President Trump's Disney Hall of Presidents installation delayed, big time
You'll have to wait a little longer for your robot Donald Trump.
New reports coming out of the most magical place on earth claim that Disney World's Hall of Presidents won't be showing off its 45th robot President any time soon.
The venerable hall, which has been closed for renovations since shortly before Trump took office in January, was originally scheduled to reopen on June 30th.
Originally opened in 1971 as part of Disney World's Liberty Square, The Hall of Presidents features animatronic robots built by Disney Imagineers for each of the previous 44 presidents. Its last major renovation came in 2009 when it unveiled its President Barack Obama animatronic. The creation was heavily promoted by Disney World and the White House.
The two parties have been strangely silent this go around. Trump's administration hasn't offered comment on the attraction and the new President's inclusion and Disney World has spent weeks dodging requests for updates.
Now comes word from the Disney World blog WDW News Today that the reopening is delayed until after the crucial July 4th Holiday weekend. "Cast members standing outside of the closed attraction are also telling guests that it will not reopen prior to July 4th," wrote Disney World expert and author Tom Corless.
Sources also told Corless that Disney is not staffing up the Hall for at least another few weeks.
There's no question Trump's robot self is coming to the park, eventually. Late last year Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors they'd already built "a bust" of the freshly-elected President for the attraction. In May, Iger told CNN that Disney had delivered a script to Trump's team and that Iger was hopeful that, by the end of the year, Trump would be seated along with the 44 presidents who preceded him.
It's not clear if Disney intends for Trump's robot to take over Obama's role and give a lengthy speech at the Hall. Every sitting president since Bill Clinton has done so. Barack Obama recorded his attraction speech in 2009 after Disney World completed his robot.
However, Trump has, according to reports, been somewhat less than cooperative. Agreeing on the script may be a sticking point.
There is, obviously, the possibility that Disney could rejigger the show so none of the presidents, aside from Abraham Lincoln (his speech had long been a mainstay of the attraction), speak. Trump could simply be another robot president on stage, nodding his approval at the narrator's and the 16th president's words.
Whether or not the reports of these tiny internecine battles between the Trump's administration and Disney World are true, all Disney World experts we've spoken to agree that the lack of information coming out of the House that Mickey Built is unusual.
"Disney is pretty open with guests about how long attractions will be closed for, considering many book their trips around seeing their favorites," Corless told Mashable, "Going completely silent on an attraction re-opening is strange, even in cases where technical difficulties are encountered."
Whatever Disney World does with the Hall of Presidents, it's becoming increasingly clear that they're hoping to reopen the attraction featuring our lighting rod president with a minimum of fanfare.
Mashable has contacted Disney World for comment and will update this report with its response.
[Updated 6-25-2017 to reflect comments Disney CEO Bob Iger made to CNN regarding their work with the Trump administration Trump's addition to the attraction.]
Topics Donald Trump Politics Celebrities
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.