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merlinjones
10-17-2003, 09:30 AM
Well, it's true. I've seen it with my own eyes. Space Mountain is being repainted white.

Big deal, you say? It is.

I never thought I would see those gleaming spires again. For over five years, multiple coats of complex paint treatment, layers of browns, greens, coppers, blues, reds - - and whatever other Sherwin Williams tones the committee could second guess amongst themselves, stubbornly clung to that sculpted facade daring me to hate them.

In time, fading and a thick crust of smoggy dirt would glaze our "Montana Future" into a corrosive concoction of creepy colors. A Fantasia of katsup and mustard and chocolate sprinkles.

It was just plain ugly.

That once proud landmark of modernist design, a beacon to the optimistic future for weary travelers of Interstate 5, would resemble a mound of molting wooden catpoo, it's dark vision barely noticible on the Anaheim horizon.

"Welcome to Tomorrowland '98", it barked to an indifferent crowd, all too preoccupied by the every day world and its similarly sullen tones and brownish smog-frosted buildings.

Would they fix it? Did they know it was broken? I'm sure there were the obligatory complaints and debates and meetings and budgets and online diatribes and defenses and articles and analysis and charge-numbers and surveys and theories and color psychology reports and hirings, firings and consultants. But nothing ever changed, nor did it seem that it would in the immediate future.

The pile of poo towered over the Magic Kingdom refusing to be flushed away.

But today it all changed. I looked up into a clear blue sky.

Three painters with long rollers stood atop Space Mountain and put down a layer of thick white coating. Merely primer some say, but it hardly matters...

The difference was breathtaking. The upper tier of Space Mountain gleamed with a brillaint moonbright white against the azure blue. It shined with a crispness, freshness, allure and bold artistic statement as it hadn't in at least half a decade.

The white, flat tones refected the sun as the overhanging elipses cast changing patterns against this modernist moonscape of light and shadow.

...As it was designed.

The weary catpoo tones gave up to the whitewashing easily. It seemed as if they never truly belonged there, but perchance were the product of some natural disaster or neglect, now being corrected.

Space Mountain was reborn. The future was bright and clear again.

It didn't take various shades of white, not contrasting tones, complex treatments, metallic sheens, crackle colors or glazes, not undertones, overcoats, multiple passes or airbrushing. Not Bruce Block analysis, trend tracking or graphs of warm and cool formulas.

Just white paint.

With a few strokes, this pure, simple coat of white easily erased five years of dismay, decay, bad taste, stubborness, ego, greed, indifference, dismissal and diminuition.

The scultpture beneath was so beautifully designed and crafted that all it needed was the clarity of white light to reveal its true nature.

And then it struck me - -

Just like Space Mountain's thin layer of catpoo coating, so easily washed away, so goes the Disney Company itself.

When Eisner and his elitist lieutenants, bankers, vice-presidents, cronies and clones finally choose to step down, their shallow, short-term choices can just as easily be washed away.

Like this structure, the simplicity and honesty of what Walt built is solid and lasting - - always present no matter how many layers of overcomplicated catpoo are piled on top.

All it will take is the simple clarity of white light to reveal that wonderful design beneath. All they have chosen to obscure will be seen again.

Even if they tear it down, the idea survives. It can be rebuilt. As long as there is white paint left in the world.

There is a great big beautful tommorrow waiting at the end of every day.

And if they paint another coat of catpoo ontop of Space Mountain, I won't forget what's hiding underneath. Because I caught a good look at the real thing again... and it was beautiful.

:)

Gemini Cricket
10-17-2003, 09:34 AM
Here, here. Well said. Bravo! :)

Andrew
10-17-2003, 09:37 AM
:crying: Will somebody pleeeeeze post an updated photo?

It's killing me that I'm not there to see this.

innerSpaceman
10-17-2003, 09:39 AM
Forget gleam. That brought a tear to my eye.

Disneyphile
10-17-2003, 10:08 AM
That was SO beautifully worded - almost poetic.

I'm gonna cry!

merlinjones, you have a way with words, my friend. :)

Duane
10-17-2003, 10:08 AM
Andrew- Go to www.disneyforever.com and click on the Disneyland Pictorial for a photo update of Space Mountain being painted.

Andrew
10-17-2003, 10:17 AM
Originally posted by Duane
Andrew- Go to www.disneyforever.com and click on the Disneyland Pictorial for a photo update of Space Mountain being painted.

Unfortunately it appears that site has gone the way of the Skyway. Or perhaps it's only "on hiatus".

fairytalelover
10-17-2003, 10:20 AM
Originally posted by Duane
Andrew- Go to www.disneyforever.com and click on the Disneyland Pictorial for a photo update of Space Mountain being painted.

This site doesn't work

Nephythys
10-17-2003, 10:44 AM
Merlin- for once we are in complete agreement. Bravo!:D :eek: :D

I can't wait to see a WHITE Space Mountain again!:D

(Nephy-Jumping up and down in CO wishing she could see it from here!):eek: :D :eek:

Demigod121
10-17-2003, 10:49 AM
I'd go today & take a digital pic and post it, but by the time I'd get there from work it will be almost dark.

Maybe I can get one tomorrow for ya guys!

-Demigod

Corith
10-17-2003, 10:51 AM
As I sat in my office, reading merlinjones post, a tear slowly slid down my cheek thinking of the gleaming white tower towering over catpoo colored decay. I thought of it like a shining beacon of the night, illuminating the darkness as a symbol of hope for a better time long gone and a better world that might come to be.

Let us all hope that there is a great big beautiful tomorrow waiting at the end of every day.

cstephens
10-17-2003, 10:55 AM
disneyforever was apparently down for a while, but it's back up again. Here's a direct link (http://disneyforever.com/disneyland/10_16_03/) to some Space pictures.

Cadaverous Pallor
10-17-2003, 11:05 AM
I'm sorry, everyone. I really am. But if I don't post the following I'll scream.

It's a coat of paint, people!

I am happy they're doing it. It's a step. Blah blah blah.

But I will not tear up until we get some new rides to replace the ones they took out. New, expensive, breathtaking e-tickets, gleaming like the bright future the land is supposed to embody.


Originally posted by merlinjones
When Eisner and his elitist lieutenants, bankers, vice-presidents, cronies and clones finally choose to step down, their shallow, short-term choices can just as easily be washed away.

Sure. It'll take millions of dollars, years of designs by highly paid Imagineers, a whole new staff of intelligent businessmen that know you need to pour money into this project, talented ride designers that can include safety, good rider flow, interesting queues, themes that fit the land and won't get outdated in 5 years, new ideas that entertain both the young and the old, visually pleasing artwork and color combinations, an entire revamp of architecture and land layout.....

You think that's as easy as painting a building stock white?

I will not cry until they bring us NEW TOMORROWLAND.

Nephythys
10-17-2003, 11:13 AM
I am not crying, but it does put a smile on my face!:D

Steps, little steps, but steps all the same! The fun thing is wondering what will be next?

scaeagles
10-17-2003, 11:14 AM
I, for one, really don't care what color it is.....but here's what is moving to me. Yes, C. Pallor, it is merely a coat of paint, but the keeper of the vision (my affectionate name for Merlin jones) is so completely moved that I find I must be as well for his sake.

I have gone around and around with merlin and a few others here in the past about the condition, direction, etc, of DL, and had determined him to be a pessimistic doomsayer with no hope, no optimism.

For a mere coat of paint to kindle such a passion and plant a seed of hope, than I say it is truly far more than a coat of paint....it is a coat of magic.

Personally, I'd go for blood red (it's a joke, OK?).

Demigod121
10-17-2003, 11:17 AM
I think that the one thing that 'coat of paint' says, or embodies for that matter, is CHANGE.

Change from the dreary, same thing over and over again, humdrum, catpoo painted, disappointing thing.

-Demigod

Gemini Cricket
10-17-2003, 11:31 AM
Originally posted by Cadaverous Pallor
I'm sorry, everyone. I really am. But if I don't post the following I'll scream.

It's a coat of paint, people!

I am happy they're doing it. It's a step. Blah blah blah.
Yes, you're right, but we're willing to take whatever they can give us as long as it is in the right direction, even if it is just a coat of paint. We've been pretty used to hearing how DL is going downhill while wonderful mountains are built in WDW... it's time DL got some TLC.


But, I'd like to caution everyone that we're not sure that this is, in fact, a coat of paint. It might be primer double-coated or something else. I want to be happy when I'm for certain about what it will truly be.
:)

Nephythys
10-17-2003, 11:32 AM
Ok- something I just realized. When I was a child and visited DL Space Mtn was white. The last two times I went it was NOT but I never saw it! In my mind it was white and I don't think I ever looked up and faced the disappointment of the catpoo color.

In my minds eye it was always white, and to see it being repainted is a joy-:D

Mr. Wiggins
10-17-2003, 11:34 AM
>>Even if they tear it down, the idea survives. It can be rebuilt. As long as there is white paint left in the world. <<

Plain-spoken words that capture the love and hope that is at the heart of the thing we call "Disney magic."

Truly, one of the most moving pieces of prose I've read in a long, long time.

Mr. Wiggins
10-17-2003, 11:42 AM
On a different note, I see you've been to the story meetings...
>>...and whatever other Sherwin Williams tones the committee could second guess amongst themselves...<<
...and seminars...
>>Not Bruce Block analysis, trend tracking or graphs of warm and cool formulas.<<
...and yet you still got da magic.
God bless ya, mj.

Tigertail777
10-17-2003, 12:20 PM
very moving merlin. Don't you feel sorry for all the poor confused kids? " but mommy I thought
it was supposed to be all rusting and falling apart looking to fit the theme of tomorrowland?"

:D

I have a gleam too.... in the boot thats gonna kick the butt of any exec who even thinks of turning it back to rusty in the forest of catpoo.
And good god no darn gold paperweight... leave the dern thing white as its intended.

OK now back to relishing in the whitishness of it all... beatiful moon white- gleam space mountain, GLEAM WHITE!

This space mountain was made for you and me LA la la pretty pretty white.


OK on a side note.... I cant remember didnt space mtn have special lights under the side of each of the panels for night time? I swear I remember green beams of light (or maybe blue?) on it at night? I think I also recall the escalator having matching color neon tubing inside plastic handrails? Or maybe it was just white mini lights like christmas lights... I could swear the handrails were lit up somehow...??? Hard for me to remember last time I rode space mtn was in the 80's.... I couldnt walk through heart-breaking dead tomorrowland to do it last trip.

Just remember a slap of white paint helps the cat poo go away... the cat poo go awaaaay the cat poo go away, yes a slap of white paint helps the cat poo go away in the in most delightful way!:D

averagecuppajoe
10-17-2003, 03:33 PM
Maybe we just want the "old" magic back. A return to the former glorious "white". Means maybe a return to the simple glee of the Disney of most of our youths. (Maybe the execution was complex, but it always felt so simple, so relatable.)

As much as we anticipate the "new", we realize that there was nothing wrong with the old. The old was pretty great. Hey, I'd give anything to have the TL of my youth back. The subs, PM, the old Rockets, Skyways, America sings, Adventure through.., Circlevision, ..my gosh I didn't realize how much of TL has been cannibalized. The old TL had charima, the new one just lacks.

It was better. Look at it now. ....ok, now the tear comes.

Corith
10-17-2003, 03:40 PM
Originally posted by averagecuppajoe
The old TL had charisma, the new one just lacks.

It had more than that. It was alive, it had a soul. I miss THAT Tomorrowland more than anything else at Disneyland.

TheatreTech
10-17-2003, 10:58 PM
Originally posted by Andrew
:crying: Will somebody pleeeeeze post an updated photo?

It's killing me that I'm not there to see this.
As of today, it hasn't changed much from the original photo which was posted.
But, when it does change, even a little, i agree, someone pleeeeeze post a photo;) :D

Ghoulish Delight
10-17-2003, 11:00 PM
The charisma in Tomorrowland was lost with the loss of motion, not with the change of color. It was lost when the Peoplemovers stopped moving. It was lost when the Rocket Jets were no longer in the center, a whirl of motion visible from almost everywhere in the land, not a road-block in the front. It was lost when the COP/America Sings building stopped spinning. As a matter of fact, the only time I'd point to color scheme as a real problem is on said building. The former stripes drew your eye to the motion. Now the building disappears into the platform and you can hardly tell it moves until you're about to step on the platform.

When they began the update, I was ready to say good riddance to the stark white future of the past. Little did I know it would be replaced with a still-life mockup of Tomorrowland.

A simple backtracking of color schemes, while the lesser of two "blehs," is far from a joyous tiding for me. I will be happy when life, in its full motion glory, is returned to what was once, for me, the heart of Disneyland.