Leave a Legacy getting ready to leave?

The original entrance to Epcot (then referred to as Epcot Center), was one of the most glorious things in the World. Take a look:

It set the tone for the park perfectly. Wide open space, beautiful palm trees, and a clear, unobstructed view of the park's icon, Spaceship Earth.



Now, let's fast-forward to the park's big millenium celebration, which was, by most accounts, a smashing success, with two very glaring exceptions. Yes, it gave us Illuminations: Reflections of Earth, which is the gold standard by which all nighttime shows at Walt Disney World should be judged against. Unfortunately, it also gave us these two unfortunate eye sores:

And...

You'll notice that at some point, the good folks at Team Disney Orlando thought it a wise idea to replace the Millenium "2000" logo with the word Epcot. You know, just in case people forgot which theme park they were at. More egregious in the second photo, however, are those rows of tombstones lined up. Did Disney finally make it possible for me to fulfill my dying wish, and allow me to spend all eternity buried on the property? Alas, no.

That would be the Leave a Legacy project, introduced around the time of the Millenium Celebration. Its purpose? You could purchase a small tile and "leave" yourself at Epcot, so that you'd always be part of park history. It was designed to be a cheaper, less expensive alternative than the Magic Kingdom's popular bricks. Unfortunately, the idea never really took off, and Disney was left with rows and rows of unused stones, which took on the eery look of tombstones. Almost universally reviled by Disney fans, the Leave a Legacy stones obstruct an otherwise gorgeous entryway into Epcot.

Around 2007, Team Disney Orlando (possibly at the prodding of Jim McPhee, a former Epcot VP who rocked the boat a little too much, since he was mysteriously "promoted") finally removed the hideous "Epcot" sign from the top of Spaceship Earth. That leaves us, pardon the pun, with just the tombstones. And there they've sat. Disney stopped selling tiles around 2006, but the contract you signed when purchasing a tile guaranteed you a 10 year display, which means, theoretically, we're looking at 2016 before any of these eye sores can be removed.

Why am I bringing all this up? Well, last month, Disney did something that had the internet all abuzz that perhaps the end of Leave a Legacy was near. They re-painted the pillars that hold up Spaceship Earth. The significance of this is that they re-painted them light blue, the color they were BEFORE the arrival of Leave a Legacy. Since Leave a Legacy arrived, the pillars have always been painted a light brown.

So, is the re-painting of the pillars a sign of things to come? The aforementioned Jim McPhee's ostentatious promotion was to, "Head of Special Projects." Perhaps the removal of Leave a Legacy is a special project? What do you think? Do we have reason to be excited, or is the Disney blogosphere in a tizzy over nothing?