Is Universal Leaving Disney Behind as the GOAT of Animatronics?

Animatronics are the benchmark when it comes to talking about theme park tech and its advancements — and we might be witnessing a bit a switch up when it comes to the leader on that front.

A new theme park is coming to Universal Orlando and Epic Universe is expected to be a major advancement in themed entertainment. One attraction that has gotten a good amount of buzz is Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment attraction in Dark Universe. Recently, Universal revealed the animatronics and it seems like this attraction might be a game-changer.

I am a theme park expert and MASSIVE Universal Monsters enthusiast so the preview of the new animatronics immediately piqued my interest. If you need a baseline of Epic Universe, you can check out my full video tour of the coming park!

But let’s talk about the recent sneak peek and what it means for the theme park tech space — and for Disney.

The New Face of Animatronics

Universal dropped a sneak peek of some of the 14 (!!!) animatronics that will be featured in Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment. The new bots feature the iconic characters of Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, Wolf Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. We can already tell from the preview that these animatronics are hyper realistic, fast, and scary!

Universal has had interesting animatronics before. In Orlando, the most impressive are the Hagrid animatronic on Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure, the King Kong animatronic on Skull Island: Reign of Kong, and the goblin animatronics in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The animatronics have fluid movements and realistic styling, but their speed is limited and there are limits to the realism of the faces. The new monsters animatronics show SIGNIFICANT strides.

Why This Matters in the Disney vs. Universal Animatronic Debate

Now, we’ve yet to see these animatronics in person but from the brief clips, fans are already drawing comparisons to Disney’s hyper-realistic A-1000 animatronic models. Perhaps the best examples are the shaman on Na’vi River Journey and the animatronics in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

The newest Disney animatronics in the world are featured in Fantasy Springs in Tokyo DisneySea. The Frozen animatronics are animated-style so not as realistic, but they do have the most elaborate movements in a Disney animatronic to date. So, these also fit in as a part of the benchmark when it comes to advanced animatronics.

We won’t be able to fully compare the animatronics until we see them in person but from the brief preview, we can tell that the fluidity, facial motion, and speed are all extremely impressive — potentially even more advanced than current Disney animatronics. As someone who has seen Disney’s most impressive bots countless times, I am especially interested to see how quickly these Universal ones are able to move.

Another thing to note is that Disney has historically had issues with larger animatronics where Universal has not shied away from those challenges. Disney’s largest animatronic, the yeti on Expedition Everest, has famously been operating in “b-mode” for years. The shaman is large, but most of her movement is from the waist up.

Let’s contrast that with the success of the massive dinosaur figures in Universal Hollywood‘s Jurassic World: The Ride or the King Kong animatronic in Universal Orlando — all jaw-droppingly large animatronics. Then consider that the Frankenstein animatronic that will be seen on the new ride is 9 feet tall and weighs over 800 pounds and will “actually walk within Dr. Victoria Frankenstein’s lab during the preshow.”

If these animatronics meet the potential that has been hinted at in the preview, Universal could very well assert itself as the GOAT of animatronics.

My expectations for the new ride are through the roof and I personally DO hope that these are the best animatronics that we’ve ever seen. For one, if Universal pushes the envelope when it comes to animatronics then hopefully we will continue to see advancements from Disney as well. A bit of healthy competition could mean even more impressive effects for us in the future!

And I love these monsters. If these animatronics are as impressive as they could be, I will personally be thrilled. If you’re looking for me after May 22nd, 2024 (when Epic Universe opens), you’ll find me in Dark Universe, exploring Darkmoor and staring lovingly into the eyes of the Dracula animatronic.

Stay tuned with us at AllEars as we continue to bring you the latest Universal park and hotel updates, construction progress, and everything in between!

Why Your Next Universal Orlando Trip Could Look DIFFERENT

Do you plan to venture into Dark Universe when Universal’s Epic Universe opens? Tell us everything you plan to see and do on your first visit in the comments below!

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