Imagineers shared details of the “moonshots” incorporated into the new “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” show featuring the first-ever Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic.
Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic “Moonshots”
Tom Fitzgerald, Senior Creative Executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, previously said “there are many, many, what we call ‘moonshots’ of things we have never done before that the team tackled.”
He couldn’t share details at the time, but explained details during a panel for media this week. Fitzgerald said “moonshots” are advancements in the animatronic art form and technology. With recent technological progress, Imagineering felt they could faithfully create a believable Walt Disney figure, but they had to push new advancements to recreate certain traits that would convey Walt accurately. The team studied hours of footage to determine what made Walt Walt.
Firstly was the eyebrows. Walt Disney had very expressive eyebrows, and Fitzgerald said the company’s Audio-Animatronics were not capable of such expressive facial features before this.
Frequently referenced is the “glint” in Walt’s eye. As Fitzgerald said, everyone who met Walt referenced this glint. A team investigated the trait, discovering people get such a “glint” because of a corneal bulge. They replicated this in the animatronic, creating the first animatronic with a “glint” in the eye.
Walt Disney talked with his hands, and Imagineering had never created an animatronic with such sophisticated movements. They had to develop hands and fingers that could move in new, unique ways.
It was also important to the team to create Walt’s “lean to stand” function. During the show, he’s able to lean on his desk and then stand. Though Abraham Lincoln’s figure in “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” stands from a seated position, Imagineering had never done the “lean to stand” action before. They wanted to replicate the feeling of watching Walt on TV in “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” and its successors, when he would frequently be seen leaning on his desk. They also wanted to be able to recreate Walt’s “teapot pose,” with one hand on his side and another hand pointed up.
Fitzgerald believes that because of these moonshots, this is Imagineering’s most fluid animatronic figure ever.
The show’s technological advancements aren’t just in the animatronic, however. It was important to the team that they keep “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” in the Main Street Opera House with “Walt Disney – A Magical Life.” To do this, they had to create a turntable, now built into the stage, so the shows could literally play in rotation.
The turntable was a feat of engineering. It had to be constructed at Imagineering in a way that it could be broken down into several small parts that fit through a double door — because the Main Street Opera House doesn’t have a way for something large to be brought inside.
Because of the turntable and the set behind Walt Disney, Lincoln will also get a new background set. “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” will play on its own during the Disneyland 70th anniversary celebration, but “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln will return soon.
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