flying around the inside of an orange and you are the bees, sitting in revolving swings?  If you didn’t get a chance to hang out in this thing, I’m not sorry to announce it’s no longer there.  The rendering on the right depicts "The Silly Symphonies Swings", to replace the orange.

8)  Sorcerer’s Hat

No, it’s not “Sorcerer Mickey’s hat”.  The hat in the famous Fantasia short belonged to the actual sorcerer, not to Mickey Mouse.  Mickey was the lowly apprentice who stole the hat.  Ok.  This is one of the biggest of history’s big and tacky pieces.  Big enough to intentionally cover the view of the Chinese Theater (for some reason) and big enough to house a pin gift shop.

7)  Aerosmith Guitar

Well-crafted and hideous at the same time.  At least it’s at Hollywood Studios, right?  Probably part of the attempt to “reach the younger crowd.”  Awesome.

6) Astro Orbitor

A terrible entrance to a once beautiful land and a destroyer of the aesthetics of a once beautiful Hub.  But it's shiny.

5)  Pink Cinderella Castle Cake

I love this one.  Even the most mindless lover of anything Disney can agree that this is a big pink nightmare.  Ok, there are people who actually miss it.  I must say there is one redeeming quality to this big, partially inflatable, fake candy-covered, cake castle-  it was always intended to be temporary.

4)  All-Star Resorts

Wow.  This is the Holy Land for lovers of big and tacky messes.  And for high school groups needing on-property rooms for $79 a night.

3)  POP Century Resort

This is higher on my list than the All-Stars for one reason-  large wording on the side of the hotel buildings such as “Far Out!”, “Cool Dude”, “Awesome”, "Radical", “Groovy”, and other classy terms written 40 feet long.  It really is “awesome”.

2)  California Adventure’s Post Card Entrance

This is number 2 on the list because it involves AN ENTIRE ENTRANCE TO A THEME PARK.  And no one really notices what it is- it’s suppose to look like a thousand foot post card.  It’s being removed soon as part of the DCA revamp, and thank you for that.

1)  Mickey Hand on Spaceship Earth

A big giant joke.  “It will make kids like Epcot more.  Uhh huh.  Yeah.  This makes the top of the list because it desecrated one of the greatest theme park icons of all time.  I remember everyone saying “They can’t take it down 'cause it will affect the structural integrity of the big ball.”  WHAT?  The “big ball” had no problem standing on it’s own for 2 decades before Mickey’s hand came along.  Oh and take a look… it only looks like it’s connected but it doesn’t even touch SSE.  Thank you for taking this Disney World landfill.

Note:  The reason DHS's Toy Story Mania (with all the big toys everywhere) did not make the list is for the fact that the story is about small objects surrounded by seemingly large objects..

Comparing Disney Parks From the Air

Click to Enlarge

I always hear how Disneyland is SOOO much smaller than the Magic Kingdom.  I always felt that it was not THAT much smaller geographically.  Some say the World Showcase Lagoon can fit another park within it's shores.  Either way, here is a look at the domestic Disney parks from high up in the air.  

These are all shown at the same scale, according to bing.com/maps, which I imagine is not one hundred percent accurate, but close enough.

Videos. Vintage WDW and Disneyland Videos.

Let's thank our lucky stars for the unassuming fathers and mothers who had undying desires to film their families at Disney parks in decades past.  Let's be even more grateful to those who filmed less of their kids and more of the parks themselves.  
 

I stumbled upon this collection on Vimeo a while back and rather enjoy what this man has put together.  Martin started filming WDW in 1978 with no knowledge of how valuable that footage would become.  He provides a number of 'Ultimate Tributes' to things that catch my attention such as The Rivers of America WDW , Kitchen Kabaret, If You Had Wings and Dreamflight,  Carousel of Progress 75-94, American Adventure 82, and so much more.

Another great collection that I've loved for even longer is that of Widen Your World with their collection found on their YouTube Channel.  I can't imagine Martin and every other Walt Disney World history nut not depending on Widen Your World as the ultimate source of early WDW information.  Spending countless hours in WDW archives I've witnessed first-hand that the Disney Company itself depends on WYW as it's ultimate source of early WDW.  Celebrated director of the Walt Disney Archives in Burbank, Dave Smith, has referred me to the WYW site more than once.

Among my many favorite videos on this channel are Mickey Mouse Review Show Segments 1977, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Track A and Track B, Space Mountain Movies Circa 1978 and 1981, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Port Ride Through 1990, and Disneyland Walt Disney Story Pre Show Owl.  (Yes there is great Disneyland stuff on this channel too.)

And as we've mentioned a number of times, Mesa Verde Times has an excellent collection of videos of guys sneaking around Horizons sets while the ride is in operation... if you are into that (I am!).