The Trump Disney animatronic conspiracy explained | indy100

Trump’s wild ride puts Disney’s Hall of Presidents in a predicament

Tronc - Orlando Sentinel / VideoElephant

A years old conspiracy theory involving the Donald Trump Disney animatronic has resurfaced ahead of the 2024 election.

The theory reemerged after Twitter/X user @FionaSmall responded to a post asking "what's the lowest stakes conspiracy theory you have?"

Small responded by including a screenshot of another post with photos of Donald Trump's animatronic in Disney's Hall of Presidents. The caption reads: "The only conspiracy theory I believe in is that Disney's Trump animatronic of Hall of Presidents was originally made as a Hilary animatronic."

Many believe that Clinton was 'supposed' to win the 2016 election, and as a result Disney got to work early on making her animatronic. However, Trump's victory to the White House meant that Disney had to alter the animatronic.

And if we're being honest, the original animatronic does look like Clinton with a Trump wig on. Many social media users agreed:

@FionaSmall Oh I 100% believe this
— (@)

@FionaSmall It's not a conspiracy when the evidence is on display.
— (@)

@FionaSmall This has to be true. Without reading your caption I looked at the photo and thought, "Wait- how is Trump Hillary here?"
— (@)

In the world of conspiracy theories that often capture the internet, this is one that seems more likely to be true.

After writer Alex Goldman tweeted the theory back in 2023, allegedly an anonymous Disney Imagineer confirmed the theory in a private DM. The source claimed in order to reduce how long it would take to install a new animatronic, Disney presumptively began working on a Clinton animatronic.

“I remember seeing the facial designs for the Hillary animatronic at least six months before the election and an intern asked the 3D artist what would happen if Trump won, and he laughed and just said, ‘Then, we’re screwed,’” this source told Goldman, as quoted in his Substack post.

However, it has never been officially confirmed by Walt Disney World if this actually happened.

In 2021 Disney upgraded the animatronic, resembling the former President much more than the original animatronic, which was unveiled in 2017.

Sign upto our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel