New character heads have debuted at Walt Disney World. They have articulated faces with blinking eyes and movable mouths. It’s amazing and eerie at the same time. So far these are only being used in one stage show at the Magic Kingdom – "Dream Along With Mickey" at the Castle. Someone has been kind enough to post a pretty good video of the new ‘rubberheads’ singing, talking, and dancing in the show.
Right now there is no plans to have these articulated character heads for the photo meet and greets. The main reason is that every country around the world has their own Mickey Mouse and the kids from those countries expect Mickey to talk to them in their native language. It’s impossible to make that work right now. As soon as some of that Star Trek translation technology becomes available I’m sure Disney will jump on it.
Now the only question is how long before this technology makes it into the Cosplay and Furry groups.
Wow… the eye-blinks and mouths look great, but the eyes themselves are static… without the eye motions, it’s really creepy.
Speaking as a furry, people have developed much simplier jaw articulation than this stuff years ago – and I’m sure eye blinks, too. And speaking as a Minnie fan, I think it’s unfortunate that she looks the strangest – you almost wish her mouth didn’t move as much, or perhaps more at the front – somehow makes her look unladylike. But Donald and Mickey look really sharp, and funky Captain Hook and Smee face characters are strangeley effective. Don’t be surprised to see this in the parades soon.
Once again Disney is at the fore-front of entertainment tech. Awesome!
Its just a little bit unnerving.
I like the new heads. I’ve been seeing the show on YouTube and even got to see it in person a few weeks ago on my previous trip to WDW. I, too, hope these heads can be used in the parades.
Comments are closed.