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.
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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.
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.
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