Friday, August 29, 2008

A Tale of Three Poohs

I am going to try to keep the commentary to a minimum today and let the following photos speak for themselves. These photos are of the exact same scene from three different versions of the same ride. (See my post from yesterday for shots of the attraction's facade and queue in Tokyo.)


Anaheim: Painted plywood set. Limited-motion fiberglass Pooh figure.



Orlando: More painted plywood. Same limited-motion Pooh figure as Anaheim.


Tokyo: FULLY audio-animatronic Pooh.....talks, turns head, moves arms, raises eyebrows, winks and blinks.....covered with a "fur" coat. The surrounding set is FULLY three-dimensional....the entire room! Oh, and there is the scent of honey in the air.

I know what you are thinking and I've asked the same question. The answer is money.

Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone! Be safe!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's see...
Six Flags-
Six Flags-
Disney!

Thank you for the pictures.

TokyoMagic! said...

Anonymous, you are welcome...thank you! And I'm right there with you on the Six Flags remark!

Major Pepperidge said...

Wowee, did we ever get screwed!! So dumb, once the hard work has been done for Tokyo, is it really so much more expensive to duplicate it for another park?

Such a shame.

TokyoMagic! said...

I agree, Major. Once they have done the research and development on the new ride system and the blueprints are completed (all at Tokyo's expense) would it really cost that much just to build an exact copy of it in another park? I guess for Disney, the answer is "yes", otherwise Anaheim would have gotten the same version since Tokyo's was built first.

The Viewliner Limited said...

Happy Thanksgiving... wishing all the best for you and your family, Richard.

Ron Schneider said...

1) (Even considering that it was already fully designed) How much does it COST to BUILD a "FULLY audio-animatronic Pooh... talks, turns head, moves arms, raises eyebrows, winks and blinks... covered with a "fur" coat" versus a relatively static fiberglass figure?

2) How much does it COST to MAINTAIN such a figure versus a relatively static fiberglass figure? (Ask the folks who have to pay to maintain the Yeti... )

3) When shoe-horning a new attraction (Pooh) into a pre-established and limited show space (DL's Grizzly Hall & WDW's Toad Hall) how much space can you afford to give over to depicting a wall of honey? (Compare the space used between these and Tokyo... )

A couple considerations real Imagineers have to deal with that seldom concern online Disney 'critics'...

...But It Wasn't Always That Way! said...

This comparison is astounding. What a shame. What can we do to bring back this kind of innovation to Anaheim?? Beg?!