So this bothers me - and it's kind of embarrassing to say so.
But I'm a geek, and this is the internet, and isn't that where geeks go to complain about the minutia that the general population couldn't give a fig about? So here goes ...
If you've seen a movie released by Walt Disney Pictures then you are probably familiar with this logo:
But then last year, with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (which incidentally premiered a year ago yesterday) the company had a new production logo:
This computer-generated logo runs longer and is much more elaborate than the blue background standard. That I have only minimal fault with. My biggest issue?
The first logo, the blue background, is of Sleeping Beauty's Castle from Disneyland.
Walt Disney's original theme park, Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. Their castle is 77 feet tall.
Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty's Castle
The new logo is clearly Cinderella's Castle, which is found in the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
The Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, after Walt's death in 1966. The Floridian castle is 189 feet tall.
Walt Disney World's Cinderella's Castle
Clearly - and I say this next line with only minimal sarcasm - this change in logos is a staggering paradigm shift for the Walt Disney Company.
Seriously.
Ever since 1954's Disneyland television show, Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty's Castle has been the public logo of the Disney company. Disneyland is the original Disney park, the one that Walt built. Disney corporate headquarters are an hour drive north of Disneyland on the 5 freeway.
Florida is a five hour and two minute flight from Southern California, but more than that it's lightyears away from what Walt Disney had invisioned for the Florida property.
People get up-in-arms about Disney changing anything at Disneyland - fans protest when rides get replaced, and make websites about the crummy executives who run Disneyland. Seriously.
The fanbase of Florida is much more fleeting - the park has been around for 35 years, but executives are hardly public figures, and park attractions come and go with marginal complaints (the one exception, of course, is the huge online effort in 1998 to save Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Again, totally serious).
Granted, in recent years Florida's Magic Kingdom has become the most attended theme park in the world. In 2006 the Magic Kingdom had 16.6 million guests while Disneyland pulled in 14.7 million (as reported in the Global Theme Park Attendance Report published by Themed Entertainment Association and Economics Research Associates). In fact, Disneyland hasn't beaten the Magic Kingdom in attendance since 1996.
So from an attendance standpoint this new logo makes a certain degree of sense.
But still, I can't agree with this seemingly arbitrary change. I'm not down with it, not at all. Not that I'm going to complain or protest, other than what I've just done here. But if you're so inclined, feel free to drop a line to one of these guys below and tell them what you think:
Bob Iger, President and CEO The Walt Disney Company 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521
Dick Cook, Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521
Roy E. Disney, Consultant and Director Emeritus 500 South Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521
