Contrary to appearances, Disneyland did not mean to include President Donald Trump in its anniversary celebrations.
In celebration of its 70th anniversary, the park unveiled a new statue depicting a miniature version of the iconic Sleeping Beauty’s Castle attraction. In another nod to Disneyland’s history, the spires of the miniature castle are decorated with silhouettes intended to represent each of the park’s nine sections, such as a carousel horse representing Fantasy Land.
One silhouette looked remarkably familiar, and not because it depicted any Disney character. Instead, the spire topper, intended to represent the park’s “Partners” statue of Walt Disney holding hands with Mickey Mouse, came out looking more like another famous figure: President Trump.
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The spire topper quickly made waves among the park’s super fans. On social media, many in attendance noted the spire topper’s resemblance to the president, particularly its dramatic coif, which neither the original “Partners” statue nor the real Walt Disney shares.
Further, while Walt Disney is depicted in the original statue as reaching his hand out as if to show Mickey the park, the silhouette’s arm is in a sharp, single-fingered point.
Popular Disney influencer Matt Desmond shared frequent updates on the situation to his 57,000 followers on Instagram. He first posted about the spire on May 11, calling the design a “horrible aesthetic choice” and writing, “everyone thinks it looks like Trump.”
Within days of Desmond noting the similarities, however, the silhouette was gone. In a subsequent post, Desmond revealed that when he returned to the park the following day, the sculpture had been surrounded by a temporary barrier, and was conspicuously absent its Trump-like spire topper.
Opens in new windowHowever, all is now well with the castle: on May 13, the park replaced the spire topper with a new version of the silhouette, this time minus its POTUS-like features.
