My Thoughts on The New Walt Staute

As I have reported in the past,  Disney's California Adventure is getting an overhaul.  One of the big things happening to the park is the re theming of the opening to look like Buena Vista Street where Walt got his start and that brings me to today's topic.  Just as with both Disneyland and The  Magic Kingdom, there is a beautiful statue of Walt and Mickey overlooking the parks simply titled Partners.

It's a simple but beautiful statue of Walt and Mickey overlooking the park. To me, it feels as though with this it is Walt and Mickey cherishing  in all the hard work that went on to bring this dream to life.   I know I get chills each time I see this when I go to the parks. Personally, this is up there with getting my picture taken with Mickey.  Also there is just something about the way Walt is pointing with this statue that I really like.  To me, with Walt pointing it feels as though Walt is saying to Mickey, "We Made It".   

Now this brings me to the new statue that will be put in at DCA.   With this one, we see a different period  of Walt's life.  Here with this one, we see a young Walt who looks ambitious and ready to take on life. 

The contrast between this statue and Partners is a big one because as I stated Partners shows Walt at a point in his life where he already knew success but with this new statue that will be going in at DCA,  we see a young man who has a creative mind, stars in his eyes and a lot of ambition to make his dreams come true.  This new statue shows Walt at a point in his life when nobody knew who he was.  It is meant to represent his early days in California.  

Now of course Disney had to include Mickey and I think with this statue, Mickey is meant to repseresnt what is to come in Walt's future and he is just a thought whereas with Partners, Mickey is a reality.  Now when I read about this on DisneyParksBlog, I was seeing a lot of comments saying that Oswald The Lucky Rabbit should be included as he was Walt's first creation.

As much as I like Mickey, I can't say that I disagree because Oswald is another part of Walt's history and really until Epic Mickey, Oswald didn't get much spotlight, I mean sure there will be Oswald's Filling Station.  Which I believe will be a gift shop and that is a start for Oswald. I can understand, what Disney may be trying to do because he has been out of the limelight for so long and I do think Epic Mickey was a great re-introduction for this character and to me the parks do seem like the next logical step. 

These 4 arrows point to where Oswald's Filling Station will be

Though in my opinion, the ideal Walt statue to celebrate his success should include not just Mickey and Oswald but also Alice of the Alice comedy shorts.

 As that is where Walt really got his start. I'd say have Alice, Oswald and Mickey all line up in front of Walt. As to show the three big things that Walt worked on and I think it would be a great to celebrate Mr. Disney. Though of course some might say that only Disney fans such as myself who have done research and read on Walt Disney would know who Alice is but the general public would have a good idea of who Oswald is because of Epic Mickey. Though I still say why not include Alice, that could get people to  research this character and her shorts. By doing that, they would also learn that Peg Leg Pete made his debut in the Alice comedies.  Now Walt may not have drawn this character but he helped to set up the stories with her.  I still think it would be a great idea for a statue to include Alice and Oswald alongside Mickey. 

Now going to back to the new statue, I really like it and I may not know the name of it just yet but that leaves me to my thoughts and with me bringing up the word at least twice in this article, I feel that a fitting title for this statue would be Ambition.  As I feel that sums what Walt is hoping to achieve and the hard work and dedication he has to make his dreams a reality.  Perhaps. I'm wrong and this is a silly name. If so, what do you think would be a good name for this new statue.