Sorcerer’s Hat Removal at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Note: This post was originally published two years ago as an editorial concerning why the Sorcerer’s Hat should be removed as part of the rumored overhaul of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Two years later, that overhaul still remains a strong rumor, but there has been confirmation that the Sorcerer’s Hat finally will be removed in early 2015. Removal of the Sorcerer’s Hat began on January 7, 2015 and will occur in phases through the spring. We thought it appropriate to republish this post. It’s as timely now as it was in 2012.
With a lot of rumors that Disney’s Hollywood Studios is set for a massive overhaul and expansion presently floating around, I thought it would be a good time to weigh in. No, not on the substance of what will be added specifically. I don’t pretend to have any “insider” information, although I am hopeful that Kathy Mangum’s relocation to Florida means something other than Cars Land coming to Florida (my preference would be for it to remain exclusive to Disney California Adventure so that park can have its own unique draw).
I’m referring to something far more important–something that needs to be removed as part of any overhaul at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The Big Sorcerer Hat (also known as the BAH–I’ll let you mull over that acronym in your head). Over the years, the number of people who like the Big Sorcerer Hat exactly where it stands has surprised me. To be clear, I have absolutely no issue with the Big Sorcerer Hat, I just think it’s not thematically appropriate for its present location in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and should be removed on that basis.
For years, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre had acted as a thematically appropriate “weenie” at the intersection of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards (not necessarily the park’s main icon–by most accounts Earful Tower was meant to be that) drawing guests down Hollywood Boulevard, which was themed, unsurprisingly, to various design styles of old Hollywood. Grauman’s itself similarly represented old Hollywood, being a re-creation of one of the most iconic theaters in Hollywood.
It similarly fit the theme of Sunset Boulevard and transitioned nicely into the surrounding area. While the architecture down the Boulevards might seem like a random mish-mash, it is far from that. In fact, close inspection reveals that the Imagineers went to painstaking lengths to model the buildings after period locations in Hollywood. All of these buildings are representative of an idealized old Hollywood (“the Hollywood that never was and will always be”), and create a clear visual motif and theme to this portion of the park.
Over a decade after the park opened, the decision was made to interrupt this old Hollywood theme by adding a giant, 122-foot tall Mickey Mouse Sorcerer Hat into the middle of this area. This Hat would be added in 2001, while the park was still known as the Disney-MGM Studios. There are plenty of urban legends floating around as to why this occurred, including that Disney built the Hat because it could not use the Chinese Theater on promotional materials or station PhotoPass photographers near Grauman’s due to intellectual property rights. All of these purported reasons that the Hat was built are grounded squarely in myth.
While few are privy to the internal conversations that occurred with regard to the building of the hat, here’s Disney’s official statement on the Sorcerer Hat: “The Sorcerer Mickey Hat truly represents the magic of show business and the entertainment wizardry of Disney. This imaginative icon falls in line with the tradition of Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth at Epcot and the Tree of Life at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.”
If you can gag your way past that chocolate-coated PR fluff, the offered justification there actually makes a good deal of sense. The rationale for placing the Sorcerer Hat in its present location is to establish an identifiably “Disney” icon for Walt Disney World’s “studios” park near the front of the park, much like the other distinctive “Disney” icons the other three parks have. The Chinese Theater, like most of the rest of the Studios’ entrance area, was a re-creation of an actual Hollywood landmark that Disney did not own or control. It was not distinctly Disney. With some visitors to Walt Disney World regularly making remarks in the vein that they’re “going to Disney World and Epcot” when they mean that they’re going to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, both of which are in Walt Disney World, there was likely some guest confusion as to which of the two “studios” parks in Orlando was owned by Disney. This probably was not helped by a non-Disney icon sitting at the front of the Disney-MGM Studios for over 10 years.
Granted, the Studios had the distinctly-Disney Earful Tower as its “true” icon for those 10 years plus years, but the Earful Tower is not as prominent as any other park’s icon. In their respective parks, all other icons are located, more or less, where the Chinese Theater sat at the Studios. Within the park, it was the most prominent and centrally-located structure, and became a de facto park icon, even if that was not the original intent.
I suspect that plans to add a “Disney” icon to the intersection of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards at the Disney-MGM Studios was not made by the creatives at Walt Disney Imagineering, but by executives focused on increasing the Disney branding in the park. The creatives were likely ultimately tasked with designing an icon, but I cannot fathom that the idea would have originated with them. The creatives who so meticulously worked to create an authentic old Hollywood theme and feel throughout Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards would not have taken the affirmative initiative to undo that theming such a short time later. This is corroborated by the fact that high-ranking Imagineers have been openly critical of the Big Sorcerer Hat when speaking publicly.
And, of course, undoing the theming is exactly what adding the Mickey Mouse Sorcerer Hat did to this area of the park. Regardless of what Disney may state, the Big Sorcerer Hat does not fit the old Hollywood theming in this area. Last I checked, there were no Big Sorcerer Hats that served as pin stores in old Hollywood. (There were no Big Sorcerer Hats, period.)
The Hat makes this area artistically and thematically disjointed. While various architectural styles work well in close proximity to one another on the intersecting boulevards, they work because they re-create the look and feel of Hollywood. Hollywood is a place of big egos, and that comes across even in the architecture as conflicting styles all compete for attention in the real Hollywood. The differing styles give character and intrigue to the real Hollywood, and these styles were well-replicated in the Disney-MGM Studios. In other words, the design of Sunset and Hollywood Boulevards worked because the design was authentic. It had design that hearkened to Hollywood, and the way the Imagineers managed to make the architecture flow with buildings in closer proximity to one another was nothing short of masterful.
By contrast, the addition of the hat was clumsy, off-theme, and without regard for thematic continuity. It had all the makings of a calculated corporate decision, disregarding the art of the theme park. Its existence seemed predicated in fuzzy ex post facto logic (“We want a Mickey Mouse hat to serve as the icon here, let’s find a way to explain away any thematic issues.”), shoe-horned in with a nonsensical explanation as to why it fits. Big Sorcerer Hat=Mickey Mouse=Animation=Hollywood=Perfect Fit! Not quite.
While the theme and roots of Disney’s Hollywood Studios are in “hollywood,” the particular look of this area of the park was old Hollywood architecture. Anything under the sun that was vaguely “Hollywood” did not fit this architecture (much like anything vaguely futuristic doesn’t fit in Tomorrowland) and thus the stated rationale that Mickey Mouse is the icon of Animation, which is a part of Hollywood, which is the theme of the Disney-MGM Studios, did not work. Quite simply, the Hat did not, and does not, match the theme of this area of the park. The theme and look of this area of the park isn’t Hollywood, generally. The theme old Hollywood and the look is architecture derived from old Hollywood. It’s not an “anything Hollywood-related goes” free-for-all.
Much like how a giant polar bear statue wouldn’t work in the middle of Africa at the Animal Kingdom, the Hat doesn’t work where it’s located in the Studios. Although polar bears are animals, they aren’t animals that have much of a connection to Africa and a statue of any animal, let alone a polar bear, wouldn’t jive with the rest of the authentic architecture in Africa. The other park icons work because they fit the themes of their respective locations. Even though Cinderella Castle is visible from Main Street, USA, Main Street proper terminates well before the Castle, which serves as a very fitting entrance to Fantasyland. The Sorcerer Hat could have worked as a gateway to the Animation section of the park, but not in the middle of old Hollywood architecture.
I know the Sorcerer Hat has plenty of fans and is fairly popular with some guests. I’m not contending that it’s an eyesore in general, my contention (as stated at the beginning of the article) is that it is thematically inappropriate in its present location. I wouldn’t mind seeing it relocated, although I don’t think that’s really possible in the real world (this isn’t Theme Park Tycoon where you can uproot and simply move large structures–the Hat would need to be deconstructed and reconstructed). That said, I think most people who think it should stay either haven’t given serious thought to why it’s thematically inappropriate in this location, or simply don’t care about the art of theme parks. Anyone who is a true fan of Disney theme parks, I think, should care about the art of Disney theme parks. This art and meticulous attention to detail are what separates the Disney theme parks from other theme parks and amusement parks, and I think it’s a grave error to be accepting of something that harms that art for the selfish and superficial reason that something “looks cool.”
For this reason, and despite my admitted belief that the Sorcerer Hat does look somewhat cool and is fun to photograph, I think any Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion or overhaul needs to include a removal of the Big Sorcerer Hat. To be sure, this may reintroduce the “issue” of Disney’s Hollywood Studios not having a distinct Disney icon that is readily identifiable to most guests. Disney can either address this by retooling the facade of the Great Movie Ride or just shrug it off. My strong advice would be to shrug it off.
So what if the park doesn’t have an icon on par with the other three parks? So what if some guests are confused as to whether it’s a Disney theme park? (The name should be a dead giveaway!) As most readers of this blog realize, there will always be a good chunk of guests who are confused by even the most obvious aspects of the parks (“What time is the 3 o’clock parade?” “How much do FlashPasses cost?” etc.). Appealing to the lowest common denominator is dangerous and ill-advised. The Studios still have the Earful Tower, and could always make this icon more prominent (or present in marketing) if something “distinctly Disney” is desire for whatever purpose. Disney has demonstrated that it’s willing to use a non-Disney icon as its center-piece with Carthay Circle Theater in Disney California Adventure, and I hope this trend is continued in Florida by restoring the Chinese Theater to a prominent position at the intersection of Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards.
As for the rest of the Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion, it seems a foregone conclusion that something is going to happen at the Studios. Disney’s Hollywood Studios really needs an expansion and overhaul, and there are plenty of routes the park could take. I previously suggested a shift to a mini-lands structure, centered around expansion of Pixar Place and creation of Lucas Land and Muppets Studios. These idea is just my idea based upon a combination of early 1990s plans that didn’t come to fruition and my own “Armchair Imagineering,” and I certainly don’t expect it to happen…but it sure would be cool!
I know both the Disney’s Hollywood Studios expansion and the Big Sorcerer Hat are topics about which others have strong opinions, so I’m really curious to hear your feedback. I am especially interested in hearing from anyone who disagrees with me about the Sorcerer Hat and can present a reasoned argument in opposition to the points I’ve made here. I honestly don’t think one exists, as most arguments I’ve read center around “I like it because it’s pretty” and it’s “needed” to give the park identity. However, I could be overlooking something.
I’ve always wondered why they switched the icon from the Earful Tower to the Sorcerer’s hat. I like the tower, but agree it’s not very prominent. I like the Sorcerer’s hat, but not it’s location. It hid the Chinese Theater/Great Movie Ride.
I am all for a park expansion! It’s always been my least favorite park. I enjoyed it a bit more this last trip due to my 5 and 3 year old boys. They got to meet all their favorite characters. There was also more for them to do than there was at Epcot or Animal Kingdom. Not too thrilled with the idea of a Star Wars expansion, but I am one of the few people who dislike Star Wars. Love the idea of a Pixar land!
I love the hat and would like to see it stay.
Yes, the hat does not fit in with theme of everything all around it. But, as others have said, the main problem is that it is ugly and tacky and blocks the view of something that is quite striking and elegant: the theater. Why can’t the theater return to its formal role of centerpiece? As for relocation: that hat would be an eyesore not matter where it is. It would still be ugly and tacky. It reminds me of the stupid mouse ears that were briefly on Spaceship Earth.
Personally I think it need to be taken down and burned. It belongs no where in the park. Send it over to POP Century resort.
Who do we have to talk to, to have it relocated to a new location? I think it should be relocated to the very front of the park where the lake is and mickey mouse garden face is. Or it should be moved to the new expanded area of Disney Hollywood Studios. We should come up with a petition to have it moved to a better location. I’m sure it will cost money but Disney can afford it let me know your ideas thank you.
I came upon this blog because I googled Disney Hollywood studios sorcerer’s hat. I googled it because My daughter just got back from LA and had photos of the real grauman’s Chinese theater, and it got me thinking about DHS. Now, I have been a Disney vacation club member since 1993, so I knew and loved Disney-MGM before the hat. I was shocked and bummed when they put up that big, stupid, theater blocking hat. At first I thought it was temporary, you know, how Disney adds stuff for celebrations (eg. The puffy, blow up birthday cake on Cinderella castle for the magic kingdom’s 25th anniversary, or the Mickey hand and wand added to spaceship earth in Epcot for another such celebration?) well, no such luck, that monstrosity stayed. :(. I agree with everything blogger Tom wrote. The hat ruins the beautiful, well thought out, creative old Hollywood theme of DHS. It was magical and exciting before. I am firmly on the side of “remove” it! I wouldn’t object to it being moved to another, less objectionable location.
I dont want it to go, apparently its being replaced by a hand and wand. Hopefully they’ll keep it! HOPEFULLY! I really would hate it to go, especially since i have just got back from my FIRST VISIT! It’d be nice to see it in the future! It has a theme, because Hollywood does make animation, and that is animation, and where it is, well that, is perfect placing! You walk in and see that, and, well, its magical! I love it!!!
DISNEY KEEP THE SORCERERS HAT!
even if its not where it is right now!
I’m another lover of the Sorceror’s Hat. I think it looks cool. I don’t even feel like I’m at WDW until I see it and take a picture and some video of it. I hope it stays there as long as my picture on the Epcot monoliths is there (another something that everyone but me seems to hate). I’ve never read any of the “PR fluff”, but I think it’s very Disney and really sets you up for what you’ll find in the park. A Hollywood based on Disney. Besides, if Disney really wanted to make the Mann authentic, they’d have to dress some CMs up as bums with bottles of wine in paper bags, and then lay them down by the entrance. Then it would be authentic. Not Disney, of course, but I guess that level of authenticity would make you happy.
I could not resist commenting. Perfectly written!
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I always thought it didn’t fit in. I wouldn’t miss it at all. Maybe it would work if it had a show inside, or some sort of attraction instead of a pin store. I never even include it in my pictures. I would rather take pictures of Tower of Terror or Star Tours. Maybe it will be refurbished in the near future. If the new Planes” movie does well then maybe a Planes Land instead of Cars Land:)
Agree!
I actually think the hat is perfect. PERFECT. My first visit to MGM/DHS was after the hat was already there, so I have no point of comparison. But for someone who has always known it to be there, tearing it down would be a travesty. It is a perfect representation of DHS’s primary icon — Sorcerer Mickey, the centerpiece of Fantasmic.
I agree totally, i’ve known it to be DHS icon since I was born, so…
I was a CM at GMR when the hat went up. At first we didn’t know what it was and we slowly watched them build it up. Honestly it was awful. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. Rumor at the time was it was put up to intentionally hide Grauman’s Chinese Theater due to some licensing issue. Of course we hear that GMR would eventually be torn down due to the same licensing issue with movies within the attraction. I agree that it just doesn’t represent anything, not that it’s ugly per say.
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I definitely agree on the hat. Nice enough, but it’s in the wrong place. The Hollywood style architecture is my favourite theming in any park in WDW and beyond and the hat just doesn’t fit it. Plus the Theatre is too nice a building to be hidden from view.
I think the main problem with updating the park is the lack of land around DHS. The only direction they could possibly expand is towards Osceola Parkway, perhaps moving the car park entrance.
In the scenario that they can’t expand I’d suggest removing the backlot tour and old studios, as the studios are more or less defunct now, which removes the point of the tour. Plus that would clear space for several attractions.
As for attractions, somebody previously mentioned Marvel who realistically could only fit into this park. The Muppets could do with an update to tie in with the new movie and its upcoming sequel.
I’m sure there are plenty of other Licences owned by Disney that currently don’t have an attraction in the park. As it’s a movie themed park, like Marvel, almost anything could be place in DHS.
If they were to expand outwards towards Osceola they could make use of the existing Streets of America backdrops and place city themed rides there such as an Avengers ride, or something with Herbie or a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.
I also regularly hear people talking about changing the Great Movie Ride to modern movies. I disagree, as this would defeat the purpose of it being a “Great Movie” Ride. Maybe one or two at most could be placed into the ride, although I’m unsure of what movies could give way. The trailers at the start could maybe include more up to date stuff so people can “relate”.
“How much are FlashPasses?” – HA! That had me laughing out loud, for sure!!
While I like the hat itself, I completely agree that the placement of the hat just feels so disjointed.
Hi Dave,
I appreciate the link. Guess I never slowed down enough to notice that “Gertie” had a connection of some sort. Actually ashamed of myself, I should have known Disney would have a purpose for such a large structure, even if it doesn’t seem to “fit!” HA!
I absolutely, completely agree with everything you’ve said. I’ve never really liked that hat anyway!
I don’t buy the idea that Disney had to hide the building because of new owners of the theater not wanting them to use it as the icon — I don’t think that’s how licensing contracts would likely work. Why would Disney agree to a contract that could be thrown out the window or subject to radical modification based on whim due to a sale of the property in question? My impression is that anyone with good attorneys would never do such a thing, and I firmly believe Disney has VERY good attorneys. I believe that might be in the vicinity of the truth, however. My suspicion is that the owners of the original theater might get a percentage of Disney’s sales of merchandise that depict the theater. So, there’s one possible factor — use your own property to create an icon and keep all the money from associated sales. Second, the theater could easily be mistaken FOR the original theater in photos, and Disney wants to motivate you to visit the parks, not Hollywood. Fans saying that not every park needs an unique, identifiably Disney icon to serve as a park symbol is all well and good, but the people that own the place seem to disagree, and their motivations are not the same as ours. And I don’t think that “identifiably Disney” is as important to the concept as “unique.” Go back in time prior to Walt Disney World opening and show photos of the icons to average people, and only the Hat might be identified as being Disney-related. But (at least at the time each was built) they were all unique — except the theater. Cinderella Castle has been essentially duplicated in Tokyo, as has Sleeping Beauty Castle in Hong Kong — but when the duplicates were built they were then “identifiably Disney.” The Earful Tower is both of those things, but it makes a relatively poor icon because it isn’t really accessible — and even if it were, it would be hard for the average tourist to get a photo standing with it in the background.
By the way, like many who have responded, I like the hat but wish it were elsewhere … but I don’t get worked up into a lather over things such as this. Life’s too short to let someone else (in this case, a company) have that much control over your sense of well-being.
I don’t think anyone is getting “worked up into a lather” over this nor is it affecting anyone’s sense of well-being, there are just some strong opinions. I think being passionate about topics that interest you, regardless of what those things are, is important to living a healthy and meaningful life. Disinterest and indifference aren’t exactly admirable qualities.
But I think you realize this. You did, after all, write one of the longest comments to a topic about which you aren’t worked up into a lather. I can only imagine your zeal for topics that do matter to you! 😉
Sorry, partial misunderstanding … I didn’t mean to imply that YOU were worked up into a lather over this — your opinion largely mirrors my own, and I believe most of the comments here are in the same ballpark as well. But I HAVE seen people do the online equivalent of getting really foaming-at-the-mouth upset, even enraged, over the hat (but I guess one doesn’t have to look hard to find people online getting excessively worked up over pretty much anything).
And yes — I can be very long-winded, as it were. And don’t get me started about those things that really do get me wound-up!
No comment on any of my speculation? It is, of course, only that, but I think it’s pretty well-reasoned.
I did hear the latest “Unofficial Guide” podcast yesterday, in which Jim Hill told Len Testa that the main reason the Hat wound up in that location is because it was supported by the merchandise arm of the company. After an original concept that would have had the Hat be an actual ride (the ears would have been Ferris wheels, apparently) The Hat was intended to sit outside the park gate and serve as the entrance to a museum that eventually became One Man’s Dream (it would have required park admission). They couldn’t get the okay on it until Merchandise got into it, but they (Merch) wanted the Hat in the center of the park. Hill seems to imply strongly that the Hat’s days are numbered, but exactly what that number might be is not yet known. They have discussed “moving” it back outside the park, but that makes it less attractive for merchandise. So who knows. Now, some people don’t care for Jim Hill, but may take is that he tells the truth as far as he knows it and is able. He’s been right enough times that I think he isn’t just spinning yarns to get web traffic (he called the Fantasyland expansion, with several correct details, in 2007).
I think the Hat looks nice, especially at night. But I would like to be able to photograph the Chinese Theater without having to use a fisheye or stitched UWA shots. The best location for the Hat as it is (or a replica thereof) would be a bit back from the entrance to the path leading to the Fantasmic! amphitheater. Outside the park gates, unless it is well over close to the boat docks, it has some of the same problems it has in the current location — it is incongruous with the things around it. But back a bit along that path, it could be at least partially hidden with trees.
Blast it — I meant to write that the concept for the museum outside the park gates would NOT have required park admission.
I admit that the BAH has grown on me, however I agree that moving it might suit the park well. The thing i dont like about BAH is that it’s a pin store. I’m sure something else could be done with it rather than another place to spend money. Maybe a meet and greet? My family loves Hollywood Studios and I hope it doesn’t change TOO much. Expanding Pixar Place would be great, in my opinion!