The Hall of Presidents! An opening day attraction at the Magic Kingdom and an E-ticket attraction to this day! Okay, not really. Lets be honest that if you take away the 4-8 year cycle of hype that centers around a new Presidential figure being added to the attraction, then its a mostly empty attraction with a reputation as a literal snooze-fest.

History

So what is the Hall of Presidents? For those that haven’t ever been inside to visit this Liberty Square attraction. The building itself is built to resemble Independence Hall, and is highlighted by a short film alongside a dialogue presented by several founding fathers. Finally there is a short speech done by the current sitting President’s audio animatronic double. This portion of the attraction has only been around since 1993 when it was added in for then current President Bill Clinton. Since then all sitting Presidents have recorded a voice over speech for their portions.

Controversy

I spend a lot of time perusing the various forms of the Disney-verse on the internet. From twitter, instagram, facebook, etc. With most of my time being spent on Reddit. A fire was lit in late 2016 that mirrored the dialogue going on in the American public, but it was incredibly odd to see it invade the Disney-verse in such a pervasive manner. And that was the election of Donald Trump. Because with the election of Trump as President came along the realization that the Hall of Presidents would be closed for a renovation to add his audio animatronic double to the attraction. And thus Pandora’s Box was opened and couldn’t seem to be stopped. I saw everything from death threats to people saying they would try to destroy the audio animatronic at any cost.

The rumors and vitriol over the idea only seemed to grow and grow. It all seemed to culminate in a Motherboard article that was written and then quickly retracted due to a statement by Disney. I have linked to the article, but unfortunately a retraction is the only thing posted. The article essentially was stating that Donald Trump and Disney could not come to an agreement on the speech he was supposed to read. It started to spread like fire in the fervor of social media and soon Disney was forced to release a statement directly responding to the claims raised by the article. The Motherboard article was soon retracted and taken down.

My personal opinion on the entire matter is this. The man was voted as President of the United States of America, no matter what happens he will have held the office and thus his audio animatronic should be added to the attraction. Whether you like him, his morals, his policies, or none of it. He holds, and in the future will have held, the office, and thus has a place in our Presidential line-up.

A Solution Emerges

Musicals, Moana, American History, and Pop Culture. What do these things all have in common? This guy! Lin-Manuel Miranda. Disney’s current golden boy when it comes to all things musical, and well deserving of it. If you haven’t heard of Lin-Manuel before he is the creator of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton. He also co-wrote the songs for Moana.

Now why would we need Lin-Manual Miranda for a Walt Disney World attraction? To give Hall of Presidents a revamp that it could really use, and don’t get me wrong I love the Hall of Presidents as it is. I love that there is an attraction, including the American Adventure in EPCOT, that focuses on some American History. I think the attraction is great for international guests that want to visit, but I think it lacks a draw for the more substantial American audience.

So I would like to see a musical stage show written and directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda about the Presidents. If you need any convincing that this would work I would lead you to the Hamilton soundtrack which can be streamed on Youtube. I think it could really give the change of pace this attraction needs. The renovations would be fairly simple compared to other projects currently on the docket *cough* Stitch’s Great Escape *cough*. Having the characters and catchy songs teaching great moments in Presidential history would be a game changer.

I think this works to make both sides of any political argument happy in the process as well. I saw many people during the election cycle arguing that the attraction should be reverted back to its pre-Clinton phase, but it always seemed this argument came with the stipulation of “but we switch it back once we like the next person in office.” I am fine with getting away from the current President speaking in any sense. The current President is always subject to some form of controversy from one side of the aisle or another. Instead I would rather see an informative lesson on the past that people will learn, and be entertained by.

And that is all there is folks! I hope you enjoyed my crackpot idea and as always let me know what you think down below in the comments or on my instagram @guysguidetodisney Have a great week!