I wish additional info was available on this topic, but I will do my best to summarize what I know. Most of the online sources (like https://d23.com/the-hall-of-presidents-story/) seem to draw from each other. Disneyland opened in 1955. Around 1956, Walt looked at adding a couple of mini-lands in 1957 off of Main Street USA—Liberty Street and Edison Square. In fact, at least one of the early maps shows this expansion. One of the attractions planned for Liberty Street was to focus on the presidents, starting with George Washington. They would be seen talking in silhouette form prior to a video about the nation’s capital. Another idea was something along the lines of a wax museum of the presidents. But the more Walt toyed with the idea, the more he wanted something that was rather dynamic. It seems like the working title of this project was “One Nation Under God,” although that title could have come in a later phase. Obviously, it’s a line from the Pledge of Allegiance (specifically the 1954 version), but it captures the spirit that the United States was founded upon.
The Liberty Street of Disneyland was eventually scrapped, but Walt still wanted to have an attraction focused on the presidents of the United States. Disney found his opportunity to bring presidents to life through a pitch in 1961 for the 1964 World’s Fair. WED (Walt’s Imagineering group) refreshed the earlier plans of “One Nation Under God” and presented it to an organizing committee and some representatives from some major companies. The reviews were mixed. Walt decided that building a life-size animatronic of Abraham Lincoln would help win an investor over. In the end, only the Abraham Lincoln Audio Animatronic was built for the 1964 World’s Fair in a show that was titled “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.” The success of that work brought the show to Disneyland’s Main Street USA, where the show continues to this day. When the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World was being constructed, they went back to Walt’s “One Nation Under God” idea of having all of the presidents. It was renamed “The Hall of Presidents” and was put in a land called Liberty Square. With every change in the presidency, a new Audio Animatronic is designed and the president’s voice is recorded.
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