There’s hardly a Disney fan around that doesn’t know about the immense influence of 1964/65 New York World’s Fair on the Disney company (and pop culture in general) and a special panel at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event explored that history and its impact. Along for the ride were several notables including Kevin Feige, Jon Favreau, and host Leonard Maltin.

Here’s a look at everything we learned from the A Beautiful Tomorrow—Just a Dream Away: Disney at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair panel at the 2024 D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.

What We Learned

  • The panel was moderated by Leonard Maltin and included a notable lineup of Disney aficionados and magic makers including Rebecca Cline, Tom Fitzgerald, Pete Docter, Ramsey Avery, and Ted Ryan. Additional surprise panelists introduced half way through included Kevin Feige, Jon Favreau, and Michael Giacchino.
  • For the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Walt pooled some of his all-time top talent (Claude Coats, Rolly Crump, Blaine Gibson, Marc Davis and Yale Gracey) to work on these initiatives which ended up delaying in progress projects including Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.
  • The fruits of the labors included Carousel of Progress seen at General Electric Progressland pavilion, Ford Magic Skyway at the Ford Pavilion, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln for the Illinois pavilion, and “it’s a small world” sponsored by Pepsi.

  • Becky shared that there was actually a FIFTH pavilion that Disney was working on for sponsorship by Coca-Cola that never made it off the page, it would have been inspired by Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room which eventually opened at Disneyland in 1963.

  • Commenting on the contributions of Mary Blair for “it’s a small world,” Pete remarked, “For every film we do at Pixar we go through a Mary Blair phase where we all drag out the artwork and like how can we make it look like this.” He also shared that she worked closely with Rolly Crump to dimensionalize the beautiful works she made including the Tower of the Four Winds.
  • Never one to let pass the opportunity for a sponsor to pick up the tab on expanding the company’s technologies and creative learnings, Walt ended up taking much of the innovations from the experience executing several ideas at Disneyland including optimizing load times and speeding up lines (omnimover systems), guest comfort (shade, umbrellas), and even boat flumes which they would eventually bring to Pirates of the Caribbean (which was originally going to be a walk-through attraction.) Most importantly, Tom recalled Marty Sklar telling him that had it not been for the work they did at the Fair that Disney likely would have been at least a decade behind on debuting their audio animatronic technology.

  • The success of the attractions at the Fair also proved to Walt that the east coast had an appetite for the wonders of Disneyland which would eventually load to the Florida Project and ultimately Walt Disney World.

  • Much of what’s on display inside “it’s a small world” at Disneyland is what was built and used for the Fair. Ramsey noted that there are still shipping labels on the backs of some of the sets inside the attraction that read FROM NEW YORK TO LA.
  • Ramsey shared that for the film TOMORROWLAND, they filmed at the “it’s a small world” at Disneyland and used clever camera angles to mask that they were not filming the original New York version. Disney also temporarily removed several topiaries to help filmmakers pull off the cheat. Interestingly, the interior filming that was done inside the attraction was during its annual transition into the holiday version. He humorously shared that the unsettling and indelible image of seeing the dolls inside the attraction without any clothes on which cannot be unseen.
  • There is a scene in TOMORROWLAND in which the boat stops in the attraction and a flume opens up to drop the boat to a secret passage. This portion of the attraction was built in a soundstage in Vancouver and to take the nerdiness to a whole new level, filmmakers built the flume to the exact same angle and height as the drop on Pirates of the Caribbean. How’s that for nerdy details??

  • John was born one year too late (in 1966) but he grew up in an apartment called Fairview which overlooked Flushing Meadow Park where the Fair was built and he grew up obsessed with the idea of what was on display there for the two years before his birth. To this day, his production company is called Fairview and features a logomark evocative of the Unisphere.

  • Fans will instantly know the Kevin connection if they’ve seen IRON MAN 2 which features a 1960s “Stark Expo” which is heavily inspired by the 1964 New York World’s Fair and this was well before Marvel Studios was owned by Disney. He noted that Dave Jordan suggested they meet with Richard Sherman who was all too happy to partake, especially after filmmakers indicated that they wanted do the song in earnest and not as a parody.
  • Kevin also shared that the retro futuristic vibe for the 1960s New York that will be featured in the upcoming FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS will also be inspired by the romanticized vision of the future from the Fair.
  • Michael mused that the theme he’s crafted for FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS is probably the first theme created for the MCU done in a major key.
  • Pete said he was talking to Frank Oz who shared with him that the Muppets actually performed at the Fair, as well. Literally, all the world’s of Disney were there!
  • You can see tons of Bill Cotter’s photos of the 1964 New York Fair on his website.
  • Our friends at Laughing Place have full video of the panel which you can watch on YouTube.

MB6_1041

See it for Yourself

D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event took place in Anaheim from August 9 – 11, 2024. 

MORE INFO: Check out all of our coverage for D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event at MouseInfo.com/D23

But Wait, There’s More!

Don’t miss out on any of our coverage across the MouseInfo TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts for the latest from the event!

MB9_8720