Question about Mr. Potato Head in Line for TSMM

[ds143]

Hi everyone, I just had something on my mind I wouldn't mind cleared up...

does the Mr. Potato head in line for Toy Story Midway Mania actually recognize people/colors and respond to statements? i mean, i heard in line him call over a kid with a blue shirt (who was actually wearing one). is it just coincidence, or is this a sophisticated work of disney imagineering?

 

[Flower4Pwr]

does the Mr. Potato head in line for Toy Story Midway Mania actually recognize people/colors and respond to statements? i mean, i heard in line him call over a kid with a blue shirt (who was actually wearing one). is it just coincidence, or is this a sophisticated work of disney imagineering?

A little from column A...a little from column b! The technology is similar to Monsters Laugh Floor or Turtle Talk with crush. Without destroying the Disney Magic you can rest assured that Mr. Potato Head sees and hears whats going on in the queue!

 

[Atchley]

To me it seemed as if he was saying the same thing over and over again. We were in the line long enough to hear him severalllllllllll times over. I think that it is just general speaking. I mean the odds that there will be a kid in a blue shirt over in one general vicinity is pretty high. Now if he said blonde boy in a blue shirt, I may be a little more convinced.

 

[ahecht]

It's actually closer to Roz at the end of the Monsters Inc ride at California Adventure. There is a library of hundreds of phrases and actions, and a cast member chooses which to use based on cameras and microphones in the area.

 

[bradk]

i'll second the last response. unfortunately, although she's older, roz is much more impressive because she plays to a smaller audience and has less time to talk. mr. potatohead is very wordy and it's easy to miss the fact that he can address folks by gender, age and clothing.

the turtle talk and laugh floor technology is way beyond roz/mr. potatohead (and also requires better talent to operate them). the only real revolutionary thing (and major problem spot) for mr. potatohead is that he can remove and re-insert his ear.

all of the phrases were recorded by don rickles himself though

i do agree that if you didn't know how he operated, it's very easy to assume he is nothing more than random recordings. he was the thing i anticipated the most about TSM and also the biggest disappointment for me. not to mention the fact that they kept him only in the path of the standby line.

 

[J3nn78]

We waited in line for almost 2 hours on our last trip. He repeats himself and was in no way interactive. We must have heard everything 15 times.

 

[mommatoccm]

I think he is interactive. When we were there, it wasn't crowded. We were the only people in front of him when he talked to my dd by saying the color of her shirt. He asked what her favorite toy was. She said some kind of doll and he just kept looking at her. Once she changed her answer to a potato head, he thanked her. Behind us, there was a woman in yellow that he started talking to.

 

[DJ Disney Kid]

I can see how he is interactive, but his interaction is VERY limited to a few phrases! He also doesn't seem very fluid most of the time. He tends to lag in his responses which makes him seem more "robotic". I had hoped that he would be more fluid and have more phrases to say after months of the attraction being open, but as of November, he wasn't any better than when I saw him at the soft openings of the attraction. I still haven't seen him remove his ear.

 

[KevinYee]

Oh, he's definitely interactive. But it's also correct that the phrases were pre-recorded by Don Rickles and are limited in scope.

 

[bjscheel]

I think I read that he has two modes- one where he is just rambling and one where he has some "assistance". Just depends on whether he has any help at the time! Even with assistance, there are only so many choices of phrases.

When we were in standby he did refer to a kid in a red hat and there were not tons of people in line. There was a 12-13 year old boy with a red hat next to me right in front of Mr. PH. He promptly got embarrassed and his dad had to answer questions.