Disney's Animatronics: A Living History
Video Overview & Insights
In the 1960s, Walt Disney carried the torch of one of humanity's oldest pursuits, the search for mechanical life. The result was Audio-Animatronics, a new breed of robots designed to mimic life.
In this first part of a two-part exploration into living machines in Disney Parks, Kevin explores the history of automatons and the initial development of Disney's Animatronics.
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This was incredibly fascinating. Anyone who wants to be an imagineer or similar, this video should be part of the curriculum. I learned alot of new things.
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Major Sources and Additional Reading:
Edison's Eve by Gaby Wood: https://www.amazon.com/Edisons-Eve-Magical-History-Mechanical/dp/1400031583
Persistence of Vision #6/7 by Paul F. Anderson (Out of Print)
16:22 I was honestly wondering how Edison would do at making a talking doll considering he was Deaf, maybe this sounded accurate to him XD
Marc Davis In His Own Words by Pete Docter and Christopher Merritt: https://a.co/d/2enP2SF
Table of Contents:
14:12 The Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale,AZ has a great collection of these, they're really cute and interesting. They have one that takes up the whole back wall that is still operational, they have a twice daily performance I got to see on my last visit.
0:00 - Chapter One: The Sixth Day
19:53 - Chapter Two: Talking Heads
9:21 This kind of parallels current AI discourse; experts in a particular subject can spot the errors in machine output but non experts have no ability to make that discernment
39:46 - Chapter Three: Methods of Control
01:00:40 - Chapter Four: The Resurrection of Abraham Lincoln
You explained sound better than my physics teacher did lmao
01:20:05 - Chapter Five: Pandora's Box
This video is adjacent to Five Nights at Freddy's, so I am allowed to include it in the description for keyword reasons. Freddy Fazbear.
Name for that Chinese head Wan King
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Thomas Edison invented how to record and play back sound because he's a bloke and hopefully with a sense of humour I really do hope he recorded his farts. The first sound anyone would of heard is the sound of his guff he recorded 25 minutes ago come on its hilarious
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That intro transported me into another Universe đ€Łđ
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that âwalt disney will returnâ card at the end that functions both as a cultural Bit and as solid foreshadowing for part 2 is the kind of well balanced combination I come to this channel for
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More User Perspectives
four score and five nights ago
@igabe98It flashed Part 1 at the end. A year later... where's Part 2?
@DarkPescoThe thing is...It always HAS been this way. Before animatronics, there were films that would allow people to perform long after death. Before films, there were photographs that some feared would steal their souls. Before photographs, we simply painted or sculpted people's images. And today? Today we have AI and CGI. We have always made effigies of the dead, all Walt did was make it move. Is it disrespectful, or is it merely the evolution of human nature?
@AkuTenshiiZeroThis is absolutely incredible
@dee_splithoofMachines uprising and taking the workforce.... 2026. Here we are
@TheRyanCape1:14:30 six seven?
@Karus_evenKing Mu's quote at 3:45 is the hardest shit ive ever heard bro. if a literal KING said something like that based off my creation i would die happy
@actuallynotryanstopaskingI know thos is an old film and you may not keep up with the comments, but on the off chance you see this; do you happen to know the name or address of the antique shop in New Orleans? I live in New Orleans and I would love to get in contact with the shop/building owner and/or the Preservation Resource Center and get some kind of plaquard or marker put up.
@systemakhaosu8101:17:40 Oh wow Walt would have LOVED generative AI, which...unfortunately tracks đŹ
@jamesglass317439:25 Well we dodged a bullet there.
@jamesglass3174"San Francisco and Los Angeles already have a Chinatown. There's no need for one at Disneyland."
picture of Disney's California Adventure presented without commentary
My favorite little visual gag that I actually missed the first time I watched this (I was probably doing chores, sorry Kevin, you're just too good at soundtracking manual labor)
So I heard that there was a flute automaton which used real skin on the hands...
@enigma0z53:23 red
@The_real_Jack_Horner"There is only a brief window of time to prevent something that is new from becoming something that has always been. [...] Of course Walt, the Imagineers, the Disney company, can sculpt and animated a dead person. They always have. Has it not always been this way?" Chilling, and incredibly relevant to many technologies and ideas since then.
@SssaaatttuuurrrnnnIn July 2025, Disneyland debuted a new exhibit at the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln theater featuring an audio-animatronic of Walt Disney himself, called "Walt Disney - A Magical life". I cannot think of a more fitting thing than for the Lincoln animatronic, Walt's obsessive creation, his life-like robot child, to be replaced by an animatronic made in his own image long after his death. I bet Walt's crazy-ass would have loved it. Apparently it's on a turntable so the Mr. Lincoln show rotates in a few times per day.
@Sssaaatttuuurrrnnnthe concept of a "racist omission (some of the possible racism was omitted)" is sending me
@notquitechaos670516:30 I wish he wouldâve said âFrench is a beautiful languageâ again
@MrShs812Imagine being disappointed because Disneyland isn't racist enough.
@deadpilled29421:17:29 R.I.P Walt you would've loved A.I "art"
@becuaseimbored3481This was the best piece of media I have ever seen. True edutainment right here
@TheAmazingfulOneROBERT MOSES MENTIONED I was not expecting this crossover haha. Just 2 problematic dudes trying to gain as much clout from eachother as possible
@TheAmazingfulOneYou know, I'm starting to think this Walt Disney fellow I've heard so much about was what most people would now refer to as a "bad guy". I'm sure his influence was minimal and couldn't possibly have had any negative implication for the future of America or anything, though
@whimblebimble7Worlds Fair there was Land of Lincoln and It a Small World
@arthurtripp6922I fucking lost it at "MAMA... MAMA.." lol
@anthonydegeorge17061:14:30 6 7 đ
@mcalexthegreatMan these automaton must have so much canned heat from years of standing stillâŠtheyâve probably reached virtual insanity
@nos1ne1:16:50 Yeah, no, Walt would have been one of those guys who want to replace everyone with AI if he were around today.
@WeeabossVAgraphics go crazy in this video!! who made them???
@KicaVixMGComing back to this after seeing more Tesla androids being revealed to be just puppets, just like the chess player.
@Seydaschu26:49
The hesitance in even mentioning Aunt Jemima is making me cackle
oy vey muh raysisums
@Scaevola9449It's sad i can only like this once. Fantastic video.
@BlueSpike141:14:28 While watching this video at Christmas, it was at this moment that my younger cousin and I turned to look at each other and smile like we both knew what was up.
@DementedDuskull