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5. Leave a Legacy

Image: Disney

Park: Epcot
Lifetime: 1999 - 2019 (20 years)

Long ago, stepping into Epcot was like walking into an oasis of palm trees, flower beds, and fountains set before the iconic Spaceship Earth. That's long gone – for now! – thanks to "Leave a Legacy," another remnant of Epcot's Millennium Celebration. Now, stepping into Epcot, you're surrounded in brownish, granite monoliths – not unlike the material and colors of tombstones. And like markers you'd see at a graveyard, these massive granite walls (ranging from 3 to 19 feet tall) have etched portraits. But these aren't the deceased – they're guests who wanted to commemorate their attendance at the Millennium Celebration!

If you had a photo of you ($35) or you and a friend ($38) etched on stainless steel, you might make a habit of visiting it each time you come to Epcot. And since Disney sold 550,000 of the 700,000 available tiles, that's a reality for quite a few people. But for everyone else, the entry walk through the Leave a Legacy monoliths is somewhat cold and unfriendly. At least Disney Legend John Hench (original designer of Spaceship Earth) designed the forms so that they appear to "cradle" the geodesic sphere when viewed from a central point. Think of what an outside designers might've done!

Image: Disney

What happened: Guests purchasing a tile recieved paperwork noting that Disney could relocate the "image and/or sculpture" anywhere within Walt Disney World at any time, and that they could be removed permanently after 20 years. With the last tiles sold in 2007, that seemed to indicate that "Leave a Legacy" would remain until at least 2027, and since some of the monoliths weigh 50,000 pounds, probably longer. But in 2019, as part of Disney's ongoing reimagining of Epcot, it was announced that the original, garden entry plaza would be restored. True to their word, Disney will keep the Leave a Legacy monoliths... but move them to outside of Epcot's front gates. That process started in May 2019.

6. California Post Card

Image: Disney

Park: Disney California Adventure
Lifetime: 2001 - 2011 (10 years)

Disneyland's entrance is a turn-of-the-century red brick train station set high on a hill, with classic, wrought-iron gates around the plaza leading to it. In 2001, the new Disney's California Adventure park was built on Disneyland's former parking lot, with their entrances facing each other across a plaza. But while Disneyland's quaint entrance was understated, historic, and fanciful, the new Disney's California Adventure was built with an "MTV attitude," and showed it right away.

The park's entrance wa made of multiple layers – giant letters that read C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A, soaring concrete walls embedded with the world's largest tile mosaics flanking the entry gates, a squashed-and-stretched cartoon intepretation of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a metallic, stylized "sun" with twisting rays beyond. The idea was that, when viewed from the center, these layers lined up to create a giant "post card" that guests could step directly into. It wasn't a bad idea. The problem was that guests arrive from the extreme sides. What's more, the bright, overexaggerated, comic book architecture was one of the things guests didn't like about the new park.

What happened: As part of California Adventure's billion-dollar redo from 2007 - 2012, the post card entry and the land it was made of – "Sunshine Plaza" – were demolished. In its place rose Buena Vista Street, a 1920s Los Angeles boulevard that's a perfect complement to Main Street. The park's entrance was restylized using the same art deco teal Pan Pacific towers that serve as the entrance to Hollywood Studios, but they make even more sense in Anaheim. The CALIFORNIA letters were donated to Cal Expo, where they serve as iconic entrance features.

7. DisneyQuest

Image: Disney

Location: Disney Springs
Lifetime: 1998 - 2017 (19 years)

When Downtown Disney's glowing West Side '90s playground opened, one of its icons was one of the most mysterious attractions Disney's ever designed... a giant, asymmetrical teal cube looming over Downtown Disney simply reading "DisneyQuest." A generation of Disney Parks guests longed to know what was within this enigmatic structure. The answer? Part arcade, part funhouse, part technological showplace, all Disney.

We took the full tour in our Declassified Disaster: DisneyQuest feature. The long and short is that DisneyQuest was Disney's attempt to break into regional entertainment, with ambitions to open "interactive indoor theme parks" in the downtowns of major cities across the country and globe. Imagine Charlotte, Columbus, San Fransisco, Austin, Chicago, and Philadelpha each having massive DisneyQuest buildings appear in their respective downtowns, luring locals and tourists alike...

And inside the two realized locations (Orlando and Chicago), DisneyQuest was astounding... for about two years. Apparently having learned approximately nothing from "the Tomorrowland Problem," DisneyQuests were built on cutting-edge technology like virtual reality that were still in their infancies... just a few years before iPhones, HD TVs, and household Wifi would jump-start an exponential growth of technology. And DisneyQuest couldn't keep up without major, continuous investment that Disney was never going to provide.

What happened: The Chicago location folded in 2001 (after just two years). But that was merciful compared to the Orlando location, which fared worse because it stayed open for 16 more years without an update. When it finally closed in 2017, the technology inside was nothing short of an embarassment and the whole place reeked of '90s design. It was practically robbery that Disney charged an admission fee to get in.

Image: Disney / NBA

That said, its replacement – a completely new build called "The NBA Experience" – charges just as much as DisneyQuest did, and simply features an arcade and "Instagrammable" moments. At least DisneyQuest was nostalgic and had "so bad it's good" retro-appeal.

8. Castle Cake

Image: Disney

Park: Magic Kingdom
Lifetime: 1996 - 1997 (15 months)

Anyone who loves Disney Parks knows that Disney Parks love celebrations. In fact, most of the things on this list have been "limited time" overlays or additions meant to tie in to Disney's ever-changing seasonal and annual promotions. But the biggest of all must be the infamous "castle cake." "Baked" to celebrate Disney World's (and thus Magic Kingdom's) 25th anniversary, the 185-foot tall Cinderella Castle was entirely transformed with 400 gallons of bright pink paint, inflatable icing, gumdrops, sprinkles, lollipops, and giant cupcake toppers. 

What happened: Unlike some of the other overlays on this list, the "castle cake" wasn't just a frustration for Disney Parks fans who care about sightlines, architecture, and history. It was a major frustration for many guests from around the world! Think about it: visitors to Disneyland are largely local or regional, which is why the Californian parks often host holiday overlays like Haunted Mansion Holiday, "it's a small world" Holiday, Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark, and the Jingle Cruise; why Disneyland switches fireworks shows every few months; and why adding seasonal and promotional elements to Sleeping Beauty Castle or the Carthay Circle Theater are welcome. 

But Walt Disney World guests are largely tourists who visit once every few years, or even once in a lifetime, so they want to see the Haunted Mansion, no matter the season! Likewise, disguising the resort's most identifiable icon probably led to more than a few complaints. Insiders even say that couples raced to postpone or cancel their Disney proposals and costly wedding ceremonies thanks to the glowing sugar castle. So the "castle cake" wasn't just memorable for Disney Parks fans... it also taught Imagineers that any promotional changes made to Cinderella Castle that followed would need to be tasteful, minimal, and (more importantly) not-too-invasive.

Image: Disney

Like all of Disney's "year-long" celebrations, this one lasted past the 12-month park. But luckily, the "castle cake" was only around for 15 months before being stripped of its sickly sugar ornamentation and restored to a glowing white and gray paint scheme (which has since been replaced with a slightly warmer tan). 

 
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Comments

This was another fun article to read.

I hate to be "that guy", but the magic wand at Epcot was never actually affixed or connected to the exterior of Spaceship Earth- it was always a free-standing tower next to it.
You could probably write a few paragraphs about why: did the Imagineers not want to drill holes into the exterior of Spaceship Earth? Did they know they'd take the tower down eventually and it would be easier if it was free-standing? Who knows the real answer. :)

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