No matter how you feel about the current state of its animated films, Disney is proving it can still beat the competition animatronics Out of the park. This week, the entertainment giant gave us another early look at new audio animatronics for Tiana’s Bayou Adventure – a reimagining of the iconic (and controversial) Splash Mountain ride. Theme – The demo so far is impressive.
Recognizable characters come from princess and frog (2009) has been brought into life with a variety of different robots social media posts Disney’s new “We Call It Imagineering” YouTube series, featuring Princess Tiana herself, Mama Audie, Charlotte LaBeouf, Louis the Crocodile and many other swamp critters.
Seriously, the movement in some of these animatronics is so fluid that it looks like sincerely live!What if these new animatronics were developed like the ones at Tokyo Disneyland? beauty and the Beast The appeal, their movements and facial expressions could have been provided by real animators from Walt Disney Animation Studios, which is why it feels like the characters have simply escaped the confines of 2D. They’re not quite as realistic as the shamans on the Na’vi River Journey ride, but this animatronic was a groundbreaking feat of engineering in 2017 – and it’s fascinating to see such sophisticated technology now being used on such a large scale around the park. People are excited.
I’m also glad that Disney ditched the rear-projection technology used in the Seven Dwarfs Mine Cart and Frozen rides at Disney World. It looks strange, unusually faded in some cases, and feels rather lazy compared to the past 60 years of animatronic innovation from Disney’s Imagineering division.In contrast, see princess and the frog The physical movement of the characters’ lips, eyes, and facial structures took me a moment to remember that these were real metal and plastic structures, not CGI.
It’s an exciting time for any like-minded nerd who loves seeing animatronics or robots used in theme parks and other live experiences. The free-roaming, chicken-like BD-X robots that Disney Imagineering showed off last year will be released at Black Spire Outpost in Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge Park from April 5 to June 2.
If any of this piques your interest then I recommend watching The Imagineering Story Documentary series on Disney Plus – It provides some great insights into Disney’s long history in the animatronics industry.