EPCOT: Goodbye Spaceship Earth wand

Ding dong, the wand is dead. Finally!

The hideous millennium wand and dismembered Mickey Mouse arm that’s clung to the side of EPCOT’s geodesic sphere for the last seven years is finally coming down. It has been reported that Siemens, the new sponsor of the attraction, made a request that it be removed as part of the current Spaceship Earth rehab.

In a kind of ironic fashion, the news has been confirmed just one month after the EPCOT Central blog decided to call it a day.

The Leave a Legacy monoliths with remain until at least 2020, but I hope they at least remove the ugly brown decals from the support legs before then.

Some related bits and pieces:

• The Not-so-magic Wand
• It’s Official “Those that truly care about the heritage of Epcot couldn’t be happier.”
• Critics sure to find Epcot’s decision on sign wand-erful
• Mickey’s arm and wand to be removed from Epcot sphere
• Laughing Place: 8 things I fondly remember about Spaceship Earth
• New Epcot Vice President Jim MacPhee plans “possible” 25th Anniversary events

In case you’d forgotten how fantastic it used to look, here’s a reminder. This is a promotional slide from Walt Disney World in 1982, courtesy of Jeff B on Flickr:

Update: Keep an eye on the progress of Spaceship Earth over at WDWmagic.com