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/* Attraction History */
==Attraction History==
Like many of the Magic Kingdom's opening day attractions, the Hall of Presidents started out as an idea for Disneyland. In the late 1950s Walt Disney wanted to create an attraction called “One Nation Under God”, which was to be about American greatness and the Constitution. The grand finale of the attraction was going to be life size Audio Animatronics of all the United States Presidents joining together on stage, concluding with Abraham Lincoln giving a speech <ref> http://waltdatedworld.com/id223.htm </ref>. Technological limitations however, made the show unrealistic at that time, and the idea was eventually scrapped.
[[Image:GibsonLincoln.jpg|400px|thumb|Blaine Gibson sculpting the face of Abraham Lincoln for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the 1964 World's Fair| alt= Blaine Gibson Hall of Presidents]]
Although the Audio Animatronic technology was still under development, Walt agreed to create a show for the Illinois Pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair <ref name= "64fair"> http://www.nywf64.com/illinois01.shtml </ref>. The show that Disney came up with was titled, “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln”. The new attraction was essentially a scaled down version of the “One Nation Under God” show, however instead of focusing on all of the American Presidents, the new show focused solely on Abraham Lincoln. Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln consisted of two separate parts. The first half of the show was a film that gave Lincoln’s biography, and like its predecessor, the show concluded with the Audio Animatronic Lincoln giving a speech <ref name= "64fair"/>. Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln was such a success at the World's Fair, that Walt Disney decided to move the attraction to his Disneyland park. In 1966, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln opened on Main Street USA <ref> http://www.yesterland.com/presidents.html </ref>. The show was free for guests and once again proved to be quite popular.
Due to its popularity, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was one of the attractions considered for inclusion in (yet unopened) Walt Disney World. Instead of recreating the attraction however, Imagineers decided to revisit the One Nation Under God concept. In the time between Walt’s original idea and the creation of Walt Disney World, technology had improved to the point that creating Audio Animatronic figures for every President was possible. Furthermore, the Magic Kingdom also had the space available for such a large stage to be created.
In order to create the Presidential figures in the Hall of Presidents, Disney turned to Imagineer Blaine Gibson, who had sculpted Abraham Lincoln for the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln Show. After doing extensive research on each of the Presidents, Gibson set out to create figures that accurately represented not only what the Presidents looked like, but who they were. According to Gibson:
[[Image:GibsonLincolnGibsonpresidents.jpg|400px|thumb|Presidental busts created for the Hall of Presidents by Blaine Gibson| alt= Hall of Presidents busts Blaine Gibson]]
{{Quotation| “My goal in sculpting is to render the uniqueness of an individual"}}
