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View Full Version : Has anyone seen the Spire?



UncleGDogWord
10-11-2005, 06:54 AM
When I was at DLR last month the one thing I noticed in all the grandeur of the 50th is that they PAINTED the unfinished spire on the castle. When I asked at City Hall they did not have to say much, but would take my concerns down. I spoke without 50th Tour Guide and she stated she in a Disney way that it was not really a subject that she could not discuss and that it is a issue between the Park and the Disney Corp. When I asked if they would restore the Spire after the 50th she said she was not sure.

I am all for a nice looking castle, but if they will keep the light in the window for Walt out of respect, what about the unfinished Spire to show the park would be always in development.

What are your thoughts?

smd4
10-11-2005, 07:24 AM
The unfinished spire myth is, well...a myth.

UncleGDogWord
10-11-2005, 07:45 AM
Well, it may be a mytrh, but there has always been a flat gray spire on the castle since I remember. In regards to the myth when I took the Walk in Walt's Footsteps and Disney Holiday Tour the Guides had both stated that the unfinshed spire was to show the park was never finished, and these were Disney Employee's.

BTW, I really enjoyed the post you made about the Ward Kimball. Got to ride it a few weeks ago. To bad it doesn't offer tinder rides.

smd4
10-11-2005, 07:49 AM
Thanks, Uncle G. I've still got to get to the park to see the Kimball in service! We're going Oct. 27th.

Your memory about an unpainted spire is correct. The information you were given by the tourguides is false.

Kevin Yee, in one of his very-well-researched books (can't remember which one. I'm at work. You can get both, since they're inexpensive), talks about his interview with the imagineer(s) involved with plating the spires. According to them, they decided to leave one tarnished because they thought it looked good.

DaddyB
10-11-2005, 09:35 AM
HMMM... I gotta look that up in the book. I recall Kevin saying that the unpainted spire was actually a mistake. It was missed during one of the refurbs, and they decided to leave it that way. Then the whole Disney lore thing got started

What? Disney make up stuff about it's history??!! Gloss over mistakes and ignore (even deny!) the negative as though it never happened?

yup.

Perhaps it not being painted was a mistake, and park maintenance then decided it looked better and left it... or perhaps they were just cheap.


Either way, this happened long after Mister Disney passed on, so while he did say that the park would never be finished, he never alluded to an unpainted spire on the castle as a symbol of that statement (which is another version of the myth that I've heard).

smd4
10-11-2005, 10:14 AM
Other Disney myths floating about, told again and again by the company as dogma--and many often told by tour guides:

Disneyland is built to 5/8th scale;

DRR Locomotive No. 1 was built using Walt's CP 173 locomotive drawing and simply increasing the size of the drawing;

The "gold spike" in the Castle courtyard is the geographic center of Disneyland;

A colorblind bulldozer operator cut down the wrong trees during construction;

DRR Locomotive Ernest S. Marsh worked in a New England Lumber Mill.

DaddyB
10-11-2005, 10:39 AM
that 4th One Is Actually Retold In The Steve Martin 50th Film!

smd4
10-11-2005, 10:53 AM
that 4th One Is Actually Retold In The Steve Martin 50th Film!I know. I have to admit, though, the stories can be fun! And they sure give us something to talk about here!

Clotho
10-11-2005, 10:57 AM
Just what I was gonna say, DaddyB. It is, in fact, mentioned in the 50th Anniversary film that a colorblind bulldozer operator cut down the wrong trees during construction.