After months of preparations, Walt Disney World’s Hall of Presidents was finally set to reopen on Tuesday with a new star taking centre stage: RoboBiden. Clips taken of the 46th president’s wrinkly animatronic doppleganger show him proudly reciting the Oath of Office while standing among the likes of Ulysses S. Grant, James Buchanan, and Franklin Pierce.
“I, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,” the bot recites. “And will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States — so help me god.”
Some parkgoers have already started sharing videos of the animatronic in action. See for yourself:
Disney’s Hall of Presidents???????? has officially reopened at #MagicKingdom ????#WaltDisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/4E6OPoLikk
— Landon McReynolds (@LandonProducer) August 4, 2021
The new addition to the robotic Hall of Presidents — which has been a Disney mainstay ever since the 1964 World’s Fair in New York — is certainly less controversial than the last face added up there.
When Donald Trump’s animatronic was added to the stage not long after he was sworn into office, rumours began swirling that his robot wouldn’t feature any dialogue, since most sound bites featuring the 45th president typically included some kind of racist/sexist/offensive garbage. While the Disney staff was somehow able to scrounge together some sort of appealing dialogue for their TrumpBot, Biden’s go-to lines are, er, usually easier to stomach.
If you watch any of the videos people have recorded of RoboBiden’s debut, you can still see Trump’s visage to the far upper left of the stage, standing right behind James Buchanan. And while fans have repeatedly asked Disney’s rank and file about removing Trump from the hall entirely, the company was careful to note during their initial debut of the BidenBot that his predecessor wouldn’t be leaving the stage. Squeezing him into a corner feels like a compromise.