Disney has plans to bring the walking, talking Olaf animatronic from Disneyland Paris to U.S. theme parks and Disney Cruise Line ships.
The high-tech robot can walk on its own and is the most life-like version of the Frozen character to date. He debuted with the opening of World of Frozen at Paris’ Disney Adventure World, where he regularly appears as part of the boat show A Celebration in Arendelle — when he’s not replaced by a puppet.
Olaf did make some walk-around appearances during media previews but he’s not quite ready for a daily meet and greet. A viral clip showed him collapsing mid performance.
Walt Disney Imagineering isn’t deterred, however. An Olaf robot is already on the way to World of Frozen in Hong Kong Disneyland, where he’s expected to also appear. And Imagineers told Fast Company there will eventually be a robot Olaf meet and greet.
“The North Star goal that we have is to be able to have that huggable moment,” said Kyle Laughlin, SVP of Walt Disney Imagineering R&D.
Laughlin brought up security as one potential issue with an Olaf meet and greet, whether stationary or roaming.
“He’s so popular that we have to ensure, both from a security perspective as well as an operational one, that we can ease him into the park,” Laughlin said. “You’ll absolutely see him roaming the park in the future.”
Laughlin said the Olaf robot will eventually appear at Disney parks and on cruise ships globally, including at Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort. There’s no timeline for that roll-out yet.
“He’s one of our most popular characters, so domestically you’ll also see him as well,” he explained. “That’s really kind of the important point: We really are building these now for operations, and to ensure that they’re everywhere.”
The Olaf technology is a natural progression from the BDX droids, which have also made sporadic appearances at several different Disney parks and ships.
Imagineering actually started creating Olaf based on a concept for StellaLou, Duffy’s ballerina bunny friend. They wanted a robot that could make a full pirouette. But realizing StellaLou doesn’t have as wide of an appeal as Olaf, they shifted to the snowman.
This advanced robotic technology will ultimately be incorporated into ride animatronics. Most animatronics are stationary or only move thanks to a moving floor, but last year, Disneyland introduced a Walt Disney animatronic that takes a few steps.
“Our robotic characters and our animatronic characters are going to begin to merge,” said Laughlin.
Fast Company’s article teased more walking robots coming soon. They mentioned the upcoming Lion King expansion at Disney Adventure World which could utilize lion robots. Laughlin also mentioned the possibility of a robot Sven.
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