Abe Lincoln to Stay; Kermit Hops Away : Disneyland: The ‘Great Emancipator’ display was to be replaced by the head Muppet until the frog was gigged by tourists’ protests.

Abraham Lincoln has apparently been emancipated from a future on a storage shelf by tourists at Disneyland who rebelled over the prospect of Kermit the Frog replacing him at a park exhibit.

Park officials have shelved their plans to close the 25-year-old “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” show on Disneyland’s Main Street this weekend, they said Thursday.

Disneyland operators said visitors and park employees alike reacted angrily to reports that the robot replica of the nation’s 16th President was being removed to make room for a new Muppets attraction.

“Put the Muppets in there? No! No!” said Leona Banks of Kankakee, Ill., standing outside the Main Street opera hall where a mechanical Lincoln robot rises from an antique chair to deliver a five-minute speech 51 times a day.

“This exhibit carries a message to the people of the United States. It’s something very emotional--and I’m not just saying this because I’m from the ‘Land of Lincoln,’ ” she added.

Grumbled 12-year-old Abby Hangsleben of East Grand Forks, Minn.: “Lincoln was President. Kermit is a frog.”

Disney purchased rights to several of the Muppets characters last year. The company disclosed in January that it would begin staging parades and live shows in 1991 featuring the puppets developed by the late Jim Henson.

Along with Dick Tracy-themed attractions and new Hollywood-oriented shows scheduled to open through 1999, the Muppets are part of an expansion program that park officials have dubbed “The Disney Decade.”

Reports have circulated for the last three months among Disneyland’s 8,000 employees that the Main Street opera hall, which also houses exhibits honoring park founder Walt Disney, would be turned over to Kermit, Miss Piggy and Big Bird.

Officials announced a week ago that the Lincoln exhibit would be closed Sunday for “refurbishing” the opera house. They said plans for the plush-seated auditorium near the park’s entrance would be disclosed later.

On Thursday, park operators said Lincoln will live--at least for now.

Disneyland spokesman Paul Goldman said that park planners are looking at several other sites for the Muppets, including an area near the “It’s a Small World” attraction. “It’s a matter of shoehorning things in,” he said.

Goldman said officials were surprised by the outcry over Lincoln.

“If you’d asked a few days ago, I’d have said that being a 25-year-old attraction, its popularity has passed. But there seems to be a lot of sentiment for Lincoln.”

Although Disney officials refuse to disclose attendance figures, they acknowledge that park visitors haven’t shown a lot of interest in the Lincoln show.

On Wednesday, only a handful of park visitors filed into the 500-seat theater to watch the 13-minute production. The show starts with photographic slides and ends with a full-sized replica of Lincoln standing at the U.S. Capitol and gesturing as it speaks of liberty and patriotism.

The electronically animated figure blinks its eyes, wiggles its fingers and nods and turns. The robot was rewired about five years ago to add sophisticated new movements as part of a $200,000 renovation, officials said.

Lincoln’s short speech actually consists of excerpts from five addresses delivered by the Great Emancipator between 1838 and 1864.

“I certainly hope they aren’t going to do away with this,” said tourist John Folliard of Oregon City, Ore. “The rides are nice, but I’m real patriotic.”

Anaheim teacher Nola Vroom escorted 60 children from a summer church camp to “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” after hearing that the display was slated for closure this weekend. She said she wanted to make sure they had a chance to see it.

“I like Kermit because I’m a first-grade teacher. But I like Lincoln, too,” she said, glancing around the nearly deserted entrance to the theater. “If more people knew this was going to close, they’d be lined up to get in.”

Disneyland employee Sandy Spurgeon, who has seen the Lincoln show “thousands of times” during the 10 years she has worked as a show hostess, said the Muppets should go somewhere else.

“I don’t think they fit in on Main Street,” Spurgeon said. “I’ve had people come here in tears about this.”

Across the park, Monorail ride operator Julio Escobedo agreed that the Disneyland entrance should keep its nostalgic, turn-of-the-century Americana look. “Take out the submarine ride and put the Muppets there,” he said.