Partners (statue)
Partners is a statue by sculptor Blaine Gibson depicting Walt Disney holding the hand of Mickey Mouse, his best-known creation. The original was unveiled in the central hub of Disneyland Park on November 18, 1993 — the 65th anniversary of Mickey Mouse's debut in Steamboat Willie — and full-size copies have since been installed at Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, and Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris.
Creation
Gibson was a long-serving Disney artist who had moved from animation into sculpture at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he modelled figures for attractions including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as the busts in the Hall of Presidents. He was commissioned to create a monument to Walt Disney for Disneyland's hub, working loosely from an earlier image by artist Charles Boyer, and spent about a year developing the piece through revisions.
For Walt Disney's likeness Gibson worked from a bust he had sculpted in 1960, and he chose to show Disney as he appeared in 1954, explaining that he considered that period Disney's prime — the year before Disneyland opened. An early maquette showed Mickey holding an ice cream cone; the idea was dropped because it made the pair read as a father taking a child through the park, rather than as creative partners.
The finished work is cast in copper-toned bronze and stands 6 feet 5 inches (196 cm) tall, about seven inches taller than Disney's actual height of 5 feet 10 inches. Disney is shown in a suit, one arm raised and pointing down Main Street, U.S.A., holding Mickey's hand with the other. The plaque at Disneyland quotes Disney's hope that Disneyland would be "a happy place… where parents and children can have fun… together."
Locations
The original statue stands in the hub in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, facing down Main Street, and was dedicated on November 18, 1993, by Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew — the same year Gibson was named a Disney Legend. Copies followed in a consistent sequence:
- Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World — installed June 19, 1995, in the hub in front of Cinderella Castle.
- Tokyo Disneyland — installed in 1998.
- Walt Disney Studios, Burbank — installed in 2001, outside the studio rather than in a park.
- Walt Disney Studios Park, Paris — installed in 2002.
The Disneyland original was rededicated on December 5, 2001, as part of the celebrations marking 100 years since Walt Disney's birth.
Companion works and legacy
In 1999 Gibson completed a companion piece, Sharing the Magic, showing Roy O. Disney — Walt's brother, who completed Walt Disney World after Walt's death — seated on a bench with Minnie Mouse. Versions of that statue stand at Magic Kingdom and elsewhere, and the two works are usually discussed together as tributes to the two brothers.
Partners has become one of the most reproduced images in the parks: it is a standard photographic stop in each hub where it stands, and miniature versions are sold widely as souvenirs, including special editions issued for The Walt Disney Company's centenary in 2023. Later Disney statues of Walt, including the Storytellers statues showing the young Walt with an early Mickey, and the Walt the Dreamer statue at EPCOT, are generally presented as complements to Partners rather than replacements for it.