First look: Refinished Fab 50 character statues at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Sep 20, 2023 in "Walt Disney World Resort 50th Anniversary Celebration - The World’s Most Magical Celebration"

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Refreshed Fab 50 character statues at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Posted: Wednesday September 20, 2023 9:33am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Fab 50 character statues at Disney's Animal Kingdom no longer feature the 50th-anniversary medallion as they are refinished to remain the park beyond Walt Disney World's 50th celebration.

Refreshed Fab 50 character statues at Disney's Animal Kingdom

The base of the statues has been repainted in gold, replacing the EARidescent paint that provided the background to the 50th medallion.

Refreshed Fab 50 character statues at Disney's Animal Kingdom

As a reminder, this is what the statue looked like previously.

Timon and Pumba - Fab 50 Character Statue

Disney says that over the next few months, Imagineers will be "sprinkling a touch of timeless pixie dust" to refresh the Disney Fab 50 Character Collection across all four Walt Disney World theme parks. The MagicBand+ interactive elements will continue as before.

Refreshed Fab 50 character statues at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Fifty golden statues were installed at all four Walt Disney World theme parks and were updated to enable interactive sounds which respond to MagicBand+ proximity.

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Brian17 days ago

This special was produced by Fox 35, the Orlando Fox affiliate, for the 50th anniversary, and was recently posted to YouTube. I wanted to share since it has an inside look at the costuming 'vault' where costumes from past and present (and even in some cases, future) are stored, how the land for WDW was acquired and an interview with the daughter of one of the landowners, and an interview with three opening day cast members.

LittleBufordOct 01, 2023

I loved it! Watched it three times during my trip this summer.

ToTBellHopOct 01, 2023

Way to end your celebration with class and optimism toward the future.

Sir_CliffSep 30, 2023

Definitely had the same impression. I'm kind of curious to understand what made Dream and Shine Brighter hit just the right spot. I'm normally not a big fan of the castle shows featuring the characters, but this one just felt like pure joy. I suppose a lot of credit needs to go to the performers, who were fantastic.

Disney AnalystSep 30, 2023

The 50th could never.

NotCalledBobSep 30, 2023

I'd take Natacha for next Chair of DPEP over Ken or Jeff.

SpectroMan93Sep 30, 2023

After visiting this past June, it was very apparent how much more heartfelt and vibrant Disneyland Paris’ 30th was than Walt Disney World’s 50th. Paris did an incredible job at centering the celebration on meaningful experiences for their guests. I’ve never experienced so much joy at a park as I had watching Dream and Shine Brighter. And Disney D-Light was just pure magic. Paris felt grateful and genuinely appreciative of the guests that have entered the gates over the last 30 years. Disney World made it very apparent that they just wanted our money.

Sir_CliffSep 30, 2023

Another particularly nice touch:

Sir_CliffSep 30, 2023

I think the main problem was that everything they did was so passionless. The new fireworks show felt like a lazy version of the previous one, the songs seemed like pandering AI-produced generic Disney songs, etc.

TTA94Sep 30, 2023

If only MK could have drones 🙄.

SquishySep 30, 2023

WDW is currently planning the Diamond celebration just for the plans to get all budget cut last minute

Sir_CliffSep 30, 2023

Today was the end of Disneyland Paris' 30th anniversary celebration, which provided another stark comparison with WDW's 50th in that they gave it a very big send off and it looks like the crowds showed up to celebrate. It seemed like they started packing up WDW's 50th before it even finished! One nice touch was a short extra tag after the Disney Dream's fireworks show to farewell the celebration:

BocabearSep 21, 2023

I don't mind them staying, I just think unless the repainting is necessary because they are in bad shape, then sure, repaint them, but don't change the color just because the 50th promo is over... The park has hit it's 50th milestone... that is wonderful and doesn't necessarily need to go away. The statues are fine in gold.... I would rather that budget go to repainting the castle and removing it's "Sunburn Pink"... That is more of a reminder of the 50th than gold painted statues....

James AlucobondSep 20, 2023

It’s paint. If they stay, they have to be painted regularly anyway, and painting them is honestly probably cheaper than removing them and reworking the landscaping.