3. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

The Illinois pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair included a tribute to one of the state's greatest individuals – President Abraham Lincoln. Tasked with creating an attraction for the pavilion starring Mr. Lincoln, Walt told his Imagineers to create a truly dignified animatronic version of the President, one which could believably deliver one of Lincoln's speeches to an audience of discerning fairgoers. To that point, most of Disneyland's shows featured audio-animatronics designed as either animals or fairy tale characters, and so creating one which accurately and subtly represented the movements of a historic figure seemed to be a rather daunting task.

And yet, even with those pressures, the Imagineers managed to build one of Disney's most famous and beloved animatronics.

Lincoln's address lasted just over five minutes, and was performed by actor Royal Dano. The speech is actually portions of several Lincoln addresses woven together to create one complete experience. It was so successful, Disney decided to bring the attraction to Disneyland, where (after a brief hiatus) it is still showcased today, complete with Dano's original voice recording. The original Lincoln animatronic has since been replaced many times, but his address is still essentially the same as the one fairgoers would have experienced back in 1964. The success of that attraction at Disneyland ultimately helped launch its sequel down in Orlando – The Hall of Presidents.

4. Progressland

While you may not recognize the name “Progressland,” General Electric's pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair, you probably would recognize the name of its signature attraction: The Carousel of Progress.

Walt Disney had long wanted to design a show telling the story of technological progress in the United States. When GE approached Walt with plans to sponsor a pavilion at the Fair, Walt jumped at the chance to make his idea a reality.

Walt's original plan called for several show scenes featuring animatronic performers talking about how technology and innovation changed their lives, with each scene featuring the same family years into the future. Eventually, Imagineers designed a mechanism by which the audience would revolve on an exterior wheel around a central stage with six compartments, each compartment showcasing its own scene. All six scenes would be shown simultaneously to guests, with the seats rotating to the next scene, rather than having guests walk from stage to stage. The resulting apparatus evoked a kind of carousel, thus helping give the attraction its name,

The ride was, like all of Disney's pavilions, extremely well-received and, again, was transplanted to Disneyland at the completion of World's Fair. It has since been moved to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, where it still operates today -- making it the only attraction in Orlando that Walt, himself, had a significant hand in designing.

Much of the show is the same today as it was in 1964, including one of Walt Disney's most beloved Sherman Brothers songs: There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.

Those themes – progress, technology, innovation, and the strength of the family – can be found throughout Disney's work and, even after his death, in the work of his successors. It's those same ideas that led to attractions like Test Track, Spaceship Earth, and The American Adventure to open at Epcot.

And so, if you find yourself on one of those four classic Disney rides, or any others like it, just remember it can all be drawn back the crazy New York summers of 1964 and 1965.

And for you Universal Studios/Men in Black fans, yes – these things came from the 1964 World's Fair too: