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The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair brought together the biggest industries, personalities, and nations worldwide, together descending on Flushing Meadow Park in Queens, New York. Oftentimes the exhibits that resulted were reflective of the current culture of the United States at the time. With the passage of the American midcentury, automobile culture had revved its engine, literally transforming the landscape and leisuretime of people across the continent. Robert Moses, as the president of the New York World’s Fair, quickly courted the Big Three automakers, as well as a dozen ancillary corporations that contributed to the manufacture of the automobile, for an entire portion of the fairgrounds that would be dedicated to transportation and the automobile.

The competition between these big corporations would prove to be fierce. The drive to have the largest, flashiest, and most popular exhibit became pedal-to-the-metal. The Ford Motor Company, not wanting to be outdone by its biggest competitor, General Motors, turned to Walt Disney Productions and WED Enterprises for assistance in designing and implementing an exhibit that would give the other automakers a run for their money. The resulting attraction, Ford’s Magic Skyway, would quickly become one of the most popular at the New York World’s Fair, not only due to the use of WED’s fledgling audio animatronics, but also as a result of the introduction of the newest addition to the Ford family: the 1964 Ford Mustang.

In Walt Disney and the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair: TravelMagic, historian Andrew Kiste uses information never before released to the public to relate the story about the partnership between two of the largest corporations in the twentieth century--the Ford Motor Company and Walt Disney Productions--to create an exhibit that was not only one of the quickest forgotten of the New York World’s Fair, but also one of the most significant in the transformation of American culture for decades to come.

Most biographies of Walt Disney portray him as a creative genius who revolutionized the entertainment industry during the first half of the twentieth century. While he did transform the medium of animation, quickly becoming a household name during his late thirties, many biographies tell the story of Walt Disney’s development in a historical vacuum, separate from the historical events happening around him. However, while Walt Disney was certainly a history-influencer, historical events happening in America and the world also shaped the entertainment pioneer he would become.

As the twentieth century began, a new form of entertainment, “motion pictures,” would emerge, capturing the imagination of a young boy from Missouri. Over the next several years, Walt Disney would begin to hone his art skills, overcoming a number of hurdles including numerous relocations, a brutal paper route, a deployment to Europe in the days after World War One, numerous bankruptcies, and even homelessness. It was these adversities, along with the historical events that surrounded him, that would influence the man he would become.

For the first time ever, The Early Life of Walt Disney tells some important stories that help to flesh out the Disney history. How instrumental was Elias Disney’s career as a carpenter in Chicago? Why did the Disneys really leave Chicago to move to Marceline, Missouri? What types of jobs did Walt perform in France in the days following World War One? How was Walt influenced by the budding industry of animation in America? In addition to answering these questions, The Origins of Walt Disney also includes a tour of the newly restored Walt Disney Birthplace, a new museum located in the childhood home of Walt Disney in Chicago, Illinois!

Walt Disney and the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair: Great Moments

For the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, the Disney company designed four paviliions, which later they reimagined for Disneyland. In this first volume of a definitive series, historian Andrew Kiste presents the story of the first of these pavilions: Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

Two score and fifteen years ago, Walt Disney took an opportunity to bring his unique style of entertainment to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadow. Initially using the fair as an opportunity to determine the level of interest in his theme-park attractions with the "more sophisticated tastes" of those east of the Mississippi River, he quickly realized the opportunity that partnering with the fair would give him in raising funds for new technology to be used at Disneyland in California.

After visiting Walt in California, Robert Moses, the president of the New York World's Fair Corporation, was fascinated with WED Enterprises' new audio-animatronic figure of Abraham Lincoln, demanding it be included in his fair. WED quickly established a relationship with the State of Illinois to develop an attraction for its World's Fair pavilion. However, the use of an animatronic Lincoln, only one hundred years after his death, was fraught with controversy, technological setbacks, and procrastination by the Illinois Commission on the New York World's Fair.

Andrew Kiste examines the never-before-told story of the relationship between Walt Disney, WED Enterprises, and the State of Illinois, as together they developed "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" for the Illinois Pavilion at the New York World's Fair of 1964-1965. Drawn extensively from archival documents discovered in the Illinois State Archives, as well as first-hand interviews with employees of the Illinois "Land of Lincoln" Pavilion at the Fair, Kiste brings the fascinating story of Disney's development of attractions for the Fair to life for the first time.

A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Volume 1



Have you ever wanted to take a tour of the Disney parks with a historian to uncover more layers to the details? In the A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World series, research historian and high school history teacher, Andrew Kiste, uncovers the hidden details of some of the most popular Walt Disney World attractions.

In volume one, Kiste asks a number of questions. How accurate is the image of pirates as swashbuckling criminals? Why are the boats of the Jungle Cruise being driven by American and European skippers down the exotic rivers of Africa and Asia? What are all the references John makes in the Carousel of Progress? How does the Crystal Palace fit into the theme of turn-of-the-century Main Street, USA? All of these attractions are analyzed along with many others in the first of this series!

This book is perfect for both the amateur historian and fans and guests of Walt Disney World, leading to a richer understanding of the Disney vacation experience!

A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Volume 2

Continue your historical tour of Walt Disney World with A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World, vol. 2!

Should we really ‘thank the Phoenicians,’ as instructed by Dame Judi Dench? How does the Country Bear Jamboree relate to popular entertainment of the 1890s? Who is the Casey that has a hot dog eatery at the northwest corner of the Magic Kingdom? How does Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios relate to the 1940s? And what details in Storybook Circus help give observant guests a better understanding of Disney history and the history of the circus?

Join historian Andrew Kiste on the second part of his Historical Tour of Walt Disney World!

A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World Volume 3

In the same way as the first two volumes of Andrew Kiste’s popular A Historical Tour of Walt Disney World series, the historian and teacher takes a few moments to uncover some oft-missed details for observant readers.

How can visitors of Walt Disney World experience 300 years of American history in the span of a few days at Walt Disney World? Guests can start by experiencing the first hundred years of American history in half of the Magic Kingdom. After leaving the park, one can experience a watered-down tour of southern history at Disney’s Port Orleans resorts, before journeying into the cultural history of the twentieth century at Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

In volume 3, readers will quickly understand that “red, white, and blue” truly did run through Walt’s veins, something that Imagineers continued when they designed the popular “Vacation Kingdom of the World” over the past fifty years!