Disneyland 70th speculations and news

[mdmost]

So I haven't read up much on this new Walt Disney animatronic. Is it it's own show or is it just a preshow for Mr. Lincoln?

 

[LKing]

So I haven't read up much on this new Walt Disney animatronic. Is it it's own show or is it just a preshow for Mr. Lincoln?

It will rotate with Great Moments. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/wa...ife-d23-audio-animatronics-figure-imagineers/

The Opera House theater will transform into Walt’s studio office and will bring together the past, present and future of Disney storytelling. A Magical Life will play in rotation with Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

 

[brightlined]

It will rotate with Great Moments. https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/wa...ife-d23-audio-animatronics-figure-imagineers/

The Opera House theater will transform into Walt’s studio office and will bring together the past, present and future of Disney storytelling. A Magical Life will play in rotation with Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

I'm wondering if this is why Lincoln is showing up as being closed on the 17th - maybe they're only showing Walt on the 17th.

 

[disneychrista]

I'm wondering if this is why Lincoln is showing up as being closed on the 17th - maybe they're only showing Walt on the 17th.

My understanding is that it will only be Walt initially and then they will rotate the shows. For example shows on the hour will be Walt and shows on the 30 will be Abe.

 

[LKing]

I'm wondering if this is why Lincoln is showing up as being closed on the 17th - maybe they're only showing Walt on the 17th.

You're probably correct.

 

[OneTrackMind]

Hi. I’ve been following all this very helpful information and really appreciate all the time and effort that several of you have been putting into this! I have a question that I don’t think has been addressed - if it has been and I missed it, then I’m sorry about that.

I know the 70th entertainment is mostly continuing through the 2 1/2 months of Halloween time. Does anyone have any information or educated guesses (or even complete speculation ) about whether it will also continue throughout Christmas time in November and December? We were thinking of going either then or in February/March. But my priority is seeing the 70th celebration, especially since I was there for the 35th! What do you think are the chances the 70th entertainment will be on during those months?
Thanks!!

 

[LAS2AMS]

Hi. I’ve been following all this very helpful information and really appreciate all the time and effort that several of you have been putting into this! I have a question that I don’t think has been addressed - if it has been and I missed it, then I’m sorry about that.

I know the 70th entertainment is mostly continuing through the 2 1/2 months of Halloween time. Does anyone have any information or educated guesses (or even complete speculation ) about whether it will also continue throughout Christmas time in November and December? We were thinking of going either then or in February/March. But my priority is seeing the 70th celebration, especially since I was there for the 35th! What do you think are the chances the 70th entertainment will be on during those months?
Thanks!!

Disney has confirmed it’ll continue through the Holiday season, although we expect Holiday editions of WOC + the fireworks.

 

[OneTrackMind]

Disney has confirmed it’ll continue through the Holiday season, although we expect Holiday editions of WOC + the fireworks.

Thanks! Still Paint the Night though? Would you guess they’d have everything going again in February? I’ve never been in February but I seem to recall it’s a little slower and therefore usually more refurbishments and less entertainment. Would March be a safer bet?

 

[LAS2AMS]

Thanks! Still Paint the Night though? Would you guess they’d have everything going again in February? I’ve never been in February but I seem to recall it’s a little slower and therefore usually more refurbishments and less entertainment. Would March be a safer bet?

Most entertainment is offered weekends only (F/Sa/Su) off peak. IMO they’ll run the parade off peak, given the marketing of the 70th. Not to mention they could lose many of the performers, which would be costly. That said…….. the parade may got on a brief pause. We won’t know until we see the schedule.

The only way to be certain would be to book during a buys period.

 

[LKing]

Sounds like the 70th post-its and postcards are back at the stores.

Edit: And the stickers.

 

[Tinkaboo]

Sounds like the 70th post-its and postcards are back at the stores.

Edit: And the stickers.

I will keep my for September but I am kinda over it now...honestly, July is my "clean out the closets and put stuff on ebay" month and I am realizing how much STUFF I need to get rid of...so I probably will restrain myself a bit next trip!

 

[AprilsZoo]

My understanding is that it will only be Walt initially and then they will rotate the shows. For example shows on the hour will be Walt and shows on the 30 will be Abe.

I’m not finding the citation right now, and I’ll keep looking, but I read on an official Disney page/site (planDisney, I thought?) that the Walt show will debut on 7/17/25 as part of the Birthday festivities. Then, it will run exclusively through the end of the celebration (end of summer 2026)
After that, it will play “in rotation” with Lincoln. They did not elaborate on that in that specific article, but from another description, I got the sense that it might be every other day , not sure though.

The description of the show set up is pretty cool. They’ve installed a ginormous “turntable” (the Imagineers word) that can literally rotate 180° to perform each show.

I picture it as the inverse of the Carousel of Progress, where the set rotates rather than the audience. I think it’s pretty amazing that they were able to find the space behind the Lincoln set to put the new set. I don’t imagine that the area was just a large open space waiting to be used. I hope they won’t have condensed the width or depth of the Lincoln stage. To me, part of the (idk?) grandeur, is in the size of the set compared to the size of the Lincoln animatronic.

 

[irlandaise]

I’m not finding the citation right now, and I’ll keep looking, but I read on an official Disney page/site (planDisney, I thought?) that the Walt show will debut on 7/17/25 as part of the Birthday festivities. Then, it will run exclusively through the end of the celebration (end of summer 2026)
After that, it will play “in rotation” with Lincoln. They did not elaborate on that in that specific article, but from another description, I got the sense that it might be every other day , not sure though.

From the Disney Parks blog:

“Walt Disney – A Magical Life” will debut inside the Main Street Opera House, and after its initial run, the attraction will play in rotation with “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”

Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics Figure Coming to Disneyland

 

[disneychrista]

I’m not finding the citation right now, and I’ll keep looking, but I read on an official Disney page/site (planDisney, I thought?) that the Walt show will debut on 7/17/25 as part of the Birthday festivities. Then, it will run exclusively through the end of the celebration (end of summer 2026)
After that, it will play “in rotation” with Lincoln. They did not elaborate on that in that specific article, but from another description, I got the sense that it might be every other day , not sure though.

I hope that that is not the case. If it is too difficult to do every other show, hopefully it is at least half the day one show and the other half the other. It would be a bummer that one would not be able to see both shows during a single day visit.

 

[brightlined]

I don't think this is a perfect 1-to-1 comparison, but when they opened the Beauty and the Beast Singalong in the same theater as Impressions de France at EPCOT, they initially ran the two every other showing. Eventually, though, they shifted it to have Impressions de France run in the morning and evening, and Beast run throughout the afternoon.

If I had to bet, I would wager that they'll run Walt most of the day, but have a block of time set for Lincoln.

Honestly, it could be anything at this point, but I would be very, very surprised if it switched every day. Walt is a new attraction - minimum, that show will run every day. I think the only question is how often Lincoln runs.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

We'll find out soon enough!

Whatever schedule, I just hope the Walt animatronic never fails mid-show. The sensationalists news (Inside the Magic and Mickey Views come to mind) are probably salivating to get clicks from the Disney-hater online community out of something like that.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

The Walt show is going to have some big crowds for the first few weeks if not months

then hopefully when the hype is down we get both shows...It would be cool if they ran them every other house...like you get 4 shows in this hour then the next house is the other show but they could also do it where the morning is one show and nighttime is another

 

[maleficent55]

I am so excited for the Walt animatronic!!! Just seeing that picture of the finished sign excited me!

Are the magic keys still in stock at the moment?

 

[joseph821]

The Walt show is going to have some big crowds for the first few weeks if not months

then hopefully when the hype is down we get both shows...It would be cool if they ran them every other house...like you get 4 shows in this hour then the next house is the other show but they could also do it where the morning is one show and nighttime is another

Do you think there will be extra long lines? Some sort of booking/virtual queue or just the regular old way?

 

[JerrodDragon89]

Do you think there will be extra long lines? Some sort of booking/virtual queue or just the regular old way?

A great question

I would assume they will find an area to line people up like maybe behind Mainstreet( in the area used when its super busy and you can cut through to near Tommorrowland)
But they could also have a Q system but that....could also really suck

So I'm hoping they let you line up and then take a group into the preshow area but looking it up the theater only had 500 seats which normally is fine but could cause the line the first week to be over an hour easy. So we will have to see but with the pre show area you can have about 1,000 guests that be inside at least...so about 3,000 people and hour if they are lucky