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Disney Theme Park Characters

Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 6:47 pm
by Neal
What are all the characters created for Disney theme parks - meaning they never appeared in a Disney movie/TV Show first - they were created specifically for the parks.

They can either be for new stories/rides (as in, their 'universe' isn't connected to a Disney TV show/film) or they are created as tie-ins to existing franchises.

Here's three examples:

New (not based of existing show/film):

Figment
The Yeti

Tie-in (based off existing show/film):

Marty Wazowski

...what other characters have been created specifically for the theme parks?

Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:18 pm
by Escapay
Neal wrote:What are all the characters created for Disney theme parks - meaning they never appeared in a Disney movie/TV Show first - they were created specifically for the parks.

They can either be for new stories/rides (as in, their 'universe' isn't connected to a Disney TV show/film) or they are created as tie-ins to existing franchises.

Here's three examples:

New (not based of existing show/film):

Figment
The Yeti

Tie-in (based off existing show/film):

Marty Wazowski

...what other characters have been created specifically for the theme parks?
Off the top of my head...

Various pirates and other characters in "Pirates of the Caribbean", notably the redhead, the guy with the pigs, the guy in the well, etc.

Various ghosts in "The Haunted Mansion", notably Madame Leota, Master Gracey, and his bride

The Country Bears in "The Country Bears"

The family in "Carousel of Progress" (Jim, Sarah, Cousin Orville, etc.)

Natives and other animals of variable names in "Jungle Cruise"

Mack, the assistant to Captain Jack for "Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial"

The birds of the "Enchanted Tiki Room": Jose, Michael, Pierre, Fritz, and agents William and Morris of "Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management"

Mr. Johnson of "Mission to Mars"

L.C. Clench, SIR, Spinlok, Dr. Femus, cute little Skippy, and the scary alien in "Alien Encounter".

The Timekeeper and 9-Eye in "The Timekeeper"

RX-24 in "Star Tours"

Lost children who are never claimed by their parents in "it's a small world"

In addition, there some "atmospheric" characters that you could find in Main Street (like a town mayor, some gossipy old ladies, Dapper Dan and his Barbershop Quartet), the talking trash can in Tomorrowland, etc.

albert

Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:37 pm
by Flanger-Hanger
Mr. Tom Morrow (Flight to the Moon)

Sam Eagle, Ollie Owl and cast of "America Sings"

Trader Sam (Jungle Cruise)

Bonnie Appetite, Ham and Eggs, Cereal Sisters, Mr. Dairy Goods etc cast of "Kitchen Kabaret"

Scary Mexican dolls, lady yelling at you to buy hats (El Rio de Tempo)

Characters of World of Motion, Horizons

Scientists in Countdown to Extinction (aka Dinosaur)

Chester and Hester (owners of Dino-Rama)

random streetmosphere characters of DHS

Sargent in Stitch's Great Escape

Captian EO and his crew

Dr. Nigle Channing

Dreamfinder (Journey Into Imagination)

ORAC-1 (WEDway Peoplemover)

random cast of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride who never appeared in the film (including little devils)

supporting bugs in It's Tough to be a Bug

Little Red/Big Red (Kilimanjaro Safari)

Spectromen (guys with fiber optic hair in Spectromagic)

That rappin' computer in the Mickey's Starland show (name escapes me)

5 people who disappeared in the Hollywood Tower Hotel (bellhop, child star and her governess etc)

Narrators for Adventure Thru inner Space, Wonders of China, Reflections of China, O Canada, Impressions de France etc

Sindbad characters at Tokyo Disney Sea

Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:53 pm
by Neal
Hm, wow...there's a lot more than I expected! :lol:

Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:39 pm
by bradhig
some charaters are touring a space launch site. Some get accidently launched into space cause clumsy Ariel spills water on a control panel causing the computer to malfunction.

Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:58 pm
by Kram Nebuer
Sonny Eclipse!!!!

And don't forget the creepy little tree character (Sappy? Twiggy? Sproutling?) in the "Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends" show at Animal Kingdom that wasn't in the movie. I forget if he was Grandmother Willow's nephew, grandson or maybe I just made that up to justify his presence.

Also, Tom Morrow is/was an animatronic in Disneyland's Innoventions. I don't recall if he is at Epcot's as well.

I remember when I was a kid, I got an autograph from Otto von Aerlop, a Hollywood director, at Disney-MGM Studios. I went up to get his autograph because there was a huge crowd around him. A mother came up to me after I got his autograph and asked who he was and I just showed her what he signed and shrugged my shoulders. Only now do I know that he's one of the many atmospheric characters invented for Hollywood Studios. I know there's tacky tourists that try and take pictures of guests and ask them for autographs because they think they're movie stars. There's also a Hollywood hairstylist and stereotypical Hollywood actors.

p.s. Should this topic go in the Theme Parks forum?

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 8:48 am
by goofystitch
Tom-Morrow was at Epcot's Innoventions, but I believe he has been removed there and is now exclusive to Disneyland.

If we are counting the atmospheric characters of Main Street (Mayor, Fire Cheif, and the Suffragette ladies), then we should also include the zany cast of film makers, celebrities, and future stars at Disney's Hollywood Studios. My personal favorite is Dora Ezra. If any of you are there when the "stars" are out, she has a pale white face, tons of makeup, short brown hair and always wears something extravagant.

Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:32 pm
by dizfan
Duffy the Disney Bear at Tokyo DisneySea

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:00 am
by pap64
What about Figment the Dragon?

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:34 am
by Flanger-Hanger
pap64 wrote:What about Figment the Dragon?
Already mentioned in first post. Then I mentioned Dreamfinder.

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:39 am
by goofystitch
Duffy the Disney Bear is at Disney World too, but they only put him out during the Teddy Bear and Doll Weekend. :(

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 9:34 pm
by bradhig
I wanna see the princesses on the monorail and on the tomorrow land transit authority.

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:51 am
by slave2moonlight
Anyone mention the characters of Cranium command (not including the celeb cameos) and those from Body Wars? EPCOT probably has some others I'm forgetting. Plus there was that little 3D character (I forget his name) from Muppetvision 3D (or is it 4D?).

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 7:02 am
by Flanger-Hanger
That little character was not invented for Muppet Vision but was firs made for some old Jim Henson sow in the 80s. It's a good thing they make him look like an original character in the film or else he'd be the one thing that really dates it.

Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 11:31 pm
by slave2moonlight
Flanger-Hanger wrote:That little character was not invented for Muppet Vision but was firs made for some old Jim Henson sow in the 80s. It's a good thing they make him look like an original character in the film or else he'd be the one thing that really dates it.
Interesting.

Well, another character that comes to mind was a captain or something played by Slater from Saved by the Bell for Space Mountain, ha. And I think there may have been more Star Tours original droids besides the captain. I mean, I seem to remember seeing action figures of others (I have only managed to get the figure of the captain so far myself).