Walking Animatronic Dinosaur At Disney Park

Dan Howland writes "Shades of Jurassic Park: Disney's first walk-around, interactive animatronic character, Lucky the dinosaur, is now strolling around Disney's California Adventure, but will probably move to Disney's Animal Kingdom in the coming weeks. It kinda walks on two legs, just as the rumors promised, but actually pulls a cart for additional balance (and to hide the computers). Videos can be found on the link above. More photos, and a video of Lucky blowing his nose here."

Comments

They walk among us now

[mao che minh]

"Lucky stands about eight feet tall, and his head and neck can lift almost straight up. He walks on his two back legs and pulls a very large cart of silk flowers. Lucky and Chandler interact, but Chandler does not operate the character. Lucky is controlled by two discreet operators on the sidelines. Lucky grunts, groans and whines in reaction to Chandler's comments and events around him. He can blow his nose, wink, smile, and look around."

Basically, it's a big remote controlled Robie Robot Jr that looks like a dinosaur. By the way, does anyone else remember the Radio Shack Robie Robot Jr, or was I the only person to get one as a kid when I was 6?

Mirror

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a mirror in case the site is slow.

Cache

[OneIsNotPrime]

Google cache here

Not a velociraptor.

[No Such Agency]

I don't think Lucky looks much like the velociraptors on JP, except for being a bipedal dinosaur. Without consulting any references, I'd say he looks a lot more like a prosauropod (bipedal ancestors of the giant quadripedal sauropods) or possibly camptosaur. The head is certainly very sauropod-like. /humourless scientist

Slashdotted, but here are direct links

[NaDrew]

Hi, I work for MousePlanet. Sorry our bandwidth was unable to withstand a severe slashdotting. While we scrape up the remains of our main server, here are direct links to the photos and videos:

• Lucky peeks out before his show.
• Chandler leads the way to "Dinosaurin' Over California."
• Lucky's basket is filled with flowers?and quite a lot of electronic equipment.
• Between shows, Lucky heads home to the former Hollywood and Dine location.
• Chandler helps Lucky blow his nose.
• Lucky holds a pen between his teeth to sign autographs.
• Chandler holds an authograph book for Lucky.
• Lucky's signature is a four-leaf clover.
• Lucky smiles for the crowd.
• Lucky heads down Hollywood Blvd towards a balloon vendor.
• See-and hear-how Lucky walks (1.3MB MPG, 15 seconds).
• In an amazing show of spontaneity and interactivity, Chandler breaks from the script to point out a flying pteradactyl (a helicopter) to Lucky, who then lifts his head and gazes up into the sky (1.3MB MPG, 15 seconds).
• The gentle dinosaur welcomes a child, who approaches him for a visit (1.3MB MPG, 15 seconds).
• "Now don't eat the balloon, it'll give you gas," Chandler says, as he offers a balloon to Lucky. Lucky shows surprising dexterity as he grasps the string with his mouth, only to cry out in sadness as he loses his grip and the balloon begins to float away (1.3MB MPG, 15 seconds).

Re:Talking Trash Can

[Quikah]

Yeah, I saw those like 2 years ago, they have a cast member operating them and supplying the voice. saw the guy standing there talking into his shirt collar with his hand in a satchel. Pretty funny, the kids get a kick out of it. Didn't see any on my last trip a few months ago.

Re:Or in Reality Land...

[webster3w]

It's possible they were canned, but I really doubt it. The trash can was doing more than just talking, it was actually interacting with people. Commenting on their food, talking about their outfits, etc. If it was just doing simple one liners, I could see them being canned. But they comments were fairly insightful as to the individual situation.

Re:Talking Trash Can

[mistermund]

Yeah, his name is "Push". He appears daily in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom. Varieties on the same concept can be found in the other Disney parks as well. At Animal Kingdom they have a palm tree that rolls around.

The person guiding the rollabouts is never too far behind, dressed in plainclothes and with their right arm in a blue camera bag. Their left hand conceals a microphone.

For a short while, SMRT-1, a robot who used to be featured at Communicore in Epcot could be found at the Contemporary Resort. The unit had been converted for RC operation and had its controls (and microphone) concealed in a coffee mug.

One of the companies that sells these types of units is Florida Robotics