The debut of a Disneyland show starring an animatronic Walt Disney has been delayed by two months.
Disneyland snuck the delayed opening date into a Disney Parks Blog post Wednesday which discussed smaller additions coming to the park as part of its 70th anniversary celebration later this year. “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” was originally scheduled to open at the Main Street Opera House on May 16, the start of the anniversary celebration.
Instead, it will now debut on Disneyland’s actual 70th anniversary, July 17. (Disney says after the show’s initial run, it will be in rotation with the Opera House’s usual animatronic, “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.)
Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln has been closed since last April (Theme Park Tribune)
Alongside the new animatronic show, the Opera House will also play host to an “all-new gallery experience featuring the evolution of Walt Disney’s dream of Disneyland,” according to Disney, as well as a new exhibit about the history of Disney’s animatronics technology. Some items for the exhibits will come from the Walt Disney Family Museum, the San Francisco-based facility established by the Disney family, including what Disney described as “original items from Walt’s private apartment above the Fire Station on Main Street.”
Further down Main Street, the Main Street Cinema will feature a tribute to the famed Disney composers Richard and Robert Sherman.
While the Sherman Brothers’ contributions include songs from “Mary Poppins,” “The Aristocats,” and “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh,” this exhibit will feature a short film called “The Last Verse” that focuses on their legendary theme park composition, “It’s a Small World.” The film features a new verse for the attraction written by Richard Sherman in his final Disney song before his death last May.
That new verse will be also featured inside the It’s a Small World attraction at Disneyland starting July 17.