How Do Disney's Talking Characters Work? - DIStory Dan Ep. 80 [NOT SAFE FOR MAGIC]
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- Опубликовано: 25 июн 2023
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How do the talking characters at Disney work? What sort of high tech magic goes into the behind the scenes of Kylo Ren yelling at you in the hot Batuu sun? #robotics #animatronics #disneyland
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Back in 2016, Mickey asked where I was from. I told him we were from England, and he said “WOW! All the way from the UK!” 😭😭 it was so cute
THATS SOO CUTEEE
We we said we came from The Netherlands, he said ‘I love Gouda cheese’
2016😢
Bro exposed where they live to the world
Awwww as. A Disney fan this was way to cute to read I come from the UK 🇬🇧 too!
WE FINALLY GOT THE SNEAKY SPEAKY MICKEY SECRETS
HAHAHAHAHHA
I know!! I legit squealed when I saw the thumbnail! 😂
@@cannibalisticrequiembut he changed the thumbnail D:
❤ilyvbo
The end result is simply amazing: when I met Mickey, he greeted me like an old friend. After a short two way conversation, he asked if I wanted a picture. When Mickey said "say cheese", I responded with "havarti" and he immediately said "ha! I like that!".
The team seamlessly makes it seem like you've met the Mickey you've known since you were a kid!
What does "havarti" mean?
My friend is “friends with” Iron Man at Disneyland Paris and one of the most common things he gets asked is to wish someone a happy birthday. Unfortunately that suit doesn’t have a button for that, so he just has to say “no” or something else 😅
Oh no! Lol!
Talking fur characters are fun but I appreciate the non-verbal ability to improvise on the spot. Spontaneous interaction that's different every time is always gonna be more magical for me than a set script.
All these things aside, there is also the cost on the performer's body. As someone who was friends with people who were 'friends' of Mickey and Minnie, these things weighed a ton. Most performers did not get past the 5'6" range, if that, so they were usually very petite individuals. The all day meet and greets of the Mickey Mouse at the Theater on Main Street would often result in back issues, neck issues, shoulder issues, and head issues. I have also heard that a lot of people had nightmares regarding their work on the interactive Mickey Mouse.
I've never heard Safari Mickey be called African Mickey and that is the funniest thing I've heard in a while.
In the lead-up to Animal Kingdom's opening, Disney's self praising PR excitedly claimed that one of the park's performance spaces would feature genuine performers from Africa celebrating and sharing their native African dances and rituals with park guests. People stayed away in droves. I guess Bubba Daddy didn't mortgage the farm to get a bunch of stomping natives thrusting spears in their faces. Within a few months the natives were replaced by Camp Mickey, who hosted the hijinks wearing his finest colonial-era pith helmet and safari outfit. I guess that was kind of, sort of authentic?
Dark Mickey
@@slob5041bro💀
The talking costumes are just SO COOL. I had no idea the tech that went into it.
They need to bring these back god dammit
Right? It actually feels more magic to me!
Yes
We need more of these
@@skunkman9815hold up… take them back??
7:48
YOU DIDNT HAVE TO BRING BACK MEMORIES FROM THAT DEFUNCTLAND VIDEO... BUT YOU DID ANYWAY. DUNNO IF THAT WAS DANS OR KENNYS IDEA BUT BRILLIANT, YOU ARE!!
The technology they have developed for these talking characters just blows my mind. Especially the star wars ones. However, I think we should also recognize the impressive work cast members do with the non-speaking static characters. They are able to communicate so much without saying literally anything.
It’s interesting how some of the articulated characters look better than the normal non-articulated characters.
Like Baloo on the cruise looks more like Baloo than the theme park version
articulated chip goes hard
I kind of wish they would let masked characters like the stormtroopers and kylo ren talk without canned responses. Like how hard can it be to stick a simple vocoder in there to make them sound like the characters? It would be so much cooler to let them adlib like face characters.
Such a great video! I'm a former entertainment CM at WDW and the talking characters are magical, even when you know all the magic! You pretty much hit it on the head as to why we don't see talking meet and greets anymore. It's a combination of all of the reasons you stated, it all comes down to money. I did cry a bit when I met talking Mickey with my family. They totally freaked out because I told them nothing. There's just something about it that triggers in your inner 5 year old. I hope if they can make the tech more consistent and offer it in more locations that they will bring the talking meet and greets back.
We should write letters about it.
I interacted with Stormtroopers once where I made a joke about their lack of marksmanship. They walked away as one said in a sarcastic tone "very clever". It was so spontaneous.
Disney Dan you really hit us with the defunctland plot twist with that backstage animal kingdom bit 👀🤣
You did not ruin the magic, you just made it more magical. Great review!!!
The talking costumes remind me of the 1980's talking Mickey Mouse storytelling doll. Just knowing how the illusion works is magic as you end up appreciating the effort it takes to make it happen.
there are videos of those; they were made by the same company that made teddy ruxpin
LOL the defunctland animal kingdom got me good.
The first time my son met Mickey mouse was at the magic Kingdom. My Mom had suggested it she had known that it was the talking Mickey head but did not let me or my 2-year-old any idea what was about to happen. It was some of the best magic ive ever felt. My son was so shocked and excited. 😊
This was an amazing video! Could you imagine a talking OSWALD? Honestly, I hope Disney does more with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit soon, he's so underused.
Yeah that will be so cool and awesome to have a Talking Oswald and he is voiced by Frank Welker
Jokes on you, Dan. BTS tech breakdowns are my kind of Magic!
The combination of puppeteering and dialog trees is so cool and innovative, but I get why they stopped doing it for non-Star Wars characters. Darth Vader is as much about the look as he is about the voice, same with the Troopers or Mando, so using the technology here gives the guests a better experience and is cheaper because they don't have a face that needs to be articulated, keeping maintenance down.
well said~
I never got to meet Talking Mickey so I am sad that they retired him for now. Unrelated, but I LOVE Fozzie Bear wearing Dreamfinder’s Hat in the background! It looks so cool ❤️
Neither did the 3 of us meaning my parents and I, but I hear that it might be a dream come true.
1:29 Fun Fact: The creator of the toy, Teddy Ruxpin used the same technology as they did in welcome to Pooh corner as he worked for Disney!
There’s a lot more going on with these talking characters than we all thought. :O Even after listening to this information, it’s easy to forget it because the way it’s pulled off is spectacular.
On a side note regarding talking characters in parades, I think the only case I’ve seen this would be in World Series and Super Bowl cavalcades.
You know with all these characters I’m surprised they haven’t used them in parades have you thought of that? Have they done that? Also great video Dan! Big fan.
He mentions that towards the very end. Great minds think alike :)
I think its because its easy to remove them off set if they're in a meet and great building or a show stage if they malfunctioned than out 15ft high on a parade float in the middle of Main Street
@ryanmiddleton3788 yeah that would make sense after watching mickey and Minnie's 90th birthday celebration, during the parade mickeys eye fell out mid show and they couldn't do anything and he had to stay up there the rest of the show with his hand over his eye. I felt bad for the actor but job well done on being brave and carry on
They need to bring back the talking costume interaction meet n greets god dammit
I HATED talking Mickey. Firstly, I heard him giving the same lines he gave to me to another guest before me. But the worst was that I'm very creative with my interactions, so Mickey would ask something and I'd give a creative answer, or a question as an answer, and the castmembers that were theoretically manipulating the conversation looked at each other not knowing what to do. Mickey ignored whatever it was I said in all these moments and kept on telling me about the haunted mansion ghosts. It was clear to me how it worked.
OMG IM DYING 7:40 YOU THREW IN THE QUEUE MOVIE 😂😂 Dude I could listen about this technology for hours, it's so fascinating!
10:29 Thank you for featuring my stormtrooper and Kylo Ren fail video! My channel features tons more of my character interactions too. I really appreciate all your commentary. I’m a big fan of your channel!
I bet the cast members had a good laugh after that hahaha. That was hilarious.
OMG YES!!! TALKING DISNEY CHARACTER VIDEO!! (We need more of them tbh bc they’re so awesome to watch…and I’m obsessed with animatronic character suits)
The Defunctland cut at 7:46 was brilliant. Excellent callback to that video’s big reveal with a similar impact.
If anything, this doesn’t ruin the magic, it makes it more magical!! Really interesting video, thanks for sharing 😊
We call them articulated headaches cause they always have issues yay for performer backups and some great actors
I wish they did this more
Back when D-Springs had the roaming piano, I liked playing find the guy with the beanie and large shopping bag. He would be driving the piano with their thumb and index figure.
I feel bade for the voice actor for Mickey. Hundreds of lines for a temporary meet and greet. Give this man justice
I literally just earlier today had finished a re-watch of the Defunctland FastPass video - so I was laughing audibly when it was referenced again here.
I speak like a stormtrooper haha my fingers and hands are always doing the craziest things ❤😂
Oh wow, that is like the secrets and mechanism inside the articulated heads.
i already knew the talking mickey meet and greet used pre-recorded phrases and wasn't like turtle talk with crush which uses a voice actor to make crush say different things every time (although there are some pre-recorded animations and quotes)
This is so insane! Thanks for all the sneakyspeakysecrets Dan ❤
i’ve been watching ur vids nonstop the last three days i’m so happy u uploaded😭
I remember when I went to Disney World in 2011 and Timon from The Lion King talked to me and it blew my mind! 🤩🤯
Despite this kinda ruining the magic, it’s still magical to know the mechs of how these heads work.
Actually, for the parades. From what I know there was only one parade in the Disney parks, Disneyland specifically, that uses a talking Mickey. And that parade is already gone.
I hate to spoil the magic and fantasy for you and all of the Disney fans everywhere, but I remember my mom telling me that there's a tape that's usually connected to a mechanism somewhere in the character costume which has the voice over of the voice actor or voice actress recorded complete onto it re: controlling the articulation of the mascot masks.
wow i want to go to disney land soon to see those high tech mickeys
Ah!! Dan! Another great one! I absolutely love this deep dive! Also loving the Mickey balloon neon sign! Your set up is always one of my favorite parts of your videos!!
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM REVEAL MADE ME CRACK UP SO HARD HAHAH
Not the Shapeland plot twist omg 🤣
1:41 😅 It’s magic kingdom but it’s kind of true
Joke's on you! I believe in the magic even more! This stuff is fascinating!
I’ve worked in theme park costuming and I can assure you that it’s sometimes difficult to justify the cost because our department doesn’t immediately correlate to direct profit the way food and merch sales do. It’s theme park math. You can either renovate a food stall or bathroom or have a fancy meet n greet that requires a whole team and advanced tech and extra training. Characters are supposed to be cheap ambiance. It really doesn’t cost that much for a young actress paid just over minimum wage to walk around in a ballgown. But a talking Mickey is really involved
That looks so cool!
The animal kingdom defunctland part gave me a good chuckle
Knowing that this is where technology would take us eventually, it should be evident that having talking characters is a must. You can’t go back. With what Disney charges to get into the parks, as well as the subscriptions from Disney+, there should be ample monies to operate these characters. Also, with the same technology, the handler could have a “clipboard” with a stylus that would control the head and speech, taking one person out of the equation.
It’s always about money with the huge corporations. Never about the experience anymore. What I wouldn’t give to see Walt’s reaction to what has become of his dream.
Um is no one gonna question the not so sneaky/speaker severed Fozzie Bear head in the back? He do be rocking that top hat tho
I wish Walt Disney was alive to see this Mikey
The talking Mickey is truly magical. I remember doing a “Card trick” with Mickey and it was the best.
I am so jealous of how much muppet stuff you have!
I could swear that when I went to Disneyland back in the 1970's the characters eyes were pained screens and they could talk to you through those.
Truly Disney magic!
if they ever do this again, i wanna see ‘em go the “mario in real-time” route
straight up, voice actor in a booth backstage stuff
I actually got to play with the finger controls during a career fair! They had the buttons and one of the heads on display that you could make talk. Pretty cool! And hearing from friends on the entertainment team, one other reason they don't have the talking Mickey interaction any more is for the safety of the performers. Those heads were super heavy.
I'm thinking the Apple Vison Pro could be incredible for talking characters. Imagine being able to switch dialogue trees with your eyes. It can capture your blinks, so you can blink by just...blinking. And it has cameras that face downward so it could maybe even capture mouth movements to puppet the jaw like that.
This is crazy cool. It's like a game controller.
Dan i love your videos especially your distory intros keep up the good work!!!❤❤❤
Them cutting out meeting the talking characters honestly is so on brand for Disney rn. Always tryna cut corners and staff and therefore cutting away the magic (and also, wtf pay your cast members). It’s a shame. I hope new management brings this back soon
SPOILERS:
I never thought I would have my mind blown by the Shapeland reveal TWICE, but here we are! 😂
Technically, the Power Glove was made by Mattel and licensed by Nintendo, but I get the comparison you were making with it.
Awesome video, by the way!
@disneydan when people discuss the "Disney" magic or creativity the interactive Mickey Townhall was truly genius. It was (8) eight years ago and we still remember and speak of the moment because my child and myself were astonished. She's moved on to crazy rollercoasters and or thrill rides, but this moment in time was special and Disney sorta needs this special sauce back.
I remember that clip from when the first people visited and with the kids dressed as Buzz and Tigger, I believe Mickey actually mentioned their characters by name, so I'm wondering if they recorded every possible Disney character name just in case something like this occurred.
Sometimes the actual actor would be in the suit.
@@disneyboy3030 What, you mean Bret Iwan? I mean, I'm not ruling out the idea, but one would think he barely has the time for that. And would Disney even allow it?
@@timrob12 well believe it or not I heard that sometimes especially during early testing he that in there.
@@disneyboy3030 That would make sense as a special thing during the premiere or something.
I have been waiting for this for so so long
I know this might not be everyone’s thing but please make more videos like this! I LOVE behind the magic type of stuff and learning how things are done. I would love a video on more things similar like how do the Velociraptor meet and greets work at Universal or the Mario characters, things like that would be so fascinating!
Excellent job on this video! I am very happy to see you finally made the Sneaky speaky secrets video! Please try and work on a Bugs Bunny video for a future Distory episode! Love the whacky Star Wars jokes and all the amazing stuff I learned from this episode!
You didn’t ruin the magic for me, you only made it more magical! Especially thanks to your wild personality and clever reveals of the hidden secrets of the talking characters!
Can we all just thank Disney dan and Kenny for learning all this stuff and remembering it for the video so thank you Disney Dan and Kenny for all you do
I could never be a talking mascot. I am directionally challenged and would fire off the wrong convo trees lol
Great info and very interesting, thanks. We had a strange meet and greet with talking Mickey, there was something he could not answer and there was a long weird silence before he said something, I have a video of it somewhere.
Thanks!! Oh I’d love to see that! Hahaha
One small error, Legend of the Lion King was at MK, not Animal Kingdom since it was not around in 1994. But they did use it for Festival of the Lion King in 1998
Hand-controlled facial expressions is also a thing in VR Chat! Avatars can flap their mouths based on mic input, but any further facial expression is up to either button chords or mixes of finger curls.
I met Talking Mickey at Disney World back 2014, 2016, and 2017. I know the characters at Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Hershey Park, Six Flags, etc. are just costumes, but they’ll always be 100% real to me! Of course, I also know The Muppets are just puppets. By the way Dan, can you please do a costume evolution of either Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, or Scooby-Doo? Do Bugs Bunny first.
talking mickey is very terrifying lol
This was an awesome video Dan!!
Where are the old talking heads now and how much are they worth?
Love the inter workings of this stuff! Also rewatching this again and I was at Hollywood Studios 5 days ago this year/2023 and I was trying to carefully watch the stormtroopers and Kylo Ren during the interactions thanks to this video
What about swimming characters? When we were in the parks in the late 70s, early 80s, you'd often see Smee swimming in the pool (either at the Poly or at River Country... i'll have to look at photos to be sure which...)
I absolutely love your videos… I just want to clarify one thing that was miss said in your video… The Muppet on stage, the Rafiki, and even the Timon Talking Heads were actually a system called bike, break puppetry… Where the performer had a mechanism in the palm of the characters hand that they squeezed like you would on a bike break, or a hand, grip exercise tool, in when they did, it would tighten the wire or loosen it, and it would open and shut the mouth and their eyes… and the reason why I know this is because at the time that they were in the park, I did the shows that they were in…
That was really cool. Thank you for this.
I love this channel!
Yes! I have awaiting this video from you since I heard you go off on the subject during one of the defunctland debate podcasts. Bring back talking Mickey!
Fraggle Rock had the first animatronic articulated characters. The Gorgs. Fraggle Rock first aired in January 1993. Welcome to Pooh Corner aired in April 1983.
Why couldn’t it be possible to add the simplest “eye” sensor and “mouth” sensor to this mask, which would read info from the actor’s face. + simple "speech synthesizer" with a microphone. (any smartphone does this)
The actor himself could close his eyes, open his mouth and speak lines in Mickey’s voice.
Why did they make the technology so complicated (radio control, computer, operator behind the scenes)??? And then they abandoned it because of the high cost.
p. s.
I can't understand this.
I just know that AI is gonna make this tech even more impressive in the upcoming years. I think we can safely bet that the company is already working with it behind the curtains to get it to a point they can implement it into those character interactions
Yeah they are def putting a lot of money into the r and d department for it.
Ty so much Dan that was so cool :)
It’s shocking they got rid of ‘Talking Mickey’ at the Town Hall. It was amazing. They likely did it to save money, second cast member required, the guy who helped develop it was surprised it was removed.
It’s funny, we were at Disney World a couple of years ago, walking through the Star Wars area. The storm troopers were up on a roof when they asked our daughter if she was having a good day by name. Still don’t know how they knew her name, unless it was off her magic band, but it made her day, and I have to admit, it was pretty darn cool!
Great video! Talking Mickey at Magic Kingdom was amazing - knowing how it works now is even more amazing. I wish they still had this available at Magic Kingdom, in 2018 my kids found it so amazing and magical. Even after finding out how it works, I am amazed! I hope they bring it back at some point, my kids never noticed in 2018 that one Mickey talked and one didn't - but they really appreciated Mickey saying Happy Birthday to them in MK. For parades, I suspect talking Mickey isn't available during the parades in Florida because it is already so hot, wearing that heavy mechanical head probably makes it even worse.
This is so cool!
The company that made the talking costumes for the Pooh Corner show then decided to make them for people and that's where Teddy Ruxpin.
I want this to be brought back