Animatronics Destroyed?

[Goofyernmost]

Im curious as to what kind of reaction this triggered. I hope it didnt involve any bodily harm to you or others.

They are making it sound like the Holocaust instead of a collection of nuts, bolts, metal pieces, small motors and hydraulic fluid. No lives were lost in their destruction. I'm sure they saved whatever was reusable, but, I would think that since each one was unique, there wasn't a whole lot that would be reusable.

 

[Bairstow]

They are making it sound like the Holocaust instead of a collection of nuts, bolts, metal pieces, small motors and hydraulic fluid. No lives were lost in their destruction. I'm sure they saved whatever was reusable, but, I would think that since each one was unique, there wasn't a whole lot that would be reusable.

There's no need to compare these to the death of actual people- I think the proper way to look at these objects is as works for art, rather than mass-produced machines. What makes theme park attractions so interesting is that they are the culmination of a multitude of artistic disciplines- art direction, vocal performance, robotics, sculpture, precision engineering, and so many others, that even when an attraction is closed there's an argument that the most important components are worth preserving as artwork rather than be scrapped for their base metals.

 

[twilight mitsuk]

What about all the old sse figures like window girl

 

[Dragonman]

What about all the old sse figures like window girl

She's still there just without her clothes/skin and boarded up

 

[Maeryk]

What about all the old sse figures like window girl

An imagineer I know and I once had a discussion about that.. he's involved in the ride end of it (making them work in the ride, replacing, etc) and he said "it depends". If they are older base figures they might be stored for replacement of similar ones if something fails critically, or, if they have enough spare parts, scrapped. If they are an older one off, they might be archived or just scrapped, depending on how unique they are.

The AAs have gone through continuous development and improvement over the years, as have their actuarial systems and control systems. So it's not really as easy as say, plunking a dinosaur from Energy (almost 40 year old tech) into Dinosaur (20 year old tech) or some new ride (different computer and control systems due to the newest AAs).

Disney is weird about old stuff. Some things they seem to hold onto like gold for no apparent reason, and other things that you'd think they'd keep around or sell get bulldozed into a pit somewhere in Florida. I'm sure it makes sense to them, but it sure doesn't to me.

 

[TalkingHead]

They are making it sound like the Holocaust instead of a collection of nuts, bolts, metal pieces, small motors and hydraulic fluid. No lives were lost in their destruction. I'm sure they saved whatever was reusable, but, I would think that since each one was unique, there wasn't a whole lot that would be reusable.

Who will think of the sweet innocent Audio-Animatonics' souls?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Don't forget that a lot of these figures aren't the originals. They've been repaired and have had parts replaced. It's a case of the Animatronics of Theseus.

Interestingly, there's been several articles floating around about the difficulty that museum curators are having with plastic used in art pieces from the 60's and 70's (and presumably, soon, the 80's and 90's). The plastic just degrades. Some become brittle and crack and break apart, some turn into a goo and just melt. How do you preserve *that*?

So, these creations are always in the process of deterioration. Especially the ones that had repetitive movements 16 hours a day every day of the year. Some were refurbished nicely, others withered. But, even the ones that were refurbished well (and, Theseusly, ain't the originals) will wither away, even when stored in a climate controlled warehouse (let alone a tent without any climate control).

Sic transit gloria mundi.

 

[Maeryk]

Don't forget that a lot of these figures aren't the originals. They've been repaired and have had parts replaced. It's a case of the Animatronics of Theseus.

Interestingly, there's been several articles floating around about the difficulty that museum curators are having with plastic used in art pieces from the 60's and 70's (and presumably, soon, the 80's and 90's). The plastic just degrades. Some become brittle and crack and break apart, some turn into a goo and just melt. How do you preserve *that*?

So, these creations are always in the process of deterioration. Especially the ones that had repetitive movements 16 hours a day every day of the year. Some were refurbished nicely, others withered. But, even the ones that were refurbished well (and, Theseusly, ain't the originals) will wither away, even when stored in a climate controlled warehouse (let alone a tent without any climate control).

Sic transit gloria mundi.

I wonder if that is't why the newer ones seem to incorporate a lot more metal in them than thermomold plastic, like the early ones did? If you look at the Lincoln in a man and his dream, there's a lot of (obviously aging) plastic in there, but if you look at the more recent ones, it's mostly metal.

 

[Dead2009]

There's no need to compare these to the death of actual people- I think the proper way to look at these objects is as works for art, rather than mass-produced machines. What makes theme park attractions so interesting is that they are the culmination of a multitude of artistic disciplines- art direction, vocal performance, robotics, sculpture, precision engineering, and so many others, that even when an attraction is closed there's an argument that the most important components are worth preserving as artwork rather than be scrapped for their base metals.

Pour one out for my homies

 

[dreamfinder]

I can understand scrapping and reusing the components of the dinosaurs from Ellen's, but the stitch animatronic was a bit impressive to me in how smoothly it moved and it's range of motion. It seems odd that they'd have ripped that one apart.

If WDI/the Archives decides that an AA has historical value, then yes it will definitely be saved. If it has parts that other AAs can use, they will part it. It doesn't matter how impressive something was, if it can't easily be repurposed/reskinned (IE America Sings -> Splash) then why not use it for parts?

Besides the Country Bear Jamboree deer where else are these images of destroyed WW animatronics?

Someone on Twitter has been posting alot of shots of Alien Encounter/SGE recently. Things like spare seat parts covered in mold, Skippy without his skin, etc.

 

[MagicRat]

They have destroyed their items for years. The first version of the Disney Store when they closed saw all of the props destroyed as well.

Why would Disney want to enrich scrappers and lessen their merchandise worth? You can’t keep everything.

Burberry caught flack for destroying their previous season’s fashion line. What are they supposed to do, give it away and drive down the cost of their clothes?

It is a business not a soup kitchen.

 

[Bairstow]

They have destroyed their items for years. The first version of the Disney Store when they closed saw all of the props destroyed as well.

Why would Disney want to enrich scrappers and lessen their merchandise worth? You can’t keep everything.

Burberry caught flack for destroying their previous season’s fashion line. What are they supposed to do, give it away and drive down the cost of their clothes?

It is a business not a soup kitchen.

Very true, but unique or rare surplus props are a very distinct market from mass-produced merchandise.

Besides, with something like an animatronic Disney is far more apt to repurpose or cannibalize than to sell at auction. Things like small props or even ride vehicles have often been auctioned to the public through third parties but I'm not even aware of any genuine Disney animationics than have found their way into private hands. Disney would likely oppose this to protect their brand.

 

[dreamfinder]

It is a business not a soup kitchen.

Which is why some question them destroying things. There are (or at least were) several companies that specialized in buying old stuff & surplus from Disney, which they then resold. Keeps things out of the waste stream, and Disney makes some profit.

And Disney rarely destroys old merch, choosing rather instead to resell it out of sight to the general public. From Property Control (I believe still need a CM to get you in) to the local park only outlets (Character Premier and Character Warehouse) which I think are still operational to the plain old Disney Store outlets (my local branch has a whole corner dedicated to park merch solf at a heavy discount, usually from DLR or overseas).

 

[dreamfinder]

Besides, things like small props or even ride vehicles have often been auctioned to the public through third parties but I'm not even aware of any genuine Disney animationics than have found their way into private hands. Disney would likely oppose this to protect their brand.

Plenty have. Theme Park Connection/Mouse Surplus sold many of the Food Rocks characters when that closed if I remember correctly. You can see some in this video -> Admittedly that's a stretch to call those a full blown AA, but there have been others. Kevin Kidney posted a page here about restoring some Tiki Birds (https://miehana.blogspot.com/2016/08/fancy-feathers-restoring-tiki-room-birds.html) both for Disney directly, as well as some in private collections. And I never forget my favorite, back when Imagination closed, Disney Auctions (when they sold stuff direct) auctioned off one of the Dreammobiles (took a semi truck to deliver).

 

[MagicRat]

Is this the storage you expect for Disney?

 

[Dragonman]

Little bit of clarification about that spare country bear deer head. It isn't destroyed, it's actually a spare that's supposedly stored under Leota in the haunted mansion for some reason

 

[Missing20K]

They've been repaired and have had parts replaced. It's a case of the Animatronics of Theseus.

So you're saying Mark Twain and Ben Franklin are the same AA's as they were last time I visited? Or not?

 

[GlacierGlacier]

Little bit of clarification about that spare country bear deer head. It isn't destroyed, it's actually a spare that's supposedly stored under Leota in the haunted mansion for some reason

There's a small workshop under leota, mostly used when they want to do a small repair a prop or buggy but don't want to lug it over to Central.

If you're ever evacuated on Haunted Mansion, look over the wall behind your doombuggies in leota's room. You can see down to the workshop from there.

 

[Speedy71]

There's no need to compare these to the death of actual people- I think the proper way to look at these objects is as works for art, rather than mass-produced machines. What makes theme park attractions so interesting is that they are the culmination of a multitude of artistic disciplines- art direction, vocal performance, robotics, sculpture, precision engineering, and so many others, that even when an attraction is closed there's an argument that the most important components are worth preserving as artwork rather than be scrapped for their base metals.

Off topic but if I remember correctly I believe someone has this as their profile pic.

 

[Andsome]

The only part that was authentic was the clothes

Wasn't the head skin also genuine as well? I saw video posted by someone who got a chance to look at it on its way back from the show, and he pointed out the zipper in the back that keeps it in place.