Disneyland Reveals the First Animatronic Walt Disney

Some 60 years after he died, Walt Disney remains a presence all over Disneyland park; in images, in plaques, in the rides he helped conceive, in the mythology of the park that is repeated by its employees. But Disney himself has never had his own audio-animatronic.

Now Disney himself (or his robot approximation) takes center stage in a new show at Disneyland called Walt Disney: A Magical Life. Installed as part of Disneyland’s 70th anniversary, the show, per Disney Parks Blog, is “a great opportunity to remind guests of Walt Disney’s incredible story — told in his own words — in both film and through the magic of Audio-Animatronics, the art form he pioneered.”

After entering through a lobby full of Disneyland artifacts and memorabilia, guests will watch the short film “One Man’s Dream,” followed by an appearance from “the first Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney ever created” in a recreation of his office. The words the animatronic “speaks” are derived from recordings of the real Walt Disney through the years.

You can see and hear the first glimpse of the animatronic Walt Disney in action in the video below.

Granted I never met the real Walt Disney, but I sure have watched a lot of films and videos of him. And the Walt animatronic, at least in this brief glimpse ... it doesn’t necessarily look bad, but I’m not sure it really captures Disney’s likeness. If you showed me that video’s thumbnail, the suit and the especially room behind him (which really captures the vibe of Walt’s old office on the Wonderful World of Disney television show) would clue me in to who I’m looking at. But if you took a picture of just the figure’s head and put it in front of a generic background and asked me to guess who it was ... I am not certain I would know. (Maybe in person it’s more convincingly Walt.)

Walt Disney: A Magical Life is set to open at Disneyland on July 17. It’s located inside the Disneyland Opera House on Main Street, U.S.A. near the front entrance of the park. That theater previously housed the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln show, complete with its own audio-animatronic figure of Abraham Lincoln, since the 1960s. For now, Walt Disney: A Magical Life will take over the Opera House full-time; the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln show is expected to return next year, and alternate showings with the Disney animatronic throughout the day.