The Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World Resort will be closing temporarily in 2025. This comes after former President Trump has been re-elected as President of the United States. The attraction in Magic Kingdom is set to close on January 20, 2024. This is the day that Donald J. Trump will be sworn in and President Biden’s term will end at 12:00 PM ET. The following announcement has been put on the Walt Disney World Resort website announcing the closure of this attraction in Liberty Square:
The Hall of Presidents will temporarily close for refurbishment on January 20, 2025, and is expected to reopen later in 2025.
History of The Hall of Presidents
The Hall of Presidents is an opening-day attraction at Walt Disney World. Through the years, it has been updated multiple times. Whereas it originally focused on past presidents, it now focuses on past, present, and future presidents. The current version starts with a video narrative called The Idea of a President. This depicts historical accounts of several of the Presidents including George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. Abraham Lincoln recites a portion of the Gettysburg Address during this video. It is followed by a roll call from all the presidents. When each President’s name is called, they physically acknowledge the audience with a nod or gesture. Following the roll call, George Washington gives a short speech. This is followed by President Joe Biden reciting the oath of office.
Since 1971, there have been several versions of The Hall of Presidents. They include:
- Original Version (1971-1993)
- Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
- George W. Bush (2001-2009)
- Barack Obama (2009-2017)
- Donald Trump (2017-2021)
- Joe Biden (2021-present)
The Hall of Presidents celebrates the Office of the President and continues Walt Disney’s original idea for a similar experience called One Nation Under God that he originally envisioned for Disneyland. Eventually, Disneyland would get Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln instead in 1965. This would be followed by The Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom in 1971 after he had passed.
Looking Forward
Every four or eight years when the Hall of Presidents closes for refurbishment in line with the inauguration there is speculation about the future of the attraction. Recent rumblings have had fans hoping and speculating that The Muppets could take over the attraction with a new approach. With the notice on Walt Disney World’s website saying the attraction is expected to reopen later in 2025, it would seem that the attraction isn’t getting a major change this time around. With there not being a brand new person heading to the Oval Office, Disney won’t need to create a new audio-animatronic for the attraction. This could simplify the process for the updated version of the attraction and also make it less expensive.
At this time a reopening date for The Hall of Presidents isn’t known. It is simply expected to be sometime later in 2025. Daps Magic will continue to monitor this story and provide any updates that are announced as that information becomes available.
