Fridays with Jim Korkis: The Liberty Bell Replica at Magic Kingdom
By Dave Shute
Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.
THE LIBERTY BELL AT MAGIC KINGDOM
By Jim Korkis
Several myths surround the Liberty Bell that sits in Magic Kingdom’s Liberty Square. First, it is supposedly one of fifty replicas that were cast in 1976 to celebrate the United States’ 200th birthday with a copy given to each of the states. Second, supposedly Pennsylvania already had the original, so their copy was given to Walt Disney World to display.
Fifty replicas were indeed cast, but in 1950 as a way to promote the sales of U.S. Treasury Bonds. Moreover, Pennsylvania’s replica is at the Zion’s United Church of Christ in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The reason is that the church in 1777 hid the original Liberty Bell from the British who intended to melt it down for tools of war.
So what is the real story behind Walt Disney World’s Liberty Bell?
Cemetery owner Foy Bryant of Fair Oaks, California purchased a Liberty Bell replica bell in 1975 from the Paccard Bell Foundry in Annecy, France, where the 1950 U.S. Treasury replicas were cast. He would take the bell to schools for children to experience and it was also prominent at celebrations like parades in Sacramento throughout the year.
With the celebration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution in 1987, he decided it needed a more prominent display where millions of people could see it.
On Friday, September 11th, 1987, a forklift slowly lifted the 12-year-old replica onto the back of a flatbed truck for its 2,827-mile cross-country journey, arriving at Walt Disney World the next Monday. Bryant and Disney had arranged for a one-year loan.
On September 17th, 1987, a cast member dressed as Ben Franklin joined Mickey Mouse in a powdered wig and Minnie Mouse in a ruffled skirt as they paraded down the street in Liberty Square.
When they stopped at the newly-arrived Liberty Bell at precisely four o’clock, Mickey grasped a rope tied to the bell’s clapper and proceeded to ring the Liberty Bell for 200 seconds straight as about 500 onlookers waved tiny American flags. They were taking part in a nationwide ringing of the bells event to kick off Constitution week.
The following month, Walt Disney World launched the Star-Spangled Salute, which included a daily parade down Main Street U.S.A. The All America Parade ran from 11/87 to 11/88, when it morphed into Mickey’s All American Birthday Parade with the same floats but a new theme song from 11/88 – 11/89.
The inaugural celebration featured Astronaut Gordon Cooper and Roots author Alex Haley officially unveiling Disney’s borrowed Liberty Bell.
The bell proved to be such a popular attraction that its stay was extended through June of 1989. While they were still borrowing the Mount Vernon bell, Walt Disney World was planning to make a Liberty Bell a permanent fixture.
(c) Disney
Disney Show Properties and Interiors ordered their own Liberty Bell Replica from the Paccard foundry cast from the same mold as the original Liberty Bell. Whether by advance planning, luck or creative accounting, the bell was declared the 300th replica produced by the famous foundry. Fifth-generation bellmaster Pierre Pacard was pictured in the papers, diapason in hand, personally tuning the bell to strike an E-flat note.
The Liberty Square bell stands eight feet tall, weighs two and a half tons, and is cast from a mix of copper, tin, lead, zinc, arsenic, gold and silver. It was hoisted into its present location by a crane just in time for the 1989 Independence Day Celebration, where it was surrounded by thirteen flags representing the original colonies with plaques indicating when that state ratified the Constitution.
Foy Bryant’s bell made it back to California and was installed in Mount Vernon’s Court of Liberty.
The Liberty Bell replica at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is both the world’s most visited Liberty Bell and the world’s most expensive to visit. In 2018, 40 million park guests walked right past Disney’s Liberty Bell and that is ten times the number that visited the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia that year.
Florida’s official replica is in the state Capitol of Tallahassee. A museum in Melbourne and a cemetery in Gotha also have one.
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Thanks, Jim! And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!
In the meantime, check out his books, including his new books Vault of Walt: Volume 10: Final Edition, Kungaloosh! The Mythic Jungles of Walt Disney World and Hidden Treasures of Walt Disney World Resorts: Histories, Mysteries, and Theming, much of which was first published on this site.
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