The Hall of Presidents reopens at Magic Kingdom with speaking role for Trump
As the U.S. presidency transitioned from President Biden to President Trump, The Hall of Presidents was temporarily closed from January 20 – June 28, 2025, at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla. Here’s what to know about the attraction’s refurbishment.
The Hall of Presidents quietly reopened on June 29, 2025, with no prior announcement from Disney. This marked the fastest turn-around for a presidential transition for the attraction in recent memory. During previous refurbishments between presidencies, the attraction closed in January and reopened the following July (President Obama), December (President Trump’s first term), and August (President Biden). Then again, the animatronic of Trump already existed from his first term.
Why was The Hall of Presidents closed?
As is tradition, The Hall of Presidents at Magic Kingdom temporarily closed on Jan. 20, 2025 — Inauguration Day — with the conclusion of President Joe Biden’s term as commander-in-chief.
Since The Hall of Presidents opened in 1971, Disney has added each newly elected president over time. Beginning with President Bill Clinton in 1993, each sitting U.S. president has recorded a special speech created just for their Audio-Animatronics likeness, to be orated by their robotic figure in The Hall of Presidents. With the arrival of each new president, the former president no longer speaks during the attraction.
As such, here in 2025, The Hall of Presidents closed while Disney updated the attraction to reflect the current presidency.
Photo courtesy of Disney
What did Disney change in The Hall of Presidents for 2025?
In the 2025 version of The Hall of Presidents, President Trump now says the oath of office at the end of the show rather than President Biden. Unlike during Trump’s first term, his robotic likeness does not orate an additional speech following the oath (neither did Biden’s), as seen in a YouTube video of the show by That Park Place.
Most of the presentation within The Hall of Presidents remains the same following its 2025 reopening. The main film, celebrating “the idea of a president” (which was installed during the 2017 version of the show, according to the Orlando Sentinel), is the same, and the audience still sees all the U.S. presidents as robotic figures, each individually named in order of their presidency.
Photo courtesy of Disney
In the past, some Hall of Presidents refurbishments were more extensive than others. Sometimes the whole show changed as Disney implemented a new film that preceded the reveal of the Audio-Animatronics figures. Other times, the presentation stayed basically the same, but added the newly elected president, who joined all previous U.S. presidents onstage.
Photo by Blake Taylor
What does President Trump say in The Hall of Presidents?
President Trump’s Audio-Animatronics figure recites the oath of office in The Hall of Presidents:
I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will, to the best of my ability , preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.
What happened to the President Biden animatronic?
President Biden remains part of The Hall of Presidents as an Audio-Animatronics figure. However, rather than sharing a brief speech as he did in the previous version of the show, President Biden now stands silently onstage alongside his fellow former presidents.
Hall of Presidents videos
Below are videos from our Attractions Magazine YouTube channel of previous sitting presidents’ speeches during The Hall of Presidents.
For a deep dive on the history of The Hall of Presidents, check out “Behind the Attraction” S1E8 on Disney+.
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