The Story Behind Roy and Walt’s Statues

Two of the most moving and powerful pieces of artwork found at Walt Disney World are the statues of Walt and his brother Roy at the Magic Kingdom.  The “Sharing the Magic” statue of Roy sits with Minnie on a bench in the hub that encircles the flags in front of the train station.  The “Partners” statue has Walt and Mickey standing in the hub in front of Cinderella’s castle looking off into the distance.  One of the most often asked questions about the Partner statue is what is Walt pointing at. I’ve heard a lot of great ideas. “Walts pointing at the future” or “Walts pointing to Disneyland” or “Walt’s pointing to his brother at the other end of Main street”.  Here are a couple lines from an interview I transcribed a couple years ago that puts the controversy to rest.  A little about Roy first, and then the answer to the Walt Pointing question.

The two excerpts below are from the series of books put out by Didier Ghez titled Walt’s People.  These books are compilations of interviews from Walt, but more importantly from the people that worked for and with him…Walt’s People.  

BG: The story evolved from a picture that Roy Jr., whom I knew and admired, told me was his dad’s favorite picture. Roy was the one responsible for Walt Disney World getting opened. After the Magic Kingdom [in Florida] was finished, Roy, his son, had apparently arranged to have a photograph of his dad sitting on a bench with Mickey, the costume character. But the head of Mickey was enormous. So I started making sketches. The way I picked the size was the precedent that had been set in Fantasia of Mickey Mouse walking up to Stokowski and shaking his hand. That was my precedent for a size. It made it much more compatible. And also John Hench came up with the idea, “We’re not a gender-biased company, we’re not against girls. Why don’t we have a Minnie Mouse sitting next to Roy instead of a Mickey Mouse? You already have a Mickey Mouse out there with Walt holding his hand and so why don’t we have Minnie Mouse?” So it ended up that I used a Minnie Mouse sitting next to Roy with him looking down admirably at her, and she looking up admirably to him. I think it came off pretty well.