April 22, 1964 – The New York World’s Fair Opens
“…the New York exposition of 1964 is the greatest World’s Fair of all time.” – Walt Disney
On April 22, 1964, the New York World’s Fair opened to the public. This two-year fair included four Disney exhibits: Ford’s Magic Skyway; It’s a Small World (presented by Pepsi-Cola/UNICEF); Progressland, featuring the Carousel of Progress (sponsored by General Electric); and Illinois’ Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. After the fair ended, these four attractions made their way back to Disneyland, and have been there since.
The idea for doing attractions at the fair came from the success of Disneyland, and the requests Walt received about building similar Disneylands across the country. Walt wondered if Disney attractions would be as popular on the East coast as they were on the West, and used the fair to test this theory. The attractions Disney built ended up being the most popular attractions at the fair.
The Welcome sign of the It's A Small World ride
The sponsorship of the attractions paid for Disney Imagineers to research and develop new methods of “animation” as Walt called it, which would become the Audio-Animatronic figures extensively used throughout the attractions. The “It’s a Small World” attraction used 297 audio-animatronic children alone.
disneydetail 