Character Heads

Donald Duck

Donald Duck

Tonga Toast Killer
Original Poster
For the "Dream-Along with Mickey" show at MK, who controls the the character head movements / facial expressions; the CMs wearing the costumes or an off-stage puppeteer? For example, you'll notice Donald's eyes blink and his bill move with his talking...

Just curious, and I wish I could buy one!
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
nickeymouse said:
They use their middle finger! I watched closly.....
Click to expand...

Although with only four fingers, none of them are technically the "middle" one... ;)

What's most likely the case is that the CM has the middle and ring fingers in that finger of the glove, and moves them together to activate the device. (Hold your hands with those two fingers together, and you'll find that to bend those two is easier with less effort than any single finger).
One hand controls the mouth, the other for the eyes.

-Rob
 
Bcrane

Bcrane

New Member
Next time you're at Animal Kingdom go watch Lion King as Timon uses the same... ahhh... technology, and since he comes closer to the audience it's really easy to see the finger movements.
 
bingie

bingie

Well-Known Member
Bcrane said:
Next time you're at Animal Kingdom go watch Lion King as Timon uses the same... ahhh... technology, and since he comes closer to the audience it's really easy to see the finger movements.
Click to expand...

It's actually a completely different system for Timon... If you look closely at his hands (gloves), you can make out what resembles a bicycle handbrake inside the gloves... Timon is cable controlled. Watch closely; Timon's "fingers" never move, they are always sticking out straight. But the performers hand is clutching the "brake" inside the glove and they squeze it to have the mouth/eyes move. You can somtimes see the stiff cable running up Timon's arm from the hands to the head. This is very similar to how Rafiki was operated in LOLK.

With the DAWM cast, they are electrical puppets - they have thin metal pads in the gloves. When the thin metal pad is flexed (or bent), the mouth/eyes close in proportion to how much the pad is being flexed.
 
coilback

coilback

Active Member
Yup, I was a tech on DAWM - watch their right hands, you'll see all the characters have a twitchy right hand. They also choreograph their movements to mask it as much as possible. The funniest thing was when one would break down - one time Donald's eyes were stuck halfway down. He looked really tired.
 
D

Disneyboy17

Active Member
Ha
coilback said:
Yup, I was a tech on DAWM - watch their right hands, you'll see all the characters have a twitchy right hand. They also choreograph their movements to mask it as much as possible. The funniest thing was when one would break down - one time Donald's eyes were stuck halfway down. He looked really tired.[/quote


Haha I've seen that :) hopefully though not in front of the guest?
Click to expand...
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom