At D23, a lot of brand new attractions were announced for Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World. Parks like Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studios are set to get entirely new lands dedicated to popular franchises, but somewhat surprisingly, the park that started it all -- Disneyland -- didn’t have a lot announced for it. However, one new attraction is coming to the park next year. I find it to be the most exciting announcement, as well as potentially the most terrifying new addition, because it means Walt Disney is coming back to Disneyland.
New animatronic showWalt Disney: A Magical Life is set to debut in 2025 at the Disneyland Opera House, the building that currently houses The Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln show that has been performing there since the 1960s. Lincoln isn’t being replaced, but he’ll need to share time with Walt himself, and this idea could be something truly special, or an absolute train wreck.
A Walt Disney Animatronic Is A Huge Swing For Disney Experiences
Bringing Walt Disney into an attraction inside the park he built is huge. For many Walt Disney is more myth than man, but the man has only been gone for about 60 years. A lot of people are still alive who very clearly remember watching Walt Disney speak to them every week on television.
The decision to make a Walt Disney audio-animatronic is something the company has reportedly wanted to do for some time. However, technology and some corners of the Disney family stood in the way. While some of Walt’s relatives are in favor of this new attraction, not everybody is, with Walt’s granddaughter reportedly very against it.
The other thing that has changed in a big way over the years is technology. We have seen the newest audio-animatronics from Walt Disney Imagineering bring animated characters to life in incredible ways, but the bar is much higher for trying to make a real person look real as an animated figure.
WDI is promising the new Walt figure will be the most advanced character ever created that “incorporate features and innovations that have never been achieved before” according to Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald at D23.
We've already seen some pretty impressive animatronic innovations recently that could come into play here. Animatronics are now capable of fully independent movement. Could Walt walk? The concept art above shows Walt leaning against his desk. Could we see Walt move from a standing to a leaning position?
We would expect nothing less than the best from WDI, we would need nothing less from WDI, but the possibility it could all go horribly wrong still worries me.
A Walt Disney Figure Could Enter The Uncanny Valley Of Audio-Animatronics
My issue isn’t that Walt Disney Imagineering isn’t capable of creating a life-like Walt Disney; I fear they absolutely can. I'm familiar with the concept of the uncanny valley, which sometimes crops up in motion capture animation where things can look so real that they actually feel wrong. They’re too real, and not real enough at the same time, leading to an automatic negative reaction from the viewer.
Such a state is certainly possible with an audio-animatronic figure. And this is where the complexities of Walt Disney as an animated figure come in. On the one hand, something that looked too robotic wouldn’t feel right to represent him. Walt Disney deserves something more. At the same time, something too real is going to have its own problems because we know it’s not really him.
Walt Disney is An Icon, A Myth, And A Man
Some park fans have suggested that making an audio-animatronic Walt is inappropriate. The feeling is that making him an attraction in his own park is disrespectful to his memory. While I understand this perspective, I don't necessarily agree. If it’s acceptable to make America’s greatest President an animatronic, if it’s acceptable to make the current President of the United States an animated figure, as happens at Disney World’s Hall of Presidents, then Walt Disney isn’t off limits.
I would argue Walt was as great a man, who made an incomparable contribution to American life, as other real-life people who have been represented this way. I even advocated for a Walt Disney animatronic a few years back, but in that scenario, he would have been one animatronic among many that guests would only see briefly. To make an entire show focused on Walt, the bar for success has to be set much higher.
To be sure, the version of Walt Disney we’re going to get as part of Walt Disney: A Magical Life isn’t going to be the “real” man anyway. It will almost certainly be a version of “Uncle Walt,” the character that Walt Disney played whenever he appeared on television as part of the Disneyland TV series. We know that the words coming out of the animatronic’s mouth will be Walt’s actual recorded words, which indicates much of that will likely come from his scripted public appearances.
Walt was a man and so any attraction focused around him does need to honor and respect the man that he was. That means that any attraction about Walt has to tread carefully. The fact that Disney has said that only Walt’s actual words will be used is a good start. Making Walt say things he never said would be a bridge too far.
The attraction also shouldn’t mythologize Walt too much. He was a man and while his public persona certainly highlighted elements of the man he was, even Walt knew that the version people saw on TV wasn’t the real him. Will there be an ashtray on Walt’s desk in the new attraction? Will the Walt Disney animatronic smoke?
Making A Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic Work Means Getting Everything Perfect
There are a lot of decisions to be made when making a Walt animatronic. The technology has to be convincing enough that guests can suspend disbelief, but not so real-looking that it freaks people out. The story being told by Walt has to balance who the man was and the version of them that the public knows. It has to honor Walt Disney, not make guests feel like he’s just another theme park attraction.
That's a lot to get right, and a lot of puzzle pieces that need to fit together perfectly. If any of these variables are off by too much, the entire thing potentially falls apart.
I’m excited to see Walt Disney “return” to Disneyland next year when Walt Disney: A Magical Life debuts at the park. If the show hits the bullseye in every way, it could be a truly wonderful show to behold, something that those of us who appreciate what he created can truly connect with.
