Where in the Studios more TLC is needed

The Orlando Sentinel ran an article about how it’s literally been years since the monster audio animatronic Yeti in Expedition Everest over at Animal Kingdom has actually worked in the way it was envisioned.  It raises awareness for something that sorely needs to be fixed and it got me thinking about what areas of Hollywood Studios could benefit from some extra time to restore something that’s been neglected for one reason or another over the years.

The Orlando Sentinel ran an article about how it’s literally been years since the monster audio animatronic Yeti in Expedition Everest over at Animal Kingdom has actually worked in the way it was envisioned.  It raises awareness for something that sorely needs to be fixed and it got me thinking about what areas of Hollywood Studios could benefit from some extra time to restore something that’s been neglected for one reason or another over the years.  Thankfully, there isn’t anything as egregiously broken in the Studios, but there’s always room for improvement.

Mr. Spell

Whenever they fix the Yeti, Mr. Spell will take the top spot on the list of longest broken thing in Walt Disney World.  Mr. Spell is located on Pixar Place and when Pixar Place first opened, he didn’t work.  Then at some point he did work but hasn’t really worked in about two years (the video below is from June 2008!).  Obviously Mr. Spell isn’t as integral as the Yeti to the area he belongs to, but it’s something uniquely cool about the area and I really thought it added something special.

I’ve heard just about every reason why Mr. Spell doesn’t work from it being struck by lightning to it just not being a priority to be fixed. Regardless, I think it’s time to restore Mr. Spell, especially with Luxo Jr. now retired.

Tower of Terror Eye Photo

If you haven’t heard, the special effects at the Tower of Terror for Summer Nightastic are ending later this month and with it, goes an effect similar to one that used to happen at the Tower of Terror years ago.  If you recall, as your vehicle moved through the Fifth Dimension scene (the room with all the funky Twilight Zone stuff on either side of the vehicle), there is an eye and in the eye is a photo of the ride vehicle.  Unfortunately, that photo has been stuck in time to some random photo for years now.

I’m not sure why the feature stopped in the first place.  You could theorize it had to do with guests behaving badly, but if Disney was willing to bring back a photo of your vehicle for the Summer Nightastic version, why not make the eye photo work once more?  Since they got the same feature working for Summer Nightastic, it seems to me that it would be quite simple to get the eye ball working again.

"Hey Chris, can you grab my black Les Paul"

If you rode the Rock ‘n Roller Coaster closer to when it first opened, you may recall in the preshow video Aerosmith band member Joe Perry saying "Hey Chris, can you grab my black Les Paul" and there being an actual Cast Member in that room, playing the part of "Chris".  This position has been eliminated for Cast Members for a few reasons, but I’d love to see it return.  I always thought having the Cast Member in the room helped to "sell" the idea to guests that Aerosmith is really in the studio recording their new album.