Look! The President is here!!!

[Lou Mongello]

Most people never realize that many attractions in WDW use Audio-Animatronics figures whose heads are made from the mold used to create the U.S. Presidents in the Hall of Presidents!

For example, in Spaceship Earth, during the scene in Egypt, the bald atttandee to the Pharoh is our 27th President, William Howard Taft (minus the moustache!).



Other attractions included the former World of Motion, where the bust of Richard M. Nixon was used on the inventor of the triangular wheel.

[LilMarcieMouse]

Cool you right I never knew that.

[TrendyMagic]

Didn't know about that. That is too funny.

[crashbunny]

any idea as to why? do they have "backup" heads to all the presidents? that would be funny, too! Thats cool we have to look really close now when we go in November!

[judycats]

that's amazing! I have to look for that when I go? so do you mean that i may see bill clinton in mission-space?

[Buckey Badger]

any where else to look for most recent brain dead presidents But not dead otherwise

[Princess Jas]

Wow! That is very cool. I never knew that. Yet another thing I am going to have to explore on my next trip to WDW.

[FrumiousBoojum]

Looks like nobody ever answered the question on why this was done, so guess I'll do it.

When it came time to start making the Animatronics for the EPCOT Center attractions, money started to become a huge issue. EPCOT Center *was* a HUGE project, after all.

So one of the solutions to cut costs was to reuse existing face molds whenever possible. This isn't an unusual practice -- take a look at the Haunted Mansion and you'll find some of the Pirates as well as many of the faces repeating often. Or even a complete figure -- pay attention just before you enter the crypt with the Hitchhikers and you'll see Gus (the prisoner) tucked away to the right with his hitchiking hand turned the other way.

Back to EPCOT: Since EPCOT was a park based hugely in reality rather than fantasy, realistic faces were needed. So where better to get realism than the Hall of Presidents?

However, this need to reuse was used as a political statement by Ward Kimball, who worked on the World of Motion. Ward Kimball was always quite the rebel among the studios and always rebelled in ways that should've gotten him fired -- everything from the infamous Tinker Bell and Jiminy Crickett animation to a random Donald Duck. Ward's political views were quite the opposite of Walt's. He quite disagreed with Walt's republican leanings and the two were always at odds because of that. When they were given permission to reuse Hall of Presidents molds, he took the opportunity to throw in a joke about Nixon, but well desguised so that he wouldn't get in too much trouble. Thus, why Nixon is inventing the triangular wheel.

Does that answer your question?

-Tim

[Princess Jas]

Wow, that is really interesting. Thanks for sharing!

[BelleGurl]

Wow! I learned a lot from this thread!!!

[little yankee]

Most people never realize that many attractions in WDW use Audio-Animatronics figures whose heads are made from the mold used to create the U.S. Presidents in the Hall of Presidents!

For example, in Spaceship Earth, during the scene in Egypt, the bald atttandee to the Pharoh is our 27th President, William Howard Taft (minus the moustache!).



Other attractions included the former World of Motion, where the bust of Richard M. Nixon was used on the inventor of the triangular wheel.

Wow! that is pretty cool! I never knew that...kepp up the cool facts!:mickey:

[BelleGurl]

Lou, did you find this out for yourself, or did your little bluebird tell you?

[Lou Mongello]

Belle... Can you keep a secret??

(so can I)

[MandaBella]

Belle... Can you keep a secret??

(so can I)

That would be Tim Curry in the movie Clue .

[BelleGurl]

Belle... Can you keep a secret??

(so can I)

Nice one. I can keep my mouth shut. Hopefully... ...just kidding.