‘Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln’ at Disneyland weds nostalgia and technology

The latest incarnation of “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln,” opening Friday at Disneyland, features something old, something new, something borrowed and plenty of red, white and blue.

The old: The fifth generation of the show returns to the storyline of the original 1964 New York World’s Fair exhibit.

The new: Lincoln’s audio-animatronic head features more subtle face movements, lifelike hair and beard as well as silicone skin that better absorbs and reflects light.

The borrowed: The Disneyland attraction takes thematic elements from “American Adventure” at Epcot, “Hall of Presidents” at the Magic Kingdom and even an unused attraction conceived by Walt Disney called “One Nation Under God.”

The red, white and blue: The blend of Americana imagery and patriotic music pays tribute to Abraham Lincoln on the bicentennial anniversary of his birth.

Without becoming unnecessarily emotional or jingoistic, “Great Moments” quickly recaps the story of America’s birth and Lincoln’s biography before tackling the Civil War and the Gettysburg Address. The star of the show remains the animatronic Lincoln, whose eerily realistic eyes seem to look right at you as he speaks during the last third of the show.

Before the show begins, visitors wait in the lobby of the Disneyland Opera House, dominated by a 20-foot-long model of the U.S. Capitol carved from stone.

Lining the walls, sweeping landscape paintings feature Lincoln’s childhood log cabin home, a contemplative pre-Civil War president in the White House and the somber scene at Gettysburg.

A two-minute video preview helps set up the show with clips of voice actor Royal Dano performing as Lincoln and Walt Disney expressing his love and admiration for the 16th president.

Once inside the 500-seat theater, the stirring story closely follows the 1964 original with a few minor elements trimmed to get the running time down to a brisk 15 minutes. One holdover from the 1984 version of “Great Moments”: The Blue versus Gray ballad of “Two Brothers” paired with archival Civil War photographs.

When the animatronic Lincoln finally takes the stage, you can almost hear the 200-year-old president’s knees creak as he stands up from his armchair. And while the arm and hand movements of his hydraulic body still look robotic, it is the new electronic head that will captivate audiences. Ultimately it’s the eyes that sell it, bringing a photo-realistic wax figure convincingly to life — like a scene from “Night at the Museum.”

After the show, the exit lobby is lined with portraits of American heroes — ranging from inventors (Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers) to entertainers (Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys and Michael Jackson) to innovators (Steve Jobs and Bill Gates).

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland. Follow Funland on Twitter and Facebook.

— Brady MacDonald, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Video: The making of “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” at Disneyland. Credit: Disneyland

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 9:00 am by Brady MacDonald and is filed under California, Celebrity, Disneyland, Epcot at Walt Disney World, Family & Kids, Florida, Magic Kingdom, Orange County, Southern States, Theme Parks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.