Biden’s grand opening closed this Walt Disney World attraction

To this day, the show that had been going on in the Presidents Hall for four years is outdated. The show, which ended yesterday, featured Donald Trump in his role as interim president. While every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has a speaking role on the show, the current president has the most important role – with the exception of the also long-featured Abraham Lincoln who was a personal favorite of the late Walt. Disney.

Under Trump’s administration, the Hall of Presidents had become increasingly controversial over the years. Left and right petitions on Change.org alternately called for removing Trump from the show, re-recording Trump’s speech to include more positive language, and removing Trump’s animatronics so that a more flattering likeness can be added. .

Tradition has it that when a new president is elected, the presidents room closes to install a new animatronics. Bill Clinton was the first sitting president to record his own speech, followed by George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Whether Disney chooses to continue the tradition in a similar fashion, simply adding an animatronic by Joe Biden with a recording of his own voice, is guessing. The same goes for the duration of the closure. When Obama was elected, the show closed from November 2008 to July 2009, and reopened with a completely redesigned show. When Trump was elected, the show closed from January to December 2017. Many have speculated that the delay was due to Trump’s refusal to tape a speech. This new show debuted with security guards and “decorative spikes” between the audience and the stage, perhaps to keep people from getting too close.

The Hall of Presidents opened in 1971 as one of the original Walt Disney World attractions, and it has changed over the years. Clinton’s version of the show featured Maya Angelou as the narrator, Obama’s with Morgan Freeman, and Trump’s with Joy Vandervort-Cobb, an African-American actor and theater and performance teacher at the College of Charleston.

But the attraction’s popularity waned over time. “It’s time for Disney to put this attraction to the pasture,” the Orlando Sun-Sentinel wrote in a Jan. 19, 2021 editorial. “… It’s a window into how political tribalism has evolved over the years. 50 years and now disrupts everyday life. “

Editors believe the attraction is not only past its prime, but it’s also too controversial for a park that describes itself as “the most magical place on the planet.”

“The 2021 atmosphere is not what Walt Disney envisioned when he referred to the first animatronic figure in his empire in 1964,” the editors wrote. They cited other issues with the attraction, such as the inclusion of 12 men who were slave owners, and likened this to Disney’s intention to remove the problematic theme on Splash Mountain and replace it with the most inclusive “The Princess and the Frog”.

“If you’re going to present the history of the United States, you can’t skip the tricky places,” they wrote, and suggested that the show go away altogether rather than rewrite that whole story.

Until last year, there was a Muppet pre-show outside the Hall of Presidents called “Great Moments in History,” where the Muppets sang “great moments in history (but only the American parts). ) ”. In this, Sam the Eagle poked his head behind the seal of 1787 at the top of the building, Kermit the Frog played Thomas Jefferson and Fozzie Bear played Benjamin Franklin.

Rumors are circulating among Disney fan groups that the park may choose to include the Muppets on the show this year, which would likely rekindle interest in a show that has one of the lowest attendance rates. of the park. Its most popular feature for critics? Have excellent air conditioning and be a quiet place to take a nap.