Disney's_America
Because of the backlash with Disneyfying history, when Illinois granted an ex-Imagineer with the contract to create the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Bob Rogers' previous employment with Disney was kept on the down low.
His company's result is one of the most visited Pres museums in the country and a Themed Entertainment Association award for Outstanding Achievement in a museum . 'Nuff said. Let's go in.
You enter into a large rotunda that is similar to the Springfield capitol building that Lincoln entered so many times as a lawyer and Legislator.
Walk down the hallway and it opens up to a very large room with a life-size replica of Lincoln's boyhood home on your left and the White House Portico on your right.
We get the required photo op with the family and move on.
We opt for the Holavision Theatre performance called "Ghosts of the Library". It is similar to Expo 86 and Knott's Berry Farms' Spirit Lodge attraction.
A single performer is in a library behind an angled piece of glass. In his 8 minute performance he interacts with holograms that the audience can see but he cannot. He lip syncs the words we are hearing and it appears that he IS saying them. It's a great show.
Most of the audience were art students and the actor came out after the show and answered as many questions as he was allowed about the show. We stayed and listened. It was like listening to a Disney Imagineer describe how a show works.
We wandered through the Lincoln home, seeing how small it was for entire family to be in there.
Further on there were scenes of slaves being sold, Abe working in a store, him courting Mary Todd, and his debates with Stephen Douglas.
His was lenient with his children and did allow them to play in his law office.
An interesting display was a bank of TV screens with mock reports on the progress of the Presidential election.
They had a really cute area for children to play in.
The White House years were depicted in the Portico building. Mary and a few of the dresses she had were shown.
Way too much attention was paid to the political cartoons of the time. There must have been 3 small rooms of them.
Their son died while they were in the White House.
In the 2012 movie, Lincoln, there is a lengthy scene of the President and his cabinet discussing the timing of the release of the Emancipation Proclamation.
These are Union uniforms but what was more interesting that we didn't get a picture of was the map. In 4 minutes it showed the land owned by the North and the South during the duration of the war as well as the number of casualties on each side. It was an animated map with territory shrinking and growing as battles were won/lost.
Finally the war ended, Lincoln was re-elected, and then he was assassinated.
Nov 1864 Re-elected by a landslide vote
Mar 1865 Second Inaugural Address
Apr 9, 1865 Lee surrenders at Appomattox
Apr 14, 1865 Lincoln is assassinated
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