Disney World Removes Iconic Signs

Walt Disney World Resort has started removing the iconic purple road signs that have directed millions of visitors to various theme parks and hotels for over 20 years. Earlier today, Disney began the process of replacing the purple and black road signs found at the resort with new blue signs. The new colors match the color scheme of the Transportation and Ticket Center, which were repainted last year. As Disney adopted a blue and gold scheme for the resort’s 50th anniversary, it’s likely that the signs are a subtle way to celebrate the big anniversary. The new signs include updates to help lead visitors to the soon-to-open Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel, and also feature updated branding (such as EPCOT now spelled out in all upper case letters.)

The purple road signs date back to the early 1990s and were designed by Sussman/Prejza, a famous graphic design firm. The signs were mostly purple with a red strip at the bottom containing yellow text. The color scheme itself was meant to subtly evoke the basic color scheme of Mickey Mouse, a dark color with a splash of red and yellow at the bottom, without being too overt. The same color scheme were also used for signage for Euro Disney. Although not as iconic as Cinderella Castle or other park monuments, the purple signs did receive their share of merchandise over the years.

As there are over 1,000 road signs on Disney World property, it’s likely that the purple signs will still be seen by visitors for a while as the park will have to pull down the old signs in phases. However, it seems that the era of the purple signs are coming to an end. 

In other Disney World news, the park also recently removed signage at Tom Sawyer Island in Magic Kingdom that referred to the villain “Injun Joe,” likely due to that character’s use of a derogatory term for Native Americans and because that character is generally viewed as encouraging negative and racist stereotypes. No reason was formally given for the changes.