Let’s face it – the overlap of theme park fans and animatronic fans is practically two circles, perfectly overlapped. And why not? For nearly as long as Disney Parks have existed, so have Audio Animatronics – Disney’s patented name for programmable figures whose motion is synchronized to audio (versus simpler, mechanical figures that merely go through mechanical, repeating motion).
Here at Park Lore, we dove deep into our much-shared list of the 25 Best Audio-Animatronics on Earth (as well as Member-exclusive Extra Feature side quests into animatronics that have broken right in front of guests, animatronics you can only find in ride queues, and animatronics that aren’t inside rides at all). We’ve also chronicled the in-depth stories of Lost Legends – industry-shaking attractions that are no longer around. So it simply made sense to find the overlap. Today, we’ll highlight just a few key figures of the countless animatronics that have been lost to time… and why some were for good reason.