Disneyland's Evolution

For a while now I've been closely following some people who seem to work with Disneyland through twitter. Mostly to listen in on whats going on with the Disney parks since I've been wanting to work there. After a few posts I noticed something really new is going to take place soon. And it involves the Disney meet and greet characters as well as probably the musical shows. Here is some amateur footage of a testing event taking place:

Pretty amazing stuff. The second video shows Mickey even refers to a girl by name. Apparently couple of years ago they tested the characters for a musical show at World of Disney. It seems to work well and makes one wonder why they didn't continue on after that. Well here's the other video:

Think that's how far back this goes? Back then in the year 1994 Disney made a patent for the technology seen in the videos above. Crazy stuff no? Disney as it seems has been trying to perfect the technology for years.The picture to the right is the patent in question that was made in 1994. Click on the picture for a bigger view. It is not known if that the finished product is what we see in the videos above, but it is very well possible. And because of this may be why its taken so long to perfect it.I wonder with the voice altering technology being worn like a backpack inside the suit would get hot and make the wearer more uncomfortable. More questions could arise from this. It also shows that the Mickey Mouse voice actor isn’t working overtime. Or probably was to get all the words and noises in as well. Either way its a welcome start to the evolving Disneyland. The technology probably won’t be open to others since it is a patent and well it would be quite dangerous if you could speak someone else’s voice. Though it would be cool. Here’s an official talking Mickey from Disney themselves:

And their words on all of this evolution:

“Mickey, who usually saves his voice for shows and parades, talked with guests and interacted with them in never-before-seen ways! This was part of a process we call “playtesting” as it gives us a chance to develop new concepts with our guests long before they end up in the Parks. “We’re always looking for innovative ways to let guests interact with our beloved characters,” says Disney Imagineer and head of Advanced Development Scott Trowbridge. “And we have many more surprises up our sleeves.””

Can’t wait to talk to Scrooge McDuck on all his DuckTales adventures!

Edit: By the way, don't let the kids read this if they still believe the Disney characters aren't being moved around by people.