The Walt Disney Company has struggled through a wide variety of missteps in recent months — even after the replacement of now-defunct Disney CEO Bob Chapek with CEO Bob Iger — but apparently, the Disney location called Disneyland has done at least one thing right for its Disney Park Guests!
Many hardcore Disney Fanatics are fans of the late Disney Legend Mary Blair, who was a color stylist known for her work on “it’s a small world”. Mary Blair became a Disney Legend posthumously back in 1991.
Some of Blair’s other iconic work came in the form of some Tomorrowland murals, and Disneyland visitors were saddened when the murals (which portrayed children from all over the world being connected via satellite) were removed in 1997.
The murals were originally created in 1967, but Disneyland began taking them away in 1986 and completely removed the last mural in 1997. Now, those murals are back!
Disneyland has announced that as of April 19, 2023, there will be a Disneyland Disney Vacation Club lounge for Disney Vacation Club members — and this exclusive lounge will feature recreations of the famous mural scene!
Tomorrowland mural at Disneyland. (1967-1986)
This mural opened with New Tomorrowland in 1967 and was designed by Disney Legend Mary Blair. You probably recognize her work from “It’s a Small World” and even the Grand Canyon Concourse mural at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. pic.twitter.com/hGxCobimAd
— History@Disney (@HistoryAtDisney) May 30, 2021
Disneyland Guests have already started to express some excitement about the news, with one Twitter user saying (after reading the Tweet shown above) that “it is nothing short of a travesty that an artist’s work would be destroyed. They’ve also removed a lot of the matching window-boxing Grand Canyon Concourse elements from the walls of the 1st floor Contemporary.”
Another Disneyland Guest and Mary Blair fan reminisced, writing that “riding on the Peoplemover looking at [those] murals was always one of the highlights for me. It was just so beautiful back then.”
Another Disneyland fan presented a surprising theory! According to them, “legend says a lot of it is still there under the Star Tours/Buzz stuff. No one knows for sure, though.”
Did you immediately recognize the name “Mary Blair”? Are you a Disney Vacation Club member who will get to enjoy these mural recreations in Disneyland?
