Lifelike Walt Disney animatronics look “outstanding” and “accurate,” his grandchildren say – The Mercury News

Walt Disney's grandchildren are delighted with the “excellent” and “faithful” recreation of the audio-animatronic version of their grandfather, which is able to star in a brand new show at Disneyland in 2025.

The latest “Walt Disney – A Magical LifeThe animatronic show, which premieres May 16 as part of Disneyland's 70th anniversary celebration, will initially run on its own before alternating with “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” at the Main Street Opera House.

“Creating a Walt Disney audio-animatronics character is a tremendous responsibility that we take incredibly seriously,” said a Disneyland spokesperson. “We offer Walt Disney the same care, research and respect that Walt himself gave when he advanced the technology he developed by creating the Abraham Lincoln figure for the 1964 New York World's Fair and ultimately Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln” in Disneyland created resort. We proceed to push the art form and technology in every way possible to make sure this tribute is finished right.”

The Walt Disney Family Museum Board of Directors – which incorporates five of Walt's grandchildren and three of his great-grandchildren – is supporting the event of the brand new audio-animatronics for the show “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” coming to Disneyland.

“We are excited and grateful for the company's efforts to create this exciting new attraction that will allow people to experience Walt Disney, the man behind the magic,” said Kirsten Komoroske, executive director of the Walt Disney Family Museum, in a press release.

An artist's impression of an audio-animatronic Walt Disney that will appear in the new Disney show.
An artist's impression of an audio-animatronic Walt Disney that can appear in the brand new Disney show “Walt Disney – A Magical Life” on the Disneyland Opera House was shown on the D23 fan event on Saturday. (Photo by Brady MacDonald, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Disneyland and Walt Disney Imagineering invited the museum's board of directors in July 2023 to view the progress of Walt Disney's audio-animatronics project.

“Their work up to this point was outstanding and they took great care to be as precise as possible in its creation,” Walt’s grandson Chris Miller said in a press release released by the museum. “We were confident that this was the right group for this important project.”

All Disneyland events, parades and fireworks shows in 2025

Tamara Miller believes her grandfather would have approved of Imagineering creating an audio-animatronic in his image.

“We believe our grandfather would have been enthusiastic about the project and fascinated by the advances in audio-animatronics technology first developed during his time at WED (now Imagineering) – a technology he has always been passionate about “I had passion,” Tamara Miller said in a press release released by the museum.

Will Disneyland change the catchy song from “It’s a Small World”?

Joanna Miller, the kid of Walt's daughter Diane Disney Miller, has launched a letter-writing campaign to persuade Imagineering to desert plans to create an audio-animatronic version of Walt Disney.

“The idea of ​​a robot Grampa trying to give the public a sense of who the living man was just doesn’t make sense.” Joanna Miller wrote on Facebook. “It would be a scam. They dehumanize him. People are not replaceable.”

7 Disneyland freebies and discounts available now

Retired Imagineers have told the present generation of Disney theme park creators that developing a Walt Disney animatronic is “out of bounds,” in accordance with Joanna Miller.

“Most importantly, I learned that Grampa told Sam McKim that he never wanted to be an animatronic,” Joanna Miller wrote on Facebook.

Sam McKim, a Disney Imagineer and Disney Legend, created Disneyland's park maps within the Nineteen Fifties and '60s and drew early concept art for the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

“So, so sad and disappointed,” Joanna Miller wrote on Facebook.

Originally published:

image credit : www.mercurynews.com