Four years in the making, the world premiere of Disney100: The Exhibition opens this Saturday, Feb. 18 at the Franklin Institute.

“We are thrilled to host the world premiere of Disney100: The Exhibition. Offering the first opportunity to see Disney's Crown Jewels come to life in beautifully crafted galleries, reflecting the company's imaginative storytelling, innovation, discovery and wonder. It joins a host of legendary shows the Franklin Institute has brought to Philadelphia that has enriched the region's cultural landscape and welcomed millions of visitors over these past years,” said Larry Dubinski, President and CEO of the Franklin Institute. 

The exhibition will feature ten galleries and over 250 of Disney’s “Crown Jewels,” like costumes, props, original artwork, and artifacts. Last November, Disney unveiled six gallery renderings and five artifacts. 

The ten galleries are Where It All Began, Where Do the Stories Come From?, The Illusion of Life, The Spirit of Adventures and Disney, The Magic of Sound and Music, The World Around Us, Innoventions, Your Disney World: A Day in the Parks, The Wonder of Disney, and We Are Just Getting Started.

Some notable pieces featured are an animatronic from the It’s a Small World ride, Captain America’s shield, and concept art from Encanto. A few of the display cases are also interactive. 

At the very start of the exhibition, guests are greeted by a Disney MagicStage featuring Walt Disney sharing a message about innovation. It was created using audio recordings of Disney, archival footage of him from the 1960’s, and AI. 

“So as you have already heard, The Walt Disney Company is celebrating an historic milestone with our global audience, a hundred years of storytelling, creativity, and unparalleled magic. At the Walt Disney archives, we are thrilled to share a once in a lifetime event celebrating our iconic characters and stories that have captured [the] hearts of audiences all over the globe,” said Rebecca Cline, Director of the Walt Disney Archives.
 
She continued, “Now, Walt Disney once said, ‘I hope that we never lose sight of one thing, that it was all started by a mouse.’ Well, I have to disagree with Walt here. Because it started long before Mickey Mouse whistled himself into our hearts. It started on October 16, 1923, when a brilliant young man signed the contract to produce a series of silent cartoons.”

Disney Legends

Two Disney Legends award recipients, Bob Gurr and Don Hahn, were in attendance at the event and spoke with AL DÍA News after a tour of the exhibition. 

Bob Gurr worked as an Imagineer for almost 40 years, designing vehicles for the parks. 

“He [Walt Disney] needed what we would say [is] a car guy. Other words, somebody who could do vehicles, someone who could do things that have wheels on them,” Gurr explained.

“If it had wheels, I probably did it,” he added. 

One of the many things he did was design and develop the Walt Disney World monorails from start to finish — including some parts of the process that weren’t usually in his job description. 

Gurr said that Disney had found a German company, Alweg, that made monorails, but didn’t like the design of their trains. 

“[He] came to talk to me and said, ‘We’re going to build a monorail, but I’m not happy with the appearance of the German train. So Bobby, I want you to get started on ours right away.’” And he walked off. He walked off.”

After the company Disney hired to manufacture the monorail fell behind, the project was moved to their studio and Gurr was put in charge of supervising the manufacturing. Then he was the test driver. Finally, since he wasn’t able to train the ride operator, he became the operator for its dedication ceremony.

“So I go from first sketch all the way to being the ride operator to dedicate the train. You cannot get a job to do all those things and I loved every second of it,” Gurr added. 

He emphasized that he did this without a degree in engineering, just a love of cars that caused him to seek out all the information he could to figure out how they worked. He did, however, have a degree in industrial design from ArtCenter College of Design. 

Gurr retired from Disney in 1981, but continues to consult with them on projects.

Don Hahn is the producer behind many Disney films, including The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is also the executive producer on several Disney nature documentaries including Earth and Oceans. Hahn co-wrote and executive produced Chimpanzees as well.  

He compares producing to being the coach of a football team “that pulls all the elements together.”

“You’re not necessarily out calling plays or catching the ball, but you’re building a team,” Hahn explained. 

His favorite movie to make was Beauty and the Beast. It went on to be the first animated film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. 

“I suppose it goes back to Beauty and the Beast because it’s such an age-old story, and it was challenging to tell because of that because people know the story already. But it was a great group of people — great directors, great songwriters with Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. That was a difficult, but rewarding movie to make,” said Hahn. 

Tickets for the exhibit are currently on sale. Daytime tickets are $45 for adults and $41 for children 3-11, with general admission included. Evening tickets are $25 for everyone, but general admission is not included.