Credit: Inside The MagicNearly sixty years ago, Disney registered the trademark for its very first audio-animatronic. It was something that had never been done before at a theme park. Disney Imagineers created a robot that was so much more than a robot. Now, audio-animatronics are used in theme parks all over the world, and the technology has gone further than we ever thought possible.
One of Disney’s most iconic attractions — Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room — was also one of the first to extensively use audio-animatronics. Since then, dozens of Disney attractions have featured animatronics, and we can’t imagine the parks without them. Unfortunately, not every animatronic can be a winner.
Related: Disney Unveils Jaw-Dropping New Free-Roaming Animatronic
Here are some of the best and worst animatronics we have seen from Disney.
Best: Shaman of Songs – Na’vi River Journey – Animal Kingdom
In May 2017, a brand-new land opened in Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort — Pandora: World of Avatar. The stunning new land — designed by famed Imagineer Joe Rohde — brought James Cameron’s 2009 film to life in a way Disney fans had never before seen. The new land has everything from floating mountains to a bioluminescent rainforest.
Two new attractions opened with Pandora — Avatar: Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey. It is on the Na’vi River Journey where guests can find one of the most complex and stunning animatronics ever created by Disney Imagineers.
Na’vi River Journey takes guests down the Kasvapan River. They see things only seen in Pandora, like viper wolves, hexapods, wood sprites, papyri, and fan lizards.
Towards the end of the attraction, guests encounter the Shaman of Songs, an amazing animatronic whose movements are fluid and truly brings the Na’vi to life. The Shaman of Songs leads the Na’vi into a musical celebration of their bond with Eywa, also known as the All-Mother or the Great Mother, the guiding force behind all ecosystems.
Related: After Disney Delay, ‘Avatar 3’ Gets Exciting Update
Worst: Ariel – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure – DCA
Let’s be clear, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure is a really fun ride, full of classic songs, bright colors, and an absolutely incredible Ursula animatronic. However, it is not the Ursula animatronic that we are talking about.
While much of the ride is amazing, the Ariel animatronic in one scene is an utter disappointment. Guests are taken into Ariel’s secret chamber, where she keeps everything that she finds from the human world. There is even the life-size statue of Prince Eric that sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
Unfortunately, Disney has let the Ariel animatronic fall apart. Ariel’s mouth does not move properly, and the material used for her skin looks like it is melting. This makes for a very awkward experience, especially since the animatronics once moved so fluidly.
@avocadoisguac Please help her. #wdw #animatronic #ariel
Best: Amazing Spider-Man – Avengers Campus – DCA
All the way back in 2017, at the D23 Expo, Disney announced that a brand-new land would be coming to Disney California Adventure Park. The new land would be dedicated to all things Marvel Superheroes. And, in 2018, A Bug’s Land officially closed down and construction on Avengers Campus began. The new land was supposed to open in 2020, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that opening was pushed back to June 2021.
When Avengers Campus opened, fans loved how many different Marvel heroes they could interact with. There was a show featuring Doctor Strange, training from the Dora Milaje, a Black Widow show, and characters like Iron Man, Loki, Thor, Captain America, and more, roaming around the land and doing meet-and-greets with guests.
One of the highlights of the new Campus was the incredible new Spider-Man stunt show. The show featured Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, performing stunts as he spoke with F.R.I.D.A.Y.
The show culminates in Spider-Man doing a huge flip from one side of the building to the other. But what made the flip so stunning was that it was not a person flipping through the air and landing on the other side, it was an animatronic!
@c_mrdck THEY WERE SHOOK🤣😭 #avengerscampus #spiderman #disneyland
Worst: Ripley – The Great Movie Ride – Hollywood Studios
This one hurts to write because The Great Movie Ride was such an iconic Hollywood Studios (then MGM Studios) opening day attraction, and fans were devastated when it closed in 2017.
The Great Movie Ride took guests through some of the most memorable movie moments in history, including down the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz (1939), into the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), over the rooftops of London in a scene from Mary Poppins (1964), and more.
Related: Why Disney Fans Still Mourn the Loss of The Great Movie Ride
One of the more heart-pounding scenes takes place aboard the Nostromo, the doomed spaceship from the 1979 movie Alien. The scene showcases Sigourney Weaver’s character, Ellen Ripley, as she holds a flamethrower and prepares to attack the alien, killing her fellow crew members.
The guests get just a little too close for comfort to the alien, but it’s not the alien that is the most terrifying part of that scene.
No, that honor goes to the animatronic Ellen Ripley. The animatronic’s movements were jerky and looked absolutely nothing like Sigourney Weaver. It was a disappointing moment in an otherwise fantastic ride.
Related: Animatronic Taken From Disney Ride Being Sold Online for Thousands
The Great Movie Ride closed in 2017, and was replaced with Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. The new attraction opened on March 4, 2020, just days before the theme parks were forced to close down because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Best: Hondo Ohnaka – Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run – Disneyland/Hollywood Studios
In 2019, a brand-new land opened in both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort. The new land featured great shopping opportunities and mouthwatering dining options. Two new attractions were also added: Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance.
Related: Disney Unveiling New ‘Star Wars’ Themed Land This Year, Bigger Than Galaxy’s Edge
On Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, guests are tasked with piloting the Millennium Falcon and helping famed smuggler Hondo Ohnaka retrieve two containers of Coaxium.
Before the ride begins, guests encounter Hondo himself. His animatronic is so realistic it’s scary. His movements seem natural, and the detailing is unmatched.
Guests were stunned and impressed when Hondo Ohnaka was first introduced, and they are still blown away by the realism today.
Worst: Broken Yeti – Expedition Everest – Animal Kingdom
This one hurts our hearts a lot because the ride is incredible, and the Yeti had such potential. Now, it just serves as a reminder of what could have been.
Expedition Everest opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park in 2006, and become one of Disney’s most popular thrill rides. It remains one of the most popular rides at Walt Disney World Resort to this day.
On Expedition Everest, guests board a train and journey through the Himalayan Mountains to the base of Mount Everest. On their journey, they see how much the area’s residents respect and fear the famed Yeti.
Things take a drastic and dramatic turn when the train must stop because the track is torn up. Guests travel backward and, in a thrilling moment, are in complete darkness before the train comes to a stop.
They then hear a noise and see the Yeti’s shadow as it rips up more of the track. The train then plummets down a steep hill as guests try to escape the Yeti’s wrath.
Near the end of the attraction, guests encounter the terrifying Yeti and almost get captured in his claws.
When the attraction first opened, the Yeti actually moved and appeared that it would actually grab guests. However, the weight and the force of the movement began to crack the base of the animatronic. It put the entire attraction at risk and Disney was forced to pause the Yeti’s major movements and keep him largely stationary.
Unfortunately, the Yeti has been broken for more than a decade. Even worse, Joe Rohde has said that if Disney wants to “fix” the Yeti, they would have to take most of the attraction apart and then redesign it so the Yeti’s movement wouldn’t damage the structural integrity of the ride.
That means that it is highly unlikely the Yeti will move like he used to.
Best: Anna & Elsa – Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey – Tokyo Disney
Two of Disney’s most impressive and awe-inspiring animatronics are also two of its newest.
Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey is one of the newest attractions that opened in Tokyo DisneySea’s Fantasy Springs this past June. The ride is similar to Ariel’s Undersea Adventure at Disney California Adventure Park and Journey of the Little Mermaid at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
Grand Pabbi greets guests and tells them the story of Anna and Elsa. Then, guests are taken through a series of memories that tells the story of Disney’s hit 2013 movie, Frozen.
Related: Guests Swarm Disney Park From 2 a.m., Near-Impossible To Ride Attractions
Throughout the attraction, guests can sing along to some of the most popular songs from Frozen, including “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?”, “For The First Time In Forever”, “Love Is An Open Door”, and of course, “Let It Go.”
The climax of the attraction happens when Anna freezes completely after learning she will not be saved by Hans because he does not truly love her. Elsa rushes to her side, and it’s her sisterly true love that breaks the curse.
It is here that Disney’s animatronics do something truly stunning. Anna seamlessly transitions from completely frozen to human again. Guests are awed by this effect and still wonder how Disney was able to pull off such an incredible feat.
@disneyparks Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey (Olaf’s Version) ❄️☃️ #Disney #DisneyParks #TokyoDisneyResort #TokyoDisneySea #FantasySprings #Frozen #Olaf #Anna #Elsa
As we said before, over the years, Disney has created hundreds of animatronics and so many of them are iconic and absolutely amazing. And as technology improves, they just keep getting better. But, as you can see, not all of Disney’s creations are winners, and some of them are just downright terrible or falling apart.
We do know that Disney is working day and night to make every experience better for guests and more realistic than ever before!
What is your favorite Disney animatronic? What is your least favorite animatronic? Which ones do you think need the most work or should just be put in storage? Share your thoughts in the comments!