From Your Desk to God’s Ear

The Orange Country Register today reported receiving a copy of an internal memo from Bruce Vaughn, Chief Creative Executive of Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) sent to all WDI employees.

The memo, according to WDI spokesperson Marilyn Waters, says the Disney Company will begin outsourcing the manufacturing of Audio Animatronic figures. The reason for taking this action, given in the memo by Vaughn, is the high demand placed on WDI staff and resources by producing these iconic Disney theme park figures in house.

What the memo does not say is that “some positions will be eliminated by this in order to implement these really strategic changes,” a WDI insider said. Overall, WDI believes that “only a small number of people” will be affected by the changes. No further specifics were given.

Audio Animatronics was the name Walt Disney gave to the flapping, talking, and singing mechanical birds that first appeared in Disneyland’s Enchanted Tiki Room. Over the years, the technology has advanced, and Audio Animatronic figures can today be seen in Disney parks around the world, as plundering pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean; the all-singing, all-dancing children of the world in It’s a Small World; as the very interactive Roz at Disney’s California Adventure Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue; and soon as Mr. Potato Head at the new Toy Story Midway Mania attractions at the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World.

The memo dated June 12,was sent to all Walt Disney Imagineering employees from Bruce Vaughn (Chief Creative Executive), Craig Russell (Chief Development and Delivery Executive), and Kevin Eld (Vice President of Disney Creative Production).

A copy of the memo was also sent to the Orange County Register by an anonymous source.

In an e-mail statement sent to o-meon, Waters went on to say:

The new strategy for our Manufacturing and Prototype Organization is to focus on greater innovation in prototyping and developing the next generation of Audio-Animatronics figures. This will involve strengthening our competencies in the creation of, unique Audio-Animatronics figures.

In the past few years, our industry has generated a number of highly-skilled, technically-proficient vendors who can supplement our teams with specialized expertise quickly and efficiently. The production of simple figures will now be managed by vendors with oversight by the WDI production team.

In recent years, WDI has been developing the next generation of Audio Animatronics through its “Living Characters Initiative.” The new generation of Animatronic figures is completely self-contained and roams, seemingly, freely throughout Disney parks and at special event venues.

The first of these was Lucky the Dinosaur, a six-foot tall, flower-loving dinosaur that pulls a cart full of blossoms—and presumably his electronics—around behind him. Lucky was joined sometime later by Muppet Mobile Labs, a sort of motorcycle apparatus seemingly operated by popular Muppet characters Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker.

Recently, a “life-sized” version of the title character from the upcoming Disney/Pixar film WALL•E was seen interacting with a somewhat startled public in downtown Los Angeles.

Waters added that WDI’s North Hollywood facility will “build some select, highly complex” figures, such as the Roz, Mr. Potato Head, and Lucky characters.

WED Enterprises—the forerunner of WDI—originally began building its own Animatronic characters because there simply were no third-party vendors in the business of making what are essentially robotic entertainers.

Just as the theme park industry blossomed as a direct result of the success of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, so, too did themed entertainment manufacturing. Today, there are dozens of businesses dedicated to meeting the manufacturing needs of this billion dollar industry.

Under the direction of WDI Imagineers, Chinese vendors built many of the figures used in Hong Kong Disneyland’s It’s a Small World attraction.

 “Our industry has generated quite a few heavily-skilled and proficient vendors who can supplement our teams with simple figures with significant oversight by our production team,” Waters said. “This will allow us to focus on creating more sophisticated and advanced figures.”

Even as Waters was focusing on the future of Animatronics, Disneyland is preparing to celebrate the birth of Audio Animatronics. The 45th anniversary of the first Disney Audio Animatronic attraction, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, will take place on June 22.

As the attraction’s star performer, Jose, might say, “It’s time to stop clucking and get on with chow.”

Animatronic performers never require a break and only a few rare days off for a little lube and oil.