It's in his nose. Does anyone here listen to me..?
The IR "lights" used for cameras are pretty much theatrical scoops/washes and occasionally spots with an IR bulb.
Those boxes you pointed out are used for Pal Mickey, Ears to the World, and Handheld Captioning - they pulse/flash a signal whereas the ones used for cameras are steady.
Often, there is enough ambient light that an IR light is not needed.
Also, at AK they use smaller narrow focus IR's "beam" thingies that look like cones. they trigger mickey to talk about specific animal habitats and thus need that smaller area.
Again, the sensor is in his nose. Examples of how it's IR - there's absolutely no reason to have cameras in Energy's preshow but it has half a dozen of those boxes. Second, when you approach Future World West through the breezeway, Mickey mentions that Imagination is on your left, LAND is straight ahead, and Seas is on the right. He can't tell what dirction he's facing, but the beam only comes from one side. (Look up at the end of the breezeway).
