The Imagineer who modeled Abraham Lincoln’s hands in 1964 died in July at 96. Disney is now building its first Walt Disney animatronic using technology he helped invent.
The hands on Abraham Lincoln at Disneyland are not a sculptor’s invention.
They were cast from Don Iwerks, the Imagineer who helped build the attraction. Inside Walt Disney Imagineering they became known as “Iwerks hands,” and they were reused across countless attractions worldwide.
Iwerks died in July at 96.
Who Don Iwerks was
His surname carries most of Disney’s early history.
He was the son of Ub Iwerks, the animator who co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney and drew “Steamboat Willie.”
Don joined the company and spent his career on the technical side, becoming a Disney Legend and one of the people who made audio-animatronics function.
He worked on Walt Disney’s miniature Barbershop Quartet, among the earliest audio-animatronic experiments, before serving as the hand model for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
That attraction debuted at the 1964-65 World’s Fair and still performs at Disneyland today.
The technology he helped build is being used again
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress at Magic Kingdom closed July 6 for a major overhaul and reopens in late spring 2027.
The reimagined attraction will include Walt Disney World’s first Walt Disney animatronic, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Bryan Cranston voicing the Mother and Father characters and a timeline shifted forward by 60 years.
A Walt Disney figure is the most technically demanding thing Disney can attempt, and the line running to it starts with Lincoln.
What else Don Iwerks worked on
The list reaches into nearly every part of the company.
He was a camera technician on “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and a photographer on Walt’s Oscar-winning True-Life Adventure films, work that helped establish the nature documentary as a form.
He helped develop Circle-Vision, the 360-degree film format shown at Disneyland and later at EPCOT Center.
In the 1960s he worked with his father to bring xerography to Disney animation, a process that transferred drawings directly to cels. Without it, “101 Dalmatians” would have been effectively impossible to produce, given how many spots the film required.
He also contributed to the original Star Tours and built the 3D camera systems used to shoot “Captain EO” with Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Jackson.
He later founded Iwerks Entertainment, developing giant-screen theaters and motion simulator attractions.
Why hand models mattered in early animatronics
Early audio-animatronics were built by casting from living people rather than sculpting from reference. Hands are the hardest part of a human figure to fake, carrying more small movements and surface detail than a face.
Casting a real pair solved the problem, and once Disney had a usable set, they got reused. Iwerks hands appear on figures across decades of attractions, which means a single Imagineer’s hands are quietly present in Disney parks around the world.
Carousel of Progress originally debuted at the same 1964-65 World’s Fair that introduced Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Both were Walt Disney projects. Both used technology Don Iwerks helped make work.
One of them is being rebuilt to put Walt himself on stage.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
TheWrap (July 2026), the Don Iwerks obituary including the Iwerks hands detail, the Circle-Vision and xerography contributions and the Walt Disney Family Museum statement
Walt Disney Family Museum, the summary of his career and influence
Disney Tourist Blog and WDW News Today, the Carousel of Progress closure and reopening details and the Jamie Lee Curtis and Bryan Cranston casting
WDW News Today, the Walt Disney World Railroad and Tiana’s Bayou Adventure closure dates