Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

Actually two separate attractions, "The Disneyland Story" and "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" somehow go together. The Disneyland Story is housed in the lobby area of the Opera House, while Great Moments is the show playing the theater. The lobby is filled by an exhibit of artifacts from the history of Disneyland (including a monitor showing the film Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, which played in the main theater from 2005-2009). The second part of the display is some history of the Civil War and a large scale model of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Inside the theater is the current version of the show, originally created for the 1964 World's Fair, starring an audio-animatronic Abraham Lincoln.

Disneyland Resort > Disneyland Park > Main Street, U.S.A.

General Information

Location: Inside the Opera House, on the right side of Town Square.

Date Opened: July 18, 1965

# of Ride Units: One theater.

Ride Capacity: A little under 500 people

Restraint Method: None

Ticket Rating: C Ticket

Ride Photo: No

Time Commitment

Open/Close: Open and closes with the park.

Wait Times: It is very unusual for the lobby or theater to fill up.

Length of Ride: 15 minutes

FastPass: No

Single Rider: No

Queue Description: None, the Opera House lobby with exhibits serves as a waiting area for the theater.

Access Information

Health Restriction: Should be none.

Ride Access: The lobby is fully accessible and cast members are always near the entrance and can help bypass the turnstile if necessary. The theater has designated spaces at the end of some rows for wheelchairs and ECVs, speak to a cast member for directions on which door to use.

Wheelchair Transfer: Not necessary.

Service Animals: Yes

Audio: Assistive listening devices are available from City Hall and reflective captioning devices are available from attraction cast members.

Weight and Size Issues: The theater seats are more accommodating than a typical movie theater seat but will be tight if large enough. Leg room should not be a problem fro anybody.

Parenting Information

Height Restriction: No

Child Swap: No

Other Issues: Young children will probably not be much interested in the lobby exhibits. During the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln show, headphones are worn for "binaural" sound effects which may upset some children.

History and Trivia

At this location: The Opera House was actually one of the first buildings constructed at Disneyland as it served as a wood shop for the construction effort. The building was put to various uses in it early years (when a new land called International Street was still on the drawing boards and would have been accessed from near here). Mostly it was used to promote current Disney movies and for a couple years in the early 1960s the promotion for the movie Babes in Toyland took up long term residence. All of this came to an end with the 1964 World's Fair where Disney's animatronic Lincoln proved popular and the decision was made to transplant him to Disneyland.
This Attraction's history: Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln started as a show created for the State of Illinois at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. The show proved so popular that it was one of several Disney producitons at that fair that made the move into Disneyland. The show opened on July 18, 1965, and remained essentially the same until it closed on Junary 1, 1973. The Walt Disney Story is now just the exhibit area in the Opera House lobby, but when it opened on April 8, 1973, it actually took over the whole building to present a filmed story of Walt Disney. Guest reaction wasn't great and in 1975 the two were mixed with the lobby area being dedicated to Walt Disney and the theater going back to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. In 1985 the back area of the lobby was given back to Abraham Lincoln as well with the installation of some historical exhibits and the large model of the U.S. Capitol Building. The Abraham Lincoln audio-animatronic has received two major renovations over the years, both to install new technology: once in 1984 and then again 2001 when the show was modernized and binaural sound effects through headphones were added.

In early 2005 both parts of the attraction were closed for the installation of The First 50 Magical Years exhibit and movie as part of the 50th Anniversary celebration. That show lasted well beyond that anniversary, not closing until until March 2009 when Lincoln finally returned to the Opera House in time for the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. The First 50 Magical Years is now shown in the theater lobby as part of teh exhibit on Disneyland's history.