Would you Meet and Greet Walt Disney?

[KBLovedDisney]

I wonder if the "If you can dream it, you can do it" approach could be applied to making an animatronic Walt Disney? There are plenty of recordings of Walt talking, so those could be used. But the animatronic would have to be almost spot-on perfect, since people would be very picky about an animatronic character of Walt. It would require a new, advanced generation of animatronics. I'd definitely be interesting in seeing that, if the Disney folks thought they could do it.

That would be cool.

 

[Phil12]

I wonder if the "If you can dream it, you can do it" approach could be applied to making an animatronic Walt Disney? There are plenty of recordings of Walt talking, so those could be used. But the animatronic would have to be almost spot-on perfect, since people would be very picky about an animatronic character of Walt. It would require a new, advanced generation of animatronics. I'd definitely be interesting in seeing that, if the Disney folks thought they could do it.

However, in order for the animatronic to be accurate and spot-on perfect, they'd have to have it chain smoking Chesterfields, Camels or Gitanes cigarettes while simultaneously cussing up a blue storm.

 

[KBLovedDisney]

However, in order for the animatronic to be accurate and spot-on perfect, they'd have to have it chain smoking Chesterfields, Camels or Gitanes cigarettes while simultaneously cussing up a blue storm.

Well, like Disney had to Disney-fy classic Brother's Grimm stories, maybe they will Disney-fy Disney and leave out the not so great stuff

 

[jloucks]

Walt Disney as a face character... Good idea or bad idea? Would the persona and character of Uncle Walt be an ideal Meet and Greet entertainer? Would you want to meet a Walt Disney face character?

Is there any precedent for this? I guess we have president Lincoln impersonators. Elvis impersonators. Marilyn Monroe impersonators. Still, for some reason I cannot articulate, a Walt impersonator would weird me out.

 

[TwilightZone]

I am certain in the 60s the technology did not exist.

Even today it is not ready Holograms 2018

Story has it walt was approached by a company working on holograms and turned them down. Even if they were just working on them and it wasn't around yet, I think it still shows walt's feelings about the subject.
Don't remember if I got that story from a good source or not though.

 

[SteamboatJoe]

MAYBE an audio animatronic that only uses actual audio of Walt speaking but, a face character? No.

 

[xdan0920]

Def not. Ghosts are scary.

 

[Magicart87]

For what it's worth; Disney Co. has always "Disneyfied" Walt. Walt Disney would present himself as the "friendly everyman" whenever in public. His Uncle Walt persona is a character that he portrayed. Still...

I'm inclined to agree with the majority. While I think they could do it; I don't think they should. I wouldn't necessarily call it tacky or tasteless though. I do find it interesting that there is a sub-discussion on the merits of using hologram tech or something in the same vein of Tower of Terror's Rod Serling for use in a ride or attraction. A CGI Walt or similar tech seems to get more of a pass.

 

[FettFan]

I wonder if the "If you can dream it, you can do it" approach could be applied to making an animatronic Walt Disney? There are plenty of recordings of Walt talking, so those could be used. But the animatronic would have to be almost spot-on perfect, since people would be very picky about an animatronic character of Walt. It would require a new, advanced generation of animatronics. I'd definitely be interesting in seeing that, if the Disney folks thought they could do it.

If you watch season 1 of "Westworld", you would realize this is probably not a good idea.

Spoiler

Bernard Lowe (played by Jeffrey Wright) is a robotic host created by Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) as a clone of his deceased partner, Arnold Weber, "Bernard Lowe" being an anagram of "Arnold Weber".
Naturally this means Bernard has very little in the way of free will, and Ford uses him to do a lot of terrible, terrible things....

 

[englanddg]

No, I wouldn't...unless it was Tom Hanks. And, then, I'd be meeting him to meet Tom Hanks.

 

[Phil12]

I think they should commence a "Medium of the Month Club" at the MK. The park could invite a recognized spirit medium to the park and invite guests to attend a seance to contact the spirit of Walt Disney. Of course, there would be an extra charge for this event just as Walt would have wanted. Talking to Walt in the afterlife would be highly educational and very popular with guests!

 

[Bullseye1967]

I don't think anyone could fit the bill, but Tom Hanks did do a great job portraying him.

 

[englanddg]

I don't think anyone could fit the bill, but Tom Hanks did do a great job portraying him.

I was really worried about that. He pulled it off great.

 

[thomas998]

Walt Disney as a face character... Good idea or bad idea? Would the persona and character of Uncle Walt be an ideal Meet and Greet entertainer? Would you want to meet a Walt Disney face character?

First thought is it makes no sense at all because most of the meet and greets are cartoon characters... Then I as I started thinking about it, they do have Mary Poppins and Jack Sparrow which were live people so maybe it isn't completely out of whack... But I don't think I or anyone in my family would bother with a meet and greet with someone pretending to be someone that was real but dead... Would be kind of weird...

 

[DisneyDoctor]

 

[Walt Disney1955]

The singer was Justin Timberlake.
A little useless and doesn't contribute to this thread at all, but now you know! Yay!

Walt didn't like holograms either (not just singers, but in general). That's why the ghosts in haunted mansion are using pepper's ghost effect and why star tours uses the 3D technology for the "holograms".

I don't think it is useless, I think it speaks to the exact theme of this thread. Prince wasn't in favour of a hologram and he had one done of him since he'd died. So you are going against his wishes. I don't know Walt's opinion on this one for sure, but if he didn't like something like that, then there is no need to have someone playing him. No one met Abraham Lincoln, there are lots of people alive that still met Walt Disney.

 

[The_Jobu]

No, I wouldn't...unless it was Tom Hanks. And, then, I'd be meeting him to meet Tom Hanks.

I'd be down for that if he was dressed as David Pumpkins.

 

[EmmaPan]

Walt Disney as a face character... Good idea or bad idea? Would the persona and character of Uncle Walt be an ideal Meet and Greet entertainer? Would you want to meet a Walt Disney face character?

not good

 

[Phil12]

Even by Walt's own admission, his public persona was far different from his real character. He was far more ruthless, gruff and very willing to take advantage of shareholders. Any meet and greet character would have to portray Walt in the same false light that the Disney public relations department perfected over the years and/or the saintly character depicted by Bob Thomas in the Walt Disney official biography. And that would just serve to perpetuate the lie.

 

[Hayley In Wonderland]

I wonder if the "If you can dream it, you can do it" approach could be applied to making an animatronic Walt Disney? There are plenty of recordings of Walt talking, so those could be used. But the animatronic would have to be almost spot-on perfect, since people would be very picky about an animatronic character of Walt. It would require a new, advanced generation of animatronics. I'd definitely be interesting in seeing that, if the Disney folks thought they could do it.

I would love to see something similar perhaps to the CoP or even a track ride which takes you through Walt's history, predominately with photos and videos, perhaps finally finishing with an AA at the end of the attraction? I think it's super important that we honour Walt and his memory, and other than the partners statue and the window on MS, I feel like this is one thing that WDW is lacking.