Mr Lincoln will return after 50th Celebration

[Evil Minion]

[dsnylndmom]

That's Great news Isaac!!! Thanks for sharing!

[MrLiver]

Lincoln will not come back. They've wanted to get rid of him for far too long - and they have the perfect excuse to finally get rid of him by putting the 50th exhibit in there. By the time the "conclusion" of the 50th comes around, they will extend the history exhibit "by popular demand." After all, if they weren't trying to get lincoln out - why not put the exhibit in Innoventions or put it in the Starcade? There are a lot of other places they could have put it, but they want Lincoln out.

And really that's a good thing. I don't understand why anyone would want LincolnVision 3D to come back. I'd much rather have a Disneyland Museum exhibit in that space.

[merlinjones]

I hope that it is Walt Disney's original tribute to Mr. Lincoln that returns after the exhibit ends - - the brilliant original show has not been seen here since the early 80's, and still bests all of the revisionism.

[Gemini Cricket]

There's a sub-title to the attraction called 'The Journey to Gettysburg'. Is that the show in its current form with the photographer? Or is it going to be a new thing?

[CrazyDreamer]

I believe that the show we currently have is "The Journey to Gettysburg" so if we do indeed get Lincoln back, it will be this one. I don't understand what people dislike about the "new" Lincoln show, granted I never experienced the original so perhaps I'm missing out on something incredible, but I find this version immersive and fairly entertaining. What's so bad about it?

[Gemini Cricket]

What's so bad about it?

I like the sound effects and all that, I like the newly redesigned stage and I like the portraits in the auditorium. However, the uber-tear jerking that is attemped leaves me feeling dry. The whole Lincoln speaking in the private's ear "You must live" felt a little forced to me.
:botox:

[DCMatthews]

How relevant this is to the Lincoln situation, I don't know; just throwing this out for what it might be worth:

I remember what happened here at WDW with Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (and many of you may remember the controversy that surrounded the closing of that ride). There was a sign outside the attraction when it closed to make room for a new Pooh ride; it read something along the lines of (paraphrased): "'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride' is closed for rehab until [date which I don't remember], at which time it will reopen as 'The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh'."

I thought the wording of the sign was a little "weasel-y": at first it seems to be saying that Mr. Toad will be back, but then snatches that hope away by saying it'll reopen as a different attraction, instead of simply saying that Mr. Toad is gone and being replaced by Pooh.

So I'm wondering if this is an even sneakier way of saying that "Mr. Lincoln" is going the way of "Mr. Toad"; at least the Mr. Toad sign (eventually) admitted that MTWR was going away.

[innerSpaceman]

I doubt that Lincoln will be back. I don't put it past Disney for a second to lie in print.

Just as well, as far as I'm concerned. I never liked the new version of the show. I think the sound effects stuff is kinda hokey and, not that I'm stuffy about this sort of stuff, but I just find the new treatment to be a little out of line with the inherent historical gravity of the subject matter. Kooky sound fx and barber fun might be fine with something else, but I don't think it works for a show about Abraham Lincoln.

They might have been trying to make it appeal to kids or the attention-deficit generation, but I think they just ended up making the show stupid.

[Gemini Cricket]

They might have been trying to make it appeal to kids or the attention-deficit generation, but I think they just ended up making the show stupid.

I think that what they were going for was a new audience. But the old message was the same, so therefore I can't really complain about the new version.
All of the kids who are seeing it now didn't see the old version. But how do you make today's kids watch a message that's really amazing but boring. Do a little sound effects work, make the kids feel like they're getting a haircut, set off some explosions... It'll distract them long enough not to be restless through his speech.
That was my take on it.
To me the new version is corny, too. But if it could get a kid to sit through one of Lincoln's speeches, I'm all for it.

[Cousin Orville]

Like Bob Hope or Frank Sinatra, who declined to retire gracefully before becoming self parody, Abe is enough of a legend to deserve more and better. The last rev IMHO had erased any dignity the original show had and contained as much sincerity as Hannnity and Colmes. Let Abe exit as great memory ("the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay..it cannot come from abroad") of Disney showmanship and not go out like Martha in Jail. Thanks to Royal Dano. We'll miss you.

[swagdaddy]

I'll believe it when I see him come back.

[gmaletic]

Keep Lincoln -and- Disneyland History

Why not just have a scaled-down Lincoln exhibit as part of a Disneyland
"Archives", then keep it the whole "50th Anniversary" thing around indefinitely? Lincoln's more fun as Disneyland history than U.S. history, and they should showcase it as such.

[swagdaddy]

At least we have photographic evidence of a promise that they are making.

So if Mr. Lincoln disapears, we can take Disney to court. (ha ha)

[cellarhound]

Mr. Lincoln

Here is the thing about Mr. Lincoln....

The attraction is extremely thematic for Main Street, USA... At that time in middle America, the Gettysberg Address is reveared as the single most patriotic documents to recite of that era. You could not go to a 4th of July celibration in a town square with out hearing someone on a podium pontificating, "Four score and seven years ago..."

I was amazed by this as a kid, partly because I loved the orignial voice, and the Battle Hymn of the Republic...

Now after 10 years I recently returned to the attraction to see if it was the same show I remembered... It was ruined...

They took out the Battle Hymn... (Likely because it wasn't PC, hearing a chorus of singers singing a Christian hymn. I can understand why they took it out.) Then they put in this audio effect rich presentation trying to update the attraction... I REALLY miss the old voice of Lincoln... I mean, I can still hear his voice in my memory. I loved it so much I had the LP of it as a kid...

So you might say they already took Mr. Lincoln out already... Because it's not the same... It doesn't inspire the same type of patriotism as those speaches in home towns... Maybe this gets lost and in unapreciated in both Wall Street and Glendale...

I hope they restore some of what worked with Mr. Lincoln, place it in the context of Main Street 4th of July speaches... And when they do so with a new remastered audio overlay restoring some of the original vocal tracks. And remove some of the, "Hey, look at what we can do with audio... aren't we cute?" storyline.

Use the 4th of July stories of Gerrison Keller as inspiration.... Heck, Hire Mr. Keller to do the story... That would be worth the price of paid admission. And it would be VERY Disney.

Sorry, I am ranting...

[gmaletic]

Unless I'm mistaken, the Lincoln at Disneyland didn't read the Gettysburg Address -until- the renovation a couple of years ago. Before that, I believe it was a mish-mash of Lincoln speeches. (I actually liked the mish-mash better.)

[SurfedUpDane]

I feel like I am standing alone when I say that Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was a fantastic and very unique exhibit to the park. While it didn't exceed 45 mph, proceed into a loop-the-loop, and snap your picture at the end, it gave some insight into not only our greatest president of all time, but to the man responsible for all of our fun, Walt himself.
Should this exhibit not return following the 50th celebrations, it will be sadly missed by many. Peevs Ike Poop to name a few.

Kyle

[AlxVision360]

It's hard to beat the sound of Paul Frees performing the introductory narration, the voice of Royal Dano as Lincoln reciting the wonderfully patriotic compilation (or mish-mash as it was called) of Lincoln speeches, and the climactic rendering of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." It was plain and simple, yet powerful and emotional. There was really no need for all the new-fangled acoustic trickery.

I wouldn't mind it if Lincoln returns in its present form, but I'd much rather it comes back refurbished to its original presentation. Either way, I just hope it makes it back after the 50th.

[Disneydanny]

I hope it does come back in it's current form. I LOVE the rendition of "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" But I think I like it most of all because one of my verry own great aunts wrote the song.

[cellarhound]

Yeah, you are right it wasn't the full gettysberg address...

But the invasion of enimys domestic, and the statement against fear really made that monologue excellent as it built... It was brilliant, and I miss it... Particularly in our post 9/11 world.