Brer Panther
Well-Known Member
I don't think the other Disney parks have any animatronic Mickeys, Goofys, or Plutos either. I could be wrong, though...
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Gran Fiesta Tour - New Animatronics
- Thread starter NowInc
- Start date
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Nope just Orlando & Tokyo using the same show..
Little Green Men
Well-Known Member
Hopefully thats temporary but bad show.
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Incredibly bad show. If this was the only option, the entire attraction should just have been thrown into rehab until it could be fixed.
Rescue Ranger
Well-Known Member
As long as they are fixed. Cutouts as a replacement is so so cheap and tacky. But temporarily it can be forgiven.
WondersOfLife
Blink, blink. Breathe, breathe. Day in, day out.
It would literally have been better if they kept the stage bare.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
If I didn't know better, I would think this would an intentional joke or prank. Why not just use the existing projection?
Virtual Toad
Well-Known Member
It might run counter to popular opinion, but I think the animated finale was actually a better fit than the animatronics.
Modern WDW seems to suffer from a sort of "mixed media" syndrome, where they're willing to sacrifice consistency for the sake of updating a single scene or two using technology or media that runs counter to the rest of the experience. A microcosm I suppose of their lack of regard for thematic consistency in the parks themselves.
Gran Fiesta Tour is mostly a screen-based experience, save a few basic-motion figures in the "small world" scene. Placing full (albeit historic) animatronics in the finale is jarring because it's a sudden switch from one media (screens) to another.
Another example, in the exact opposite direction, is replacing the animatronic hitchhiking ghosts in the HM-- a mostly animatronic, fully-realized environment-- with screen-based technology. In that instance, the animatronics worked better because they were consistent with the thematic foundation firmly established throughout the rest of the ride. The use of flat-screen hitchhiking ghosts comes off as a tacky afterthought, not only because it is dimly projected and horribly executed, but mainly because the rest of the ride is layered with fully-realized sets, three-dimensional characters (even Leota and the singing busts, while they do use projection, are three-dimensional figures), and painstakingly crafted detail.
I appreciate WDW resurrecting the old Mickey Mouse Review animatronics for Gran Fiesta Tour. But the screen-based finale had humor and nuance (especially Donald's performance) that the audience expects (based on the rest of the ride) and which the animatronics are incapable of portraying.
A better idea? Wait until *after* the finale to introduce the AAs. Place them around the corner, in the intimate, but sparse and under-utilized section of the ride just before unload. Give them snappy dialogue (or just sync them to the dialog that already exists in that section). What you end up with is the classic Disney unexpected "plus"-- at the very end of the ride-- which works thematically (because it's more of a post-show than a part of the main attraction) while preserving the consistency of the experience.
Modern WDW seems to suffer from a sort of "mixed media" syndrome, where they're willing to sacrifice consistency for the sake of updating a single scene or two using technology or media that runs counter to the rest of the experience. A microcosm I suppose of their lack of regard for thematic consistency in the parks themselves.
Gran Fiesta Tour is mostly a screen-based experience, save a few basic-motion figures in the "small world" scene. Placing full (albeit historic) animatronics in the finale is jarring because it's a sudden switch from one media (screens) to another.
Another example, in the exact opposite direction, is replacing the animatronic hitchhiking ghosts in the HM-- a mostly animatronic, fully-realized environment-- with screen-based technology. In that instance, the animatronics worked better because they were consistent with the thematic foundation firmly established throughout the rest of the ride. The use of flat-screen hitchhiking ghosts comes off as a tacky afterthought, not only because it is dimly projected and horribly executed, but mainly because the rest of the ride is layered with fully-realized sets, three-dimensional characters (even Leota and the singing busts, while they do use projection, are three-dimensional figures), and painstakingly crafted detail.
I appreciate WDW resurrecting the old Mickey Mouse Review animatronics for Gran Fiesta Tour. But the screen-based finale had humor and nuance (especially Donald's performance) that the audience expects (based on the rest of the ride) and which the animatronics are incapable of portraying.
A better idea? Wait until *after* the finale to introduce the AAs. Place them around the corner, in the intimate, but sparse and under-utilized section of the ride just before unload. Give them snappy dialogue (or just sync them to the dialog that already exists in that section). What you end up with is the classic Disney unexpected "plus"-- at the very end of the ride-- which works thematically (because it's more of a post-show than a part of the main attraction) while preserving the consistency of the experience.
Brer Oswald
Well-Known Member
That section is way too cramped for fragile legacy animatronics. I can practically touch the wall.
Neat idea in theory though.
Virtual Toad
Well-Known Member
I was thinking in the "well" to the left where the Mexico map is located as opposed to the narrow space on the right. Still it would be a tight fit. But not too much tighter than some of the figures in IASW's rainforest scene for example.
They could also be realized into a balcony of some sort with a tapestry or banner.
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Exactly what I thought. But leave it to other blogs (not this one) to hyperventilate over it as if it were something conspiratorial.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
YES - Consistent visual language is so important and not something Disney has been upholding as of late. It can be the difference between maintaining the illusion of what's happening and merely illustrating it.
Runaway Railway suffers from this - the Animatronic Mickeys and the Projection Mickeys look and feel very different in how they move, operate, and register. You know it's all meant to be the same Mickey, but it doesn't feel like it.
Rise of the Resistance suffers from this, too - spoiler free, characters are achieved by both Projected and Animatronic means in different portions of the ride and queue. I understand why - projections let the characters do things that would be much more difficult for an Animatronic - but seeing the same character split between mediums within the same experience dampens the sensation that you're actually encountering them live. Most of the time the projections of the characters merely illustrate what's meant to be happening, where Animatronics create the illusion that it actually is.
While I love the Three Caballeros Animatronics, and prefer to see them vs. not, it is also true that they are inconsistent with the ride that precedes them. If it were up to me, I would solve that problem by filling the ride with Animatronic versions of them instead of replacing them with the projected finale . . . but your diagnosis is totally correct, and I think the impact that it has on the guest experience is bigger than people tend to realize.
JohnD
Well-Known Member
Geeze, just open the dang curtain for the time being ..
You realize the freak out would have been more insane: “OMG! Disney removed the AAs and went back to the movie! What happened? Are the AAs removed permanently?!!! OMG! OMG!”
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