"Ugly" Donald Trump Animatronic Joins Disney World's Hall of Presidents—and Twitter Goes Nuts

Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have recorded dialogue for the attraction in years past

By Zach Johnson Dec 19, 2017 12:45 PMTags

On Tuesday, Walt Disney World debuted an animatronic version of Donald Trump at the Hall of Presidents attraction at Magic Kingdom. A robotic model of George Washington introduces Trump, whose robot stands near seated two presidents: Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln.

Trump personally recorded remarks exclusively for The Hall of Presidents, just as each sitting president has done for the attraction since the early 1990s, according a Disney Parks rep. Bill Clinton was the first commander-in-chief to provide his voice and record the dialogue for his audio-animatronic figure; George W. Bush and Barack Obama subsequently followed his lead.

"From the beginning, America has been a nation defined by its people. At our founding, it was the American people who rose up to defend our freedoms and win our independence. It was why our Founders began our great Constitution with three very simple words: 'We the people.' Since that moment, each generation of Americans has taken its place in the defense of our freedom, our flag and our nation under God. These are the achievements of the American spirit—the spirit of a people who fought and died to bring the blessings of liberty to all our people. Above all, to be an American is to be an optimist, to believe that we can always do better and that the best days of our great nation are still ahead of us," the animatronic Trump tells park visitors. "It's a privilege to serve as the president of the United States, to stand here among so many great leaders of our past, and to work on behalf of the American people."

photos
Stars at Disneyland & Disney World

A soft opening took place at 4 p.m. Monday. Photos and videos from the updated attraction went viral on social media soon after. Many Twitter users in particular mocked the Trump animatronic's appearance, while others joked about its inclusion in the attraction altogether:

The Hall of Presidents, located in Liberty Square, closed Jan. 17, three days before Trump's inauguration. The attraction was scheduled to reopen in late June, in time for the Fourth of July; Disney had to delay those plans, as Trump had been unable to record the script dialogue.

Obama's animatronic is now adjacent his two most recent predecessors, Bush and Clinton.

The waiting area of the hall has also been enhanced with additional presidential memorabilia.