To celebrate its 70th birthday on July 17, 2025, Disneyland Resort unveiled a brand-new show: “Walt Disney – A Magical Life.” This groundbreaking attraction features the first-ever animatronic of Walt Disney, and its debut has stirred up complicated emotions among Disney Parks fans.
Earlier this week, Disney released a first look at the animatronic, showcasing Walt’s impressive lean-to-stand motion and the glimmer in his eyes. The lifelike robot made for an emotional experience for many fans. However, while some were moved to tears by the stunning realism, others felt the animatronic didn’t quite capture the essence of the man who created Mickey Mouse.
Walt Disney Imagineering worked closely with the Walt Disney Family Museum, founded by Diane Disney Miller and Walter E.D. Miller, to bring Walt’s animatronic to life. Walt’s grandnephew, Roy P. Disney, even announced the show at the D23 Expo 2024. Despite this collaboration, several members of Walt’s family had reservations. His granddaughter, Joanna Miller, expressed strong opposition, urging the company to reconsider the animatronic.
“I strongly feel the last two minutes with the robot will do much more harm than good to Grampa’s legacy,” Miller said. “They will remember the robot, and not the man.”
She also mentioned that her mother, Walt’s daughter, had once claimed that Walt never wanted to be turned into an audio-animatronic. However, no documented evidence of this conversation exists.
“In all our research, we never found any documentation of Walt saying that,” Imagineer Jeff Shaver-Moskowitz responded. “It’s anecdotal, and we can’t confirm private conversations.”
Despite the controversy, Disneyland Resort moved forward with “Walt Disney – A Magical Life,” which opened in the Main Street Opera House on July 17, 2025. However, just a few hours into its debut, the animatronic malfunctioned. Instagram user @we_dont_wear_ears posted a video showing the attraction abruptly shutting down around 10:30 a.m., just two-and-a-half hours after Disneyland Park opened.
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The animatronic malfunctioned right as it attempted its most advanced movement: stepping forward from leaning on a desk. The show appeared to have an emergency stop programmed in, as the stage immediately went dark. Walt’s mouth kept moving, but the audio cut out, and the curtains swiftly closed.
As disappointed guests voiced their frustration, Disney cast members quickly informed them that they would need to evacuate the Main Street Opera House.
“We do apologize,” a Disney cast member said. “We are having technical difficulties right now.”
Fans quickly drew comparisons between this incident and Disneyland Park’s opening day in 1955, which was also marred by breakdowns and chaos.
“Same as opening day in 1955 🥲,” @sarah_c2photo commented. “It’s bound to happen … Walt sending some humor on the 70th.”
Other fans suggested that the malfunction was a sign that the animatronic show should never have been introduced.
“Walt sending messages to change that animatronic because it looks nothing like him,” @bibiddibobbiditwoo wrote.
“Walt said nope looks nothing like me so I’m gonna shut it down,” @cathiewatt agreed.
“Walt Disney – A Magical Life” reopened after the pause on Thursday morning. The attraction is now only accessible via a Virtual Queue, which opens twice daily: once at 7:00 a.m. for guests with Disneyland Park reservations or Park Hopper ticket holders with reservations at Disney California Adventure Park, and once again at noon for guests inside Disneyland Park or Park Hopper ticket holders inside Disney California Adventure Park.
Following its initial run, “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” will alternate performances with the original Main Street Opera House attraction, “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”
Does the new animatronic look like Walt Disney? Share your opinion with Disney Dining in the comments!
Not the first time Walt was broke.
It’s not perfect, but I’ll take it. I don’t like the updated voice. Original recording is better. His movements are awesome as is his arm on his hip like he stood in many of his photos and family videos. His nose flares out too much ..and it would be nice if eye brows were thinner and caught the expression he had when he talked about his daddy days with Sharron and Diane , the one eye brow down look. His eye brows were his expressions. Do that and not so much light on his face and people might change thier minds.
As usual there focused on the wrong thing.
I love it, looks and sounds amazing!!
No, it does not look like Walt, not even close. They didn’t even get his clothing right, not the tie (wrong knot) or the tie tac (it should be up higher). His face is wrong, his hair, even his mustache. His voice is off also. With Walt, there are so many photos, videos and more of him. TV shows, take your pick. They did the Dreamer statue of Walt that is in Epcot and you can sit right next to him. They can get the face right. They didn’t. It needs fixed. It was reported that they knew they needed this to be perfect, as there were so many eyes on it from so many fans. The Artwork for what it was to be like was much better. Who ever signed off of the drafts for the animatronic, for the artist that did the face, for the people that did the audio, and for the ones that signed off and said it was good to go, they should go because it is not Walt.
You are 100% correct! Thanks for posting.
My first thought was is face and shape are off. Pictures show his face narrows, but they totally missed that… I’m sure there’s more but that’s what caught my eye first…