As of this morning…
This is not a political post. Just letting any one planning their trip that HoP has closed for refurbishments with no listed reopening date.
(It is a bit earlier than usual as historically it’s closure for a new Presidential AA is installed about 6 - 10 months after the inauguration.)
Thanks, I wondered how long it took them to update the hall after an election. Now I know 
Could it be closed for a reason other than adding a new animatronic? Just curious 
There is rumor, isn’t there always, that the show may go back to it’s original iteration for the 50th. It’s permanent closure isn’t something I have heard from any reliable source.
(I didn’t want to make this a political commentary, but IMHO… They closed it the second Disney felt it could shut it down without it being too much drama. They have a built-in excuse for closing it now. “We are getting ready for a new show now that the former President’s tenure is complete.”)
There is another rumor that the whole attraction will be gutted and turned into a Muppet-based “American” show. In my opinion, this would be a travesty.
A small bit of history… The original incarnation of the idea came in 1964 when Disney created "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln for the Illinois pavilion at the NY World’s Fair. After the Fair, it was moved to DL where it has played ever since (with various updates). The original HoP featured a clone of the original Lincoln speech, with all of the other presidents added as a background, and preceded with a film (abridged) history of the presidency. When WDW opened in 1971, this was one of (if not the) headline attraction and frequently had 2+ hour lines. Somewhere along the line (perhaps in the 90s?) Washington was given a speech - as was the current president (I think Clinton was the first, but I could be wrong on this). That decision is what made the attraction “political”. Personally, I think it was a bad decision; they should have left it with only Lincoln (any maybe Washington) speaking.
This is what gets me. Why does this make it political? They are the presidents, whether we agree with them or not, for good or bad. There isn’t a single president up there that is all good or all bad. So it drives me crazy when people make this attraction political. Watch it. There’s nothing political about it.
What makes it political is recency.
I’m sure if we put some 18th century Americans in the audience I’m sure we’d find some riled up by anything Washington had to say.
If you like rumors, here’s a good one. The rumor goes that Disney was so certain that Hillary would win the election, they actually started making the AA before the election (and redid the film with a woman narrator). When Trump won, all they did was put a different wig and makeup on the AA and dressed it as Trump.
No political statement intended, just passing on one of the more curious rumors.
No, it doesn’t. Nothing about Trump in HoP is political. Nor was it political when Obama was added, etc.
What makes it political is people pre-conceived biases, perhaps. But that’s not on HoP. That’s on them.
Personally, I agree with you entirely. But there are people who want to make everything political… Like my in-laws…
This is true.
If you can’t find the politics in politicians making political speeches… nothing I can say.
There aren’t any political speeches in HoP.
That rumor got started last week as kinda wishful thinking by some ( including maybe someone whose name rhymed with Ten Lesta), it was based on social media posts that there was big news coming about the Muppets. The big news turned out to be the original Muppet Show coming to Disney+
How long do they usually take for the refurb? Thoughts on if it may reopen by May? A little sad to admit I’ve never seen it.
Personally, I see the attraction as American history. For better or worse, they’re all Presidents.
Of course as a Canadian my perspective is a bit removed.
Last refurb close to re-open January 17 ,2017 to December 17, 2017
Prior to that October 31, 2008 to July 1, 2009.
There is no set “usual” amount of time for a refurb; it really depends on how much they’re doing. Disney has not announced a reopening date, so it leads me to believe that it might be more than fresh paint and the installation of a new AA. As I’m assuming that the Biden AA will give a speech, it will also depend on how long it takes the White House to settle on the text and Biden to actually record the speech. After that, the Imagineers will have to do the final programming of the AA to match the speech.
