Walkabout The World - A Disney Podcast - A Walkabout the World America250 Special

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Hello travelers and Happy Independence Day! This week we're celebrating America250 with a medley of patriotic attractions around the parks including the Hall of Presidents, the American Adventure, a scene from Carousel of Progress, and Soarin Across America. Plus, you'll hear the flag retreat ceremony at Magic Kingdom featuring the Dapper Dans, and a special America250 performance from the Voices of Liberty at Epcot. Happy 4th of July from all of us at Walkabout the World.  We are listener supported - contribute to the Dole Whip Fund via Google or Apple Pay. Thanks! Walkabout the World is now on TikTok! Come follow our visual companion to the audio podcast at Walkabout.the.world.pod on TikTok And of course, visit us on Instagram and at walkabouttheworld.com - find links to all the things - attraction episodes, Insta accounts of all the hosts, and even how to buy your own Walkabout shirt!

Hello travelers and happy Independence Day. This week we are celebrating America 250 with a medley of patriotic attractions around the parks, including the Hall of Presidents, the American Adventure, a scene from the Carousel of Progress, you know the one, and Soren Across America. Plus, you're going to hear the flag retreat ceremony at Magic Kingdom featuring the dapper dance and a special America 250 performance from the Voices of Liberty over at Epcot. So, happy birthday USA and happy 4th of July from myself and the whole crew of Walk About the World. Enjoy.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for this reverend celebration of America's leaders. past and present. Now, Walt Disney World Resort is proud to present the Hall of Presidents. This program is dedicated to the memory of Walt Disney. In 1971, his love for America inspired the creation of the Hall of Presidents,

a place to celebrate the optimism and goodwill he saw at the heart of the American story. Walt's vision was to honor the nation by honoring the American presidency. It is 1783, and the smoke is clearing in the wake of the Revolutionary War. Over the course of eight grinding years, General George Washington has led a force of shopkeepers, farmers, and Native American allies to victory over the greatest military power in the world. A new nation has been born, independent and free. The founders must form a national government.

In 1787, through months of passionate debate, they create a written constitution. For the country's highest office, they imagine something new in the history of the world. A leader not born to power like a king or queen, a leader who has not seized power through world. conquest, a leader not separate from the people, but elected by the people, from among the people. We, the people. This is a new idea, an American idea, the idea of a president. Exactly what a president will be, but there is little doubt who it will be. George Washington's stature and bearing have marked him as a leader. His integrity has made him a great one. Washington knows that many generals who have led successful revolutions make themselves dictators or kings.

Instead, he steps down from power and retires to his home, Mount Vernon. The world takes note, and George Washington becomes the symbol of American ideals. In the first presidential election, it's Washington by a landslide. The only doubt seems to be his own. He writes, integrity and firmness is all I can promise. Integrity and firmness is exactly what we need. Everything he does as president will set a model for his successors. His final act may be the most important of all.

After two terms, with no term limit in the Constitution and amid overwhelming support to stay in office, he steps down once again. and hands power back to the people. He wants us to speak, to elect a new president. During the early years of the Republic, we choose leaders as different as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Andrew Jackson. Elections are often bitter. Each president stands at that fiery intersection

where personal character meets the challenges of the times. Some call the presidency a glorious, burden. Jefferson calls it a splendid misery. We the people must choose well. We elect 15 presidents before the course of history brings us to the edge of a crisis like no other. A nation born of freedom still permits slavery. As the country pushes west, will new states be slave or free? The question produces bitter conflict. The issue rocks the election of 1860 and brings Abraham Lincoln

on to the national stage. The tall, lanky, some say uncouth candidate from Illinois, is a master of words at a time when speeches are printed in full for people to read. A house divided against itself cannot stand, he has said. With Lincoln's election,

the house does indeed divide. Civil war. Eleven states secede from the Union. The war becomes a defining passage in the American story. The president's own inner strength and depth of character changed the course of history. Lincoln had come up the hard way on the American frontier, desperately poor, with less than a year of formal schooling. His early years were scarred by tragedy, the death of his mother, his sister, his first love.

He struggles with depression, but never loses his determination to rise above it. He once said he's driven by a desire to leave the world a little better place for having lived in it. The war rages. Lincoln fights to preserve the union

and end slavery. Neither is a sure thing. At Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, six months after one of the bloodiest battles of the war. The president dedicates a cemetery to the thousands of soldiers who died there, in words we can never forget. Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war.

testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. And the government of the people,

by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. The blood of over half a million Americans is spilled in this civil war. President Lincoln's enduring hope is to give true meaning to the sacrifices of so many, to lead us to that new birth of freedom. With the end of the war and the end of slavery,

a new birth truly begins. As we roll toward the 20th century, settlers roll west on wagon wheels and railroads connect the nation coast to coast. Millions of immigrants pour in from Europe and Asia, population doubles, our economy triples. our standing among nations rises. We need presidents who can lead both at home and abroad.

At the same time, a young Theodore Roosevelt is retreating from New York politics and personal tragedy, the death of his wife and his mother on the same day in the same house. In the badlands of North Dakota, he rethinks his life and the life of his country. he returns stronger in body and spirit. His renewed energy is just what his country needs. An industry is broken, but social tensions are rising. A progressive movement is bubbling up, pushing for change, and change is needed in the working and living conditions in cities.

The gap widens between rich and poor. The demand for change grows stronger. Teddy Roosevelt is a knight on a crusade. He speaks with force and vitality in clear terms that make colorful headlines at a time when mass market newspapers have become the new media. To define his foreign policy, he borrows a phrase from an African proverb, speak softly and carry a big stick. But his greatest accomplishments are made at home. He breaks up giant monopolies, protects workers' rights, and calls for, for a square deal for all Americans, rich and poor, capitalist and wage earner.

He calls on America to be as great as the natural grandeur of its lands. Your feet on the ground, he tells us. When we elect our 32th president, it is the worst of times. The course of history and the course of one president's life again shape a turning point in our national destiny. Franklin D. Roosevelt, paralyzed by polio, knows how to restore the faith of a people paralyzed by the Great Depression. He has found the inner strength his countrymen now need. He speaks to us like a friend, a neighbor. His optimism is contagious, his voice perfect for the latest breakthrough medium, radio.

He calls us to believe we have nothing to fear, but fear itself. And we do believe. Tonight's attacks on England are perhaps the most widespread of the war in the course of the day. But an even greater challenge dominates his final years in office. The Second World War. This is an emergency as serious and war itself. We stun the world with our production. When bombs fall on U.S. troops in Pearl Harbor, he calls us to fight on the war front and sacrifice on the home front. The world changes, the country changes, and yet in one sense, what we need most from our presidents has never changed, a guiding vision that calls forth the best that America can be.

Will outer space be developed for the benefit of all mankind? Or will it become another focus for the arms race? The choice is urgent and it is... all legacy and injustice. President Sadat and Prime Minister Began on signing tonight is entitled A Framework for Peace in the Middle East. Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. You have lost too much,

but you have certainly not lost America. This country requires the willingness to speak out for what is right, to shake up the status quo. Foreign presidency is no longer just an idea. It is an idea with a proud history. Of the United States of America, George Washington, John Adams,

Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler,

James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Hillard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Caled. Calvin Coolidge. Herbert Hoover. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Harry S. Truman. Dwight D. Eisenhower. John F. Kennedy.

Lyndon B. Johnson. Richard M. Nixon. Gerald R. Ford. Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan. George Bush. Bill Clinton. George W. Bush.

Barack Obama. Joe, we place our trust in the idea of a president, as we have from the beginning. My fellow citizens, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that notification on the 14th day of April 1789 that you had selected me to lead our nation. But it was with the confidence of my fellow citizens that, But I took an oath, 35 simple words that have been repeated by every American president throughout history. 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. The presidency of the United States is a role unique in the world. An office entrusted to each president by us, we the people. Therein lies the genius of that new idea, now over 200 years old. A new idea our presidents have turned into a great American idea again and again. America did not exist. Four centuries of work, bloodshed, loneliness, and fear created this land. We built America, and the process made us Americans.

A new breed, rooted in all races, stained and tinged with all colors, a seeming ethnic anarchy. Then, in a little time, we became more alike than we were different. A new society. Not great, but fitted by our very thought. for greatness. Excuse me, Mr. Twain. What's that?

Perhaps you recognize those inspiring words from one of America's great writers. No, Dr. Franklin, I don't recall writing anything like that. Oh my, of course not. There from the pen of John Steinbeck, back in the 20th century. Why, it seems he has nearly the same spirit as the founding fathers themselves. Well, listen to the proud elder statesman. Mr. Twain, pride is one of our national passions. Even those who overcome it are proud of their humility.

Easy now. I was born, modest. Fortunately, more often. Dr. Franklin is our genuine American antique. I suppose our story began with you. Actually, it started long before even my time. It started when dreams and visions of a new world were shrouded in the myths and legends of an old world.

Finally, through those early mists of uncertainty, sailed the first-rate adventurers. This tiny ship is the Mayflower, carrying pilgrims in search of their dream, a dream of religious freedom. So, if you pardon an old woman, man's pride. For me, this is the beginning

of the American adventure. So stand by the maidsle, the fierce storms will race, along with key mates or King Neptune will face. You think that these land lovers never would last. This cargo of pilgrims

well wheat for the mast. It's let home we hearties at last we the right and praise me to God here they all have served for this wilderness brings me to tread that the first bitter they come be spoke with the trees welcoming their early settlers this land severely challenged them it was a struggle for survival that gained but a tiny toehold and a vast untamed wilderness In the decades that followed, a new challenge began to emerge. We were growing more and more apart from the mother country. Passion began to govern, and she never governs wisely.

The Indians, should you not help pay for it? That's nonsense. The same tea that cost you three years a pound costs us six. First, we spoke out with our voices. Then we spoke out with action, with a growing defiance that led to the Boston Tea Party. Our king feels withdraw. Your team, you Tory.

Either we cut the ties with England or we surrender our leave. The time had come to speak with one voice in a declaration of independence. Good evening, Mr. Jefferson. Have you finished the new draft yet? Those are new drafts all over the floor, Dr. Franklin.

It seems one stroke of this pen brings two changes from Congress. I told you John Adams should have written this. Oh, by his own admission, you can write circles around him. Mr. Adams has not been prisoner in this loft for 17 days. I shall continue tomorrow. You must continue now.

Thomas, it is difficult to make 13 o'clock chime at the same time, but we must carefully justify the separation. Dr. Franklin, while you slept soundly through the meeting this afternoon, We did manage to justify separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights,

that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And to secure these rights, governor, at least, you've got shoes, mate. There's not a dozen left What could say that? Don't tell me, friend.

Tell the good general then. Tell him that half his camp has got typhus, small walks, or dysentery. And there'd be not a ration amongst us. Now we can for hekling nuts. Aye, well, the English over and doors in our Philadelphia's fine food and drink. It's a strange war we shoulder, George Washington.

Congress sleeps warmly in years. York. And the British? The British party in Philadelphia. We freeze or starve to death here in Valley Forge. We the people prevail and achieved perhaps our greatest dream. 13 very different colonies became the United States of America. And we were free to become an entire nation of dreamers and doers. Westward bound, Dr. Franklin, to new frontiers. To the age of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. I'd like to think Mark Twain was part of. Big fathers gave us a pretty good start, don't you?

We still had some things to learn the hard way. The whole bunch of folks found out, we, the people, didn't yet mean all the people. Folks like Redrick Douglas. Even amidst the cricket song here along Mark Twain's beloved Mississippi, I hear the noise of change and the crack of the whip.

There is hope. Hope born from the words of Harriet Beech and Stone. Uncle Tom's cabin is given our nation a key, which can unlock the slave prison to millions. Anti-slavery is no longer a thing to be prevented. It is grown to abundant, to be snuffed out. like a lantern troublemakers like

Douglas got us into this mess he only wanted freedom not war well listen to my abolitionist brother what pa he's going to make a real good Philly yank we got a good cause

Johnny crib Why both of you ain't nothing gonna ruin today we're all together That's what cat All right everybody Oh, real still. Two began to play.

Hold on a beautiful morning. Told what was kind, it was gent. One came home, one stayed behind, a cannonball don't be nor. Oh, I'd come to read. That would help us do it. Americans, a thousand noble currents.

Seems there was a new dawn coming. Words that your new dawn lead to the final sunset on my people's suffering. When I think of our condition, my heart is heavy. I see men of my own race treated as outlaws or shot down like animals. I hope that all of us may be brothers. We're the one country around us and one government for all. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more, forever. The wisdom of the great chief Joseph reminded us once again of our long frontiers of pure.

Like Susan, why shouldn't we, Mr. Twain? Edison says, this... Edison, plays the name. Edison's that young phonograph inventor. Why, this great hall is filled with new inventions. There's Otis elevator. Tall as magnificent steam engines. And don't forget me, telephone.

The three steel built. It'll soon build a new concert hall for New York. And a Dutch grand idea. It's an age for grand ideas. An era for innovation. A dawn for new... Until outspoken, naturalist John Burek, to get her attention.

Hi, Mr. President. But it won't last if the team... timber thieves have their way. John, you may be right, but the country's growth is putting a tremendous demand on our resources. Any fool can destroy trees? Why, for more than 3,000 years God has cared for our giant sequoils. Save them from drought, disease. I will not save them from fools.

To stop completely. All I ask is that we stop massive destruction. What will our children inherit? Seedlings? Of course, no. This country, for us. generation alone. Then started here and now. Make this valley a part of your 70 national park. Well, I guess we needed those national parks. Seems the simple life my day was slipping away.

We were soon thrust into the hectic role of a world leader and into the war to end. The greatest wall of rubber. This stock bucket crash has polished the golden dreams of millions. Oh, you're back to 10 cents. Hey, Sam, I heard tell there's New York millionaires to sell us too.

You mean ex-millionaires, don't you? Hey, it looks like the storm was finally let up. Yeah, maybe the Sunday drivers come out and hunting for gas. Ain't many folks who are you know they ain't even cents a gallon. Hey, hey, listen, fellas,

old FDR has been in all of a race. Hope he's right. Folks can use the food. Why ain't you? Radio. He's driven down the Navy, some infamitted into the bathtub too. It seems to me like we're the only nation

in the world that waits when we get in more. Before we start to start to, him ready for. Poor border, Mr. Twain, what do you think of our America now? I think the founding father is. Of course not.

We were dreamers. We were visionaries. That is why our constitution withstands the rigors of time. Easy now, Dr. Franklin. This nation is still just a youngster why some countries have been around for 50 centuries.

That's true, but look what we've accomplished in that tiny span of time. My dear, Dr. Steinbeck, so inspiring. This warning, this has been the most destructive to the human. Success, plenty, complete, and ever-increasing, many people has ever survived these dangers. I may have invented these bifocles I'm wearing, but I can assure you who they are not rose-colored.

Mr. Twain, the golden age never was the present age, but with human liberty, we can fulfill the promise and meaning of America. Do everyone a chance, believe Thomas Wolfe, to all people, regardless of their birth, the right to live, to work, to be themselves,

and to become whatever their visions can combine to make them. This is the promise of America. Mr. Twain, it is easy to see, hard to foresee, but I foresee the American adventure to continue a long, long time. It's the whole tomorrow. Not as 4th of July we've had in years. We've come a long way, though, since the turn of the century over 20-some-odd years ago. You know that pilot fellow, Charles Lindberg?

He's about to fly a single-wing airplane, all the way across the Atlantic. He's never going to make it. And sports stadiums are springing up all over. And boy, nobody hits that old horse hide like that new fellow Babe Ruth. Jazz music is the cat's meow. And there's been ads in the paper for months

for a movie starring Al Jolson. And he's going to talk and sing. Boy, I've got to see that. Go Schwartz in his automobile. He sure loves that horn. You know, in my New Essex, I've got an electric starter. Now I don't have to crank.

We can travel from New York to Los Angeles by train in only three days. And we've got a house full of new electrical servants. Mr. Edison sure added life to our home. It's the third one this week. I buy fuses by the case. Uh-oh. And I'm blown the whole neighborhood again. Easy rover.

Jimmy, hurry up with that fuse. Shucks. Every tiny-ass company, he blows up. I guess you always has to change it. I heard that, young man. I heard that. Oh, well, that's more like it. John, yours is the last costume I've got to finish before the grade starts.

Sarah's Ladies Club is responsible for our town's Fourth of July celebration tonight. She's got us all roped into performing in their program. I decided we're going as George and Martha Washington, dear. Oh, the father of our country. That's a role that really fits me. You know, I'm so glad. we installed an electric light fixture here on the porch because it's just too darn hot to be sorry inside. Yes, Sarah. You know, next year I'd like to go is Benedict Arnold?

Wait until you see what I've got planned for the fireworks show tonight. Robert, don't interrupt while Sarah's interrupting. And guess who volunteered to choose the music for the program? I did pop. Listen to this. Well, it's a nice tune, Jimmy. You know with our new Crossley radio set, We can get news and big-time entertainment from all over the country, even Pittsburgh. We're starting to arrive downtown for a spectacular for the July parade in wireless of events. May you read about...

Oh, Patricia. Yes, father. Better get a move on. The radio says folks are arriving downtown. If that happens, you'll always have that torch you can carry for them. Countdown, Rover, I was only kidding. By the way, we have indoor plumbing now. Oh boy, that's really great on cold nights, especially for our perennial house guest, old Uncle Orville.

Uncle Orville's taken over the coolest spot in the house, of course, and he's rigged up a real clever contraption. He calls it air cooling. Too bad he's not reading to help one it adds. No privacy at all around this flight. Sorry, Orville. You know, considering all the coming, Martha, as I was saying, considering all the conveniences, now have all say that we're really on easy street these days it just can't get any better just goes to show that there's a great big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day the full tomorrow items in the under seat compartment for your safety remain seated with your seat both fast and during your flight and watch your children

Welcome, favor of to put your effect personal in the compartment debacle of the ascent. For your security, remain sat down with the Cinturon of Security, abrochated during the and vigilin to the children. We're in the Tour. We are ready for taking.

And in Main Street operations, we are pleased and proud to welcome you to today's flag-or-a-treat ceremony here in the Town Square. Our town square flagged retreat ceremony is one of our original magic kingdom traditions. And as traditions endure, so too is our nation. As this summer, we celebrate 250 years of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We are honored that you have taken time for your day to celebrate this landmark occasion and to become part of this tradition with us.

Please join us in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag. of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. For 250 years, America has fashioned itself into what we call our home.

Please join us in singing, God bless America. I have a very special armed forces, honor the representative. Please join us and welcome it today. Representative, Officer Third, class, David Miller from the Villages, Florida. Let's have a great big round.