Disneyland attempts to replicate founder Walt in animatronic that some family members called ‘dehumanizing’

• From July, the famous Disneyland animatronics will include a robot of the Walt Disney founder himself, THE Los Angeles Times Reports. The plans divided the Disney family, with a granddaughter calling for the “dehumanizing” move and charging: “He did not want it”.

The Disney Entertainment Juggernaut is about to open a new attraction in Disneyland, the California Theme Park where the founder Walt Disney has once kept an apartment.

And the attraction will resuscitate the founder himself – in a sense.

A new show, “Walt Disney – A Magical Life”, should open in July and will offer an animatronic version of Walt Disney which was seven years in preparation, the Los Angeles Times reported. The company aims to “give life to Walt in a way that you could only experiment in the park,” said the Tom Fitzgerald, a long -standing engineer who worked on the popular attractions of Disney, Times. “We estimated that technology had arrived there,” he said.

However, the move to remain the founder attracted the opposition of none other than the own Disney family.

Joanna Miller, a granddaughter of Walt, published a declaration on social networks excoriating the plan to give life to Walt.

“It would be an impostor,” said Miller Facebook. “They dehumanizing him.”

“”[H]I didn't want that, ”she added.

However, at least some in the Disney family are on board the plan. When the company first unveiled the intention of an animatronic Walt Disney during its fans agreement Last AugustWalt Roy P. Disney's Petit-Neveu was present.

Asked for comments, a spokesperson for the Walt Disney Co. Fortune has previous ads About the exhibition and at the Walt Disney family museum. The museum did not immediately respond to an email of Fortune Search for comments.

Disney animated robots have been more generally used for fictitious characters, such as robots of the Caribbean pirates Or Haunted mansion Ride, or national personalities such as Abraham Lincoln, who plays in the longtime show Great moments with Mr. Lincoln.

Lincoln's resemblance was the first to experience animatronic treatment: when a robotics Abe Lincoln made his debut at the 1964 Universal Exhibition in New York, National Geographic Called its “alarming” realism, according to Disneyland Resort website. The show moved to Disneyland the following year.

Recreating the Disney founder has put a new projector on technology, which is under additional pressure in a world where everyone is armed with a smartphone. The company has endeavored to do the revival Walt, in particular by making the hands of the robot from a bronze casting of the real hands of Walt, shoes in its size and a costume made from the material that Walt combinations were manufactured, IGN reported. The silhouette will wear a hand -kicked tie with the logo of the Smoke Tree Ranch of Palm Springs, which Walt loved, the Times reported.

The project engineers even meticulously worked to recreate the “flashing profile” of the founder, ensuring that he drew up with film recordings of him.

“One of the things I discovered by looking at the images, he does not flash when he speaks,” said Fitzgerald at the point of sale.

This story was initially presented on Fortune.com