So, I started my week believing that this would be a fairly straightforward news episode,

mostly focused on elements related to Disneyland 70th.

I'm typing this right now in my hotel room on July 17th the day that Disneyland turned 70.

As the week started, I thought the big reveal would almost surely be the presentation of the Walt

animatronic, a figure that would again touch on an ongoing dispute between the Disney

Company and one of Walt's granddaughters, Joanna. To some extent that was true, only not in the

way that I had anticipated. Let me back up here for a moment. Last August,

the Disney company announced that they were planning to finish and present an animatronic of

Walt as part of the resort's 70th birthday season, a project that had been in discussions in some form

since 2018. But as it was announced at the D23

event, there was no one from Walt's side of the family to give it their blessing. Instead,

the company invited Roy P. Disney, who is the grandson of Walt's brother, Roy O. Disney. And this

right here suggested that there might be some issues on the Walt's brother Roy O. Disney. And this right here suggested that there might

be some issues on the Walt's side of the family about this animatronic. Shortly after the

public announcement, one of Walt's granddaughter's Joanna Miller publicly came out against the figure,

starting an online campaign to shelve this animatronic.

I would appreciate support to convince the company to abandon the robot of Grandpa,

she wrote on social media, please, if you feel the same, perhaps write letters.

As work continued on the animatronic through the fall at the Disney company, Joanna of the Disney

family added to her argument by pointing out what she believed were Walt's wishes on the matter.

Well, most importantly, she added, I learned that Grandpa told Sam McKim that he never wanted

to be an animatronic. Sam McKim was one of Walt's core imaginers.

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