Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Ride Review #4 The Hall of Presidents (Magic Kingdom: Liberty Square)

History of the Hall of Presidents - When Disneyland opened Walt had plans in place for a show featuring all the Presidents of the United States in wax figure form. It was to be called "One Nation Under God" but this show never came to fruition. Problems with the creation of the wax figures caused Walt to try and find a new medium to create America's leaders from. He decided upon  the creation of audio-animotronic figures to represent the presidents. The first one that was created was Walt's hero, Abraham Lincoln and Walt decided to star him in his own show, Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln. Later, after Walt Disney's death, Imagineers decided to bring back the plans for Walt's original show, "One Nation Under God" by creating audio-animatronics for all the presidents. In 1971, The Hall of Presidents was opened in Liberty Square of the Magic Kingdom. The Hall of Presidents has been running its show ever since and has been updated whenever a new President enters office; most recently with the inclusion of  Barrack Obama.
The Hall of Presidents Review -
  1. Visual Themeing - The show is visually impressive because of the realistic recreation of the presidents as audio-animatronics. Plus there is a pre-show area with historical items that is very interesting and well themed Score 9.25 out of 10
  2. Audio Themeing - The music throughout the attraction is patriotic and inspiring, going along well with the theme. The speeches given by the presidents are also very well done and realistic. Barrack Obama's is an actual recording of our current president Score 8.5 out 10
  3. Story-Telling - The Hall of Presidents does a great job telling our nations history and displaying our country's leaders. The only real problem is that the actual video portion of the show describing the history of our nation is a little short but this is to accomadate the time taken by the presidents. Score 9.25 out of 10 
  4. Popularity - There are not many guests visiting the Hall of Presidents any more which is a shame because its a great show. This show draws modest crowds but is very rarely completely full. Score 6 out of 10
  5. Age Range - This show is more accomadating of an older crowd which can appreciate its history more. Younger visitors are often bored because they don't grasp the fine details of the show. Score 7.5 out of 10
  6. Lasting Appeal - The story of The Hall of Presidents is timeless and with its ability to be updated with every new president that enters office, the show remains fresh. Still visitors to the Magic Kingdom are generally less interested in this type of show than they once were Score 8.25 out of 10
  7. Intangiables - Hall of Presidents is a original Magic Kingdom ride but it's not the first thing that many people think of when disscussing the park. It does do a great job of telling its story and fitting into the themeing of its land of Liberty Square, though Score 7.75 out of 10

Overall Score 7.75 out of 10 - The Hall of Presidents is a very good show and an original Walt Disney attraction but in many ways it has failed to keep up with the modern crowds of WDW which may or may not be a bad thing.

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