Disneyland Just Found A Wild Way To Bring Walt Disney Back Into The Park. I Saw It And I Still Can't Believe It

A brand new attraction at Disneyland is always news, but usually, to be an attention grabber, it has to be some sort of massive, E-ticket experience, a new roller coaster, or an incredible dark ride. Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, so you might expect the park to have planned something like that, but instead, the newest addition is something much smaller, and yet so important.

Walt Disney: A Magical Life, which opens to the public on July 17, the 70th anniversary of Disneyland’s opening day, will debut a short film about the life of Disneyland’s creator, but more importantly, it will debut an audio animatronic figure of Walt Disney himself.

Walt Disney Has Come Home To Disneyland

Disneyland is the only Disney Park where Walt Disney actually stood inside. As such, it’s fitting that a show like Walt Disney: A Magical Life debuts there, though after seeing the full show, I won’t be shocked if it makes its way to other parks around the world.

The full presentation begins with a short film, a new version of One Man’s Dream, which can be seen at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The new film is narrated by Disney CEO Bob Iger. His voice, along with Walt’s own words, takes us through the man’s life, from his birth in 1901 through the early development of Walt Disney World.

After that, however, the curtains open fully and the screen rises. We enter a version of Walt Disney’s office, and there is the man himself, leaning up against his desk. He speaks to us in his own words. The monologue comes from multiple interviews and TV appearances Walt made over his lifetime, but it’s been cleaned up so that it sounds like it’s all coming from the same man at the same time.

Walt Disney Is A Huge Leap Forward In Audio-Animatronics

In recent years, we have seen some incredible steps forward in audio-animatronics, but we haven’t seen anything like Walt Disney. With the exception of the most recent President of the United States, most of the new audio-animatronics we’ve seen in attractions are based on animated characters or other fictional creations. There’s a lot of leeway when it comes to transforming them into real things. For Walt Disney, there was little to no margin for error.

At one point, Walt, who begins the performance leaning against his desk, shifts to a standing position. At the end of the show, he leans back against the desk. These are movements we simply don’t see from this sort of figure.

But it’s the way he moves that is what’s truly impressive. Anybody who has seen footage of Walt Disney from the old Disneyland TV series will recognize the way he moves his hands and the glint in his eye. These things have been recreated so well that the whole thing feels right.

Walt Disney Imagineering worked with the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco to get as many details about Walt right. The rings on his fingers are replicas of the ones he really wore. The hands wearing those rings come from a bronze cast of Walt’s real hands. Even the suit fabric is the real thing.

It’s Not A Perfect Walt Replica, But That Might Be A Good Thing

As much as the Walt Disney animatronic gets right, is everything perfect? No, not really. At least from my perspective, the face mold, while close enough to clearly be Walt, still doesn’t quite look right. Still, I’m not entirely convinced this wasn’t by design.

My biggest concern walking into Walt Disney: A Magical Life was that the audio-animatronic would throw us into the depths of the uncanny valley. I was afraid that Walt might look so real that it might become disconcerting, the same way that “realistic computer animation can be simultaneously impressive and mildly terrifying.

The fact that Walt Disney doesn’t look exactly like Walt might actually be a good thing. Perhaps if he looked more like the version we know, he would be too real, and the audio animatronic character would be more creepy than comforting.

I watched the A Magical Life presentation twice, and while the first time I really noticed the way the face doesn’t quite look right, the second time it bothered me significantly less. There was no way this show was going to be perfect, and if the face mold is the most significant sacrifice, the show is in good shape.

As somebody who is a big fan of Walt Disney. I had high expectations for the show, but a perfect life like Walt wasn't part of that. The animatronic simply needed to portray his essence, and in that, it was successful.

Walt Disney Is The Perfect Addition To Disneyland

Despite the fact that the audio-animatronic Walt Disney might not be perfect, Walt Disney: A Magical Life is still an incredible addition to Disneyland Park. As you enter Main Street U.S.A., guests will now find themselves as close to Walt Disney as they’ll ever be able to get. On one side of the square is the firehouse, where Walt Disney would sleep when he spent the night inside the park. On the other side is the Opera House, where Walt Disney: A Magical Life will be running for guests.

If the timing is right, I can’t imagine a better way to start a day at Disneyland than seeing Walt Disney himself. That said, the show will be using a virtual queue when it debuts.

Walt now shares a stage with Abraham Lincoln. Over 60 years ago, Walt led a project to create an audio animatronic of the 16th President because Walt himself was a great admirer of Lincoln, and he wanted future generations to know him, to understand that Lincoln was real, and to understand his importance.

Walt Disney may not have had a major impact on global politics, but he had an absolutely titanic impact on global culture. I would argue Walt Disney is as important a person as Abraham Lincoln. The hope is that Walt Disney: A Magical Life will do for modern audiences what the Disneyland show did for people decades ago, show us that Walt Disney was a real man.