How Disney Characters blink 

new version available in description. (edit)

Why the heck did I think they had strings coming from their real eyes to the fake ones?

It’s such a tiny little detail, yet so much effort is put into it. Mad respect for Disney, the effort they put into making their characters and Disney Magic come alive is just outstanding.

I was not aware certain hand motions could control the heads. :O That's really cool!

Didn’t tell me how it worked and badly needs a voiceover

I think the blinking eyes and mouth movement makes the characters more realistic and lifelike, which is awesome ^^

You didn't show how they work on the inside of the masks.

Omg thank you so much. This is what I wanted to know ever since I first saw Mickey blink. Never been to Disneyland 😭Just saw it in a video

At first I thought they were controlled by radio antennas but now I know that it’s still hand control. Thanks for the info. BONUS QUESTION: Who would you like to see as an articulating character next?

I don't really think this is true. You can see that they blink even when the hands are not moving.

They could probably have an attachment camera inside that has a programmed running from a rasberry pi that when it detects the eye movement via blinking it tells the motors to replicate those movements with the heads eyelids (Would probably take hours of trying to find the right configurations to fully replicate blinking)

“how do they work?” me when i was 6: “disney magic! :D”

It’s awesome how they came up with this, I think it is just pure Disney magic!

I like that mickey has facial movements now

I think the next advancement in this technology is when they can emote face flexing morphs in the face. That will give the characters much more expression and seem more animated, rather than those creepy emotionless blinking and mouth movements.

Mickey: *blinking and opening mouth* Me: eW stOp-

Now I can finally win a staring contest against them .

Can you please do “how Disney characters move their mouths”

Thanks for the video! Sadly, Disney stopped using Talking and Blinking Micky for at least a year

I actually thought the mouths moved by their actually persons mouth like fur suits ooof

It's kind of scary and creepy and cool

When I was 8, I thought they taped their eyelids to the eyes to make them blink and taped their mouths to make them speak.

Talking mickey mouse and all of his friends are all looked super cute

This is so amazing and cool

I Love Those Disney Park Mascots soooooooo Much!!! :-D

In 2004, an "animated" Disney character of Timon was used in Legend of the Lion King.

Happy 3rd Anniversary, How Disney Characters blink (2019/2022)

Imagine if the manager's name had "purple" on it, and instead of mascots, it would be animatronics.

Now that is bringing Disney world to life

To be fair, they should put an accelerometer in the head and trigger a blink anytime a character turns his head rapidly. Because in real life, we all blink when doing that.

This videos information is not necessarily true about how they talk and blink. Yes, in some instances the costumes mouth articulation is pre-set and is cued in by the track. But most of the time it is all controlled by the performer in the costume by using a controller in one of their hands (mostly the dominant hand). Strong and fast hand movements are used to hide the fact that they’re squeezing something in their hand to make the controls work although some performers will stick their hand behind their back to hide it as well.

Till the day talkin is still made possible by wirless technology wich allows the charactes talk

Um, obviously they can blink and talk because they're real... Glad to see that the video is getting an update. I have some inside knowledge, and although I'm not currently with the company, I plan to return to them. Let's just say that this video is a few years behind in terms of technology, but I am not at liberty to elaborate on the subject.

Guess who is going to be at Disneyland on Monday.

*Disney Now Wants To Know Your Location*

*I wonder how they can talk with their mouth moving also*

Incredible

I thought they had animatronics and they just have a person off stage

Jollibee: I can do this all day.

0:17 Plodo blinked at the last second

They have piercings and they have strings

Nice to know. This was something that always intrigued me until today

So they're just fancy fursuits

What is your source for this information? The video doesn't seem to support what you say. In one video a hand moves and the eyes close, but later another video makes the same movement but the eyes didn't close.

I always thought it was facial tracking that tracked the actors for the eyes.

Weow it’s so smooth though

Huh. 🤔 cool. 😊 great video 💙🐝💙

I have a phobia of Elsa with black eyes

Cool!!

Those person are not normal but they are FROM AN ANOTHER PLANET

I kept blinking during this video

0:04 bro even pluto is blinking man where did he learn to do that 😭

So they are stuck in a spring lock suit

It could be like powered by battery which it is randomly blinks

wait, that’s a costume? my life is a lie

0:04 i think mickey's mouth got stuck

Would it still work fine if the eyelids were wires but the mouth was moved by the actor’s mouth so they can just lip sync?

I just assumed they wore a chin strap, and whenever they drop their jaw, the eyes blink. The characters don't talk so you don't have to make any noise.

Is there a robot inside the head? If it has too many mechanics, it’s probably scrunching and hurting the performers face and head.

Very interesting!

I love my Mickey. 😚😊🤗😍😘💜💙💖

Very nice

Who blinked while watching this video

lol with their eyelids duh

Their eyes are not controlled by their hands. I think there's somebody controlling eyes and mouth as well.

0:24 Woo, what's that show called?

Minnie Mouse I love you Comment below if you Love Minnie Mouse ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️👇👇👇👇

Why Universal doesn't does that with they characters?

This didn’t really explain it well. Like hand movements... okay but what exactly do the actors do with their hands to make the eyes blink? Because just moving their hands isn’t making them blink nor are the fingers (as far as I can tell)

Why did I always think on the mouths people were chewing on it to make it open and shut

what is the song in the minute 0:54

Brother Bear

I thought they pulled them with their hands

Actually they use they're eye lids.😏

How can mickey's eyes and mouth can be controlled by the hands

0:55-1:06 What are they singing?

What Would Mickey Mouse Say If He's In 101 Dalmatians 2 Patch's London Adventure With Cruella De Vil?

Lilo And Stitch

Wow thanks

So its just the Hands that move it?

I got to see some of the technology in person 😉

....great to know

It’s creepy tbh

What About Stitch?

I wonder why that Disney on Ice had not try this in there shows??

HOW BOAT ME DUCK!

Did Daisy blink?

Oh yeah

Starlake

1:05 death minnie

デイジーだけ凄い違和感

God I'm actually a middle school mascot and this is just... I couldn't remember crap for an ugh thing

Here I was thinking it was faith, trust, and pixie dust✨ 🧚‍♀️ ✨

Where are your sources...?

Thumbs up. 👍

bruh minnie mouse reminds me of momo if you think about it

I don’t think this is true. I’m positive the headpiece has some kind of jaw strap so when the performer simply opens his mouth, the mechanisms make the eyes blink.

These things look freaky

And here I though the Furry Fandom's fursuits were outpacing the theme parks. I was wrong!

Nowdays talking in shows still contraled by a wirless Technologly so the charactes actors not have to struggle with that