Latest news with #MagicalLife
Washington Post
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Disneyland is celebrating its 70th anniversary: Here's a look at the park then and now
Disneyland is celebrating 70 years of being 'The Happiest Place on Earth.' The summerlong festivities in southern California include the opening of 'Walt Disney – A Magical Life,' a show featuring a lifelike animatronic of the company's founder that debuts Thursday and also marks Disneyland's official anniversary. Walt Disney's vision of creating a getaway for families revolutionized the amusement park industry with immersive attractions featuring robotic figures and holographs, and shows and characters appealing to children.
USA Today
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Disneyland's new audio-animatronic Walt Disney shocked me. Here's what it's really like.
Walt Disney, is that really you? I know it's not. And yet, inside "Walt Disney – A Magical Life" at Disneyland, I can't help but suspend my disbelief as I watch the first-ever audio-animatronic figure of the Disney mastermind himself discussing his humble origins from a recreation of his office. He gesticulates with his hands. His eyes twinkle. At one point, he even takes a step forward. I sit up in my seat, half-wondering if Disney has really come back from the dead – and, if he ever actually did, what he would think of this. Debuting during Disneyland Resort's 70th anniversary celebration, "Walt Disney – A Magical Life" doesn't open to the public at Main Street Opera House until July 17, the park's exact 70th anniversary. At an exclusive media preview on July 14, however, I got to be a part of the attraction's first real audience. The experience wasn't something I'm going to forget any time soon. Walt Disney's audio-animatronic figure is uncanny, down to his 'corneal bulge' Disney getting immortalized as an audio-animatronic figure is a big deal − and a long time coming. After all, it was Disney who helped pioneer audio-animatronics technology, with figures like the tiki birds of the classic attraction Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room and the original President Abraham Lincoln in "The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.' (An updated Lincoln Audio-Animatronics figure anchors the current version, which will eventually play in rotation with "Magical Life," thanks to a revolving turntable on the stage for both attractions.) 'We're at a moment in time, 70 years after Disneyland opened, where we feel that the technology has caught up with our ambition to tell Walt's story and to let the newest generation of Disney fans experience what it felt like to be in a room with Walt,' Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D'Amaro told USA TODAY during last year's D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, where the attraction was announced. Seeing Disney in audio-animatronics form is an uncanny experience, one that came about through meticulous design. In a panel as part of the media preview, Tom Fitzgerald, senior creative executive with Walt Disney Imagineering, said imagineers poured over many hours of archival footage to get Disney's audio-animatronic figure just right. They studied everything − his mannerisms, his facial muscles, even his slightest eyebrow movements. "It's the small, gentle movements that I think bring so much heart and humanity," Jeff Shaver-Moskowitz, portfolio executive creative producer with Walt Disney Imagineering, added. Imagineers even made sure to do justice to Disney's "corneal bulge," something Fitzgerald described as key to capturing that "glint in the eye." As a result, when the audio-animatronic Disney surveys the crowd, it feels like he's really looking at you. When Kirsten Komoroske, executive director of The Walt Disney Family Museum, saw it for the first time, she said she "felt the impulse to smile back at him." I did, too. The audio-animatronic Walt Disney captures something special Now, is this audio-animatronics figure a perfect copy of Disney? Not quite − though it's close. In my view, however, this question misses the point. I did not go into this show expecting, nor wanting, to see a mere physical replica of Disney. I wanted to experience his essence, to get a sense of how people felt in the legend's presence. This is something "A Magical Life" undoubtedly delivers on. Combine that with all the Disney history that gets recapped in a delightful, approximately 15-minute short film, "One Man's Dream," that screens before the audio-animatronic's unveiling, and you have a must-do for any Disney history nerd who wants to learn more about the park while feeling more connected to Disney's legacy. "What are the things that make Walt Disney Walt?" Fitzgerald asked. "These are the things that we asked our animation team to create." I'm sure the audio-animatronic Lincoln waiting backstage would tip a top hat to that, if he could.
The Verge
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Disney finally brought Walt back to life without cryogenics.
Posted Jul 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM UTC Disney finally brought Walt back to life without cryogenics. The new 'Walt Disney – A Magical Life' attraction debuting at Disneyland on Thursday, July 17th, marks the first time that the parks have portrayed the man himself as an audio-animatronic figure. The movements are fairly impressive, but the facial likeness requires a little imagination.
Travel Weekly
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Travel Weekly
Animatronic Walt Disney stars in new Disneyland attraction
Walt Disney will return to the theme park he created in Southern California later this week thanks to Audio-Animatronics technology and the debut of the new attraction "Walt Disney — A Magical Life." The attraction will open on Thursday, July 17, the 70th anniversary of Disneyland, at the Main Street Opera House in Disneyland Park. It culminates in a visit with an Audio-Animatronics figure of the patriarch himself in his office, sharing stories and words of wisdom with guests. An exhibit about the history of Audio-Animatronics technology in the Main Street Opera House. Photo Credit: Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort "Creating this figure is an enormous responsibility and one that the team has taken very seriously, likely as seriously as Walt Disney did in creating the Audio-Animatronics figure of Abraham Lincoln so many decades ago," Tom Fitzgerald, senior creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, said in a release. "We hope to honor Walt through the art form that he pioneered, and that 'Walt Disney — A Magical Life' will be a permanent tribute here at Disneyland ... the only Disney park Walt ever walked in." While Disney said its teams of Imagineers have considered creating an animatronic of Walt for decades, this particular project has been in the works for seven years. The experience will begin in the lobby of the Opera House with the "Evolution of a Dream" exhibit, featuring art and artifacts related to Disneyland and its history. More than 30 artifacts featured are on loan from the Walt Disney Family Museum. That includes furniture from Walt's private apartment, which was located above the Town Square Fire Station, and has never been on display at Disneyland before. The lobby also features an exhibit detailing the history of Audio-Animatronics technology with figures from Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room, It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean attractions. The 'Evolution of a Dream' exhibit in the Main Street Opera House. Photo Credit: Christian Thompson/Disneyland Resort From there, guests will move into the theater for the film "One Man's Dream," then a "meeting" with Walt himself. Most advanced animatronic According to Disney, the Walt animatronic is the most lifelike Imagineering has ever created. It includes several firsts: a "twinkle in the eye," a "lean to stand" motion for an all-electric fin and realistic skin created with new methods. They studied Walt's mannerisms and movements to create the animatronic. To create his performance, they used dialogue actually spoken by Walt. His suit, shoes, tie and rings were meticulously researched, and he appears as he would have around 1963. The office was inspired by his office in Burbank, Calif. Jeff Shaver-Moskowitz, portfolio executive creative producer with Walt Disney Imagineering, said Imagineering worked closely with the Walt Disney Archives and the Walt Disney Family Museum on the details of both Walt and his office. "Most importantly, we were passionate about creating an Audio-Animatronics figure designed specifically for this attraction, delivering a portrayal that has nuances, hand gestures, facial expressions and more — all of the attributes that make this figure's performance feel uniquely Walt and not simply creating a figure to look like Walt," Shaver-Moskowitz added. As guests leave the theater, they'll encounter another exhibit showing Disney's cast members at work over the years. A new mural celebrates Disneyland history and nods of what's to come. When it opens, "Walt Disney — A Magical Life" will employ a virtual queue. After the attraction's initial run, it will share the Opera House with the other attraction that it calls home, "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln." Imagineering redesigned the theater's stage with a rotating turntable, enabling both shows to play in the same location. Disney created the first Audio-Animatronics version of Abraham Lincoln in 1964. It debuted at the New York World's Fair before the show moved to Disneyland in 1965.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Disneyland's ‘Walt Disney – A Magical Life' to open with virtual queue
Guests visiting Disneyland will need to join a virtual queue to experience 'Walt Disney – A Magical Life,' a new attraction coming to the Main Street Opera House on July 17, the park's 70th anniversary. The company's first-ever Walt Disney audio animatronic will be featured in the new show. The experience is supposed to give guests a glimpse of what it would have been like to enter Walt's office. Disneyland, on its website, shared that the attraction will use a virtual queue system when it debuts. No standby queue will be available. There will be two daily opportunities to request a virtual spot: the first at 7 a.m. for guests with a Disneyland Park reservation and valid admission, and the second at noon for those already inside Disneyland Park or guests with a park hopper ticket. Park officials noted that securing a place in the virtual queue does not guarantee entry to the attraction. After its initial run, 'Walt Disney – A Magical Life' will play in rotation with 'Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
