New Details Revealed for First-Ever Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic Coming to Disneyland (2024)
It was an announcement that I personally thought was going to be saved as a “one more thing”-style delivery at the end of the recent Disney Experiences keynote from Chairman Josh D’Amaro, but instead, the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic was one of the first announcements of the presentation. During the presentation, it was clear that D’Amaro and Imagineers are taking the task seriously, and new details reveal that it’s not only the storytelling that matters but the technology and realism of putting Walt Disney on stage just feet away from guests.
Walt Disney – A Magical Life
In 2025, a new show will play at the Main Street Opera House in Disneyland called Walt Disney – A Magical Life. It will feature for the first time an Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt, advancing a technology he pioneered 60 years ago with Abraham Lincoln at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
“Creating our first Walt figure is an idea that’s been whispered in the hallowed halls of Imagineering for years – decades, even,” said D’Amaro at Horizons: Disney Experiences Showcase. “We just had to wait for innovation to catch up with our dreams. And we’re finally ready.”
“We wanted the show and story to appeal to all ages, and while some of our younger audience may not know as much about Walt Disney, we felt his story could be inspirational to them,” Tom Fitzgerald — Senior Creative Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering said. “Follow your dreams, turn setbacks into success, never give up, and give the world your very best.”
The Opera House theater will transform into Walt’s studio office and will bring together the past, present, and future of Disney storytelling. A Magical Life will play in rotation with Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln after an initial exclusive run.
Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic New Details
Fitzgerald noted that the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic will “incorporate features and innovations that have never been achieved before. It will be the most lifelike human figure we have ever created.”
Fortune was able to get a preview of the Audio-Animatronic and shared some new details that reveal just how lifelike the Walt Disney figure will be. As seen in the concept art released, Walt Disney will be leaning on his desk before standing up to tell his story. All-new technological methods are being used to animate Walt’s hands and fingers. Imagineers will also be using new techniques to create the skin for the figure, and they’re placing each strand of hair individually onto the figure’s head. Walt’s words during the show will be his own thanks to archival audio recordings, and special lighting will be used to draw out a twinkle in Walt’s eyes.
Imagineers have been perfecting Audio-Animatronics technology for more than 60 years, and some of the newest Audio-Animatronics are the most stunning figures to date. The Na’vi Shaman in Pandora – The World of Avatar is probably the current high water mark for the technology, but the Walt Disney figure will likely raise the bar again. It is fitting that Walt Disney will rotate with Abraham Lincoln given the stories of how lifelike Lincoln was perceived to be during the 1964-65 World’s Fair. Hopefully, in 2025, Imagineers are able to create a similar sentiment among the guests who visit Disneyland to see Walt Disney with their own eyes.
In an interview with WDW Radio, D’Amaro recalled the moment that Roy P. Disney first saw the Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic figure at the Imagineering campus.
I did have a chance to bring Roy Disney (Walt’s nephew) over. He was in the audience with us last night. He came over to Imagineering. And we walked in, and I showed him where we were on it. You can imagine that moment – walking into Imagineering, and standing in front of Walt, with Roy Disney. And it’s complete silence as we both just stand there, and stare. He looked at me for a moment, and I looked back at him – and then there was just a smile. It’s incredibly special.
In that whole show last night, this was one of the moments that I was most excited about.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
In 2025, a new show will play at the Main Street Opera House in Disneyland called Walt Disney – A Magical Life. It will feature for the first time an Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt, advancing a technology he pioneered 60 years ago with Abraham Lincoln at the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Development of the first audio animatronic technology began in 1949 with the work of the giant squid for 20,000 leagues under the sea (1954). The Audio-Animatronic show The Enchanted Tiki Room opened in 1963 at Disneyland.
In 1951, machinist Roger Broggie and sculptor Wathel Rogers (a year before they would be labeled Imagineers) led a team tasked with creating a nine-inch-tall figure that could move and talk.
au·dio-an·i·ma·tron·ic ˌȯ-dē-ō-ˌa-nə-mə-ˈträ-nik. : being or consisting of a lifelike electromechanical figure of a person or animal that has synchronized movement and sound.
Animatronics were first introduced by Disney in the 1964 film Mary Poppins which featured an animatronic bird. Since then, animatronics have been used extensively in such movies as Jaws, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which relied heavily on animatronics.
That new character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, debuted in 1927's Trolley Troubles to great fanfare. Over the next year, Oswald became a massive success for Disney, Mintz, and Universal.
Michael Schwartner, left, and his cousin Christine Vess, right, were recognized as the first official children to visit Disneyland on opening day, July 18, 1955.
Audio-Animatronics figures have been part of the Disney Parks for decades. The first figures debuted at Disneyland Park in 1963 with the Enchanted Tiki Room.
By building on the legacy of the past and inventing the technology of the future, Walt Disney Imagineering does more than build robotic versions of familiar characters — we give life to "actors" who are ready to move audiences through believable and emotive performances in the grand tradition of Disney animation.
The field of animatronics combines such disciplines as robotics, electronics and mechatronics as well as anatomy, and displays parallels to traditional puppetry, particularly in its forms of control.
The art of animatronics combines character art and robotics. Modern computer controlled systems can accommodate complex movements in sync with sound and light, and interact with other animatronics. Other effects can be created to entertain viewers by simulating a real experience through technology.
Superhuman Strength: Golden Freddy has proven to have high levels of superhuman strength that makes him stronger than most Animatronics. He was shown to be overpowering and defeating beings smaller than him, as shown with Freddy, Foxy and the Puppet.
The modern era of animatronics began in 1961, when Walt Disney started developing animatronics for entertainment and film. Disney and his "imagineers" created a 9-inch tall Dancing Man figurine. Though primitive by today's standards, the little man captured people's attention and got the animatronic ball rolling.
They are probably very malicious to anyone who they perceive as the Purple Guy, as they are violent towards the night guards, but normal to parents. The toys, however, are not necessarily possessed, so you can consider them a-holes.
This became known as the A1 figure. The A100 debuted in 1989 in the form of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Great Movie Ride at Orlando's Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios).
Who was the first person to buy a ticket to a Disney theme park? The answer to that interesting question is a twenty-two year old man named Dave MacPherson. This college student had one simple goal on Disneyland's opening day to the general public on July 18, 1955, to be first in line. This is his story.
The attraction opened on June 14, 1959. Matterhorn Bobsleds was the first roller-coaster-style attraction at Disneyland Park—and the very first tubular steel coaster in the world. The iconic attraction is also one-of-a-kind—no other Disney park can claim a Matterhorn mountain.
Introduction: My name is Carlyn Walter, I am a lively, glamorous, healthy, clean, powerful, calm, combative person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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