WDW Radio - Your Walt Disney World Information Station by Lou Mongello » Audio-Animatronics

Show # 295 – October 7, 2012

Lou Mongello — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:09:22 +0000

Top Ten Audio Animatronics in Walt Disney World, Disney Trivia Contest and more!

Hello and welcome to The WDW Radio Show – Your Walt Disney World Information Station. I am your host, Lou Mongello, and this is show #295 for the week of October 7, 2012.

I’m here to help you have the best possible Disney vacation experience, and bring you some Disney magic to to wherever you are with this podcast, videos, blog, live broadcasts, events, trivia books, CDs and more. You can find it all at WDWRadio.com

From Walt’s mechanical bird to the most advanced figures in the Disney parks, Audio-Animatronic characters have been an integral part in storytelling in attractions from the very beginnings of Disneyland. So this week, we’re going to explore the history of these figures, and then take a look at our Top Ten Audio-Animatronics in Walt Disney World.

Were you able to identify last week’s mystery sound clip from the parks? See how well you did and then answer the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for your chance to win a Disney prize package.

I’ll then have some announcements at the end of the show, including information about upcoming events and live video broadcasts. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s episode of the WDW Radio Show.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

Information and Links from This Week’s Show

Question of the Week: What’s YOUR favorite Audio-Animatronic figure in Walt Disney World? Leave your response in the Comments section below!

Wonders of Life pavilion – Epcot Retrospective - Show #227

Listen to this week’s episode for the Walt Disney World Trivia Question of the Week for a chance to win a Disney prize package!
Disney Meets and WDW Radio Meets of the Month in Walt Disney World – Get dates and locations on our Events page
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Show # 184 – August 22, 2010

Lou Mongello — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:11:17 +0000

Hello and welcome to The WDW Radio Show – Your Walt Disney World Information Station. I am your host, Lou Mongello, and this is show #184 for the week of August 22, 2010.

This week, Iâ€™m pleased to be able to share with you an interview with another Disney Legend. And this one is special because I had the rare opportunity to speak with one of the original Imagineers, and a man who is credited with designing just about anything with wheels for the Disney parks.

He is Bob Gurr, whose work on designing the Monorail, OmniMover, Audio-Animatronics, Main Street vehicles and countless others earned him the Disney Legend status in 2004. I had a chance to sit down with Bob and interview him on stage in front of a crowd of Disney enthusiasts at a recent meet, and recorded the audio to share with you. Itâ€™s a fascinating look at the life of a man whose work was instrumental in the development of attractions which continue to delight millions of guests to this day.

Iâ€™ll then have a few announcements and then play more of your voicemails at the end of the show. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this week’s episode of the WDW Radio Show.

Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in next week!

Information and Links from this week’s show:

PNW MouseMeet site and photos

Bob Gurr’s page on the Disney Legends site

DisneyMeets.com â€“ Join us for Disney fan gatherings and WDW Radio Meets of the Month in Walt Disney World, including D23â€™s Destination D special World of Color event & meets in Disneyland, Congaloosh, the Food & Wine Walkabout & more! Get dates and locations here!

Post your Disney Cruise Line and Disney Dream questions here

Disney Fairy Tale Weddings Open House â€“ Join us in person or online on Sat. Aug. 28 â€“ Click here for more information

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An Audio-Animatronics Timeline

Lou Mongello — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:04:48 +0000

One of the true “Wonders” of the Disney theme parks worldwide are the Audio-Animatronics figures that set the stage and tell the three-dimensional stories that we becomde immersed in at the parks. Here is a brief timeline of the history of these amazing figures.

To hear our discussion of Audio-Animatronics figures as a true “Wonder of Walt Disney World,” listen to Show #6 of my WDW Radio Show Disney podcast.

Early 1950s	Walt Disney purchases a mechanical bird while vacationing in Europe. The souvenir becomes the inspiration for Audio-Animatronics technology.
1951	Work begins on “Project Little Man” Roger Broggie and Wathel Rogers, pioneers in Audio-Animatronicstechnology, create a miniature figure that is programmed with cams, cables and tubes to mimic tap-dancing routines performed by the late Buddy Ebsen.
1963	Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room opens at Disneyland. It’s the first show to feature Audio-Animatronics technology.
1964	The world’s first fully animated human figure, Abraham Lincoln, debuts at the New York World’s Fair in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. The figure causes a sensation, not just with the audience, but with Disney Imagineers, who were able to complete the figure in half the time they anticipated. Audio-Animatronics figures are also in three other World’s Fair shows designed and produced by Disney: Carousel of Progress (featuring figures animated using a programming harness, a precursor of today’s motion capture systems), Magic Skyway and it’s a small world.
1964	Two Audio-Animatronics birds, Robin and Umbrella, appear in Mary Poppins. Walt Disney reinvests profits from the film to create MAPO, an organization within Walt Disney Imagineering dedicated to creating and innovating Audio-Animatronics figures.
1965	Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln featuring the Audio-Animatronics figure of Abraham Lincoln (actually, a duplicate since the original was still performing at the World’s Fair) opens at Disneyland.
1970	Audio-Animatronics technology enters the computer age with the use of DACS (Digital Animation Control System), a computer-controlled playback system for Disney shows and attractions. Imagineers also begin using the Anicon-Animation Console for animating and programming figures.
1989	The first A-100 Audio-Animatronics figure, the Wicked Witch of the West, debuts as part of The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (then known as Disney-MGM Studios) in Walt Disney World Resort. A-100 figures incorporate compliance technology that gives the characters more fluid and realistic movements.
1992	Pirates of the Caribbean opens at Disneyland Paris. Attraction features sword-fighting pirates figures.
1998	Hopper, the grasshopper from the Disney-Pixar film A Bug’s Life is the most sophisticated Audio-Animatronics figure produced to date. Featuring 74 functions, the character appears in It’s Tough to be a Bug
2002	The first portable, all-electric Audio-Animatronics figure, Meeko, the raccoon from the Disney animated film Pocahontas, appears. He’s in a basket carried by Pocahontas.
2003	The first totally autonomous Audio-Animatronics figure, Lucky the Dinosaur, makes his debut, at Disney’s California Adventure.
2006	The Yeti, a major element of Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, is the largest and most powerful Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering. Standing more than 18 feet tall, the thrust of the Yeti’s arm has the equivalent amount of force as a 747 jumbo jet.
2007	The Muppet Mobile Lab, featuring Muppets Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker, marks the first time that free-roaming Audio-Animatronics characters can interact and converse with each other, as well as with guests they encounter along their way.
2008	Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story Mania! at both Disney’s California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios marks the first time that an Audio-Animatronics figure features lips with such a wide range of lifelike movements, can remove and re-attach a body part (his ear) and has digitally animated eyes that can look directly at the particular guest with whom he is conversing. Also, since Mr. Potato Head has more lines of dialogue than any Audio-Animatronics figure ever created by Walt Disney Imagineering, it has required more programming hours than any other figure.

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