Marvel Studios Presents...
Great Moments With Mr. Disney
Inspired by the design of the Willis Theater in Kansas City, MO, the ornate turn of the century theater dubbed the Disney Exposition Hall will seep into the backdrop of a branch off Main Street U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom, with a new show entitled 'Great Moments with Mr. Disney'
Great Moments with Mr. Disney will be a celebration of the life and accomplishments of the man behind the mouse, Walt Disney himself, exploring his trials and tribulations in a Broadway show setting, in the land of the Magic Kingdom inspired by his hometown in Marceline, MO. The 40 minute show involves drama, romance, comedy, and above all, a touching demonstration that the power of ambition and dreams can overcome any and all obstacles in life. The people with the power to pursue their passions end up leaving their mark on this world above all else.
The show will be introduced as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Walt Disney World Resort - a fitting culmination and tribute to Disney himself. With the expansions at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney One Man's Dream will be closed. Nevertheless, many of the props and historical items found in the display cases in the walk-through queue, will make their way to the Disney Exposition Hall theater lobby area.
While the exact location of the theater has yet to be confirmed, all signs point to its location being on the former backstage route behind the Main Street east buildings, with a connection from Center Street, a quaint branch off of Main Street proper. This placement will not only alleviate numerous guest flow qualms faced by the park as it stands today, but will also provide a high capacity (supposedly rivaling DCA's Hyperion Theater) theater space to take in guests, without being a major headliner attraction that drives up park attendance.
Theater Illustrations and Inspirations
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Lobby Interior
Architecturally inspired by the Disneyland Paris Arcade breezeway, the intricate exterior facade will transition into a decorative interior, with colorful paint schemes and meticulously crafted light fixtures and moldings. Upon first entering the interior, guests meander through various 'windows' on Main Street, peaking into various locations of interest as a preamble to the show itself. With some of the displays taken directly from Walt Disney One Man's Dream, peak through a window through time, with the first window looking at Walt Disney's desk from 1932. The following window peeks into Walt Disney's office, peering into the glass window and towards the back wall of the Disneyland map, trickling through to the couch and meeting area where numerous themed entertainment discussions were held.
While guests look through a series of four windows before entering the main lobby waiting area, classical Disney piano music elegantly plays in the background, setting a peaceful ambiance and introduction to the show.
Continuing on through the windows, guests can also gaze at a map of Walt's Carolwood Pacific Railroad in his California estate, trekking through the hillsides of his backyard. Through the final window, guests can see the large scale illustration of The Florida Project, with WED Teleprompters aimed at the set ready to film. Unlike the One Man's Dream set, Walt Disney is not in cardboard cutout form in front of the display pointing to the map. Instead, the look through the window only reveals the set as if it was being prepared for Mr. Disney.
Theater Arrangement
At the time of the show, the orator announces that guests may enter the theater area and are escorted in by the cast members to their allotted seats, in either the Orchestra, Mezzanine, or Balcony sections. The three tiered seating arrangement holds 2,120 guests per show, slightly larger than the Hyperion Theater in Disney California Adventure. The interior of the theater is elegantly decorated with hand crafted marble and sculptures into the wall facades, representing the Victorian era of Main Street mixed with a dash of Disney charm.
Scene 1
The curtains open up to Main Street in Marceline, MO town center before dawn in the winter of the 1910s, as a small boy walks out onto stage on a paper route, as a piano rendition of 'Feed the Birds' from Mary Poppins plays in the background.
The boy walks around the stage, delivering the newspapers to each of the townspeople, before he hears a voice call him from afar
"Walt -- come on in you're going to be late for school"! shouts Elias Disney
The young boy, now reveals to be Walt Disney, treks off-stage as he greets a tall man with a mustache looking down to him below.
"C'mon Walt you gotta get to Benton, and I have to get to work. Good-bye, son -- Flora, I'm leaving"
"Good-bye dear" shouts a feminine voice from the basement, Walt Disney's mother Flora Call-Disney
As Elias Disney turns and heads out the door, young Walt grabs his book bag, and begins to head down the street towards school when he hears a voice call out his name
"Hey Walt! Wait up!" bellows another young boy affable with Walt -- Walter Pfeiffer " Hey Walt look at this brochure my old man gave me! it's about - The Sandow, a darn-tooten great vaudeville show!"
Walt responds "I don't think I can go see it, I gotta go with my brother Roy, and deliver the evening Times, you know this Pfeif"
"Gee, your grades are slipping with this paper route Walt, you're never gonna be anything if you keep this up!" Pfeiffer implies
"I just gotta keep moving forward - maybe one day I can get into theater, but right now I can't, maybe some day" Walt replies.
"Your doodles are fantastic Walt! Buddy, c'mon you gotta give it a shot!"
As the two boys walk off into the distance, the sun pierces through as the snow stops, and the piano instrumental transitions into the lights dimming and the new scene beginning.
Scene 2
The scene transitions with a train ride to Los Angeles and a narration from Walt Disney himself, as an effect of a drawing of Mickey Mouse appears on the set screen above the stage. The piano and melody shift from a more modestly quiet tone, to a more upbeat tone, of the likes of Steamboat Willie. The scene involves Walt discussing with his companions about transitioning into full technicolor animation for the future, and venturing into full length feature films. His companions are skeptical because of the hardships and level of talent that would take, but Walt, being the visionary that he was, is persistent with gaining a reputation for being the best animation group there was.
Over the next section of the scene, creative writers are busy illustrating, conceptualizing, and modeling Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for theatrical release in 1939. The song 'Heigh-Ho' from the film, is played instrumentally, before the artists themselves join in and begin singing along to the song as the scene ends.
Scene 3
This scene opens up to see the Disney animation studio in all of its glory. This is just after releasing Snow White and other classics like Pinocchio and Fantasia. We then saw the struggles hit of WW2 and the financial struggles that were caused from that. But enough about the sad story, let’s get back to where the fun happens! After the rough years from the WW2, Disney animation soared with classics like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Walt Disney saw how well this part of the company was doing so decided that he wanted to focus on other potential ventures. This is where we come across the Griffith Park bench. This bench is where Walt Disney came up with the initial idea for Disneyland. The scene ends with him saying “You know one day, I’ll make a park where kids and adults can play and have fun together.” And the lights go down to change the scene.
Scene 4
The creation of Disneyland! What a time to be around Walt Disney! This area showed the process Walt went through the create this park including making a whole new company in WED Enterprises to make sure it stayed separate from the animation studio. It then goes into the process of buying the land and the deals that were made (Including the Dominguez tree as it doesn’t get enough love), and the plans on how they were going to build this magnificent park! This scene ends with Walt at a podium reciting his famous Opening Day speech before it fades out for a scene change. “To all who come to this happy place, welcome….”
Scene 5
Disneyland was going strong so WED was hard at work to create new and amazing attractions. This is where we come to 1959, and the big Tomorrowland Update with the Monorail, Matterhorn, and Submarine Voyage. These were technological feats at the time and change the course of that technology in Theme Park history. But this wasn’t enough for him at the time so in 1964, Disney participated in the New York World’s Fair, Creating four key attractions that year that can still be found throughout Disney parks. Here we go through a crash course of all four: It’s a Small World, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, The Ford Magic Skyway, and ending off with the Carousel of Progress as “There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow” is sung before heading into the 8th and final scene.
Scene 6
Disneyland was doing well. Disney animation was doing well. So Walt wanted something new and challenging. That’s when he discovered it. Walt Disney wanted to make a Utopian City. E.P.C.O.T. or the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. This scene goes over his beautiful plans of what EPCOT could have been including a full replica of the original Progress City model (The PeopleMover one will stay). This scene shows the fight Walt went through to build it before giving in to building magic Kingdom first. A compromise that he wouldn’t see play out. This is where things start to turn sour though. Here we see Walt getting very sick very fast. Here is where we see how the Lung Cancer affected him fast. We see Walt unfortunately, pass away.
Scene 7
During the transition from Scene 6 to 7, you hear a piano rendition of Chim Chim Cher-ee similar to the one heard in Saving Mr. Banks, as the lights go dark to reveal a singlular light in the center of the stage in the shape of a mickey head, before that does dark as well.
The scene then lights up with a quiet board room and Walt's brother Roy at the helm, talking with a bunch of WED representatives. During the dialogue, the decision being made about whether to continue with the Disney World Project, or whether to give up on Walt's dream. Cast can be seen taking down maps of the Epcot florida project, and cleaning up some of the models around the stage to be put into storage, before Roy Disney stands up and says, that not only Disney World is going to be built....Walt Disney World is going to be built.
The mood in the room begins to get more perky and lively as the music begins to swell and a with a transition of aesthetic on stage, the dream is back alive again.
As the imagineers at WED work around the office, the back screen begins to take shape in the form of Cinderella Castle and the surrounding Main Street U.S.A. construction area, with an overture of the Walt Disney World commencement speech. As the years go on, more and more is built around the Cinderella Castle center in the backdrop. Spaceship Earth takes shape in the distance as well as attractions such as Horizons and the World of Motion. Disney's MGM Studios and the Chinese Theater can be seen in the distance as well as the two Disney Water Parks, and Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Tree of Life, as the screen behind populates with 50 years of magic, changing, morphing, and altering over the course of time on the screen to represent the time passage.
In addition, as time passes as the parks/resorts are added to the backdrop, lyrics and music from classic Disney attractions are embedded into the surroundings as their year of inception adds up. Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Journey into Imagination, and more can be heard throughout the musical montage - before culminating in Walt Disney's voiceover, reminding us that it all started with a mouse.
When You Wish Upon a Star plays the outro as you gaze upon the 50 years of magic at the Walt Disney World Resort and see that Walt's dream of a Disney World has come true and will remain true for the next 50 years and beyond.
Guests then exit the theater out into Center Street, where they can walk back out onto Main Street U.S.A., now with an understanding and better appreciation for the man behind the Magic Kingdoms himself, as you gaze down to the partners statue in front of Cinderella Castle...
