unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
All Sheens should be banned. I'm so tired of him.Don't forgot the sheen on his skin as well!
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Disney Cheap with Animatronics
- Thread starter Pixiedustmaker
- Start date
Toy Story Mania could have been a great ride if they added some classic dark ride scenes, like maybe from the vantage point of the guest being as big as a toy, and then you go play the games. Its a one-trick pony as its all about the 3-D screens, which seemed interesting as a concept at the time, but you don't really feel like you enter the Toy Story world.
Some stuff looks great as an animatronic, things like the characters in Cars, which are easier to make models of, and I'd guess that a Woody animatronic, in addition to other Toy Story characters, would look even more "real" than Lincoln.
ellie-badge
Well-Known Member
I am going to stop you right there. As a living breathing performer, that would be a bad idea to have a robot musical. They can't dance and sing so no. sorry
I take it that you aren't a fan of Mickey Mouse Revue or Country Bear Jamboree?
SleepingMonk
Well-Known Member
I don't think Disney is "cheap" with their animatronics.
They're willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a ride....unfortunately, they don't get much value for their dollar.
Compare Little Mermaid to the entire Potterland.
Same price, huge difference in value per dollar spent.
They're willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a ride....unfortunately, they don't get much value for their dollar.
Compare Little Mermaid to the entire Potterland.
Same price, huge difference in value per dollar spent.
SleepingMonk
Well-Known Member
Alektronic
Well-Known Member
I agree, but he was just a prototype A-100 figure, but definitely had the best programming.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
I dunno... Doing an animatronic Woody properly would probably be really expensive.
Compared to, say, Buzz Lightyear, his movements in the film are always very fast and he's so spindly that having the machine move like he needs to move to be on-character would be very expensive. It would need to be on class with the Hopper animatronic, at least.
TheDisneyMagic
Well-Known Member
For anyone that was not familiar with Alec Tronic, here is a video of him from when he was at Epcot.
Embedded media from this media site is no longer available
This video is not mine, it was uploaded by someone called CriticalThinker.
Mermaid (in DCA) reportedly costs about $100 million. I think that to impress the bean counters, somebody came in under budget as the final couple scenes are unfinished (they use cardboard cutouts and inappropriately re-use duplicate animatronics, imagineers didn't even want to show the public the final scene in the blue sky cellar). I am guessing that Mermaid costed about $75 million in the end. How much for Ariel? Maybe $5 million?
Disney won't release the final budget, heck, they might even leak it as a $100 million dollar attraction like Splash (which I think was something like $75 million when it was made in Disneyland).
Here's my guess:
Mermaid Show building (DCA): $15 million, a bit more than a Wal-Mart building.
Top tier Animatronics: $15 million.
Spinning Fish and second grade "animatronics": $3 million
Omnimover ride system: $15 million
Outside queue Decorations: $10 million
Inside Decorations: $15 million
Total $73 million.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter reportedly costed about $300 million, though the one in Osaka will cost about $500 million.
Here's the thing, say the Tiki Room never existed, would Disney be able to build it today? It seems that using so many animatronics would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and make the Tiki Room just a dream. BUT it was built . . . and back when Disneyland didn't gouge guests with high ticket prices. Ticket prices have gone up something like double the past decade, well past inflation. Yet most of the animatronics in Mermaid are relatively simple spinning figures, not really animatronics.
Garner Holt knows the answer, how much he charges Disney for stuff and how much it would cost them to make an attraction with a lot of animatronics.
The thing is, animatronics should be cheaper because a laptop could do the programing these days, and if they use linear inductors (electric powered) instead of a pressurized air system, I would guess that this would save a whole lot.
The parks are being squeezed too much for profit, future attractions are planned with fewer animatronics as a cost saving measure. Computers and electronics have advanced so much, yet Disney hasn't decided to do anything really ambitious.
koryadams
Active Member
No I am! I love those, but more than those would be not good. I mean those are bears and Disney characters, but I love seeing the talking ones on stage and real people.
MagicMike
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Not to dump on Universal, its just they are the closest in terms of comparison, but the few animatronics the parks have are extremely limited. The AA's in MIB, all the Seuss rides, and E.T are more like mannequins on tracks, the AA's in Mummy are a little better but still pale in comparison to Disney, and save the for the T-Rex in River Adventure Jurassic Park AA's are pretty run-of-the-mill. I'm not saying these are bad rides, or that I don't thoroughly enjoy them, but when compared to what most consider it's closest competitor, Disney is still far and a way superior in number and complexity of AA's.
Additionally, several of Universals marque rides do not even feature animatronics of any kind. The Hulk, Spider-Man, Rip Ride Rocket, Simpsons, etc. I'm okay with that, I couldn't see anyone allocating a ton of cash on a Hulk AA that you would see passing at 67 mph. (Although a Hulk AA would be so awesome)
montyz81
Well-Known Member
Well, I guess the bigger question is.. Since Universal was built, how many of AA's have been built (what % of those are reused from old rides). Then figure from the day Disneyland to the day Universal opened, how many AAs were built? There will be a huge difference I bet. My point here is that Disney now is not interested in putting a great deal of imagineering into these rides without using a huge number of video games vs the early days when the detail was so much better. Another way to compare this is by putting Snow White next to Aladdin. You can clearly see the attention to detail in Snow White. Aladdin has much more judder to it. The only conclusion drawn in my mind is the amount of time/money investment into each of those movies comparatively (accounting for differences in the value of the dollar). I bet you it was far less for Aladdin. It is just simply all about return on investment aka they don't need to invest as much in the magic cause people are still walking through the gates.
FYI.. This is my 1000th post, I guess I am now classified as "addicted"!!!
Penny R. Kaid
Member
Although,I agree that upkeep on AA rides is more frequent and isn't cheap... It doesn't mean they should do away with them altogether... This kind of ties in with what i wrote about Epcot (http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/epcot-futureworld-what-it-meant-to-me.865762/)... AA is also key to total immersion in the imaginary... You can't remove Horizons, WoM, Kitchen Kabaret and JII and not notice the hole that has been left... A hole that should be filled by AA... People who went on the original JII know that there's something wrong ever since they got rid of the Dreamfinder... Everyone else knows there is something wrong since the actual ride is devoided of any kind of fun or spirit... 0 minutes wait time, 24/7, should be enough of a sign in itself... In my opinion, JII should be remade in its former image, but newer... With the two original AA characters (Figment & Dreamfinder) , they don't even have to be the most expensive ones out there. And keep the song like it was, annoyingly fun! That should be a cheap enough way to breathe a little life that way, while keeping two iconic AA that will help Epcot rediscover it's identity.
montyz81
Well-Known Member
It is sad. Screens are so much apart of our lives. Kids think that if the entertainment isn't on a screen then it must be boring. Not much is left up to the imagination with screens.
Tramp&TheLady
Member
The problem as I see it is that Disney no longer produces AA figures in house. That is now farmed out to Garner Holt. Therefore the quality of the AA figures suffers and the costs soar. It is really sad to think that One of Walt's greatest legacies isn't even part of the company anymore.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
I don't know about that. Garner Holt does some really high-end work. Been on mermaid yet?
Also, when it comes to design/build, NOTHING is more expensive than in-house for Disney.
unkadug
Follower of "Saget"The Cult
I see Garner Holt as a plus for Disney also. We all know that Disney is not the best when it comes to maintaining anything consistently. Having a company that does nothing but AA's leaves Disney to focus on what they should be doing, not worrying about fabricating a part to repair Abraham Lincoln.
tinkerblonde11
Well-Known Member
I know this is bad to say, but I was a bit dissappointed with the new LM ride. While I have not ridden it and only have seen youtube videos, I expected more. The colors are beautiful and scenes are nice, but I thought there would be more AA's. The only thing that really impressed me was Ursula. She was great! Otherwise, idk I felt it wasn't "finished" looking.