As a Technician I love that they put a hidden Mickey on the metal body of the gator. Must be a ton of hidden mickeys for Technicians eyes only. Great videos Brayden! I like your in depth talk around the technology.
Insight from an animator, Maya is industry standard animation software across Animation and VFX. The thing with all the curves is called the Graph Editor which is how animators visualize movements of each control which corresponds to specific joints, pretty standard. Each curve corresponds to translate and rotate values in x (red) y (green) and z (blue). The animation shows continuous movement, overall it looks like a cycle (which makes sense for a ride) and a lot of the individual movements look to continuously cycle. Also the movement looks very clean (according to the graph editor).
They are stunning. I was so-so on this revamp, but wow. Real faces, no projections for faces. Smooth movements on MANY characters. This is exactly the kind of thing I was jealous of parks like Tokyo Disney having.
I definitely like the full face animatronics versus the projection style (tho I get the reason they felt it was a good move at the time) Just wish they would make sure the exiting ones would get better maintenance (looking at you Ariel). From an OT networking professional standpoint, I wish I could see their production systems. Gotta be a wild “back stage”
Poor maintenance in later years aside, the Splash figures were great. Fantastic character designs by Marc Davis, and just enough movements on all of them to sell the illusion. The TBA figures look incredibly fluid (particularly impressed by Louis) but I almost feel they would be better suited for a show where you can sit and appreciate the movements, vs a boat ride where you are quickly floating by.
My concern is Disney did very poor maintenance on the Splash figures, which were way less complex than these. Are we expecting Disney to start doing proper upkeep on this ride going forward? Something to think about
@theshtcoinclub5879. Well they newer stuff you have to see it day of or within a week of opening. Just look at Epcot. It’s a nightmare and they spent over a billion dollars.
In California I feel like it will be too fast to appreciate them, but Florida’s moves slower so it will probably work there in my opinion. I hope these are maintained well, and we don’t end up with a hopping Br’er rabbit situation again.
I fully admit it’s cool how fluid these animatronics look but I think nothing is more impressive than Walt and his imagineers pioneering the technology.
Of course. When you go from having not seems something in your life to suddenly seeing something brand new and different it's much more amazing that something you've already seen getting a lot better. I am still very happy to see these new animatronics fill up attractions and this looks to be more impressive on the animatronics front than rotr.
The fanfare over mediocre offerings is why Disney gets away with everything it does. It's as if pixie duaters really are just interested in a brand name experience. How sad.
Mama Odie is an amazing animatronic. She looks super fluid and lifelike while maintaining the qualities of 2D animation. It’s honestly remarkable what they did with her.
It would be a real shame to see the Rivers of America and Island go away at WDW. Hopefully its just a reduction of the size of the river like at Disneyland for Star Wars GE.
As impressive as these neww animatronics are, I am STILL NEVER, I repeat, NEVER going to forgive Disney for this retheame of the beloved Splash Mountain.
I was around when the Disney fan community was reacting to the original Splash Mountain ... the parallels are interesting; yeah, Splash Mountain originally had 100 AA figures, but they were all recycled from America Sings not new figures developed for this ride. Also, the core of the ride was an "off the shelf" flume ride, rather than a novel ride system developed by imagineers. So there was a lot of concern about it being made "on the cheap" and Disney not putting enough investment into new rides, even back in those days.
Great stuff Braden! Your enthusiasm is showing! Good thing too! I sure hope Disney gets the big picture that, as a business, they must increase and specialize their Maintenance schedules and spontaneity. They used to do astoundingly better than since the covid shutdown. They lost so much of their institutional memory in their Maintenance Teams. They need to rebuild that knowledge and "Know-how". Third shift maintenance used to keep everything running smoothly. Come on Disney, get it together! Thank You!
After seeing Tiana's Bayou with my own eyes at Magic Kingdom yesterday, and now seeing these animatronics... I'm actually super excited with this new Splash! The theming looks amazing, the concept is cool and the overall execution seems very promising.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m much more optimistic about Tiana’s Bayou Adventure since seeing these animatronics than I was previously. Mama Odie in particular is incredibly true to animation (although is anyone else not quite sold on the fuzzy texture of Louis’s ‘skin’? He looks like a big plush, not a leathery alligator). I’m not quite sold on the exterior, as I think the sense of scale, height, and overall visual interest is much diminished. But I’m hoping Disney pulls a great ride from all this uncertainty.
Agreed, I love the setting of New Orleans, though I’d like to see more Princess and Frog/ New Orleans Square references in French Quarter. It’s weird how absent those things at that hotel.
I'm so glad to see someone else mentioning Louis's skin. It's obviously just a fuzzy suit zipped over the armor. They could have made a rubber suit to give the look of leathery skin. His foamy exterior makes me think of Kermit.
I think the Louis skin to look plushy was a design choice for small children in mind. Regardless, this was the best hype video Disney could put out for a ride that has mostly spawned negativity due to the loss of a classic ride.
I trust Bruce Vaughn leading WDI… would I prefer someone like Tony Baxter, 100000%- but Bruce is certainty better than any outside hire that didn’t come up through Imagineering. I’m curiously optimistic
Keep it mind, there are some other things we see moving that are not listed in the animatronics at all. (Mama Odies snake is an example) I would anticipate based on the concept art we've seen that there might be more animatronics like that as well with limited motion.
These make me more optimistic than I was. That said, I still miss the amazing amount of animatronics in the original, even if they were mostly basic simple motion AA.
@@happymaskedguy1943 The main reason they got rid of Splash Mountain (a legendary ride) was because people were complaining that it depicted racist caricatures.
I will have to admit as an animatronic fan my self. I down right love these animatronics. They look like they jumped right out of the movie and into reality. But they Treated 1974 America Sings Animatronics Badly and i wish they would have reused them for this Tiana ride. These high tech Animatronics are probably the only good thing about this attraction. I'm going to give it a chance because i grew up with Princess and the frog 2009 movie, let's hope it doesn't end up like stitch's great escape
The Disney DEI department will definitely try to claim this technology as brand new for the new woke ride when it actually was already created for rides like pirates overseas. Makes sense tho: DEI...didn't earn it
Hey Brayden... now's the time to upload a video of the bad press that the Disney Parks channel is getting for it's own POV preview ride through of Tiana's Bayou Adventure. Every single comment is negative 🤣....and rightfully so.
The AA’s look cool, but feel like the whole facade (which I don’t like) is going to look like complete shit in a year or two. Those fake plants are going to look terrible under the insane Florida sun and humidity, and with Disney’s maintenance track record….
4:27 They literally put hidden mickeys where they will actually be ... you know, hidden? And what do you think are the chances of them eve using some of the expansion lots around Epcot ctr.? Can't wait to see what's beyond TM. I'd love to see 'rattlesnake canyon' with a clone of the Hong Kong mine train.
The animatronics look very good. My one consistent comment throughout this whole process has been “I just hope they do it right.” If they change a classic right, they better not just paint some plywood like Pooh. These animatronics give me hope that the change will be worth it. Props to the Imagineers.
Omg thank you for pointing out Tiana in her dress!! I was so worried they’d removed all the magic and princess elements from her character with these boring ‘explorer’ outfits - even more excited now!
I watched the video & thought about Disney Color program & the Inside Out program with George Forman. But I appreciate how you vividly & energetically brought it out better than Disney's Imaginears did. Thank you!!
#savecrittercountry #savewinniethepooh at #disneylandresort critter country isn’t going survive without song of the south & the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride #downwithtianasbayouadventure #savewinniethepooh & #savesplashmountain
The animatronics are cool, but the rumor is there are only 17 of them. That coupled with a nonsensical storyline and replacing a Disney icon, this will assuredly fail. I feel bad for the WDI involved because you can tell they've tried. It's just a bad decision overhaul and the planning was half baked.
Awesome Brayden!,...do you know if Garner Holt built these for Disney? How about the new Bears? On the Tiana "story" side that is so important to Disney...have you heard any rumors on how Tiana's employee-owned co-op will be set up among the characters? Many of us are interested in the story of how the "Tiana Foods" profit sharing will be divided among her friends. Disney took the time and attention to put this feature in the ride and I hope it get's revealed to the fans in much more detail.
Wow, what exciting characters. It looks like Louis has fur for skin. So what if the animatronics are better? They should have left it as Splash Mountain. Yeah, buying a salt mine is such a great story. The attraction now looks like a pile of leaves. There's no reference to it in any Disney film.
Who cares about fluid animatronics when the story of thr ride is rediculous. Ive never seen the movie, but the music can't be better than the splash mountain music. This is a no win situation disney put themselves in. Probably gonna go down as the most epic disaster decision in Disney history. Not being pesimistic, its just reality.
This was started before the Proxy War. But I do hope that they start prioritising the customer experience more, instead of nickle and diming every second and killing the magic dead before it has the chance to form.
Splash Mountain should never have been changed. I think that making a Tianas Adventure dark ride over where the former Mr. Toads Wild Ride Adventure used to be (now the Princesses Meet and Greet), would have been far more appropriate for the scale of box office that movie ever made, which was pretty pathetic. And it saddens me to witness how much disdain Bob Igore has for Walt Disney and his legacy. I hope that Nelson Peltz remains on his back into next year and perhaps, Elon Musk? 😁
The A-1000 animatronic figures is not a new thing; the first one developed, was the wicked witch in 1989 for the Wizard of Oz scene at the great movie ride. So odd to think that this technology is 35 years old!
having no dark or creepy elements to this ride is a wasted oportunity shadow man would make the ride 1000x better especially with "friends on the otherside"
Cool. So why do you still hang around commenting on Disney videos? I get having criticisms r suggestions, but hanging around just to whine seems… sad, tbh. Like you have nowhere else to go or something.
I’m sorry, but the “telling a story” but is not what they should be focusing on. Dark rides aren’t for telling a story, they’re for creating an experience. The things you remember after riding iconic rides are the lovable characters, the songs and the experience of immersion - it’s extremely rare it’s ever going to be the story that’s the most compelling aspect of the ride. They should stop living in a dreamworld and maybe take some advice from the greats of their past. Splash mountains story was so simple that it worked, though not everyone coming out of it would have even been paying attention to it and in turn being oblivious to the fact it had a plot. If they try and tell a “story” through the scenes in the ride, they have already failed at the first hurdle and inherently going to put less in the scenes so they’re easier to follow.
Here’s my random hot take: They should’ve replaced Splash Mountain at Disneyland, it has New Orleans Square, and the animatronics were dated, but the ride was perfect at Disney world, as it it much better in Frontierland than in Critter Country.
Yeah, it would’ve been nice if they could keep the filming consistent in each park… But maybe they have plans to shift these lands in the future… Maybe we will find out at D 23
@@poppi8432 I agree American should’ve kept at least one, and don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing ride, but you can’t ignore it’s age, both culturally and technologically. Plus, I truly don’t think Disney would’ve given Princess and the frog a ride if not for the Splash Mountain closure.
Can we all just keep in mind that a good 50% + of all the animatronics previously on splash were in the finale room. I think we just need a chance to ride this thing before we freak out about the exact number of animatronics. What they’ve shown so far seems really unique and fun. I personally cannot wait to smell the beignet’s. I love the chocolate chip cookie smell effect they do on incredicoaster.
I loved this release by Imagineering. It felt like old-school Disney for the first time in forever. Not over-scripted, talking to those who are making these incredible figures, advancements in technology.... great all around! Just one clarification, Disney World actually has the LONGER Splash Mountain. Disneyland's dark ride portion is about a minute and 20 seconds shorter than WDW, so WDW should see more animatronics than Disneyland or, it will have more dead spaces. I'm still so skeptical of this sequel story to a great film, but these animatronics give me hope. It's going to all come down to story at this point....
I feel like this is a new beginning for Disney. Love to see them getting back on track and focusing on MAGIC itself, and not only profit. By the way, I personally hope they drop that stupid idea on turning their hotels into Hiltons and Marriotts. But if they don’t, at least bring that magic to them.
@@e.l.norton so either you think the Bob Chapek Era was a good thing or you see no difference between that time and now, right? If Chapek was still here, we would have wallpapers and projections instead of animatronics. So yes, thats a new beginning.
@@atveriss Disney has sucked taint for at least a decade. It's been a long steady spiral down the drain. Things only get worse and worse. Disney will never be what it was. Never. It's lost. This isn't even Disney today. It's a name only. The essence of Disney, the experience that once made it special are all gone and won't be back.
They should have just made this change at Disneyland since it fits in perfect with the Louisiana area there and left Disney World Splash mountain. Similar to what they did with Twilight zone Tower of terror. It gives people another reason to visit Disneyland if they don't normally and vice versa. We all know Boob Iger needed to virtue signal over George Floyd tho.
Yes, we went from the most popular ride that NOBODY was asking to be replaced, with the MOST animatronics of ANY Disney ride, to one that has one of the FEWEST. Louis is GOING to fail and fail often. Just the skin shows how it will wear out prematurely, especially around the neck area. Yes, they had problems with the old systems, but that like complaining that the first versions had to have record discs cut out to do the movements, before they were able to use computers at all. These imagineers don't know what HARD is! Especially since most of the really good ones have left for other places and all you have left are the ones who are more invested in DEI/ESG/CRT than actual imagineering!
One of the things I noticed is that when you watch the original video where they show the log they zoomed out and you can see a Tiana bent down looking for something, but I couldn’t quite tell, anyways you should check it out!
Ok, so like I’m happy to see black and brown bodies finally getting the representation they deserve in the Disney parks. However, all these characters are still cisgender heterosexuals, which is BORING. Like where is the REAL diversity? Where are the demisexuals and queers and pansexuals? Where are the female-to-male trans boys? Where are the gender fluid omnisexuals?? As a neurodivergent, nonbinary queer myself, I still don’t see myself in any of these characters. Until Disney adds some queer representation to this attraction, I really have no interest in it. It looks like just another example of cisgender, heteronormativity to me. Like I can’t even with this…it gives me the literal ick.
The Disney world track takes like 10+ minutes to get through. The ride BETTER have more than just 17 animatronics. I’d take more low grade animatronics than like 3 high tech ones. It’s the same reason Navi River Journey absolutely sucks.
Dude those animatronics look wicked. If they did a slow refurbish on some of the existing that would be so cool! Like Ariel and Ursula, The Three Caballeros, and maybe some scenes in Winnie the Pooh. Not necessarily ripping out all the old tech that still looks marvelous, but adding enhancements where it would benefit.
If too many AA's go down or start entering "B-Mode" (limited functionality), which is especially common with water attractions like this (see: Nav'i River Journey), it'll significantly affect the attraction experience. This why I argue lots of less complex AA's is better than fewer complex AA's. However, the AA number we're getting here is better than anything else we've gotten the last 10 years so we shall see!
@@MickeyViewsAlthough it’s worth remembering that these technologies are always improving, always becoming more reliable and easier to maintain. I’m sure they’re taking all of these aspects into consideration.
