DISNEY DAN What’s going on, Disney fans? It’s Disney Dan here with another great episode of… Wait a minute…how did I get on the Defunctland YouTube channel?
(Sound of a lightswitch flicking as the YouTube layout shifts from black to white.)
KEVIN Disney Dan? What are you doing here? Wait…are you doing a Distory episode on my channel?
DAN No! N-No. I didn’t mean to be…
KEVIN That’s great! Your character videos get tons of views. I’m in.
DAN I’m not sure if that’s…
KEVIN I have an even better idea. Let’s do a top five video. People love those.
DAN Really? Isn’t that kind of clickbaity?
KEVIN No, I think we’re fine.
DAN Oh…okay. Let’s do it!
(‘Defunctland Presents…Kevin and Disney Dan’s Selling Out Clickbait-Palooza 2017 [Or Episode 20: The Extinct Walk-Around Characters]
No one suggested this but we’re doing it anyway’) --- KEVIN There have been plenty of walk-around characters that have roamed Disney parks throughout the years. Some were inspired by attractions, films…and sometimes, nothing. Unfortunately, some of these characters have been retired. And here are our top five!
#5. Lucky the Dinosaur and Val the Velociraptor. Lucky the Dinosaur is an eight-foot-tall green segnosaurus that premiered at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles on August 28th, 2003. Lucky is eight feet tall, and was Disney’s first free-roaming animatronic character. Lucky pulls a flower-covered cart that houses his computer and battery. He is led by a Cast Member dressed as Chandler the Dinosaur Handler. After his premiere, Lucky roamed Disney’s California Adventure Park until the summer of 2005, when he was moved to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World. After this short stint, he was moved to Hong Kong Disneyland in the fall of that same year. In August 2015, Lucky took residency at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he can be seen on the Backstage Magic Tour.
Val the Velociraptor is another dinosaur found at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This was not an animatronic, but was instead puppeteered by a Cast Member. Val also has a caretaker, named Professor Woodson, who has been nurturing her since birth. Val roamed from April 19th to May 3rd, 2014, and was removed most likely due to the costume’s poor design. (‘I wonder where the cast member is…’) --- DAN #4. Minnie Moo On a cool, crisp morning in 1984, a miraculous cow was born unto this world: the holy heifer herself, Minnie Moo. Born on a small dairy farm in Edgerton, Minnesota to the Brockberg family, the cow wasn’t the best milk producer and was close to being put on the chopping block several times, but inevitably, the family always saw something special in her iconic markings that they couldn’t let her go. The Brockbergs’ niece began writing letters to Disneyland and Disney World in 1988 with photos of the cow; and two years later, in 1990, the Disney Corporation purchased the cow for an undisclosed amount. (‘Excuse the lack of visuals, this is as exciting as a cow can get.’)
KEVIN Dan, does this really count as a walk-around character?
DAN Well…she certainly would walk around, ‘cause she’s alive and has legs…and she was certainly a character. I mean, look at how sassy she’s eating that hay.
Her first home on the Disney property was at the Magic Kingdom’s now long-defunct Mickey’s Starland area in the Grandma Duck’s Petting Farm. Six years later, when the Petting Farm was demolished to make room for the Barnstormer, Minnie was relocated to the petting zoo at Fort Wilderness. Minnie lived on property for ten years as a fan favorite and a real marvel to behold for diehard Disney fans. At the ripe old age of fifteen, she finally passed away in 2001 of natural causes. --- KEVIN #3. The Muppets
In August of 1989, Michael Eisner and Jim Henson announced a potential deal to merge the Jim Henson Company with Disney. This was just months after Disney-MGM Studios opened to the public. Thinking that this deal would be solidified, Henson worked with Disney and Eisner to integrate his beloved Muppet characters into Disney’s theme parks - and what better place to put them but the brand new park dedicated to the entertainment industry? Henson began working on a number of projects with Disney parks. He would not be able to fully complete some of these, as he would pass away on May 16th, 1990. These projects included Muppet*Vision 3-D, which Henson did not finish production on and would eventually open in Disney-MGM on May 16th, 1991, exactly one year after his death.
Henson was able to completely finish the television film, The Muppets at Walt Disney World, that saw the Muppets traveling to all three parks and even running into Michael Eisner. --- (Outtakes from The Muppets at Walt Disney World. Fozzie and Ma Bear are sitting with Eisner in the lobby of the Grand Floridian.)
FOZZIE Bears don’t usually, but I appreciate this, Mr. Eisner.
MA This is such a beautiful room.
FOZZIE Yes. It’s very nice.
EISNER Well, thanks. I love it, too.
FOZZIE Oh… (looks toward the camera)
EISNER Welcome, everyone. I’m in the lobby of the Gland Floridi - I’m sorry. Gland. Gland Floridian. --- (Take two.)
FOZZIE Well, they could change the name. Could I request a room with a cave? ‘Cause I’m used to that.
EISNER (chuckles)
MA I’d like to hibernate here.
FOZZIE Oh.
EISNER Welcome, everyone. I’m in the lobby of the Gwand - Gland - Grand. The Grand! The Grand. (punches the table) --- (Take three.)
FOZZIE This is a wonderful hotel. Thank you for letting us stay here.
EISNER I’m so happy to have you here.
MA Such a beautiful hotel.
FOZZIE Well, bears don’t usually get to get warm places like this.
EISNER Thanks a lot. It’s great.
FOZZIE Oh!
EISNER Welcome, everyone. I’m in the lobby of the Grand Floridian re - Ugh.
FOZZIE Okay, who else can we get?
EISNER (laughs) --- KEVIN This special would air days before Henson would pass. Henson and company also did a variety of other promotional materials for the Muppets’ Disney debut. But what many do not realize is that the Muppets also existed as walk-around characters at the park. A little over a week after Henson’s death, on May 25th, 1990, a stage show featuring these walk-around characters entitled ‘Here Come the Muppets’ premiered at Disney-MGM. --- (1990 ad for Disney-MGM Studios. A limo drives into the park.)
ANNOUNCER What a thrill! The star who has all of Tinseltown green with envy!
(Mickey opens the passenger door. Kermit and Miss Piggy step out.)
KERMIT We’re here!
PIGGY Hi! Mwah!
(A vintage yellow car rear ends the limo.)
PIGGY Ahh!
(Fozzie and the Electric Mayhem pile out.)
ANNOUNCER The Muppets have arrived at Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park!
(Gonzo accepts a balloon from a guest and promptly floats away. Meanwhile, the other Muppets have their fun among the guests.)
Meet Kermit, Fozzie Bear…
PIGGY Ahem.
ANNOUNCER Uhh, Miss Piggy…
(Animal tries to eat a paparazzo’s camera.)
And all of your Muppet favorites as they come to permanently leave their mark on the spectacular world of glitz and glamour!
(Floyd Pepper leaves his handprints in front of the Chinese Theater; Kermit also tries, but gets stuck in the cement. Fozzie startles a waiter, making him drop his tray of food.)
KERMIT Hey, everybody! It’s time to do the show!
(The Muppets pile into the theater.)
PIGGY Starring moi!
ANNOUNCER Here Come the Muppets, only at Disney-MGM Studios theme park!
(Animal takes a bite out of the Disney-MGM Studios logo.) --- KEVIN This featured some prerecorded video elements as well as prerecorded dialogue for the characters. The queue of the show had a video featuring Rowlf the Dog and Sam the Eagle. The show itself had a fairly standard plot, in which Kermit had to get the Muppets together and on stage for the show. This show lasted until September 2nd, 1991, when it was replaced by another stage show, Voyage of the Little Mermaid.
A week after its closure, on September 16th, 1991, a second show featuring the walk-around Muppets would premiere near Muppet*Vision 3-D. This was called ‘Muppets on Location: Days of Swine and Roses.’ There was no plot to the show other than the Muppets sort of shooting a movie with a little audience participation, and it just featured the Muppets singing some of their old songs and doing covers of others. This lasted until 1994.
After Jim Henson’s death, the Disney-Muppet merger fell through, canceling plans for other Muppet attractions. The Muppet walk-around characters slowly disappeared from MGM (‘A Kermit walk-around also had a short stint in a parade in 2002.’), but would reappear in the parks in the form of Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in Muppets Mobile Lab, as part of the Living Character initiative. These high-tech Audio-Animatronic characters still infrequently roam the parks, but the old full-sized walk-around characters can no longer be found. (‘There is also a new show at the Magic Kingdom with puppet versions of the Muppets, entitled “The Muppets Present…Great Moments in American History.”’) --- DAN #2. Dreamfinder and Figment Less than a year after the futuristic EPCOT park opened, a fun little attraction featuring a mischievous purple dragon and his magical bearded creator debuted at the Imagination Pavilion in Future World. The new featured attraction, Journey into Imagination, took guests into the wild and fantastic world of creativity and wonder alongside the Dreamfinder and his tiny companion, Figment.
Outside the Imagination Pavilion, in the garden of jumping fountains and unique hedges, you might occasionally run into the Dreamfinder himself, carrying around Figment. The live face actor would wear the ornate Dreamfinder outfit with matching top hat and oversized beard and puppeteer a life-sized Figment puppet nestled under a false arm. The Dreamfinder meet-and-greet was available in EPCOT park from the opening of Journey into Imagination up until 1998, when the character and puppet were ultimately retired to make way for the new renovation of the attraction into the much-despised Journey into YOUR Imagination.
The character was replaced by a full-sized costumed Figment that would roam around outside the attraction to meet guests, which, too, has unfortunately been retired and is no longer seen in the parks.
The Dreamfinder still holds a special place in many Disney fans’ hearts as a real symbol of their childhood and memories of their first visits to the resort in the ‘80s and ‘90s. One of the original Dreamfinder cast members has even authored a book detailing some of the favorite stories and experiences he had while working as the legendary weaver of imagination…which Kevin just featured on an awesome podcast episode of Defunctland, so check that out. (‘Disney Dan Shameless Plug’) --- KEVIN #1. Push the Talking Trash Can Push is a motorized trash can that began roaming Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom in the February of 1995. It is operated by a puppeteer in normal clothing standing about twenty feet from the guests, with a transmitter hidden in a gym bag and a microphone held at the mouth. The microphone also has a high-pitched modulator that changes the puppeteer’s voice as he speaks.
The technology used in Push would lead to other animatronic walk-around characters such as the aforementioned Lucky the Dinosaur and Muppets Mobile Lab. Push also has a cousin, Pipa, who is a recycling bin that encourages recycling in Animal Kingdom at Rafiki’s Planet Watch.
The most technologically advanced aspect of Push might have been the fact that he was also a functioning trash can should the guest try and throw something away in him. Push was also known for his silly antics when interacting with guests, including flirting, trying on hats and glasses, and even campaigning to be the mayor of Tomorrowland.
Despite campaigns to save him, Push was retired at the Magic Kingdom in February of 2014 after contract negotiations with its original designer fell through. --- So there you have it: our top five defunct walk-around characters. (‘Sorry, Power Rangers fans…’) Special thanks to Disney Dan, and don’t forget to go check out his channel if you haven’t already. Who knows? I might be on there in the near future.
DAN Kevin, we’ve talked about this. I’m not doing an Evolution of Walk-Around Tigger (nearly cracks up) just so you can talk about that court case.
KEVIN I will find a platform to talk about that court case, so help me Go -