Last week, we reported that the Buzzy Audio-Animatronic from the Cranium Command Attraction was stolen from Epcot. Based on a theft report from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, it seems that the Audio-Animatronic was naked when he was stolen, as his clothes were removed and stolen back in August.
The OCSO incident report claims the clothes were taken sometime between August 1-8, 2018. According to the report, his red bomber jacket, green cap and custom rubber hands were stolen. The estimated value listed on the report is $500-$600, but it is likely that these one-of-a-kind items could fetch much more on the black market.
Buzzy has sat unused for years in the now-closed Cranium Command attraction in the old Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot. The incident report claims that someone would have had to enter via a backstage area, which again brings into question the effectiveness of security at the parks.
Earlier this month, a suspect was questioned regarding the clothing theft. Initially, the suspect refused to hand over his phone, but he was detained and the phone was taken. The suspect has not been charged with the theft of the clothes nor the figure by Orange County deputies, but was charged with resisting arrest without violence.
If you weren’t lucky enough to see Buzzy in action, you can watch our video of Cranium Command below.
Wonder if they are doing this to go after Backdoor Disney. He/she are the only one people have claimed the cops have talked to. They already asked him to be quiet/stop once. Hmmm?!
Is there a police report for the allegedly stolen animatronic? A statement from Disney? Or do you think maybe the clothes were stolen and that got blown up into a rumor that the whole thing was stolen?
There is a police report. It is a matter of public record. The clothes were stolen in August; the animatronic was stolen earlier this month. As far as we know, Disney has not filed a police report for the animatronic itself.
Several sources have confirmed the theft of the entire figure to us.
Correction: Several sources have confirmed a missing figure to WDWNT. That said, it’s not unlikely that Disney intentionally removed the figure after the clothes and hands were stolen in August. Given that the Company had already tagged the figure for a future in the Archives, it’s possible that the August theft (confirmed by public records) acted as a catalyst for Disney to remove anything of significant value (including Hypothalamus).
Having said that, no public record indicates Disney has filed a police report for a missing animatronic as of yet (a week minimum after the “theft.”) If Disney is willing to file a theft report on a jacket, hat, and hands, it would serve reason that they’d most assuredly have filed a report on an entire figure had it been stolen. Unless, it wasn’t.
The only valid sources for a stolen animatronic are The Walt Disney Company and Orange County Sheriffs Department, or such authority having jurisdiction. “Several sources” is ambiguous, and uncredible.
As to the argument that the “method of removal” could indicate the figure was hastily removed, this, too is unlikely. It’s well known to anyone who works(ed) in the technical side of Disney that maintenance and service documentation on abandoned systems is often impossible to hide. Buzzy sat dormant for a decade before his removal. The most likely reason for such a “sloppy” removal is that it wasn’t actually “sloppy;” but by cutting hydralic and data lines so far away from the figure it protected the figure from any damage. The maintainers, designers, and implementers of the original attraction are more than likely retired, or if they’re still around have very limited memory of how the figure was installed (let’s not forget that *removing* Buzzy would not have been routine maintenance, and therefore a process or procedure likely wouldn’t be known to… well, anyone). Once Buzzy was safely off the platform and moved to a secure workshop, with the appropriate tools and enviornment ::cough, Burbank, cough, cough::, then WDI and the Archives could go to work on safely reverse-engineering Buzzy to figure out how to best preserve him.
Let’s remember that Disneyland used to have four monorail trains, but due to a lack of proper documentation and knowledge on the Mark V’s construction, had to entirely scrap one to reverse engineer the documentation into existence (this eventually led to the design and development of the Mark VII).
As a “news” site, it’s entirely irresponsible to claim Buzzy was stolen without attempting even the slightest bit of journalistic integrity. There’s many reasons Buzzy isn’t currently sitting in the Theatre — but to purport that an untrained horde of heistmen (and/or women) stole him four months after Disney officially (through public record) identified him as a target is dubious at the absolute best. Until Disney or Orange County announce his theft, nobody really knows what happened to the figure.
But, I’ll hand it to ya, WDWNT staff — this has certianly got your Google Analytics page all aglow. It’s a great story, afterall — even if it is (as of today), fiction.
Was this written from the queue of the reopened Stitch’s Great Escape?
I can only think of one sicko who loves to rip out nude animatronics, cut off their hydraulic lines , and use their rubber hands to make cut rate deals that only enrich themselves; the Bob Chapack T1.99 he is too cheap to be a T1000 but just as deadly.
There are pictures of the attraction with the animatronic missing (actually, two missing animatronics as Hypothalamus is missing as well) and severed cables.
Missing=stolen???