Disney to Create Walking Animatronic Dinosaur

nakhla writes "I came across this article discussing Disney's plans to create an animatronic dinosaur that can roam free through it's Disney's California Adventure park. Disney's Imagineering unit has been working on the technology for several years now. While short on technical details, the article does mention that it will be able to interact with guests in numerous ways. Hopefully it won't go berzerk like the animatronic characters in that old Simpsons episode!" No, hopefully it will go berzerk!

Disney is the best

[HBPiper]

Nobody exploits technology to hoover money out of your wallet any better than the Mouse.

Future uses?

[Queelix]

Hopefully they will finally get around to re-animating uncle Walt.

this is wrong!

[SpiritC]

after what happened in Jurassic Park and they still wanna try it

Best to put them on an island...

[billmaly]

Then let them tear Jeff Goldblum to pieces. Yeah, that'd be cool.

They also...

[craenor]

Need to make some Animatronic Japanese tourists to run in front of it screaming!

I can see it now

[robbyjo]

That's the magic," Sklar said. "When people see, hear and touch this character, it will be a real groundbreaking experience."

The character doesn't talk, but can respond with movements. Some of its potential antics are eating popcorn, "stealing" a guest's hat and sneezing. [...]

Disney chose a dinosaur because children are so fascinated with them, Sklar said, plus "it's a large enough character to get their attention."

Some visitors will scream "THIEF!!" Others will scream "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! IT'S GODZILLA!"

It is indeed a groundbreaking experience. Go Disney go! Scatter thine visitors... :-)

Piledriver Footfalls

[limekiller4]

What would be really sweet is if they could hook up some really enormous piledriver-like devices all over the park and synchronize them falling with the steps of the anamatron. That way it would have that hyper-realistic whole-earth-shuddering effect during each footfall.

Almost seems unneeded

[DjMd]

As the simpsons say (prof frink)

"You've got to listen to me. Elementary chaos theory tells us that all robots will eventually turn against their masters and run amok in an orgy of blood and the kicking and the biting with the metal teeth and the hurting and shoving."

'How much time do we have professor?'
"Well according to my calculations, the robots won't go berserk for at least 24 hours."
(The robots go berserk.)
"Oh, I forgot to er, carry the one."

Please don't moddd me down, Niiiice Laaadyy!

Alternative Headline

[The Kow]

Strom Thurmond to be fitted with prosthetic walking aids.

Translation...

[BJH]

An as-yet unnamed dinosaur (Tyrannosaurus, of course - is there any other kind?) will begin roaming (rampaging) through a designated area ("Bloodbath Town") of either California Adventure or Disneyland this spring, said Marty Sklar, vice chairman of Imagineering. This will be the first test of untethered (unfettered) Audio-Animatronics and the next phase in Imagineering's quest to increase interaction (exterminate) with visitors.

Disney created Audio-Animatronic figures and has used them in attractions since 1963, beginning with birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room (and they all look like what they really are - stupid moving dolls). But this will be the first one that's not fixed to a spot (cause the engineers got sick of doing that boring shit). An unseen operator (HAHAHA!! You will NEVER catch ME!!!) will guide the dinosaur's movements, allowing it to respond (chase) to guests (and eat them).

"That's the magic," Sklar said. "When people see, hear and touch (and get fragged by) this character, it will be a real groundbreaking experience (not to mention a real blast for the guys who get to run it and stomp on all those drooling rugrats who infest the park)."

The character doesn't talk (hey, six-inch teeth - who needs to talk? Just smile!), but can respond with movements ("slam jaws together over lawyer's head"... oops, wrong movie). Some of its potential antics are eating popcorn (sorry, I meant "people"), "stealing" a guest's hat (and the head under it) and sneezing (gotta get the blood of its snout somehow, right?).

Imagineers have long dreamed about walking Animatronics, but it took technology a while to catch up with their creative minds (yeah, getting them to walk and chew at the same time is a bitch).

Head for cover!

[LittleGuy]

Especially when it roams around the park, bonking people over the head with blunt objects and yelling, "Not the Mama!"

My movie reference is better than yours

[Taos]

The first Animatronic figures, called A-4s, could turn and open their mouths to be synchronized with music. The next phase, called A-100s....

Wait until those model numbers reach T-100, then we'll need to call in Linda Hamilton to clean up the mess.

Rich

Re:I can see it now

[DuckDuckBOOM!]

Some of its potential antics are eating popcorn, "stealing" a guest's hat and sneezing...

...and blowing animatronic snot over everyone in the area...kewl...

"It's coming straight for us!!" *BAM!*

[Picass0]

The world's most expensive Turok level!!!

Disney's latest hybrid: West Park

[catdevnull]

OK, mix in the ingredients:

• Jurassic Park
• West World
• Terminator
• Microsoft Software

...a large lizard knocks on your door and asks, "Are you Scott McNealy [sun.com]?
in a voice that sounds destinctly like Yul Brynner. [thegoldenyears.org]. You answer "no" and the lizard says, "I'm going to eat you, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

...somebody else finish this: I think we know where it's going.

Oh no...

[ByteHog]

Please oh please don't color it purple and make it walk around singing.. I would be forced to defend myself with a large baseball bat.

Hmm... actually that might be fun..

Re:I can see it now

[Mysticalfruit]

"it's a large enough character to get their attention." -- Or scare the shit right out of them...

Other potential antics include:
1. Knocking the living shit out of obnoxous visitors
2. "Tip over and land on fat guy mode" This is where the dinosaur pretends to have a mechanical glitch and falls towards the fat guy with the 64oz big gulp...
3. "popcorn ball butt cannon" since it's been eating all that popcorn, it's got ammo!

Disney to Copyright Dinosaurs

[AltImage]

Disney is now lobbying to retroactively extend copyright laws to cover the dinosaurs. Although dinosaurs have fallen into the public domain, Disney believes that their new copyright on them will lead to greater innovation in the field of reptiles. After all, who else is creating Dinosaurs(TM) any more?

An insider at Disney has leaked the fact that the Dinosaurs(TM) are part of a copyright army that will be used to enforce Disney's intellectual property claims. Lawerence Lessig beware...if you see a Dinoasur(TM)...run!

Re:Future uses?

[Greyfox]

The poor bastard would never survive the realization of what his empire has become. Either that or he'd become dictator of Earth. Actually the second one would be kinda cool. A robotic undead evil dictator would be a lot more interesting than our current options. He'd probably rearchitect the entire world to be just like Disneyland. A happy little society where non-conformists and troublemakers are quietly and efficiently ejected...

Scary

[The-Perl-CD-Bookshel]

I had a very scary experience at Disney in California a few years ago. I went on the "It's a Small World" Ride and the music didn't work. As if the ride doesn't already look like a shooting range when the music is on. You could hear the gears turning, the crazy robotic gestures and the boat bumping the underwater rails. It was like disney hell.

Another side note however, I would think that they could design this robot to be harmless. Example: give it no sharp edges, make the dino. shuffle its feet instead of taking big steps. If Disney makes this Dino. it is going to be the NERF BALL equivelant of the dinosaur world.