Movie Musings: Disney and More

A Tribute to The Hall of Presidents

In honor of the fact that it’s 4th of July Weekend, I thought in this blog we could explore the history of a beloved Disney theme park attraction, The Hall of Presidents. This attraction is located at the Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort. When Walt Disney passed away on December 15th, 1966, there were several projects that he was still working on, this being one of many, along with the development of several various films, and Walt Disney World itself.

The idea for The Hall of Presidents first hatched in Walt Disney’s head as early as the 1950s which was also when he first began developing Disneyland. His plan was to call the attraction “One Nation Under God,” and it would be part of an extension of Mainstreet U.S.A. in the park. Unfortunately, he discovered that the technology that he wanted use either didn’t exist or didn’t entirely meet his desire, and the idea was temporarily shelved. After Disneyland opened in July 1955 and was incredible huge success, WED (Walter Elias Disney) Imagineer visited Robert Moses about new park ideas, and learned that Walt had an idea of an attraction consisting of an audio-animatronic statue of his all-time favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, reciting his most most famous speeches. Moses became very interested in the idea, and agreed to help build it and “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” originally opened as part of the 1964 New York World’s Fair before transitioning to Disneyland, where it opened on July 18th, 1965, the day after the park’s 10th anniversary.

When plans for Walt Disney World were underway, the WED Imagineers were concerned and anxious about how they would be able to continue plans for the new park without Walt Disney’s supervision. They knew Walt Disney World would be similar to Disneyland, but they also wanted to be sure that they weren’t building the exact same park that they had already built. They didn’t want to build another New Orleans Square, as they had done at Disneyland, because Florida itself, they thought, was very much like the real New Orleans. So they looked at designs and concepts for a land that originally was to be called Disney’s Liberty Street at Edison Square, made some revisions, and came up with the themed land at the Magic Kingdom known as the “Liberty Square.” It opened on the same day as Walt Disney World on October 1st, 1971. After they developed “Liberty Square,” they also re-discovered Walt’s “One Nation Under God” idea and became confident that now they could make that a reality as well. 

As Walt himself had originally wanted for Lincoln, the Imagineers built audio-animatronics of all of the United States Presidents at that time, from George Washington all the way to Richard Nixon. Before the audience sees the statues, the Imagineers came up with an idea to show a short film about the History of America: The film first acknowledged the freedoms of the American people, the United States Constitution, the development of America early on, and reenacted the Philadelphia Convention. Then the film transitions to Abraham Lincoln’s time in office, along with the American Civil War, taking inspiration from the “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” attraction at Disneyland. And then it ended with the time the Saturn V Rocket took off, followed by the audience seeing the talking president statues. The most valuable thing about the film is that it depicts that despite how great things are today when compared to back then, there is always room in our country for change.  

Since it’s ’71 opening date, “The Hall of Presidents,” has undergone many changes. The original finale of the attraction was the original rendition of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which was also used in “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” but that was later re-recorded in a lower key. Columbia University History Professor Eric Foner persuaded Disney executives to revise the script of the show to focus on slavery and various ethical and civil related issues in the United States of America. Foner also helped rewrite Lincoln’s speech which was almost identical to the speech from “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.” And of course the attraction has been refurbished to include animatronic figures all of our nations presidents since Nixon, including Ford, Carter, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, W. Bush, Obama, and Trump. The figures through W. Bush were all designed by Disney Imagineer Blaine Gibson, who worked for Disney from 1939 till he was 90 years old!. Gibson’s apprentice, Valerie Edwards, however, sculpted the Obama figure. Clinton also became the first actual President to officially record his own voice for his own animatronic figure, and W. Bush, Obama, and Trump have all followed this example. The figures of our nations earlier Presidents, however, have been voiced by voice actors.

The role of George Washington was originated by veteran Disney voice actor Paul Frees, best known at Disney for voicing Donald Duck’s uncle, Professor Ludwig von Drake. Although Frees passed away on November 2nd, 1986, the attraction continued using archival footage of his voice until 2009. Since then, George Washington has been voiced by actor David Morse, who ironically received an Emmy Nomination for his portrayal of George Washington in the HBO Miniseries John Adams (2008). Royal Dano, who is also known at Disney for starring in the film Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983), originated the role of Abraham Lincoln when the attraction opened and since his passing on May 15th, 1994, archival footage of his voice has been used for the character. The attraction has also been narrated by several different people: Lawrence Dobkin (who also voiced Benjamin Franklin in the show) was the narrator from 1971-1993, Maya Angelou from 1993-2001, J.D. Hall from 2001-2008, Morgan Freeman from 2009-2017, and College of Charleston Professor Joy Vandervort-Cobb is the current narrator.

Undoubtedly, “The Hall of Presidents,” has a remarkable history throughout Disney and it is one of their most fascinating attractions. It’s one of the most inspiring as well, because it motivates us to be thankful for the lives we have, but to also not be afraid to make a difference in each other’s lives, knowing how there is always room for improvement in our country and there has never been a time throughout its history where it has been perfect or made complete sense. Walt Disney himself would have been more than satisfied with the final result of this attraction had he lived to see the world in the 21st century.