With the inauguration of our 46th U.S. president just five days away, I thought this would be a good time to publish this "Hall of Presidents" post.
(Note: This is not intended to be a complete history of the attraction. I'm just featuring some magazine articles and souvenirs from my personal collection, as well as some other items, which I came across on ebay.)
We will start with the original attraction poster for "The Hall of Presidents," which was an opening day attraction at the Magic Kingdom.
This article about the attraction, appeared in the Winter 1972-1973 issue of Disney News Magazine. The Hall of Presidents, and the park, were only one year old at this point.
The magazine's previous issue (Fall 1972), had included the photo below, in an article about WED and the Disney "staff shops" of sculptors, model makers, painters, etc. Disney artist, Blaine Gibson, is shown sculpting a bust of Richard Nixon, prior to the creation of Nixon's audio-animatronic figure for the Hall of Presidents. Nixon was the current president, at the time of the attraction's opening.
Gerald Ford was added to the Hall of Presidents, after Richard Nixon resigned as President of the United States, in 1974. This article appeared in the Spring 1975 issue of Disney News Magazine.
Blaine Gibson is shown below, sculpting the bust of Ford.
I was pretty sure that Disney News Magazine had featured an article about the addition of President Jimmy Carter to the attraction in 1977, but I could not find one in any of the issues. Here is a fairly close-up photo of his Audio-animatronic figure, inside the attraction.
And just for kicks, here is a shot of the real President Carter, going for an early morning run through Disneyland.
Ronald Reagan was added to the HOP, in 1981. This article appeared in the Spring 1982 issue of Disney News Magazine. Once again, Blaine Gibson is pictured.
(Note: This 1982 article mentions that Mr. Gibson had sculpted "more than half" of the presidents within the attraction, up to this point. That was incorrect, because he is actually credited with sculpting all of the presidents up to 2001, with Barack Obama being the first president that he did not sculpt.)
Again, I somehow thought that Disney News Magazine had featured articles over the years, about the creation of some of the other presidents, at least up until the time when the magazine stopped being published, which was in 2005. However, the "Ford" and "Reagan" articles appear to be the only ones written on new presidential additions to the attraction.
Blaine Gibson retired from Disney's WED Enterprises (now called Walt Disney Imagineering), in 1983. However, he returned to sculpt the likenesses of Presidents George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and George Bush Jr.
Bush Jr. was added to the attraction, in 2001.
When I visited Walt Disney World for the very first time, this "welcome" banner was still hanging over the entrance to the attraction, even though he had been added the previous year.
Barack Obama was added to The Hall of Presidents, in 2009. The Disney artist credited with sculpting his likeness, is Valerie Edwards. The photo below (from Disney), shows the Obama figure being programmed.
This is pretty cool. It's footage of President Barack Obama actually recording the audio track for his animatronic figure, in the Map Room of the White House:
Now, let's take a look at some "Hall of Presidents" souvenirs, from the last forty-nine years:
This souvenir record of the attraction's soundtrack was available for purchase, beginning in 1972.
Back cover of the record album:
In the seventies and eighties, there were a couple different sets of Hall of Presidents souvenir slides available.
The captions on the slides are as follows:
"Exterior"
"Presidents on Stage"
"Lincoln Speaks"
"Washington to J.Q. Adams"
"Lincoln and his Predecessors"
"Jefferson, the Adamses, Madison"
"Grant and Three Predecessors"
"Hayes (Right) to McKinley (Left)"
"Van Buren and Recent Presidents"
Over the years, there have been various HOP postcards. Note in this first postcard, the entrance portico had not yet been added to the building's facade.
This postcard shows the original "cast," with Nixon being the newest/current president.
In this postcard, Reagan was the newest addition.
A set of "trading" or "collector's" cards was released in 1996, to commemorate the Magic Kingdom's 25th anniversary. The Hall of Presidents was represented on card #15.
Back of card:
Pewter figures of all the presidents were available at one time. Rutherford B. Hayes is pictured below.
I'm not sure of the exact time period that these figures were sold. They all have "Walt Disney Productions" stamped on their bases. That would date them to sometime in the seventies or early eighties, because after the mid-eighties, all Disney merchandise was labeled, "The Walt Disney Company" or "Disney." Having said that, the most recent president I could find while searching online, was Gerald Ford.
Vinylmation figure of Abraham Lincoln, released in 2011:
Pressed Penny from 2014:
Over the years, there have been multiple "Hall of Presidents" trading pins.
This pin (with the image of the HOP's attraction poster), was part of a special "Liberty Square" set of pins. The set was released in 2011.
Trading pin from 2005:
Trading pin from 2009, celebrating the attraction's "re-opening" and welcoming President Barack Obama to the Hall of Presidents:
"Tiny Kingdom" mystery mini pin, Walt Disney World Series 1, released in 2019:
From the "Twenty Eight & Main" mystery pin series, released in 2017:
And here is a Walt Disney World "20th Anniversary" pin, from 1991. (This pin is actually from before the days of the official Disney "Pin Trading" program.)
We will end today with this fun publicity photo from ebay, of the Martin Van Buren figure having his hair styled:
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10 comments:
I remember when I saw HoP in 2018, the person who introduced the show had one of the most serious tones of voice I've ever heard (though it was probably more pronounced in the environment of the Magic Kingdom). He had the perfect job. On a related note, given that it's a no-nonsense attraction, I don't blame the presidents for wanting to let off a little steam here and there! ;-)
I like that side view of the stage from the souvenir slides. The labels are also great. I wish the Roosevelts were still able to be classified as "recent presidents." I had never seen the video of Obama recording the audio, so that was cool. Thanks for the great post.
Andrew, I also found the label on that one slide kind of odd. Even back in 1971, I don't think the two Roosevelts, Hoover, Wilson OR Taft, would have been considered "recent presidents." I wonder who came up with that description? Maybe it was someone who had failed U.S. History in school!
Thanks for that link! I had not seen that footage of the Teddy Roosevelt figure with the jitters! Have you seen this footage of the Lincoln figure getting ready for a midday nap?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0j69pAM7g&feature=emb_logo
I've only been to WDW once in 1981 and the Hall of Presidents was a "must see" attraction for me. I've always liked Great Moments with Mr Lincoln so I wanted to see the differences, and I was impressed. One thing that struck me was that the background animatronics moved and reacted to what Lincoln and Washington were saying. One thing that struck me was during the introductions, one president leaned toward another and his mouth was moving, then the other president reacted like they were trash talking about someone else. That sort of detail is what makes Disney great.
I have seen that video of Lincoln, TM It's funny that it happened during his speech!
As for the "recent" presidents, I was thinking that FDR was president about as far in the past in 1971 as George Bush is today. But including Teddy Roosevelt would be like calling Eisenhower a recent president, which doesn't check out. I think "more recent presidents" would have been a better label for that slide! I'm assuming that you've contacted Disney to let them know of this error? ;-)
MRaymnond, the very first time I saw the HOP, that little detail also impressed me. I remember how during Lincoln's speech, some of the other presidents would nod in agreement at what he was saying, or like you said, lean over to "whisper" something to whoever was standing next to them. It definitely added more "realism" to the show.
Andrew, "more recent presidents"....I like that! Or how about "recent-ish presidents." ;-) I can just see myself contacting Disney now, to report that error. They'd probably ask, "What's a souvenir slide???"
When I was a kid I went through a phase where I was super interested in the history of the Presidents of the United States. I mean, really interested! I could write down their names in order. I had a Marx playset with tiny (maybe 1.25” tall) white figures of each President, surprisingly well sculpted. My grandmother gave me what looked like an old leather-bound book, but when opened, it actually contained brass medallions of each President. I think it went up to FDR, so it was clearly old. And I had a poster with all of the Presidents! NERD, right?
The Hall of Presidents always fascinated me, it was an audacious concept, considering how much of a headache it had been to create ONE Audio Animatronic President back in 1964. My friend Mr. X is not a fan of this attraction, though that is largely due to “recent events”, and he thinks it is time for its removal. The look of 45 is so misshapen that I almost feel as if it has to be an intentional burn, but who knows. He reminds me of Kuato from “Total Recall”.
It still surprises me that a more realistic likeness of a living person seems out of reach, something always goes terribly wrong between the sculpt and the AA realization. The eyes are often weird and dead for one thing. BTW, I wonder why they sculpt the hair on figures like Reagan? I assume that they also do a bald version so that they can add a realistic wig. They should sell Reagan wigs for guests to wear. I would call everyone "Mommy".
The Vinylmation is just weird. If it wasn’t for the stovepipe hat, I’m not sure I would have been able to ID him. “Steve Buscemi?”. I like the pin from the “Twenty Eight & Main” set (I have no idea what “Twenty Eight & Main” is), I wonder what else they had in that series?
Thanks for the fun article!
Major, you are up late! Or are you up early? You just reminded me that I had/have a collection of souvenir coins from the seventies, with the presidents images on them. If I remember correctly, they were free when you purchased gasoline from one of the major gas companies. Shell gas stations, perhaps? Now I have to go looking for those. I think they are in a coffee can in my mom's garage.
Did you know that there are Pez dispensers, with all of the presidents heads on them? I saw them for sale at Knott's Berry Farm's Independence Hall! I took pics of them, and almost included them in this post, just for kicks, but decided to leave them out, since they weren't directly related to the HOP at WDW.
Too bad Matt Groening didn't have special "Futurama" merchandise made, featuring the presidents heads in a jar. There would have to be two "Grover Clevelands" though! ;-)
As for Vinylmation....nothing against anyone who might collect them, but I have never understood the fascination with them. I do not own a single one. But then I'm sure I collect some things....or maybe many things, that others might ask, "why?"
The "Twenty Eight & Main" pins were kind of a weird mishmash of ten different pins, which included Big Al from CBJ, a Tom Sawyer Island sign, "The Rocketeer," the Hall of Presidents, and the Unisphere from the 1964 NYWF. Here's a link to an auction for one of them. It includes a pic of the back of the box, which shows eight of the pins. The other two pins were "mystery pins," but I think one of those was "Shrunken Ned" (the talking head from the Adventureland Bazaar). Not being a huge pin collector, I only found out about that series when I was doing research on HOP-related merchandise.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Disney-Twenty-Eight-Main-Mystery-The-Hall-of-Presidents-Hat-LR-New/163269034930?hash=item260397c3b2:g:B1wAAOSwhGlbclvP
I don't think that the Hall of Presidents should be removed, but I do think it's a mistake to have the current president in office speak. It might have been okay in the nineties, when they first started that tradition, but now it just seems to be too polarizing. I think they should go back to having Lincoln be the only one who speaks.
I agree with you about the figures not looking like the actual presidents. Blaine Gibson's sculptures look spot on, so something is obviously lost in the translation between his sculpts and the making of the latex skins for the animatronics. And yes, some of the figures.....or at least one of them, looks downright monstrous!
Blaine Gibson was the best sculptor.
Hall of Presidents is great for many reasons: While watching this "show," you can really appreciate all the talent it took to put everything together; and you can't help but feel patriotic and proud of our country by the time it's over...plus it's wonderful to sit in air conditioning and relax for a while.
Great post, TokyoMagic! - thank you!
Sue, your are right, Blaine Gibson was THE best!
I love the Hall of Presidents and I make a point of seeing it every time I go to WDW. And yes, the air conditioning certainly doesn't hurt it any!
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