animatronic faces?

[wiskband]

I wrote to ASK DAVE at disney magazine and never got a response about this. So I'm still wondering there are SOOOOOO animatronics through out Disney, are the faces modeled after real people? The funny thing is that I started thinking about this because of a very ugly one in Spacespih Earth. Not sure if anyone else ever noticed and now I can't help but looking everytime but, next time your there check out the guy ( around the time of the printing press was invented ) he is either the man sleeping with his head rest on the desk or the man who is writing with a feather pen.
I thought I recalled reading somewhere that some of the animatronics were modeled after the imagineers who built them but there are just so many! Anyone know about this subject?:lookaroun

 

[civileng68]

hmm

I don't know specifically about this but, I do know for a fact that disney deeply allowed the imagineers to put their marks on things, so i would not doubt that for a moment.

 

[bearboysnc]

I think read somewhere that in the building of EPCOT, in an effort to save money they reused the faces from POTC and HOPresidents.

I think the story said that they even used the Nixion as the used car salesman in WOM.

 

[wild01ride]

I think that most of the faces are truly modeled after real people. If I'm not mistaken, the face of Madame Leota in HM is someone who worked in the prop/costume dept during the time the ride was developed.

 

[TheOneVader]

They did use that Nixon in WOM, and now he's the truck driver in TT during the evasive maneuover (sp?)

 

[General Grizz]

Some argue Nixons ISN'T in Test Track, but who knows.

As for your question, most of the non-real people are built off sketches, which can be INSPIRED by Imagineers..(i.e. Big Al <- Al Bertino).

Hope that helps!

 

[Steamboat_Kevin]

Originally posted by wild01ride
I think that most of the faces are truly modeled after real people. If I'm not mistaken, the face of Madame Leota in HM is someone who worked in the prop/costume dept during the time the ride was developed.

*consults my Imagineering book*
When the crystal ball was being designed for the Seance Room in the Haunted Mansion, artist Leota Toombs was asked to play the role of the disembodied head as a temporary stand-in during a test of the effect- but did such a great job that her temporary test became the final performance, and the character was named "Madame Leota" in her honor.

 

[meeko_33785]

Yes, Disney does tend to re-use a lot of their animatronic molds to make animatronics for other attractions. For Spaceship Earth, for instance, Dwight Eisenhower was "re-cast" as a lute player in the Renaissance scene and I've heard that Gutenburg is really James Bucchanan. And of course, there is the infamous Nixion from World of Motion and now Test Track (although in Test Track, he is apparently a cardboard cut-out and not an animatronic).

 

[wiskband]

Any other famous people used as models in animatronics?