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Chances are if you have visited Magic Kingdom Park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, you have admired the legendary Partners Statue, depicting Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, in front of the iconic Cinderella Castle. This is actually the second Partners Statue to be placed in a Disney park. The original Partners Statue can be found inside Disneyland Park.
The Disney Parks Blog shared five fun facts about the Partners Statue:
- The Partners Statue was sculpted by Disney Legend Blaine Gibson. A former Disney animator and Imagineer, Blaine took one year to create the sculpture and based his depiction of Walt on a bust he originally created in the 1960s.
- When considering having Mickey hold Walt’s hand, Blaine consulted footage from the film “Fantasia,” in which Mickey shakes the hand of orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski.
- One early sketch of the Partners Statue featured Mickey holding an ice cream cone in one hand.
- When choosing an expression for Walt’s face, Blaine tried to reflect Walt’s goal of making people happy. The statue’s expression is Blaine’s interpretation of Walt watching happy people enjoy the park.
- The initials on Walt’s tie are “STR,” and stand for “Smoke Tree Ranch,” an area in Palm Springs where Walt once owned a vacation home.
Do you take a picture with the Partners Statue during your Disney World or Disneyland vacation?
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