VIDEO - Talking Mickey returns to Town Square Theater as Magician Mickey

TubaGeek

TubaGeek

God bless the "Ignore" button.
I don't really think of this as "temporary" or "permanent" as much as a segue. I (uninformedly) believe that this will be the norm for less than a year before they start testing LIVE talking Mickey heavily.
When they finally do this, Donkey will finally have competition as the coolest M&G in Orlando.
 
rodserling27

rodserling27

Well-Known Member
TubaGeek said:
I don't really think of this as "temporary" or "permanent" as much as a segue. I (uninformedly) believe that this will be the norm for less than a year before they start testing LIVE talking Mickey heavily.
When they finally do this, Donkey will finally have competition as the coolest M&G in Orlando.
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I surely hope so. I did watch the video and thought it somewhat cheesy, but I hope talking Mick is like a fine wine - gets better with time.
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
ExtinctJenn said:
By generic do you guys mean they are pre-programmed canned responses or scripted? I know at D23 last year when they introduced him they sounded canned but later an interview with the guy who does the voice proved otherwise. He said they had a "script" of things to say to prevent adlib but that it was nothing automated. Now I know that the guy who does Mickey's voice isn't going to be sitting in a booth all day so obviously it's not him but is it still voiced like Crush for example (i.e. guy doing voice but watching from a booth)?
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Preprogrammed canned responses. There is no equity involved like at Crush, and I cant see them springing for it here.
 
Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
The look on people's faces in that video says it all. This is going to be a hit. But I do hope it's not going to be all canned dialogue. If Disney can pay Equity for Crush, they sure as heck can do it for Mickey!
 
ExtinctJenn

ExtinctJenn

Well-Known Member
asianway said:
I dont post assumptions. I deal in facts.
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Cool ok so how does it work then? How does the guy inside the costume know what pre-programmed thing is about to be said so he can act along with it? Is there a person pushing a button for each preprogrammed thing or is it random? If it's random, how does "it" know to do a greeting, a high five when facing a child, a good-bye etc.? Is it similar to how Lucky worked in that he could "recognize" certain things and react to them? As a tech geek I'm insanely curious to know the gadgetry that makes him tick!
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
ExtinctJenn said:
Cool ok so how does it work then? How does the guy inside the costume know what pre-programmed thing is about to be said so he can act along with it? Is there a person pushing a button for each preprogrammed thing or is it random? If it's random, how does "it" know to do a greeting, a high five when facing a child, a good-bye etc.? Is it similar to how Lucky worked in that he could "recognize" certain things and react to them? As a tech geek I'm insanely curious to know the gadgetry that makes him tick!
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I do not, however, post operating guides, sorry, we need to preserve a little magic.
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
ExtinctJenn said:
Cool ok so how does it work then? How does the guy inside the costume know what pre-programmed thing is about to be said so he can act along with it? Is there a person pushing a button for each preprogrammed thing or is it random? If it's random, how does "it" know to do a greeting, a high five when facing a child, a good-bye etc.? Is it similar to how Lucky worked in that he could "recognize" certain things and react to them? As a tech geek I'm insanely curious to know the gadgetry that makes him tick!
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It's usually a girl in the costume. Clarabelle Cow on the other hand...

All of these gender-confused plushies...gender corrective surgery is relatively straightforward nowadays, folks!
 
ExtinctJenn

ExtinctJenn

Well-Known Member
asianway said:
I do not, however, post operating guides, sorry, we need to preserve a little magic.
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Well I'm not really looking for any more detail than has previously been shared regarding other technology in the parks. Feel free to PM me the details if you're worried about ruining the magic for folks who didn't ask. :)
 
imagineer boy

imagineer boy

Well-Known Member
I really hope this becomes permanent and soon applies to all masked characters. This IS the future of meet n greets. I've never cared for meet n greets, but I'd actually be willing to wait in line to talk to a talking Mickey.
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
imagineer boy said:
I really hope this becomes permanent and soon applies to all masked characters. This IS the future of meet n greets. I've never cared for meet n greets, but I'd actually be willing to wait in line to talk to a talking Mickey.
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It certainly will make playing Mouse Trap with Mickey more enjoyable.
 
bradk

bradk

Member
ExtinctJenn said:
By generic do you guys mean they are pre-programmed canned responses or scripted? I know at D23 last year when they introduced him they sounded canned but later an interview with the guy who does the voice proved otherwise.
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At D23Expo in 2011, it was both. He started out as the freeform talking Mickey, but shortly thereafter was changed to the soundboard Mickey. Unfortunately the differences are quite obvious. In freeform he would readily ask someone where they live for example and actually respond directly to what they were saying. In soundboard mode, he just has pre-recorded phrases to choose from (and I say all this lightly), just like Roz, Mr. Potato Head, Mater and Lightning. At the Expo, Soundboard was very disingenuous and the conversations were very awkward and wouldn't flow properly. They've made significant progress on this front, however.

That said, the video that Disney Parks released certainly shows him in his best light. Would be interesting to see real world videos.
 

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