9 Rare Photos Celebrating Disney’s Partners Statue 

This week, in 1995, the famed, larger-than-life Partners Statue was unveiled at Walt Disney World. And over the years, it’s continued to captivate and inspire Disney fans of all ages!

For many of us, the statue is in our trip photos or it’s part of a special tradition – maybe even a must-do first stop during every visit to Magic Kingdom Park. However this statue touches you, on this special day, we’ve got a batch of stunning and rare photos (some never shared here before) that you’ve got to see.

When the Partners Statue debuted at Disney World, it was a big deal!

As you can see in this rare 1995 photo from the archives, marching band music added to the excitement of the statue’s dedication in Florida.

The statue that featured the likeness of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse hand-in-hand was made even more special by its location at Disney World – in the hub and just steps away from Cinderella Castle.

Several of you may even know that directly under Walt and Mickey is the “Partners” dedication plaque that reads, “We believe in our idea: a family park where parents and children could have fun together,” – Walt Disney.

The original – a bronze statue of Walt and Mickey – was installed in the hub at Disneyland on Nov. 18, 1993 to commemorate the 65th birthday of Mickey Mouse.

The above photo of a foggy morning featuring the Partners Statue at Disneyland back in 2010 was one of the most popular on the Blog for several years.

The Partner’s Statue was sculpted by Disney Legend Blaine Gibson. A former Disney animator and Imagineer, Blaine took one year to create it and based his depiction of Walt on a bust he originally created in the 1960s.

The final product was stunning day or night as seen in the 2011 photo above that was captured during the holidays at Disney World!

When choosing an expression for Walt’s face, Blaine tried to reflect Walt’s ultimate goal of spreading joy and making people happy. So, the expression you see is an interpretation of Walt watching happy people enjoy the park.

And if you look closely, the initials on Walt’s tie are “STR,” for “Smoke Tree Ranch,” an area in Palm Springs where Walt once owned a vacation home.

When considering having Mickey hold Walt’s hand while planning for the statue, Blaine consulted footage from the film “Fantasia,” that showed Mickey shaking the hand of orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski.

An early sketch of the Partners Statue even featured Mickey holding an ice cream cone in one hand.

Another memorable sight over the years happened during the 25-year anniversary of Walt Disney World when Cinderella Castle was transformed into a 185-foot-tall birthday cake.

As this photo from the archives shows, The Partners Statue dazzled in front of a castle that had more than 55,000 tablespoons of pink paint in three different shades – along with 50 gumballs, 30 lollipops, 4 Life Savers, 12 gum drops, 16 red candy hearts and 16 green candy stars.

Since being installed at Disneyland and then Disney World, identical versions have been added to Disney Parks locations around the world.

We hope you enjoyed this special look at the Partners Statue.  If you’re planning on seeing it for yourself this summer at Disney World, here are some other things you’ll want to check out:

There’s much more to come at Disney World this year. Keep checking back here for the latest.