![]() ![]() Related: Why 'Impressions de France' is the best movie ever made for a theme park Like a truck transforming into Optimus Prime, an animatronic show theater must transform into a living, giving performance, as well. The walls and the ceiling, heck, even the chairs and the floors must come to life. And the action should not be limited to identifiable characters. If the animatronic show ever returns as a theme park staple, it will have to employ the Tiki Room's template - a small, immersive theater where visitors can feel engaged with the performers. The Tiki Room relies on its animatronics alone. Expedition Everest's Yeti awed riders of the Animal Kingdom roller coaster, but how important is that animatronic to the overall experience of that attraction, really, given that Disney continue to operate the ride even though the Yeti hasn't worked properly for years? The American Adventure at Epcot raises a lump in my throat every time, but much of its power derives from its effective use of film, in addition to its animatronics. Other attractions have used animatronics to impressive effect, as well. And when the show's run too long between needed maintenance breaks, too much of the charming detail in sound and motion is lost. Now, "best" does not mean "perfect." The cliched ethnic accents of the four host birds grate on 21st-century ears. The rhythm quickens and the tempo swells to a thunderous climax, before a gentle rain washes the moment away, refreshing the scene for a winsome finale. The Sherman Brothers' songs delight, as well - pleasing you with a sweet bite of musical sugar. More than a few visitors have leaned against the corner totems, only to be startled when they come to life. Children can get up, then dance, in front of the center fountain. ![]() You sit immersed in a garden of singing flowers, talking birds and chanting totems. An animatronic show, to be most effective, must play in an intimate theater, where the characters and other animatronics work not too far from arms' reach.Īlone among animatronic shows, the Tiki Room satisfies that need. But that advantage diminishes, then disappears, with distance. Animatronics exist is real space, however. Even 3D CGI images exist only in the mind's eye, a trick of optics that create the illusion of substance. (Remember the scene in Mary Poppins where Mary sings to the bird outside the Banks' window?) Advances in computer-generated imagery have rendered the animatronic almost extinct as a movie effect, and CGI-driven 4-D movies have crowded animatronic shows from theme parks, too.īut animatronics retain one great advantage over CGI - tactility. Walt Disney developed Audio-Animatronic not simply as a theme park attraction, but as a film special effect. I sold my nine-year-old son on the Tiki Room be telling him that the Tiki Room is to a theater what the Transformers are to cars and trucks - it makes an inanimate object come alive. The Tiki Room shows happens all around you, with birds, flowers and totems animating the ceiling and the walls. There's no stage upon which the action is trapped. Unlike later animatronic shows such as the Country Bear Jamboree and the Hall of Presidents, the Tiki Room plays in an intimate, and truly immersive, theater. ![]()
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