How Walt Disney Imagineering Brought Walt Disney To Life At Disneyland
For 70 years, Disneyland has been welcoming guests into a world of make-believe, complete with robotic animals and historical figures from the past like Abraham Lincoln. But for the first time ever, Walt Disney Imagineering has built an Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney, which debuted just in time for the park's official 70th anniversary on July 17, 2025. The figure is part of a new attraction taking over the Main Street Opera House called Walt Disney - A Magical Life.
Behind the scenes with Walt Disney Imagineering
A new marquee is on display outside of the Main Street Opera House in Disneyland Park in Anaheim, ... More Calif. The new attraction, 'Walt Disney – A Magical Life,' opens on July 17, 2025, and features a cinematic presentation of Walt Disney's journey, culminating in a visit with Walt in his office, made possible through the magic of Audio-Animatronics storytelling. After its initial run, 'Walt Disney – A Magical Life' will play in rotation with 'Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.' (Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort)
This project has been in the works for years. In fact, Tom Fitzgerald, senior creative executive at WDI, shared that the team's first visit to Walt Disney's office was on July 17, 2018, the space of which is recreated in the show. 'It's been a long time coming, and we're excited to finally share this new version of the Walt Disney story with our guests,' said Fitzgerald.
Walt Disney - A Magical Life starts with a short film about Disney's life from boyhood to building Disneyland and the start of buying land for Walt Disney World. Then the screen lifts and there's the Audio-Animatronics figure of Disney leaning against a desk in a recreation of his office. This version of Disney is at the height of his career around 1963.
'This was the first time that we've created an Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney. We have done every president and we've done movie stars, but when you say, 'I want to do an Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney,' that brings enormous responsibility, probably as much as Walt felt bringing Abraham Lincoln to life back for the New York World's Fair in 1964,' explained Fitzgerald.
One of the most unique things about this show is that all of Disney's words are his own, and not generated by AI or a voice actor. 'Just as the speech that Lincoln gives [in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln] is made up of different pieces of speeches that he delivers, this section of Walt as an animatronic was made up of different things that he had done, like interviews, pieces from television, and other presentations that we had to seamlessly pull together so that it sounds as if he's right there speaking to you on stage,' said Fitzgerald.
Partnering with The Walt Disney Family Museum
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ROB GLOSTER Amber Wagner (L), wearing black Mickey Mouse ears, leaves the ... More Walt Disney Family Museum, September 26, 2009 located in the Presidio of San Francisco, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area of the National Park Service. Her friends Vicki Schwirzke and Natalie Schwirzke follow her out. The first picture greeting visitors at the new Walt Disney Family Museum is not of Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck or even Snow White. It is a photo of a nine-month-old Walt Disney. And the last exhibit in the sleek museum, which opens to the public September 24, 2009 after more than six years of preparation, is a series of telegrams and cartoons mourning the death of Disney in 1966. AFP PHOTO/Peter LEMIEUX (Photo credit should read Peter Lemieux/AFP via Getty Images)
Walt Disney - A Magical Life was created in partnership with The Walt Disney Family Museum. 'A few years ago, a group from the park and Imagineering flew out and met with the family to introduce this project in a very sensitive and appropriate way. And from there, the collaboration began,' explains Kirsten Komoroske, executive director of The Walt Disney Family Museum.
One of the objects of particular interest was a bronze casting of Disney's hands, which included a cast of the rings he regularly wore. The cast was used to help create the Audio-Animatronics' hands, which feature rings on both of Disney's ring fingers.
Additionally, The Walt Disney Family Museum and the Walt Disney Archives helped WDI with figuring out props for the recreation of Walt's office, including developing a match for Disney's briefcase that he carried daily, plus clothes for the Audio-Animatronics figure based on what Disney actually wore in his office and on screen for appearances.
Advancing technology in the moment for Walt Disney - A Magical Life
'Walt Disney – A Magical Life' debuts at the Main Street Opera House in Disneyland Park in Anaheim, ... More Calif., on July 17, 2025. The attraction features a cinematic presentation of Walt Disney's journey, culminating in a visit with Walt in his office, made possible through the magic of Audio-Animatronics storytelling. (Richard Harbaugh/Disneyland Resort)
One thing that helped bring Disney to life was the advancements in technology for Audio-Animatronics figures over the past few years. Even so, Imagineers didn't have everything they needed for the figure, so they had to create more advanced technology on a quick timeline, which WDI calls 'moonshots,' just for the Disney figure.
An example of a moonshot for Walt Disney - A Magical Life is the eyes on the Audio-Animatronics figure, which was key to making it look like Disney himself. 'If you know Walt Disney, you know he had very expressive eyebrows, and they meant a lot of things. And that was not something that our animatronics figures were capable of doing,' said Fitzgerald. While watching the show, viewers will now notice how much movement and non-verbal cues are given with the Audio-Animatronics' eyebrows.
Even more, many people who watched Disney on TV specials or met him in person often talked about the glint and gleam in his eyes. But again, that was something WDI had never done before, but for the team working on this project, it was a necessity to bring Disney to life in the most realistic way possible.
Part of the research team realized the reason humans have that glint is because of the corneal bulge in the eyes. 'So physically, our figures have not had that before. And so they replicated a corneal bulge so that you will see when you look at him, you get that point in the eye, which is amazing,' explains Fitzgerald.
Another first for Walt Disney - A Magical Life was having an Audio-Animatronics figure go from leaning to standing, which WDI had never done before. 'We wanted to replicate that feeling of watching him on television because he was often leaning on the desk,' said Fitzgerald. 'Because of those moonshots and all the work that was done, we really believe it's the most fluid performance of an Audio-Animatronics figure we've ever done.'
Walt Disney - A Magical Life will eventually play in tandem with Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln, the latter of which was a modern marvel at the time of its debut at the New York World's Fair in 1964. Now this new modern marvel featuring the most lifelike human Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt Disney will continue to captivate Disneyland guests, just as Lincoln did in the 1960s.
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