Chicago Disney 100 Exhibition Review
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My wife and I had the privilege of attending the Disney 100 Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois at the end of December last year at Chicago’s Exhibition Hub Art Center. The exhibition is going to be running in three major cities worldwide, including Chicago, Illinois, and Kansas City, Missouri in the United States and London, England in Europe. The exhibition celebrates one hundred years of the Walt Disney Corporation and features ten galleries of historical Disney information, interactive installations, pictures, props, and Disney memorabilia covering the earliest days of the Walt Disney Corporation through the present.
Upon arrival, guests are invited to have a picture taken that can be redeemed (for a price) at the end of the exhibit. Guests then enter a wraparound theater for a brief audiovisual introduction to the exhibition before entering the maze of galleries. Upon entering the closed exhibit areas, guests are presented with some early historical information about Walt Disney, the man, his upbringing, and his earliest animated works, including the Alice Shorts, which blended animation with a live-action young girl named Alice, and his first animated character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which he lost control of the rights over to Universal Pictures, a development that, although discouraging, ultimately led to the creation of his second and most popular and well-known character, Mickey Mouse. The subsequent creation of Mickey’s pals such as Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, etc. is also covered, with creation dates for all of them. Guests are provided some information about the early cartoons such as Silly Symphonies, and can view a Disney highlights-by-decade from the 1940s to 2020s, highlighting significant historical moments for the Walt Disney Corporation, as well as the film and television highlights of every decade.
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Guests are then directed into a larger gallery filled with concept art and background information on some of Walt Disney’s most celebrated animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. The Sleeping Beauty exhibit features a large storybook, originally shot for the opening of the film. There is also an interactive movie storybook projected onto a nearby screen and interactively responds to guests turning the pages of the book. The next area, The Illusion of Life, contained props and costumes from the live-action 101 Dalmatians and The Little Mermaid, a glass display of Disney character models. There is also concept art for Olaf the Snowman from Frozen, as well as a display of the Olaf figure used in the Broadway Musical version of the film.
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The next area, Spirit Adventure Discovery features costumes from The Jungle Cruise film, Pirates of the Caribbean, a replica of The Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This gallery also included props from recent Star Wars films such as BB-8, Han Solo’s Dice, a Porg, the Jedi Texts, the Skywalker “Legacy” Lightsaber, and a full-size First Order Stormtrooper costume. Located near the Star Wars props were a T’Challa/Black Panther Costume, Captain Marvel costume, Captain America’s shield, and a collection of masks from several MCU characters, including Loki, Ant-Man, and Star-Lord.
The next area explores the importance of Disney’s use of music as part of its animated features, including a look at movies such as Frozen, Moana, and Encanto and different language versions of popular songs (i.e. Let it Go) as featured in the respective films in other countries, as well as being able to use headphones to listen to samples of them from several different countries. Some original sheet music written for films was also exhibited. The World Around Us gallery features concept art and pictures of natural environments created for their films and theme parks such as the Tree of Life in the Animal Kingdom and the more recent World of Pandora.
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The next gallery shows an inside look at the special effects studio, featuring drawing boards, animatronics such as those featured in popular attractions such as The Hall of Presidents, a multiplane camera, and a large Pixar computer system. It also featured an interactive experience where an onscreen Rocket (Guardians of the Galaxy) mimics your facial expressions while standing in a designated position in front of the screen. Mounted monitors also show scenes from The Force Awakens (attack on Starkiller Base) and The Last Jedi (The Falcon landing on Ach-To) and the computer effects rendering involved in creating scenes from the films.
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The next gallery features ride cars and other ride items from Disneyland’s Matterhorn Mountain, Peter Pan, It’s A Small World, and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (from the discontinued Walt Disney World attraction). The final exhibition area includes a collection of memorabilia from Disney television series from the 1920s to the present, including the Mickey Mouse Club, High School Musical, Lost, and That’s So Raven. The final room features a statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse and a poster that simply says “We Are Just Getting Started”
As with rides at Disney Parks (and most theme parks), the exhibit ends up in a gift shop, with various Disney memorabilia, including some rare and expensive items, available for purchase. My wife and I chose to redeem the picture taken of us before we started the tour. Overall, we enjoyed the experience. My wife is a huge Disney phile and we have been to Disney Parks regularly over the past decade, we both grew up absorbed in Disney, so not much of what we experienced and/or learned was extremely new to us, however, we did learn a few interesting tidbits here and there, particularly in regards to Walt Disney’s earliest creation, Oswald and the history of how Disney lost control over him and how the corporation eventually regained the rights to his character earlier this century. Learning a little more about Walt Disney’s personal history, including his faking illness to be able to fight in World War I, as well as his early creations such as his Alice Shorts was interesting to both of us. The staff working the exhibition were very friendly as well, although this was an unguided tour.
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The Disney 100 exhibition is currently running in Chicago through March 17, 2024, and in London through January 21, 2024. The exhibition opens in May 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. General ticket prices for the exhibition are $30 per person, which is reasonable for the event, although there are opening weekend and VIP passes with additional benefits available for purchase. The exhibition is highly recommended, especially for Disney fans like ourselves.
Rating: 10/10
Source(s): Disney 100: The Exhibition
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