The Hall of Presidents Closing for Refurbishment & Donald Trump Figure Added

Now that Donald Trump is in the White House as the 47th President of the United States, Disney has now confirmed that The Hall of Presidents is undergoing a lengthy refurbishment and a Donald Trump Animatronic figure will be added to the attraction.

Many have been wondering for some time what Disney World would do with The Hall of Presidents now that Donald Trump is returning to office, and now we have the answer.

The Hall of Presidents closed, January 20, 2025, for a refurbishment in which the Donald Trump animatronic will be added. Disney has not yet announced a specific reopening date for the attraction and it will likely be a multi-month closure.

The last time a new audio-animatronic figure was added was in 2021 after Joe Biden was elected president. To install that figure The Hall of Presidents was closed for eight months.

While Disney has started announcing more details, and we’ll explain what we know as well as previous rumors to the attraction.

In this post we will discuss:

• The Donald Trump Audio-Animatronic Figure
• When Does the Hall of Presidents Usually Close to Add a New President?
• What will the New Show Look Like?
• Will The Muppets Take Over The Hall of Presidents?

Donald Trump Returning to The Hall of Presidents

Yes, Disney has now made it official that a Donald Trump audio-animatronic figure is coming once The Hall of Presidents reopens. In reality, Trump never left The Hall of Presidents since his figure was initially installed in 2017 after his first election. In fact, it will most likely be the same animatronic figure again this time, just moved to the front row.

This was obvious to happen since every president in American history has had a figure created for The Hall of Presidents. In fact, since 1993, the attraction has closed down to install the newly elected president who has also had a speaking role in the show.

Logically, Donald Trump will once again have a speaking role when the attraction opens up in August.

Are they completely re-working the show? Are they just adding a Donald Trump Figure? What will they do with the Joe Biden animatronic? These are all questions that people have been asking since the closure, and now we finally have some answers to them!

Disney Imagineers have made a pretty good replica of President Trump in 2017, although it wasn’t quite as realistic as the Biden one made in 2021.

The Animatronic figure will likely be paired with a special speech which Donald Trump will himself record just for the attraction.

It doesn’t stop there however. Many details were included to make it as much of a realistic representation of the President as possible including carefully tailored clothing, as well as the props next to him on the stage.

We are curious to get into The Hall of Presidents to see the figure up close and in person and if they have made any significant changes to it.

What’s Happening to the Joe Biden Animatronic?

Naturally, with Donald Trump coming into The Hall of Presidents, many are wondering what’s going to happen to the Joe Biden animatronic figure?

It’s not yet confirmed, but most likely the Biden figure will join the rest of the past presidents on the stage and will still be a part of the show.

When Did The Hall of Presidents Close to Add a New President?

Unless you have been hiding away from society for a long time, you likely know that as of January 20, 2025, Donald Trump is now the new President of the United States.

Traditionally, whenever there is a new president in office, Disney adds a new audio-animatronic figure of them to The Hall of Presidents attraction at the Magic Kingdom. This happened in 2017 the first time that Trump was elected and a a highly controversial figure was built and later installed.

Then in 2021 we got another new one after Joe Biden was elected.

To make room for this last closure, The Hall of Presidents had a lengthy refurbishment. In total, it was an 8-month refurbishment and was closed from January 20, 2021, to August 2021, when the new figure debuted.

Right now we are on the same timeline as the previous election. The Hall of Presidents is closed on Election Day and hasn’t opened since. This time however, Disney Imagineers should take much less time to get the Biden animatronic ready since it was already made years ago. We would imagine this time it will open much earlier than August.

That means the total closure time could only be around 4-5 months instead of the 8 months last time.

What About The Muppets Coming to The Hall of Presidents?

Before the Joe Biden Animatronic, a rumor was around for some months, and though it seemed crazy at first, it did have some legs to it. We will say that since the Muppets Coaster in Hollywood Studios was announced, we think that it is far less likely The Muppets will be put in the show, though it could happen in some future form of the attraction.

However, just so you understand the rumors and why people have been saying this, we wanted to include the reasons why The Muppets could be a potentially good fit for The Hall of Presidents.

Disney Wants More IP

It’s no secret that Disney has been slowly including more and more characters into the attractions in its parks. In fact, it’s almost impossible to get Disney to build a new ride these days without it being attached to on of the company’s numerous Intellectual Properties.

Just in the last few years, we’ve had both Toy Story Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with attractions centered around those IPs, and last year a Mickey Mouse-themed attraction opened in Hollywood Studios.

Then we got more new rides including a TRON coaster at the Magic Kingdom, and a Guardians of the Galaxy-theme coaster and a Ratatouille ride in EPCOT.

Since Disney bought the rights to The Muppets back in 2004, they have struggled to find a way to fully take advantage of the franchise’s popularity.

Ironically, The Muppets have already been next door to The Hall of Presidents since 2016 when Disney opened up the show “The Muppets Present…Great Moments in American History.” The witty puppet show closed down in 2020, but it retold some of the most famous events in American history, in a way only The Muppets can.

Disney could easily move them next door into The Hall of Presidents and develop a similar show in a way that is funny and interesting to the audience. They have already proven more than capable as MuppetVision 3D at Hollywood Studios is still hilarious, even decades later.

It Might be the Right Time Politically

Let’s face it, America has been through a lot recently, and many people just need a break from traditional American politics. People come to Walt Disney World to get away from the many problems they leave back home in the real world, and they embrace escapism.

Ever since the Donald Trump audio-animatronic was installed in the attraction, Disney has had to add extra security to deal with rowdy guests trying to disturb the show, or worse, damage it. The same Trump animatronic figure now being back to the forefront is likely to cause similar eruptions.

Especially after President Trump being impeached for the second time in his tenure and the polarizing divide among Americans’ political preferences, it’s possible Disney wants to make a clean break from the current setup in The Hall of Presidents.

That’s why The Muppets make sense here. They still fit in the theming of Liberty Square and can still do a historical show about the United States, yet at the same time do it in a way that is not politically divisive and polarizing.

Stay tuned as we will be updating this story as soon as we hear some news. If The Hall of Presidents does close, we will update our Disney World Refurbishment Calendar to reflect the dates.

Also, don’t forget to sign up for our FREE Weekly E-Mail Newsletter. There we bring you the latest updates on The Hall of Presidents as well as vacation planning tips. You can sign up here: Join our E-Mail Newsletter!

Your Thoughts

I want to know what you think about the Donald Trump Animatronic returning to The Hall of Presidents…

• Do you think it is a good recreation of President Trump?
• What ideas do you have for a new show?

Let us know in the comments section below!

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