Hooray! It’s Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse’s birthdays! We’re celebrating today with some special desserts and virtual events, but Disney has shared a birthday surprise of their own.

Earlier today, Disney shared that the iconic Partners statue in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland Park AND the amazing Storytellers statue in Disney California Adventure have BOTH been restored and are looking better than ever. Check out the photos of what they look like now!

The Partners statue in Disneyland Park was created by Disney sculptor Blaine Gibson and features Mickey and Walt Disney holding hands and headed, as always, toward the future. Here’s a photo taken of the statue at its original unveiling on November 18th, 1993, in celebration of Mickey’s 65th birthday.

Over time, however, the bronze on the statue had oxidized, and, Disney shares “because of the applied patina, acrylic polymer and wax, it required a more intensive process than just a simple cleaning or polishing.” Over a series of four days, an artisan gently worked to strip the statue down to the bare bronze using a a process that utilizes crushed walnut shells!

After cleaning the statue, various chemicals were applied to it and then “heated with a blowtorch to create a reaction and fuse with the bronze.” The figure was then coated in a polymer to protect the patina, followed by a coating of a very thin layer of wax. And now…it’s looking more beautiful than ever! You can really see the distinction again in the lighter bronze color that is used for Mickey’s face, gloves, shorts, and shoes, as well as other details, as compared to the darker one used for other parts of the statue.

Disneyland Park is currently closed, so guests can’t take a look at this restored statue just yet, but they CAN take some awesome selfies with another figure over in Disney California Adventure Park when Buena Vista Street opens tomorrow! The Storytellers statue, which features a 1920s-era Walt in a fedora and traveling attire­ — just off the train from Missouri and ready to realize his dreams with his pal, Mickey — has also been restored!

We are loving how you can truly see all of the beautiful detailing on this statue and again all of the subtle color changes on it. A few weeks ago, we had noticed that the statue was covered up in the park, so it looks like this restoration may have been the reason why.

We are SO looking forward to seeing the Storytellers statue in person very soon! We’ll snap lots of photos of it and share that, as well as other updates from the park, with you. Stay tuned for much more!

Click here to see the Christmas decorations that have arrived in Disney California Adventure Park!

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Which statue is your favorite — the Partners statue or Storytellers statue? Let us know in the comments!

The post PHOTOS: Two Iconic Disneyland Statues Have Been Refurbished! first appeared on the disney food blog.