The 1964 New York World's Fair was a world's fair consisting of 650 acres of pavilions, public spaces, and international exhibits from around the world. Although not owned by the Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney himself and his team of WED Enterprises imagineers contributed to the fair featuring new technology in the new form of animation for Audio-Animatronics.
Disney's Contribution
During the Fair, Walt and his team of imagineers contributed four attractions to the fair. The fair is remembered for Walt and his team's contribution for developing their new system of Animatronics where WED Enterprises
- Progressland - Sponsored by General Electric, guests entered an audio-animatronic theater in the progress of electricity in hometown. The attraction's theme song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" was written by the Sherman Brothers.
- Ford Magic Skyway - An attraction sponsored by Ford Motor Company. It is the only attraction that Disney developed that did not make it to Disneyland due to insufficient space.
- Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln - Located at the Illinois pavilion, an animatronic Abraham Lincoln serves as the host of this attraction.
- It's a Small World - Sponsored by Pepsi, the attraction featured animatronic dolls representing each country with the theme song written by the Sherman Brothers.
Aftermath
After the fair closed in 1965, all the attractions that Disney contributed were moved to Disneyland Park, except for Ford Magic Skyway. Due to insufficient space, there was not enough room for all the animatronics to be housed at. All the animatronic dinosaurs were placed in the Primeval World diorama in the Disneyland Railroad. The mammoth in the caveman scene was redesigned and placed into the elephant area in the Jungle Cruise attraction. Everything else from the attraction was either dismantled to be used as other parts or destroyed.
Today, the only attractions originally contributed to the World's Fair used nowadays in Disney Parks were It's a Small World, Progressland (now Carousel of Progress) and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
In other media
- Tomorrowland - The opening scene of Tomorrowland featured the World's Fair where the character Frank Walker as a young boy to sell his prototype jetpack to which it is rejected by one of the judges because it did not function properly while he follows a young girl named Athena who takes her to the "It's a Small World" attraction at the Pepsi-Cola pavilion, transporting the two to the futuristic city of Tomorrowland.