Makes me wonder when the last time was somebody actually brought one in the parks.
I think I remember a few years ago that they had stopped updating the information, but I guess they still had the system turned on, until now, that is.
We loved our Pal Mickey. It was a fun way for our son (and us) to have an interactive guide through the parks and a reminder about shows. I liked him as he wasn't a phone and provided more tactile interaction. A fuzzy little Mickey giving your tips throughout the day is a lot more fun then a rubber wristband and a smartphone. (IMHO of course.)
I never heard of before and just looked it up on YouTube but seemed pretty neat. It also seems like something they could easily tie into the new RFID/WiFi/Next Gen stuff and relaunch, it would be a shame to just ditch all the Mickey audio they recorded for it
I can certainly understand them shutting down the old system. it is very outdated but I would agree with others here that they need to update and relaunch this. I'd like to see the stuffed dolls as well as an App. for a younger child the talking doll is much better than a talking phone.
Surprised to hear he (and his backing system ) was still active in the Park.
I am vaguely recalling hearing of someone taking a Pal Mickey a year or two ago to the MK, and using him during their visit. If i am remembering correctly they reported back that Mick only quoted generic info..and not a lot of time specific things.
Cell phones pretty much killed off Pal Mickey it seems.
The novelty wore off once people could access the same info instantly with their own fingertips from a device in their pocket.
A shame, as Pal Mickey was a fun little addition....who paved the way for bigger things down the road.
Aw, sad. These were so fun. It was such a creative and imaginatively Disney idea. Like, a real embodiment of old school Disney whimsy. Shame they never embraced the idea enough to really turn this into something amazing. Unfortunately, we got what felt like a beta test in the parks and then it never progressed much further. The concept of having a plush Mickey who could talk to you, play games, tell jokes and provide you tidbits of information seems like such a brilliant winner. But it just never got developed or expanded the way it needed to be to really flourish.
I haven't brought my Pals to the parks for years though I have seen the occasional Pal in my visits. I wish I would have know this was happening so I could do one more visit with him. But if it's getting turned off Saturday, I won't be able to make it during the week.
We always brought our Pal Mickey. We loved it. Would rather they did a new version with the RFID. I would buy it again. When we used ours we always got a lot of attention and people seemed to really like it and ask about it. Seems like if Disney just updated it then it would still sell well. IMHO.