chartle
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2008
Disney has a patent on a "heads up" display actuated by a mouth controlled mouse. The patent says it can be used in character outfits. So it is the general consensus that that is how it is done. However, if you look on youtube, you can find videos of Talking Mickey at Disneyland, and it seems he is actually responding, without canned phrases.
There have been different versions of Talking Mickey through the years besides Lip Sync Mickey in the Shows.
At first It was "Very Special Occasion" Mickey where there was a very special singular person backstage "Helping" the Mickey on stage and Mickey was 100% ad lib conversational. There have been only a few people over the years that can fill this backstage role. There is only one or 2 of these special people at one time in the world.
Then they tried "Uncanny Valley" Mickey where the backstage helper didn't have to be that very special person and anyone with good computer skills and fast reflexes could provide the various canned phases to Mickey. Some time if the guess asked something out of the ordinary that fell out of the "How are you?" "Lets take a picture" interaction the conversation flow just stopped and Mickey sort of looked liked he froze with an expressionless face with the freind inside doing his or her best to not look weird.
then came came "Skit" Mickey. Last I heard he did a magic trick for groups of guests where the he looks interactive and there is still a helper backstage.
As for cost savings i can see 2 reasons. One it eliminates the backstage helper, but more importantly is the current interaction longer than it was before he talked?
If they can shorten the interaction they can move more people through and use less Friends of Mickey at one time if you know what I mean.