Today a malfunctioning Ariel animatronic was spotted inside Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid at Magic Kingdom. YouTube user AllCentralFlorida shared this video earlier today, where a guest captured the floundering mermaid. She is seen leaning back and motionless while ride vehicles pass the scene where she sings “Part of Your World”. … Read more
Being the scourge of First Order ships must be exhausting because legendary pirate Hondo Ohnaka just Ohnaka-ed out mid sentence at “Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run” in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. In this video submitted to WDWNT by TheDisneyStranger, Hondo can be seen delivering the preshow spiel to riders. Just as he … Read more
The final audio-animatronic of Lieutenant Bek is currently missing from Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Bek usually appears in a crashed escape pod at the end of the ride. The lights inside the pod are still on and flickering, and Bek’s voice can still be … Read more
Located in the popular Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Na’vi River Journey takes you into Pandora’s glowing bioluminescent rainforest. The boat ride features Shaman of Song, Disney’s “most-advanced audio-animatronic,” as she sends positive energy out into the forest through the power of her music. However, the Shaman hasn’t been quite … Read more
The Michelangelo audio-animatronic on Spaceship Earth in EPCOT has not been functioning since before the park closure. After many months, “Immobilangelo”—as we so lovingly referred to him—is once again painting from his laid back position in the Sistine Chapel. As we move into The Renaissance (thanks to Arab and Jewish scholars), Michelangelo Buonarroti is seen … Read more
Disney Research Hub has released a video introducing an animatronic with realistic and interactive eye movements. Here’s what Disney said in the video’s description: “This video describes the development of a system for lifelike gaze in human-robot interactions using a humanoid animatronic bust. We present a general architecture that seeks not only to create gaze … Read more
Here at WDWNT, we’ve been monitoring the progress of Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy nearly feverishly. Well, today is the day! Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy has officially opened for rookie trainees and we were there to get a first look. Racers, start your engines! For its grand opening season, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has made Lightning McQueen the … Read more
As part of their press package released earlier this morning, we got a few stills of Lightning McQueen making his big debut onstage at Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Little did we know that there was also this short video of B-roll that was collected during show testing earlier this week. You … Read more
Ask any Star Tours fan and they’ll tell you that one of their favorite parts of Star Tours is the queue. Well, it appears that C-3PO is in need of some droid maintenance and is scheduled to be taken out for a quick refurbishment (tune up?) on February 17. While he won’t be in the … Read more
Disney has released a video of a new technology they are working on called Stuntronics. These new robotic figures developed by Walt Disney Imagineers, perform extreme aerial maneuvers 60 feet in the air, making real-time decisions for when to tuck, turn, and stick the perfect landing. Stuntronics – new robotic figure developed by Disney … Read more