it's a single individual. you need to think four-dimensionally.
yes, the articulated heads in the stage show are manipulated by the performer and, despite them actively trying to hide their hands as much as possible, it is more or less obvious how it's done. puppeteering 101.
however, there (and in the Feld entertainment shows), the performers are performing to track. It would be painful for them to try to automatically sync the movements along with the track (although I suppose not impossible, a la teddy ruxpin), especially should something go wrong mid-performance.
other than the eyes blinking and the mouth moving, this Mickey is completely different and in reality, that technology would be the least impressive.
quite simply put, the blinking can be on a random timer. Mickey has to blink, just like anyone else. You don't fold your fingers when you blink, so why should Mickey have to? what's not demonstrated in these videos is whether Mickey can control the blinking. Can he -- for example -- pretend to be sleeping? Not likely, but it's still possible even without having to resort to fingertips.
The technology used, which is outlined in the patent linked to above, demonstrates how the voice is manipulated from a regular speaking voice -- from ANYONE's regular speaking voice -- to Mickey's (or anyone else that's desired). This is a third piece of the puzzle. Imagine that this same voice-changing technology could have actually been used in the Muppet Mobile Labs for example.
'If' there is a vocal manipulator, that means it has to accept and recognize speech patterns. And since Mickey simply opens and closes his mouth whenever he speaks (as opposed to forming O shapes and all that other dipthongy stuff), it simply has to match when there's input into the analyzer and can easily be automated. There have been toys in the marketplace that did this kind of stuff for years. Heck, I even had a Halloween mask one year with a microphone and voice disortion unit that would open and close its mouth.
Also many of you are assuming all these electronics are in the head. Why? Why can't it be spread throughout the body, just like the patent visually displays? (if you go to
http://www.stitchkingdom.com/disney...nt-disney-talking-mickey-technology-20-years/ you can just see the diagram without having to go through the patent itself). And I'd contend that the box displayed could be even much smaller than as shown in the drawing which was based on technology in the early 90s (keep in mind the patent was GRANTED in 1994, which means it was probably APPLIED for in 92 or 93 and that was AFTER it was INVENTED). And the only component in the head is the microphone.
I was the first to assume this was some sort of Turtle Talk technology with Mickey equipped with a remote mic/speaker, pov camera and another camera trained on him and with a Mickey soundalike. But the patent basically proves the technology exists that it could be all operated by a single individual doing nothing more than talking.
I'm not even sure rain poses more of a threat than it would to any other character either. nothing is exposed to the elements (except sweaty human bodies).
plus I think one of the biggest sellers for the synth technology is that Mickey appears to have a very cold, disconnected tone to his voice. Especially prominent in the video released by Disney Parks. He sounds more like Ben Stein when he talks about how excited he is.
