Many a guest was excited to see the Three Caballeros added to Epcot’s Mexico boat ride back in 2007, but the multiple screens of animated scenes leading to one large animated scene always felt like it was lacking something. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to hear guests insist that there should have been animatronic versions of the Three Caballeros built for the ending scene of the ride. Well, Disney solved this problem this past weekend…
With the Mickey Mouse Revue attraction closing in Tokyo in 2009, the Disney Archives found a set of Donald, Panchito, and Jose animatronic characters in their possession. In fact, these figures were even displayed at a D23 event here in Florida not too long ago. With just a little bit of restoration and some programming, Walt Disney Imagineering brought the figures back to life, now appearing in their first role at Walt Disney World since they left the Magic Kingdom for Tokyo in 1980. Be sure to catch these amazing pieces of Disney history the next time you are at Epcot. They certainly have enlivened what has been a fun, yet fairly anticlimactic attraction up until now.
Went three the ride in earlyd December. To me the last scener rally pulled the whole ride together. Went on it twicew ith the kids.