To coincide with the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company, a new, first-of-its-kind, bronze statue was unveiled this week at Hong Kong Disneyland.
New Dream Makers Statue In Hong Kong Disneyland
The new statue is of Walt Disney sitting on a park bench with Mickey Mouse. This latest statue, called Dream Makers, joins other well-known statues of Walt Disney throughout Disney theme parks worldwide.
Dream Makers is located between the Castle of Magical Dreams and Cinderella Castle in Fantasyland. Walt is seated with one hand gesturing toward the carousel and the other toward the castle, as Mickey looks at him with delight.
Dream Makers is inspired by the times when Walt would take his two daughters to similar attractions — Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round in Los Angeles — and thought about an “amusement enterprise” idea where children and their parents could have fun together. While this moment would have occurred earlier in Walt’s life, the statue shows an older Walt reflecting on what he has built and his excitement of the possibilities that are yet to come.
The statue was sculpted by multiple-dimensional designers at Walt Disney Imagineering, including Scott Goddard and Patrick Simmons who worked on Walt, while Erma Yazzie sculpted Mickey.
New Walt The Dreamer Statue In EPCOT
A second statue will debut at EPCOT in December at Dreamers Point in the World Celebration neighborhood. The statue shows Walt as he appeared in his sixties. This coincides closely with the time he was dreaming up the initial concepts for EPCOT and the overall Florida Project, a place that was never built during his lifetime.
Once the World Celebration neighborhood opens in December, guests will be able to sit next to Walt and take a picture with this statue at Dreamers Point and be inspired by the company’s original dreamer.
Other Disney Statues
The original Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse statue first appeared in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland park for Mickey’s birthday (Nov. 18) in 1993. It depicts Walt around the age he would have been when Disneyland park opened in 1955 and was sculpted by Disney Legend Blaine Gibson.
This statue subsequently debuted elsewhere, including at Magic Kingdom Park (June 1995), Tokyo Disneyland (April 1998), Legends Plaza at the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank (December 2001) and Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris when that park opened (July 2002).
When Buena Vista Street made its debut at Disney California Adventure park in June 2012, it featured the Storytellers statue, picturing a younger Walt Disney, as he might have appeared when he first arrived in California in 1923, along with a representation of Mickey Mouse from later that decade. Storytellers was created by sculptor Rick Terry and Imagineer Ray Spencer, with guidance from Blaine Gibson. Storytellers also appears in Tokyo Disney Sea and Shanghai Disneyland.
The well-known Sharing the Magic statue features Walt’s brother Roy O. Disney seated on a bench with Minnie Mouse. It is located in the Magic Kingdom.
Do you seeing Disney statues in the theme parks?