[Question] Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

[Mickey&Me]

Hi all-

A coworker went to Disneyland recently and when he came back, he told me he was dead certain that one of the Capt Jack's in Pirates was an actual cast member, not an animatronic. Has anyone ever heard of this??! This was a couple of months ago and I remember that a lot of the pirates had been missing from the attraction, so I thought maybe they were having cast members sub? He's the kind of person that is always right, so I couldn't really tell him that there was no way. He was absolutely positive, but I have NEVER heard of this before...any thoughts??

[Nautilus]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

Yeah, they've been doing that since day one!


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[JungleCruiseFan]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

I actually did hear a story a while ago about an animatronic in the jail scene of Pirates needing refurbishment, and this was when the ride had just opened, so they didn't have an extra, so they had a cast member do it
I doubt it's true, but it makes a great story.

[Micoofy Duck]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

OMG... cast members in the haunted mansion... now that I want!

[HiddenMickeyBook]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

My co-author used to work on Pirates. He said on slow days the castmembers would stand in a spot that usually didn't have a pirate and scare the boats as they went by!

[Alex E]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

He probably just thought a figure was that realistic. But who knows.

[ChessurInWonderland]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

Funny story! However, I don't think this is true about the Jack one. It's great, but not perfect, and if you look closely at it, it's definitely not an actual person.

[yoyoflamingo]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

OMG... cast members in the haunted mansion... now that I want!

For a while the knight in the Haunted Mansion was a cast member, but I believe it didn't last long.

[disneyDragon923]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

My co-author used to work on Pirates. He said on slow days the castmembers would stand in a spot that usually didn't have a pirate and scare the boats as they went by!

OMG... that is too funny, doubt it's really true but who knows. I'll be there tomorrow, I'll have to keep an eye out on Pirates to see if the CM subbing for AAs is true. That would just be so hilarious if it is.

[ChessurInWonderland]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

Yeah, it was a CM who'd pop out at people, but they had to have a button to stop the doombuggies. Sometimes if people screamed the CMs would press the button, and a lot of times people threw things at the CM, so they had to stop the DoomBuggies to return their items. When there were budget cuts, since this character was also facing these problems, it was the first to be cut.

Here's more information about the knight:

Interestingly, Disneyland experimented with "live" knights positioned in the Haunted Mansion in the mid-'80s, who would pop out from behind the Doom Buggies and startle guests. Visit our "insiders" page to learn more about the character from one of the cast members that actually performed as the knight. The character, while extremely successful as an addition to the Haunted Mansion experience, proved to be too costly in terms of problems that required the ride be shut down (the knights carried automatic shut-down switches, and would use them when startled guests would drop items or take a swing at the knight), so the experiment only lasted a few years at most.

doombuggies.com/secrets_conservatory.php]DoomBuggies > Explore the history and marvel at the mystery of Disney's Haunted Mansion attractions!
Also, here's an interview with a Cast Member who sometimes played the knight:
doombuggies.com/insiders_clark.php]DoomBuggies > Explore the history and marvel at the mystery of Disney's Haunted Mansion attractions!

[dfan07]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

For a while the knight in the Haunted Mansion was a cast member, but I believe it didn't last long.

The CM always stood in different places and would randomly scare passing doombuggies. This was around late 80s or early 90s.

[yoyoflamingo]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

The CM always stood in different places and would randomly scare passing doombuggies. This was around late 80s or early 90s.

I verified the info before I posted, but I do think it's interesting that it wasn't until the 80s that they tried this...I would have thought it would have been much earlier.

[ChessurInWonderland]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

Like I quoted and linked, they were from the mid-80s

[SCUBAbe]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

OMG... cast members in the haunted mansion... now that I want!

For a while the knight in the Haunted Mansion was a cast member, but I believe it didn't last long.

yes, there was a knight and he would reach out to the cars as they went by. It scared the crap out of me. I was a teenager at the time ...so it was a while ago. I woulds say mid 80's.

[DLFreak71]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

For a while the knight in the Haunted Mansion was a cast member, but I believe it didn't last long.

there use to be a person in the knight armor.
Not the one you see now, but there was a live actor in the HM back in the mid 80's. (84?)
Many different stories on why he was pulled.

But no, I don't think there is a CM posing as Jack.
The third one is the least realistic (and if it was a CM, bad make-up job)


DoomBuggies.com: There's a photo of the live Knight in Bright's book Disneyland: Inside Story. In fact, I often get email from people asking if there ever really was a knight in the ride. They don't trust their memories...
Kyle Clark: Yeah. I happened to come across your web site, DoomBuggies.com; a very impressive site indeed. In doing so, I was interested in the comments left by a visitor regarding the "real life knight." I had the honor of playing the part of the knight for an entire summer and can vouch for many of Disney's concerns regarding the character.
So, you feel they were right to stop using the character?
Let me start by saying that playing the part was a great deal of fun. The idea of dressing up as a knight in armor and scaring people was (at that time of my life) too much fun to behold. I could cause people to scream, cry, laugh and jump from their seat. But the job also had its problems. I can remember a fellow knight having his nose broken by an overly frightened female cheerleader. He got too close, touched her, and she promptly punched him square in the face.
Was he supposed to touch her?
Well, this created a new rule in the character department: to stay at least six feet from the guests and to never touch them. Later, other rules included not scaring senior citizens and young children. I can only imagine why those rules were implemented.
Were you ever threatened?
For our safety sake, the knights would be issued an emergency shut off device. It resembled an automatic garage door opener and would shut the ride down at a push of the button. I can't speak for the other knights but concerning myself, I only needed to shut the ride down once. This was due to a woman jumping from her seat and throwing her purse at me. It was necessary to stop the ride so I could give her the purse back and get her to sit back down. I can't ever remember hearing complaints that we were shutting the ride down too much.
Do you feel that the knight was well received when he was introduced to the attraction? Did you catch many people by surprise?
As a new character in the Haunted Mansion, even the long time patrons of Disneyland were not aware of what they were about to encounter. This made for some very interesting sights and sounds. During my time spent in the hallway, I was witness to the best and worst of human behavior. I received many compliments from "freshly scared" guests, but at the same time, I witnessed drug use, vandalism, and several "make out" sessions featuring topless women (you should see the look on a girls face when a knight tells her to put her clothes back on).
So why did the character get removed from the ride after such a short tenure?
It is my understanding that the reason for removing the knight from the Haunted Mansion was not from complaints, nor from "headaches" caused by the knights themselves but rather from budget constraints on the Character Department. All in all, I believe the knight added an extra dimension of reality to the Haunted Mansion. The Character Department received far more compliments than they did complaints and still to this day, I run across people who were scared by the knight in the Haunted Mansion. It's an event they will never forget, nor will I.

[SusieP.]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

When they did the Mickey's Halloween party-thing in Disneyland, 1995 and 96 for sure, there were live pirates in the jail scene of POTC.

[ttrocc7007]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

In a reverse sense, I have seen guests mistake Farley The Fiddler for an animatronic.
There was one fellow (not Maynard) who used to act the part of the butler so well at the Mansion, several thought he to was an animatronic. Once he was sure they were convinced, he would lurch forward and scare the jumpin' jiminies out of guests.
He retired only last March, and the place hasn't been the same since.

[dogtherock]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

It happens. I really lie it. Its the ultimate living character!

[Aladdin]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

For some events, Pirates did have a few extra Pirates, (but not Capt Jack)

And if you've gone through the Haunted Mansion,

Spoiler

the same time that one of the Halloween Tours is going through, you might be lucky enough to see an extra spook.

[disneyfann121]

Re: Cast Members Posing as Animatronics in Attractions?

Mickey and me, I think your co-worker just got fooled by a very realistic looking AA. I remember the first time I saw the Jack Sparrow AAs (at WDW) we were wondering if they were real, too. They are definitely among the most lifelike AAs ever.