I dfon't understand the logic of chopping down trees for no good reason. The castle looked more natural with trees surrounding it. and what's with the castle being pink? I thought the current castle is more pastel version of last year's? ???
I hate the hub now, its seems just crowded and very un-relaxing. It was a great spot to sit and relax in the "middle" of it all. I hope they come up with something to make it look a little more appealing.
you know, it never occurred to me that disney did that. i definitely think the trees are a plus to the area. will is right, there's just nothing there to make it exciting anymore.
I never noticed the trees had vanished either. ??? Too bad! Funny- one of my favorite pictures has at least the base of the tree in it- here is my now 6yo under playing under one of them- this was in Sept of '01. The CM in the background 'busted' her for being over the rail seconds after this was taken and I didn't realize he was in the picture until I got home and looked at them.
I'm going to open myself up for abuse by saying that I don't mind the lack of trees, and I had no idea anything had even changed. I'm operating under the theory that the trees were blocking views for fireworks.. as it is I still always seem to end up having trees blocking my view (I don't find a spot ahead of time, so by the time I'm looking for a fireworks watching spot all the good ones are taken). I'm finding myself favoring pictures with less trees in them.. the trees are making the pictures feel claustrophobic to me. I can see that the picture Scott posted has a certain added quality to it, the trees make it seem a little less artificial, also perhaps cooler (the dark green color just seems less hot to me, plus the thought of the shade they provide). But in the end my feeling is that the trees are blocking the sky, I tend to feel that the castle should have a dramatic sky surrounding it. I'm not saying my first thought would have been to chop down any tree that seems out of place in a particular scene.. I'd just look for another angle, but.. this doesn't offend my sensibilities. Unlike PINK.. oh crimeny. That forum thread about the pink color, where the people were talking about going to Home Depot to get the Disney brand paint in the color that the castle is supposed to be, and organizing a commando redecorating raid on the castle was just priceless. Are there any pictures of the final color scheme? All my shots are of a pink upper castle, with the earlier blue-gray lower portion. The pinkish tone makes me think Arabian.. like a castle that belongs in Aladdin or something. Presumably they will do (or have already done) something with the lower area, but I'm having difficulty imagining overhauling the grey rock scheme with pink. I just don't see pink rocks.
Wait a sec. I don't remember it being pink in December. Now I know that they made Sleeping Beauty Castle really pink to go with the 24 karat gold trim they added for her 50th birthday. <img src="http://www.themeparkphotos.us/cpg140/albums/uploads/052307/E/12-5-2006_6-50-42_AM227a.jpg" /> On Kodachrome 25, Spring 2006
Here are some photos that show the the hub before and after the renovations, this is adapted from a thread on another board where this subject came up in referance to how much (or rather how little) seating there is in the hub nowadays so I'll include a bit of the text about that issue here too: ... as to the seating issue since the seats before were built into the planters all the way around the planters AND the planting ares were bigger , then obviously even if you put benches ALL the way around the planter there's going to be less seating now because the perimiter is smaller. So you can still get a seat you just have to stake it out sooner, and having MORE standing space (and less obstructed views) in front of the castle increases viewing space ALL DAY LONG, for stage shows, parades, and fireworks, so it really does seem like it was probably a good idea. before the renovations (overview from upper deck of omnibus): note that the path to the center is so narrow that no benches are put on the path to the center of the hub, there are benches built into the center of the hub around the statue of Walt, these still exist, here's another view of those (this picture includes my first wife, so It's not one I reference very often): I also have a photo that show sometimes they DID actually put benches along that narrow path (with my current wife from our honeymoon in 2002): there are also benches built into the exterior and interior circles of the planters around the hub, those are the ones that have gone away, here's a view that shows those older built-in benches : Here are some pictures of the hub AFTER the renovations the benches built into the interior and exterior of the planters surrounding the hub are gone (except at the inner circle aroung the partners statue), though the other type of benches are seemingly quite abundant in these photos:
