New Audio animatronics - what do you think?

[cer]

I logged on today and on the home news page is an image of one of the audio-animatronic dwarfs from the new mine train.

I noticed that his face appears to be animated. (I have not watched the video, but that is what it looks like to me). I have seen this also in other attractions - the Lumiere in the new Belle attraction and originally in Haunted Mansion. ( now that I think about it, we also see this in Buzz Lightyear and TSMM)

My question is, do you like this kind of audio animatronic with the animated face?

For some reason it 'works' for me in the Haunted Mansion, the singing busts are my favorite and little Leona (Is that her name?) at the end, and of course in the music room area - but I don't very much care for the animated face of the bride in the attic....

I think I like the Lumiere because of his size...it seems to work well, and it's Lumiere- gotta love him!

I am a little on the fence as to whether or not I like it and I was just wondering what your thoughts are on the animated faces...:confused:

[natedog24]

I actually noticed it too, and thought the same thing. Having only seen the video, I can't be sure if the video does real life appearance/experience justice.

But honestly, my first thought was that it reminded me of the Haunted Mansions busts and done with projectors - except those busts are stationary and these animatronics are moving - making it more difficult to simply project a moving face onto a stationary head.

Maybe it's just me, but I think I prefer the old style animatronics, like on the old Snow White's Scary Adventure Ride. I typically embrace new technology and advancements, but something about these animated faces just doesn't look right to me. Again, maybe I need to see it in person, but I can envision some people trying to take a flash picture (*tisk tisk*) and ending up getting images of Sneezy's face with no eyes or mouth.

I'm curious what the consensus is here.

[Scallywag]

I think when done right the new stuff looks o.k. I also think Lumiere looks the best. The closer you get to these, the less I like them. The dwarfs might look cool though seeing that you will only get a shot of them as you fly past them in a moving train. I guess we will find out soon enough.

[BrerGnat]

This effect is pulled off amazingly well on Radiator Springs Racers at DCA. I can't wait to see it on this coaster. The larger the figures, the better it seems to work.

[Main Street Jim]

For some reason it 'works' for me in the Haunted Mansion, the singing busts are my favorite and little Leona (Is that her name?) at the end, and of course in the music room area - but I don't very much care for the animated face of the bride in the attic....The "faces on the busts" in the graveyard were an accidental discovery by Wathel Rogers and Claude Coats in the early days (early 1960s) of coming up with ideas for the "Museum of the Weird" walkthrough attraction (which became the Haunted Mansion). Madame LeoTa works kind of the same way. But, like someone else said, they're projected onto stationary objects. For animatronics like Buzz Lightyear in the queue, the projector is *inside* the "head".

[cer]

The "faces on the busts" in the graveyard were an accidental discovery by Wathel Rogers and Claude Coats in the early days (early 1960s) of coming up with ideas for the "Museum of the Weird" walkthrough attraction (which became the Haunted Mansion). Madame LeoTa works kind of the same way. But, like someone else said, they're projected onto stationary objects. For animatronics like Buzz Lightyear in the queue, the projector is *inside* the "head".

"Leota" :thumbsup: :blush:

[DKA041177]

I agree with some others in that, if done correctly, I think the new technology will look amazing.