The Sorcerer's Hat Comes Down Next Week at Disney's Hollywood Studios

January 2, 2015, 11:41 AM · Just a reminder that this is the final weekend to enjoy/pay your respects to/photograph/mock the Sorcerer Mickey's Hat at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Sorcerer's Hat

The construction walls go up next week and Disney will begin tearing down the hat on Wednesday. The hat's removal will restore the Chinese Theater behind it the visual "weenie" that visitors see as they walk down the entrance plaza inside the park, much like the castle in the Magic Kingdom. Disney announced late last year that the attraction inside the Chinese Theater, The Great Movie Ride, will be sponsored by cable channel Turner Classic Movies and will feature new pre- and post-shows hosted by TCM.

Disney added the Sorcerer's Hat to the then-Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park in September 2001 as part of the company's "100 Years of Magic" promotion celebrating the anniversary of founder Walt Disney's birth. The hat installation followed the giant Mickey magic wand that the company built over Epcot's Spaceship Earth as part of Disney's millennium celebration. Disney removed that wand in 2007.

Previously:

Replies (16)

January 2, 2015 at 1:12 PM · I think it's great that the hat is coming down (we got our fill of photos in October), but I'm wondering what they will put in that space. It's a pretty big plaza that doesn't have much shade or anything of architectural interest, just a rather large expanse of tinted concrete. I wonder if Disney plans to install any sort of water feature or landscaping to the area to make it more than an EZ-Bake oven in the summer.
January 2, 2015 at 12:54 PM · I think I just figured out how I keep missing the Great Movie Ride. Didn't realize the Chinese Theater was behind the Sorcerer's Hat. First time we went the hat wasn't there & we did the ride but we haven't done it since. I have even see the theater & have wondered how I was missing it. I guess it's because we would go to the hat & then turned left & never went behind.
January 2, 2015 at 1:40 PM · Let's hope they remember to return the spire towers to the Chinese Theater!
January 2, 2015 at 1:57 PM · I wish that they would find another place in Disney World to use the hat. Downtown Disney or at one of the resorts or maybe at the transportation center. I would hate to see it gone forever.
January 2, 2015 at 3:49 PM · I thought the position of the hat was awkward anyways. Yes, it certainly got iconic, but HS has a lot of other iconic buildings. Now you at least have some space in the "main plaza".

January 2, 2015 at 5:44 PM · Disney World is the size of Manhattan as I'm told. They should find another place for that monstrosity.
January 3, 2015 at 6:40 AM · Any word on what will become of the pin trading store? It's the best in the park.
January 3, 2015 at 9:00 AM · Weren't both the hat and Epcot's wand Paul Pressler ideas, or at least pushed forward during his time there?
January 3, 2015 at 1:38 PM · why does Disney need a sponsor? They own so many company's they have the money. Leave the hat up
January 3, 2015 at 6:51 PM · I hope it's beeing burned.
The entrance street was perfect without it but when that eye soure arrived thevwhoe theme was killed off. I hope the stage will also stay away and it's place we see and hear time period appropriat entertainment.
January 4, 2015 at 6:48 AM · It will be great to really see the architecture of the theatre again. Relocating it to somewhere else on the property would be a nice touch. I like the idea of the TTC as a possible location.

Maybe we will see some kind of shade sail array go up in the empty plaza, similar to what was done at Epcot behind Spaceship Earth.

January 4, 2015 at 8:34 AM · Its about time
January 4, 2015 at 9:34 AM · The area where the hat is/was will be reconfigured. Think of it as a much smaller scale version of what they're doing for the hub at Magic Kingdom.

As for what happens to the hat, there's a 99% chance you'll never see it again and a 1% chance they'll move it to the entrance of Fantasmic.

January 4, 2015 at 6:00 PM · I would like to see the hat somewhere in WDW. Where, I don't know, but I'd really like to see it SOMEWHERE. I think it's pretty cool. It was a little cluttered where it was at DHS, but I think there is a place that could use that huge icon.
January 5, 2015 at 8:59 AM · Does anybody know if they are going to implode it or tear it piece by piece?
January 7, 2015 at 1:12 PM · they are going to tear it down piece by piece. I hope that they still have it somewhere in Disney.

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