Jim Hill
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How exactly did this new arrangement work? Well, the "Walt Disney Story" film -- which had formerly played on the big screen in the main theater -- was now being shown on a smaller screen out in the lobby (Which meant that Walt's life story had now been reduced to serving as the pre-show for the "Great Moments" attraction). The end of the "Disney Story" film was changed to suggest that Walt felt that the Lincoln AA figure was his crowning achievement. Once the movie was over, guests were then directed into the main theater -- where "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" now served as the grand finale of the whole "Disney Story" experience.

There's an awful old joke:

Q: What's a camel?

A: A camel is a horse that was put together by a committee.

Well, "The Walt Disney Story featuring 'Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln' " was a real camel of a show. And even though guests could now get two shows for the price of one, they still ended up avoiding the Main Street Opera House like the plague. Nothing -- not even when the Imagineers upgraded the Lincoln figure's technology as well as folding in new music & film vignettes from Epcot's "American Adventure" show back in 1984 -- could get Disneyland visitors to attend this attraction.

Speaking of 1984, that's when Michael Eisner and his new management team came on board at Disney. Just after Abe got his last makeover. And -- after hearing about the Mouse's nearly 20 year struggle to get Disneyland guests to see the "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" show (and after learning about how that the attraction's recent $200,000 redo had had next-to-no impact on the attraction's attendance level) -- Uncle Michael said "Well, we're obviously got to come up with something new for Disneyland's Opera House."

Little did Eisner realize that it would take WDI another six years to come up with a suitable show for that Main Street U.S.A. venue. And this was only because the Imagineers were anxious to find a timely way to pay tribute to Jim Henson.

Here was what seemed to be the perfect venue for the Disneyland version of the "MuppetVision 3D" attraction: a theater that had never been used to its full potential. The prominent location of the Main Street Opera House -- just inside the entrance to the park -- guaranteed the Muppet show high visibility as well as tremendous foot traffic. Best of all, all those people waiting in line to see Miss Piggy were certain to get hungry and thirsty. So that meant that the new show was sure to have an immediate impact on Main Street U.S.A.'s daily food & beverage sales.

It seemed like this was the perfect way to finally solve Disneyland's Opera House dilemma. Just toss Abe out and make room for a show that folks really wanted to see. And it might have happened that way too ... if word about the proposed change out hadn't leaked prematurely.

To this day, no one at WDI is exactly sure who (forgive the swinish slight, Miss Piggy) squealed. It has been suggested that an Imagineer -- while speaking at the N.F.F.C. convention in July 1990 -- may have inadvertently let the frog out of the bag during his enthusiastic description of the Disney World version of the "MuppetVision 3D" attraction. Perhaps some conventioneer who was a real Lincoln fan left the seminar and immediately contacted the press. This far after the fact, no one can tell for sure how the information actually got out.

What is known is that by August 1990, the media was all over the story and it was having a field day. "Kermit May Depose President" screamed the headlines. Soon Disneyland was swamped with cards and letters, its switchboard overloaded with calls, from Orange County residents urging the Mouse to keep Kermit out and/or keep "Mr. Lincoln" right where he belonged. It was 1973 all over again. Only this time in spades.

The current Disneyland management -- which seemed totally clueless about all the problems the previous management team had had when they tried to put a new show in the Main Street Opera House -- never knew what hit them. Since the Walt Disney Company had yet to officially announce that the "Kermit the Frog presents MuppetVision 3D" show was coming to Anaheim, they weren't really in a position to deny the leaked information. And yet here were all these reporters calling, asking for confirmation on the story.

To make matters worse, the Mouse had quietly scheduled Disneyland's "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" show to close on August 26th without setting a reopening date. Orange County residents offered this up as definitive proof to the press that the Imagineers were already trying to sneak the new Muppet show into the Main Street Opera House. Which they were.