The Forgotten Disney Statue

At the Disney parks, there are many statues.  Of course, there are the characters.  Snow White (and the seven dwarfs).  Ariel, the Little Mermaid.  Belle and the Beast (and Gaston).  Of course, there is Mickey Mouse.

One famous statue including Mickey is the Partners statue.

Partners

 This statue has been placed at Disneyland in California, Magic Kingdom in Flordia, Disney Studios Park in Paris, and Tokyo Disneyland.  It shows Walt Disney, holding Mickey's hand and gesturing toward the park, as if to say "Look at what we have done."

While I love this statue and have taken many pictures of it (and would love a small version of it for my house.  Hint...hint.), this article is not about it.  I have another statue, much more overlooked, in mind.

Sharing The Magic

This is "Sharing The Magic".  It was created by the same artist as the "Partners" statue, Blaine Gibson.

"Sharing The Magic" depicts Roy O. Disney, Walt's brother and business partner.  While Walt was the dreamer of the duo, Roy was the one with the mind for business.  He was the one who would find the money to make Walt's dreams come true.  Without Roy, Walt's legacy would be much diminished.

As depicted in the statue, Roy is...well, I'll just leave a quote by Gibson himself.:

“Roy is sitting back in the bench which indicates he was there first and Minnie came to him, not that he came up to her to ask why she was sitting down and not working or coming up to harass her...Also he is holding her hand underneath so he is supporting it, just like he always supported Walt’s dreams. Roy was very underrated.”

 In 1966, Roy was in the process of retiring.  He was 73 years old and the Disney company was now at a very financially stable time, having just released the classic Mary Poppins.  Then, on the 15th of December, 1966, Walt Disney died of lung cancer.

Roy quickly halted his retirement plans and took over the company, finishing Walt's last and greatest idea, then known by many names, such as "The Florida Project" and  "E.P.C.O.T."   Not the EPCOT we have now, but something much larger.  The "Florida Project" came to be called, at Roy's insistence, "Walt Disney World".

The "Sharing The Magic" statue was, until recently, located next to the flag pole in Town Square on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom, about the same spot where Roy stood during his dedication speech for the park.

The statue now is located in front of  City Hall, still in Town Square.  It is off to the side, easily overlooked, much like Roy O. Disney himself, who stayed out of the limelight in order for the dreams of his much more outgoing brother to become reality.

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I'd like to thank Jim Korkis, an author and Disney historian, whose writings introduced me to the 'Sharing The Magic" statue.  Just like many others, I'd walked tight by it without a second glance.  Mr. Korkis' article on the statue (one of many) may be found here.