If you could bring Walt to WDW for 1 day on the 50th anniversary where would you take him?

[VeronicaZS]

Having recently rewatched the Imagineering story and all of this hype for the 50th got me thinking about what Walt would think about the park(s) he never got to see completed. If you could bring him back for 1 day and take him to all 4 parks to ride 2 or 3 rides (or shows), how would you plan the day?

Since I like symmetry and order I would do the parks in the reverse order of opening. As I contemplated the rides I would want to show him the technically amazing rides but also some of the nostalgic ones. Here is what I came up with. Looking forward to seeing other responses.
AK - Flight of Passage and Safari. I remember so many wonderful Disney animal programs growing up, I think he would be pleased to see how animals are incorporated into a park ride.
HS - Rise of the Resistance and MMRRR. I'd love for him to know that one of the newest rides honors the mouse that started it all.
EP - Soarin and The Land. This one was hard, I considered Space Ship Earth since Walt loved history and Three Caballeros since Walt had that amazing trip to South America and fell in love with Brazil (check out the Disney+ documentary) but I felt like The Land mostly closely aligns with his vision for Epcot. I might also consider The American Experience but I haven't seen it in person so I feel like I can't give it proper consideration.
MK - This one is so hard. I feel like Small World and Pirates have to be on the list. I'd like to pick another one to show how the park has advanced but I can't come up with a good option. Maybe something simple and sweet like Journey of the Little Mermaid so we can talk about the resurgence of Disney Animation and he can hear some of the music.

I hope you play along!

 

[kimmar067]

I'd take him to Universal Studios.

 

[Carol_]

Philharmagic

 

[Dis Dragon]

Chapek's office so he could walk him out personally.

 

[e_yerger]

Carousal of Progress

 

[Nabas]

Epcot so he could see what his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow was turned into.

Being a technology guy, perhaps take him on Rise of the Resistance since that combines several modern effects. But if he doesn’t know Star Wars, maybe this won’t mean much to him.

Maybe watch Toy Story with him so he could see what animation has evolved into.

I would not show him ticket prices. Walt was into providing his customers with “value”. He might blow a gasket if he saw today’s prices.

 

[Nabas]

Carousal of Progress

He’s already seen that.

 

[Channel1tv]

Walt asks: Ok what the blazes happened to EPCOT...

 

[Chaoticsweetness]

DAK: I think he would love to see the Safari, go on Everest, see some dinosaurs & then relax in Nomad Lounge.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

I'd want to take him to all of WDW park property starting in aged order
MK- IASW, HM, and PoTC
EPCOT- SE and then unto WS ( Norway, Germany, Canada)
HS- ToT and One Man's Dream and TSM
AK- KS, FoTLK, and FoP

 

[Figment of Speech]

It would be fun to start by riding the MK attractions with him that were reiterations of Disneyland's first decade of rides, and to hear anything he had to say about their creation and how he feels they fit into his larger vision. Although a lot of this info exists in canon, I'm sure there are things that didn't make into writing and have been forgotten by history. And an opportunity like this should be at least as much about what I can learn from him as about what he'd be interested in learning.

From there, we'd take a roughly chronological tour so he can see how the parks and ride technology have developed over time. At Epcot, I think he'd be most interested in Spaceship Earth and Living With the Land, along with the World Showcase, because those are the kinds of things that best reflect his original concept.

At Animal Kingdom, he would go mad for the safaris, the treks, and any other opportunity to view or interact with animals. This might need to be the larger chunk of the day. Many Disney history buffs talk about how Jungle Cruise was originally inspired by Walt wishing that a real jungle safari with real animals would be possible. But animatronics, as complicated as they are, were still the more accessible alternative. AK is, to an extent, a realization of that original dream, and this might be one of the later developments he'd be most proud of — not just that it exists but that it's more than a plain old zoo and that it promotes education and conservation.

At Hollywood Studios, walking around the Hollywood-esque boulevards, peeking into shops, and seeing the galleries and tributes to him would be a nice way to wind the day down and share how he continues to be remembered. Finally we'd ride MMRR to show him how his influence and visions have endured and have been adapted, visually and technologically, for an audience with a different era's taste and expectations. While a ride as advanced as ROTR would shock his '60s-defined system, I think MMRR strikes the right balance of new and familiar and would cap off the day satisfyingly.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

The bank and ask him to make a withdrawal for me

 

[Brett Wyman]

Walt would be most impressed by the technology in Pandora and SGE in my opinion.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I would take him to Las Vegas to experience Elon Musk regenerating Walt genius collaboration with Ford Motor Company during Worlds Fair
Ford Magic Skyway in 1964....
Bloomberg News Article :
June Las Vegas Concrete Convention connecting 4 tunnels to different showcase displays while seated in Tesla . And kept this secret by advertising for employment with Boring Company
And the staff is so happy they nickname it the Rainbow Road...
Dont forget Walt built the MK on the second ground floor concept and kept it all a secret while he bought property...
But maybe he would be impressed with the Skyliner