Credit: Inside The MagicWhen Walt Disney made his dreams a reality and created Disneyland, he wanted to build a theme park that was unlike anything anyone had experienced before. He wanted guests to ride attractions with never-before-seen concepts.
In fact, it was Walt Disney and Imagineers who first created the audio-animatronics that we love today. Walt was always focused on looking forward and dreaming of what could be, and his Imagineers have been keeping that dream alive ever since.
Over the years, Disney Imagineers have created some truly memorable attractions and animatronics. For example, they created a Spider-Man who actually flips through the air in Disneyland’s Avengers Campus. They created stunningly lifelike Elsa and Anna animatronics for Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey at Tokyo DisneySea.
Related: Disney Parks’ BEST and WORST Animatronics!
However, for all that Imagineers have given guests recently, it seems that there is a lot that has been showcased and bragged about but has never actually come to fruition.
Disney influencer Five Fires shared images of projects that Disney had shown guests, making them believe that these things would soon be seen in the parks. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, they never happened, and Disney stopped talking about them shortly after.
While some people pointed out that the animatronics and ideas were just ideas created by Disney’s research and development team, others called Disney out for creating such amazing tech as “stunts for investors,” not things they were actually planning on doing.
Everyone jumping on this tweet but he is 100% correct. A lot of these showboat pieces are stunts for investors to show Disney is a tech company.
The tech does get cycled and used maybe eventually but he is right. These were stunts. Especially Groot.
Everyone jumping on this tweet but he is 100% correct. A lot of these showboat pieces are stunts for investors to show Disney is a tech company.
The tech does get cycled and used maybe eventually but he is right. These were stunts. Especially Groot. https://t.co/bxy6VPf2qH
— Disney Dan Becker (@DisneyDan) December 9, 2024
Related: Walt Disney’s Granddaughter “Disgusted, Angered” by Company’s Announcement
Here are just some of the incredible creations Disney teased and then shelved.
Dancing Groot
Back in 2021, Disney invited tech companies and investors to check out the lifelike teen Groot they had brought to life. Groot looked so real and even danced. People couldn’t believe what they saw, and guests got really excited about the fact that they might soon be able to actually see Groot walking around the theme parks and dancing.
TechCrunch revealed that Disney had first started working on the interactive Groot in 2018, as they wanted to “bring smaller characters to life at their actual scale.”
Related: Disney Goes All In, ‘Zootopia 2,’ Doubles Down on Old Franchises
Skating Judy Hopps
In December 2023, the new Zootopia (2016) land opened at Shanghai Disneyland. Fans were blown away by the attention to detail and how Imagineers were able to bring the animated world to life. However, there was one thing many were hoping for but didn’t get — Judy Hopps on roller skates.
In March of that year, at the annual South x Southwest conference, Disney took center stage and showcased a Judy Hopps animatronic that actually moved on roller skates. It was absolutely unbelievable, and attendees praised Disney once again for raising the bar. Unfortunately, that bar has disappeared, along with the roller-skating Judy Hopps.
Interactive Tinker Bell
Also at South x Southwest in 2023, Disney debuted an interactive Tinkerbell experience. A small Tinkerbell was in her lamp, she then flew around and became life-size in an interactive mirror. This Tinker Bell could address guests by name and have full conversations with them. However, after the playtest at SXSW, Disney never brought the concept up again.
Walking Duke Weaselton
When Zootopia Land opened in Shanghai, all the Disney bigwigs were in attendance. This included Disney Park Chairman Josh D’Amaro. During the celebrations, D’Amaro introduced an excited crowd to one of the coolest animatronics they had ever seen — Duke Weaselton.
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But this Duke Weaselton was unlike anything we had seen before. Duke walked out onto the stage with his food cart, climbed onto the cart, and interacted with D’Amaro. But just like Judy Hopps, Tinkerbell, and Groot, Duke Weaselton came and went, and we don’t know if we will ever see him in the theme parks.
Some people pointed out that Disney is constantly developing projects that never see the light of day. They create new things to spark excitement for investors, sometimes without the intention of bringing them to guests.
Others accused Disney of patent hoarding, creating things like Dancing Groot so they could get the patent for it. That means that no other company can create something similar without violating Disney’s patent.
Of course, since Disney has already created these animatronics, it is possible that they could find their way into the theme parks sometime in the future. It’s hard to think that Disney Imagineers would be okay putting so much time and effort into these projects, knowing that they will be shelved and never actually be utilized.
Do you think Disney promises too much and doesn’t deliver enough? Should they get guests excited with new animatronics and new technology if they don’t intend on actually bringing it to the theme parks? Share your thoughts in the comments!