Chum "Animatronic?"

[Launchpad]

I've been on The Seas with Nemo & Friends a dozen times now and it seems that everytime I ride I see Chum in the hole of the ship not moving. I can hear the noise that typically comes with animatronics (the "air pressure" noise) coming from behind him but I never see him move. If you look carefully it looks like he should be sliding out and peaking his head out from the ship. Has anyone seen him move or know if he is even supposed to. After riding it a every week and never seeing him move I don't think he's even supposed to move.

In other news, we rode it earlier this week and the Marlin/Angler animatronic were not working. They were just stuck in a prone position and it looked really weird. I can't remember if the audio was going with it or not, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. It's working now though.

 

[bdg5000]

Angler Animatronic, where?

What is the Angler Animatronic that everyone talks about? I havn't seen it in person YET, but I look on YouTube for the video of the ride with the animatronic and don't see it, what am I supposed to look for?

 

[Skip]

I'm pretty sure the shark is just a static figure that pops in and out of the ship. As for the angler, that's a complex AA and probably breaks down pretty often (afterall, the attraction still is new).

-Skip

 

[McFly88]

What is the Angler Animatronic that everyone talks about? I havn't seen it in person YET, but I look on YouTube for the video of the ride with the animatronic and don't see it, what am I supposed to look for?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6EuqxYh6Ks

The angler part starts around 3:25. It's really hard to see because the scene is very dark and the animatronic moves very, very fast, but you can definitely catch a glimpse if you look closely. In the movie, it looks like this:

 

[darthjohnny]

I was wondering about Chum.

At first, he looks like he will pop out at you. (Maybe they should have made it like that.)

But I think it is just a static figure. It isn't the first time something like that has been done in a Disney ride.

 

[Mecha Figment]

I"ve seen Chum move, but it was only slightly in and out. Not sure if he does much more than that. wonder where anchor is.

 

[Hakunamatata]

We rode the attraction about 4 or 5 times. Chum moves in and out, but the variance of positions looks to be less than an inch.

The angler fish AA is simply awesome. I am gussing that they use a robotic arm, similar to the ones used in automated manufacturing plants. It does some amazing things.

The jellyfish fields were pretty impressive too.

 

[brkgnews]

Yeah, I've only barely noticed Chum moving... so "barely" that I'm not ever really sure if it moved or I'm just imagining it because I think he should be moving.

 

[fudwrapper]

we rode it 3 times last week, and Chum didn't move once. I kept watching him, thinking he would, but he never did. BTW, i thought they did an amazing job with this ride! i loved it, and the special effects were top notch. even the queing area had some impressive effects, looks like they borrowed from what was supposed to be the Little Mermaid ride to give you the impression of being underwater. very nice!

 

[Darth Plank]

Excuse me, who's Chum?

 

[Launchpad]

Just got back from riding this and paid close attention to the Chumster. I didn't notice it from a straight view (as we passed), but when I looked back when we were in front of Bruce I noticed Chum move slightly. Like others have said, it's so slight you'd have to be looking closely for it. I think he probably is supposed to be moving in and out more than that. Why would they even have it if it only moved that slightly? With the sound you can hear coming from behind it I think he is slowly supposed to peak out.

Either way, who cares? Great ride! :sohappy:

 

[Darth Plank]

I know who he is now.

 

[marni1971]

Why are there issues with the animatronics already? Chum is debatable, but the angler has had a lot of problems. Are these figures true Animatronics from in-house, or were they outsourced to a cheaper outside company - something that has been happening more and more recently.

Look at some of the simpler original AAs still going strong; UoE for example. Even TGMRs A100 Witch and American Adventures A100`s (18 and 14 years old) are still working. It`s shouldn`t be rocket science to the company that invented them, and surely they havn`t gone into cost saving programming already?

 

[Lee]

Are these figures true Animatronics from in-house, or were they outsourced to a cheaper outside company - something that has been happening more and more recently.

Well...the angler is on a Kuka arm. Kinda like a mini robocoaster. I could see that having some troubles.

 

[XSTech]

Thanks for linking to my video.

Chum was originally supposed to pop out and move quite a bit more. However, it was very startling and too scary for a calm, kid-friendly ride. Thus, now he moves very little, if at all. There is nothing wrong with him.

 

[Launchpad]

Chum was originally supposed to pop out and move quite a bit more. However, it was very startling and too scary for a calm, kid-friendly ride.

I don't know about that. I was there during the first couple of days of soft openings and it was doing the same thing every time we rode, so unless they decided after a matter of a few hours that it was too scary then that isn't really the case. Also, how would that be considered scarier than the Angler fish scene that goes flying around almost possessed, snapping it's jaws? If I was a kid I'd be much more scared of a scary looking fish blazing around than a shark that I recognize from a movie as being funny.

 

[XSTech]

I'm not saying he was going to be like a Haunted Mansion pop-up ghost or anything. I was told by a cast member who was working there prior to opening that during the initial testing of the ride they determined that it was too scary. Guests did not see him move any more than he does now. Only Disney people did.

 

[ZambeziZelda]

It's my understanding that Chum, when fully operational, came close enough to the Clamobiles to create a safety hazard.

Of course, I can't remember whether I heard this during my Nemo Testing Shift from the Imagineers present or from some other, less reliable source, so I apologize if I'm wrong

 

[XSTech]

Now that you mention that, I seem to remember hearing the same thing. I would imagine that it getting too close would also mean that it was too scary... so maybe both are right?

Regardless, the point here is that he's not "broken". He is no longer meant to move as much as he was originally designed to.

 

[Buford]

yes, definitely a noise there. Whatever machine is being operated should just be turned off.... the thing's motionless.