17 July 1965:

A second Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln debuts, this time in Disneyland. (The original Great Moments is still running at the New York World's Fair.) Housed in a new Main Street facility called the Opera House, Walt Disney himself dedicates the new attraction on this day. This Disneyland production is not completely identical to the Fair's. A new pre-show, "The Lincoln Story," replaces the Fair's which centers around the state of Illinois.

Later in the day, Walt speaks at the Tencennial Celebration for Cast Members at the Disneyland Hotel's Magnolia Room. He hosts a celebration to acknowledge the challenges of early Disneyland and recognizing some of the original cast that were part of the show in 1955.

"A lot of people didn't believe in what we were doing... my brother had the worries of getting this money and fighting the bankers and things... but we ran out of money... a lot of people don't realize that we had some very serious problems here, keeping this going... getting it started... But at this time, ten years after opening, I want to join my brother in saying 'Thanks to you people who have been here with us, and have been part of making this thing come across." -Walt Disney

TV Guide features an article about Walt titled "Still Attacking His Ancient Enemy—Conformity" by Edith Efron. Her words include: "The details of Walt Disney’s life have often been published. But all that is really essential to know is that his is a pure Horatio Alger story—the story of a very poor boy who was raised on a Missouri farm, who never finished high school, who worked incessantly to bring his innocent personal visions into existence, who succeeded after a series of bitter struggles, who rose to international fame by embodying some of mankind’s most endearing characteristics in a mouse, and who has been free, ever since, to produce his very special type of fantasies."  The article also includes this quote from cartoonist Walt Kelly (famous for his work on the popular Pogo comic strip) who began his career at the Disney Studio:

"I'd never say (Walt Disney) was a tyrant. He's an easy man to work for, if you're putting out. He is very demanding, there's no doubt about it. He can be fairly sharp-tempered and tough, if people are stupid or unproductive, and this causes griping among those who don't live up to his standards. But if you are hard-working, he's an amazing man to work for. You learn an enormous amount, artistically. He helped to groom me, and I appreciated the experience enormously. I thought of him as a genius."