Best Animatronic In The Parks

I'm not sure I want to commit to just one, as they continue to get more impressive. I really love the Wicked Witch from The Great Movie Ride, which I mentioned in the thread that inspired this one.

Mr. Potato Head from Toy Story Midway Mania is advanced, as is Buzz from Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

For the record, Mark Twain in the American Adventure is the only one to walk up stairs.

The best AA that is no longer in the parks is Lucky the Dinosaur, who I was lucky enough to see at DAK in 2006.

The Jack in POTC looks incredible. But it doesn't speak (First Jack) and it's movement is pretty limited.

The Wicked Witch in TGMR Makes an Entrance, Delivers a slew of lines, Banters with A cast member, Has good range of motion and them makes a Exit.

But the most impressive AA award should probably go to the Yeti at EE. That thing is a monster, and really convincing.

I remember watching a show once on the grasshopper in Tough to be a Bug being a really advanced animatronic; and Stitch (of the Great Escape) is the only one to spit...not that I know if that's advanced or not.

Has there ever been a Walt Disney animatronic???

Yeti at EE gets a huge boost just because of the amazing theming and buildup of that ride. It makes me smile every time. I think he was definitely inspired by Sweetums!

I have to confess I thought he was a CM the first time too, but then when he did the same thing several times you know he's not real. He's awesome though.

That's a great question. It seems like it's only a matter of time before they'll build one for some sort of commemorative attraction.

Does seem a bit creepy, though, to build an animatronic of someone so recent--it's almost like cloning in some strange robotic way.

They can make him free standing like lucky or Muppet labs so he can walk around and greet people. What a photo opp.

They can make a Barack Obama animatronic and he can run the US while the real one chills out.

That could wind up a bit macabre. Walt Zombies running amok in the Magic Kingdom.

Isn't Walt Zombie the band that did "More Human then Human"?

In honesty how is it any different then all the other dead people running around Disney world? Mark Twain on the river boat and American Adventure with Benjamin Franklin. Most of the Hall of presidents. And especially Great moments with Mr. Lincoln, Which Walt himself supervised. All great examples of how this technology is used to form a link to the past for current generations to learn about the people he considered great men. (and women).

I think most of us know the story about the film Walt made before he died that was shown a year later to the company. To be honest, I think he would have really liked this Idea.

Well we all know they have Walt's frozen head kept somewhere, so once they perfect the animatronic Walt, they can just put the head on top and we're good to go. Then we can finally get answers to what Walt would think about all this stuff.

Ugh, Did you see Robocop 2 where they kept making all the cyborgs and they kept killing themselves? How would you like to wake up a machine?

Clone the body, insert the brain, eyes and spinal chord (We can reassemble the nerves past that point) (Yea I know the cloned brain has gotta go but don't you own the rights to a clone of you?) and boom, new Walt ready to rock.

Then we would need to clone Roy to keep him from running the company into the ground.

To the first point: do you have the rights to a clone of you? Sounds like a policy nightmare.

To the second: Never realized Roy was the safeguard!

Walt was an Idea man with his head in the clouds, and a great lack of business seance. This cost him his first creations and most of his first studio. (Look up the story of Oswald the luck rabbit.)

Roy oversaw the contracts, money and practically ran the whole business. This was a point of conflict between Roy and Walt and led Walt to start WED Enterprises, his private spin off company to keep Roy from interfering with his next big project, Disneyland.

If Walt was the Director, Roy was the Producer.

i always side with the dreamer over the nuts and bolts guy. for every dreamer who gets lucky there are 999 who are in the bread line. the producer will probably always land on his feet.

After some hard thinking I have decided that Sunny Eclipse is the best animatronic. He puts on a long show, has
great movement, and you don't just get a brief view of him. He has to
stand up to very close and long guest scrutiny.

And Roy was also the money man. Walt had to go through him to get funding for most of his ideas. Many of Walt's greatest ideas were agreed upon by Roy very reluctantly.

It's so true that Walt was a dreamer who really never lived a real lavish lifestyle, because most of his money went right back into projects. He never considered himself wealthy until very late in his life. And Roy was the stabilizing force that kept him grounded.

For anyone that wants to learn more, there are many good biographies on Walt out there. Unfortunatly there are a few bad ones too. One I always recommend is "Walt Disney: An American Original" by Bob Thomas.

Really fascinating history! I love learning on this board. Thanks for the background and interpretation (and suggestion--I'll go grab that book).