Good evening from Disney’s Contemporary Resort and the start of the 2023 Destination D23 event! At this year’s event, the premier exhibit focuses on 60 years of Audio-Animatronics technology in a partnership between Walt Disney Imagineering and the Walt Disney Archives. Here’s the official description before we take a look around!
60 Years of Disney’s Audio-Animatronics® Technology Exhibit
The Walt Disney Archives and Walt Disney Imagineering join creative forces for a special exhibition at Destination D23 to celebrate the history of Audio-Animatronics technology. This exclusive exhibit showcases the evolution of the art and its related technology through a diverse showcase of rare figural assets, photography, and vintage ephemera and documentation all in the name of celebrating key moments from Walt’s earliest inspirations and development to modern-day marvels.
There’s a lot to cover, even if the exhibit itself is rather small. In part one of our two-part coverage, we’re going to take a look at the history of Audio-Animatronics from the early Project Little Man work through to the current A-1000 series figures.
Project Little Man
The exhibit traces the origins of the concept of Audio-Animatronic figures to Project Little Man. Project Little Man was an early project to create humanoid figures.
Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
Famously, Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room in Disneyland was the first Disney attraction to feature Audio-Animatronics.
New York World’s Fair
The next significant moment in Audio-Animatronic history is Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the 1964-65 New York’s World Fair.
A-1 Figures in Pirates of the Caribbean
When Pirates of the Caribbean debuted in 1967 at Disneyland Park, it represented the first large-scale use of standardized A-1 series hydraulic Audio-Animatronic figures.
A-100 Figures at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
When Disney’s Hollywood Studios opened in 1989, Audio-Animatronics figures took a giant leap forward with the introduction of the A-100 series figure and the Wicked Witch of the West that moved more fluidly than ever before.
A-1000 Figures
A new era of Audio-Animatronic figures has been deployed in popular attractions such as Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. The A-1000 figures are defined by new electric functionality, replacing hydraulic functions. This new approach led to extremely realistic and lifelike movement.
Here’s a look at an electronic hand and programming board.
A-100 and A-1000 Figures on Display
There are two full-size humanoid figures on display in the exhibit, one A-100 figure and one A-1000 figure.
A-100 figure (1980s)
A-1000 figure (2019)
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!