Disney has shared a first look at the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic featured in the new show, “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” at Disneyland Park.
First Look at Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic
The new show will open to all guests later this week, on Thursday, July 17 — the 70th anniversary date for Disneyland. It was first announced at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in 2024 and was previously scheduled to open on May 16, but was delayed by two months. A special showing exclusively for D23 Gold Members will be held on Friday, July 18.
The show utilizes archival voice recordings to have Walt tell his story to guests in his own words. The figure itself is modeled after how Walt Disney would’ve appeared in 1963. This time in his life was chosen due to the many exciting projects he had in development at that point, including “Mary Poppins,” the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and planning for Walt Disney World and EPCOT.
You can see the Walt animatronic in action in our video below:
Walt’s attire for the show was carefully researched and crafted, including his suit, shoes, tie, and rings. Imagineers were even able to build exact copies of his hands, thanks to the discovery of a bronze mold of them.
Imagineers have said that the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic features several innovative “moonshots” — “things we have never done before that the team tackled. Some of them driven by things we asked for, in terms of movements he needs to do, and some of them just in terms of pushing the medium to say, ‘I want this to be as lifelike as possible,'” according to Tom Fitzgerald, Senior Creative Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering.
In addition to the two-minute-long Audio-Animatronic portion, the show also includes a presentation of “Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream.”
After the initial run of “Walt Disney — A Magical Life,” the new show will rotate with “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.” The two shows will be set up on a turntable that can rotate throughout the day.
To mark the arrival of the show, Main Street Opera House recently updated its marquee and debuted new attraction posters.
Main Street Opera House is also offering a new exhibit, “Evolution of a Dream,” in collaboration with The Walt Disney Family Museum, The Walt Disney Archives, and Walt Disney Imagineering. The exhibit includes images, artifacts, never-before-seen art, and more that show Disneyland before, during, and after Walt’s dream became reality.
Some of Walt Disney’s grandchildren have expressed support for the Audio-Animatronic, but his granddaughter Joanna Miller has been repeatedly outspoken against the show and the figure, and says that it goes against Walt’s wishes. However, Walt Disney Imagineering said that they have found no record of Walt ever stating that he never wanted an Audio-Animatronic of himself constructed.
Disney Store will also be releasing a figure inspired by “Walt Disney – A Magical Life,” which will be available this Thursday.
What do you think of this first look at the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic? Does it live up to your expectations for such a milestone figure? Share your thoughts with us in the comments and on social media.
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