Like all Disney Parks fans, we love Audio-Animatronics.
That’s why we created a must-read list of the 25 Best Audio-Animatronics on Earth, celebrating the essential role that Disney’s greatest invention plays in the parks today. Make no mistake – these complex, dynamic, sensational figures have been cutting-edge since their debut in 1963. And like all technological marvels, they don’t always work the way they’re supposed to…
For Imagineering fans, the only thing more amazing than watching one of Disney’s Animatronic marvels work is catching one when it doesn’t. Thanks to the age of the Internet, fans’ cameras are ready at every moment to capture the slightest crack in Disney’s shell of immersive show. That’s why we’re able to curate this countdown of 10 misfiring, malfunctioning Audio-Animatronics across Disney Parks, offering a fascinating glimpse into Disney’s rare failures and flubs…
10. Falling potato parts
Attraction: Toy Story Mania
Location: Disney California Adventure and Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Co-starring on our list of 10 Animatronics Outside of Disney Rides, Mr. Potato Head is a clever “carnival barker” that stands outside of Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney California Adventure (and in the queue of the ride in Orlando and Tokyo). Among Mr. Potato Head’s impressive Animatronic abilities are telling jokes, singing, and vaudevillian acts, but the figure can also be “live puppeted” by a Cast Member, allowing Mr. Potato Head to call out to queuing guests, ask and answer questions, and carry on conversations.
Video evidence: A real show-stopping feature of the figure is its ability to reach up, grab his own ear, remove it from its head, and then put it back like a real Mr. Potato Head toy. Naturally, that complex process requires quite a bit of precision, and quite a few videos have captured Mr. Potato Head missing the mark on reinserting the ear. The bamboozled Animatronic then lazily drops the ear on the ground and stalls until a Cast Member can save the day by setting out a step ladder and manually re-inserting the ear. It’s a fun (and surprisingly frequent) way for fans to see an Animatronic malfunction in a predictable and easy-to-fix way.
9. Frozen Frozen figures
Attraction: Frozen Ever After
Location: Epcot
Epcot fans weren’t too happy when the Lost Legend: Maelstrom was officially sunk in favor of Disney’s behemoth animated feature, Frozen. Admittedly an odd cartoon fit for the otherwise cultural World Showcase, the replacement attraction is nonetheless spectacular enough to earn its own in-depth feature in our series of world-class attractions – Modern Marvels: Frozen Ever After.
One of the rides most celebrated aspects must be its cast of Audio-Animatronic characters – lifelike enough to make guests believe the real Elsa and Anna had indeed stepped directly out of the film and into three dimensions! Brought to life via interior-projected faces, these ultra-fluid figures are capable of incredible movement and realism…
Video evidence: Which, of course, also makes them subject to serious downtime. Countless videos across YouTube show various figures throughout the ride slumped or lifeless, frozen in place, or with their faces “off” or (worse) out-of-sync. In fact, Disney has seemingly had trouble keeping the reluctant E-Ticket consistently presentable, leading to some record-breaking downtime.
But when the ride emergency stops, designers cleverly built in a B-Mode for these expressive Animatronics. For example, when the ride’s Norwegian Viking ships stall out inside Elsa’s ice palace during the ride’s climactic musical encounter with Elsa, the queen’s audio track is replaced with an instrumental, her face reverts to a simple smile, and she knowingly waves to riders waiting patiently below her ice balcony – an adorable solution for when the signature figure freezes.
8. Paused paws
Attraction: Splash Mountain
Location: Disneyland
When Splash Mountain opened at Disneyland in 1989, almost all of its 103 Audio-Animatronics figures were already 15 years old. They’d simply been relocated from the closed “America Sings” show in Tomorrowland’s Carousel Theater, dressed in new clothes, and reprogrammed to sing along to Song of the South tunes like “How Do You Do?”, “Everybody’s Got a Laughing Place,” and of course, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.” And for being nearly 50 years old today, the figures work surprisingly well most of the time.
However, it’s probably true that the ride hasn’t been functioning at 100% since… well… 1989. Part of that is allegedly a side-effect of California’s strict Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) limiting access to the ride’s many figures and lighting rigs without adequate fall protection and access scaffolds, which can only be installed during extended annual downtime. While Splash Mountain may sparkle for a few weeks after those refurbishments, lights and Animatronics tend to begin to flicker out soon after. That’s why Disneyland’s ride in particular is often noted for how dark and cavernous it can feel.
Video Evidence: While some of the ride’s more complex figures are infamous for their downtime (even disappearing for months at a time), on some occasions – like in the video above – the entire show comes to a screeching halt, creating… well… a pretty awkward experience for riders. Naturally, a full show stop like this would trigger the ride’s closure until a system reset, but cycling the logs through the frozen ride is still the best way to get guests through.
7. John dabs
Attraction: Carousel of Progress
Location: Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom’s Modern Marvel: Carousel of Progress has always had a special place in the hearts of Disney World fans. Maybe it’s because Walt proclaimed the attraction his personal favorite and said it should never stop operating. Maybe it’s because Carousel of Progress is said to be the longest running stage show, with the most performances, in the history of American theater. That should be no surprise given that there are essentially four showings of the 21-minute presentation occurring simultaneously from morning to night from roughly 1964 to today. And given that, it’s understandable that once in a while, the show would suffer from an mechanical mishap or two.
One common cause of many of the show’s issues tends to be guests who decide – midway through – they’d like to step out. The only problem is that Carousel of Progress is technically a ride, so deciding to stand up and walk out halfway through to head for an exit is something like deciding to step off the Great Movie Ride during one of its show stops – obviously, a no-no. When sensors are tripped, the Carousel refuses to rotate, meaning guests must sit through the same scene again (and potentially again), causing even more guests to decide to leave, as frenzied Cast Members try to convince guests that they must remain seated for the duration of the show.
Video evidence: But when one of Carousel’s animatronics does fail to perform, it can be an awkward moment for all involved. Especially when it’s John – the father of the family and the narrator of each scene – who refuses to cooperate. In one particularly memorable malfunction from 2013, guests huddling inside the Carousel Theater for shelter from Tropical Storm Andrea were presented with a particularly muddled showing with malfunctioning audio, missed show cues, and John hilariously “inventing” the popular 2010s dance move the “Dab” way back in the 1920s.
6. Ursula loses her head
Attraction: Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid
Location: Magic Kingdom
Imagineering fans have plenty of opinions about the two Little Mermaid dark rides operating at Disney California Adventure and Magic Kingdom. Subject to numerous revisions since their respective openings in 2011 and 2012, the rides have been criticized for their style (initially lit by incandescent light, then refurbished to the more traditional blacklight style) and their substance (“book report” rides carrying guests through a 3-minute summary of the story they already know, and as mere “spectators” rather than being part of the tale). But one of their chief criticisms must be the ride’s awkward Audio-Animatronics. Particularly, Ariel – who Imagineers just can’t seem to translate well to three dimensions without entering uncomfortable “Uncanny Valley” territory (i.e. don’t zoom into this official Disney photo after dark).
The one unanimously celebrated element of the attraction has to be the Audio-Animatronics figure of Ursula, the Sea Witch. Over 7-feet tall and 12-feet wide, Ursula is one of the most imposing, surreal figures Disney’s ever engineered. Capable of tremendous “squash” and “stretch,” the figure can bounce, sing, and emote just like the octopod, blue-eye-shadowed diva. Until…
Video evidence: On Sunday, January 28 2018, Ursula proved we should never underestimate the importance of body language when her head… well… fell off. The peculiar circumstances surrounding the situation will probably never been entirely understood, but as her head hung from her torso (still singing and emoting, we should note), guests on the ride were understandably horrified. Naturally, the ride was quickly closed and reopened soon after with calmer heads prevailing.
As if the situation weren’t astounding enough, it happened the same day as another unexpected Animatronic beheading…