A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: Liberty Square

By Dave Shute

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians and author of Jim’s Gems in The easy Guide, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

LIBERTY SQUARE IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM

By Jim Korkis

Liberty Square is a land unique to Walt Disney World. It exists in no other Disney theme park worldwide and was inspired by plans that Walt Disney himself had for an expansion of Disneyland.

Cobblestones would pave the way down Liberty Street and into Liberty Square, which would be a celebration of Revolutionary War America. All the shops and exhibits would represent the types of enterprises that might be found in Colonial America.

One of the major attractions in this land would be “One Nation Under God”, a 27-minute show. Surrounded by a Circa-rama (later “Circle Vision 360”) screen projecting paintings of significant episodes in U.S. history up to a Civil War climax, the audience would hear off-screen narration of the trials, decisions and formation of the United States, including excerpts from presidential speeches.

At the conclusion, figures of all the nation’s presidents (34 by 1957 when planning started) accompanied by limited electro-mechanical movement and dramatic lighting would be seen on the enormous stage against a rear-projected image of the United States Capitol, as clouds panned across the sky forming an American flag and a rousing musical finale closed the show

“The show was on and off at various times in the Studio, but when it came time to really firm it up for Florida, when I dug out the original script, it dated back to 1961. And the Hall of Presidents was very much Walt’s baby. He had this great desire to present to an audience all of the Presidents of the United States on stage at once. He read into that single idea a feeling that it would have great impact and great audience interest and fascination, and, in truth, it does,” said James Algar, who wrote the original script for the attraction as well as for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

The Hall of Presidents features all the presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama, all sculpted (except for Obama) by Disney Legend Blaine Gibson from photos and paintings.

Great attention to detail was taken even in the wardrobe to match the material used during those time periods. If a guest were to lift the pant legs of Franklin Roosevelt, they would see he was wearing polio braces just like he wore in real life.

The facade of the original Hall of Presidents in 1971 was flat brick with three windows directly above three doors into the waiting area. It wasn’t until 1973 that the white veranda and breezeway were added. The date of 1787 on the front of the building refers to the year the Constitution was signed, since the focus of the original show was the Constitution and the American Presidency.

With the creation of Walt Disney World, the Disney Imagineers decided to make Walt’s dream become a reality and use the new land as a preface to the story of Frontierland that recounted the expansion of America.

The decision to build this new land was also reinforced by the fact that America’s Bicentennial was just a few years away. When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, Liberty Square proved to be the most popular area of the new Magic Kingdom.

One of the most remarkable things about Liberty Square is that it is probably the one land at the Magic Kingdom that has had the fewest significant changes over the last 40 years. Other than some cosmetic changes like moving the flags from the bridge to surrounding the Liberty Bell, a guest visiting Liberty Square today would experience much the same as a guest in 1971.

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Thanks, Jim. Come back next Friday for even more from Jim Korkis! There’s more on Liberty Square and Frontierland here.

In the meantime, check out his books, including Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew, which reprints much material first written for this site, and The Vault of Walt: Volume 4, and his contributions to The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, all published by Theme Park Press.

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