The End of MAPO at Disney

[Maleficent's Dad]

I just read this on another site. I didn't see any threads here about it.
(Hope it's okay to post this link.)

MAPO

 

[LadyBeBop]

What is MAPO? I'm blocked at work from viewing the site.

 

[ctl]

Apparently it was named MAPO becasue they started the division making animatronics for the parks using profits made from the Mary Poppins movie. Anyway, looks like they are outsourcing their animatronics to another firmoutside of Disney. That's what the link is about. Hope that helps.

 

[doconeill]

MAPO was the division of Imagineering that used to design and build the audio-animatronics used in the parks and elsewhere.

The division is shutting down as all the work and at least most of the assets are being transferred to Garner Holt Productions, to whom Disney had already been outsourcing a lot of the work, so it's not surprising, although it's sad that another group is phased out.

 

[larryz]

The beancounters are on the loose again -- reduce that headcount to puff up the profit figures.

When a corporation outsources a core function, that's usually time to head for the exits.

 

[joelkfla]

Clicking thru to the original article on MiceChat, it looks like Garner Holt created the animatronics at CarsLand.

I haven't been out there yet, but those animatronics looked amazingly lifelike on the YouTubes. So maybe this is a good thing.

 

[larryz]

Clicking thru to the original article on MiceChat, it looks like Garner Holt created the animatronics at CarsLand.

I haven't been out there yet, but those animatronics looked amazingly lifelike on the YouTubes. So maybe this is a good thing.

Good for the profit margin, yes. Good for the company, no.

But Disney just became a consumer of their claim to fame -- audioanimatronics.

 

[Cafeen]

Good for the profit margin, yes. Good for the company, no.

But Disney just became a consumer of their claim to fame -- audioanimatronics.

Yep.

It'd be akin to Disney selling it's parks division to Cedar Fair and resorts to Marriott...

Crap, hope they don't read that, don't want to give them ideas!

 

[mjallemand]

I'm not terribly surprised. Outside of the aformentioned Cars Land, how many attractions built in the last 15 or so years have used Audio-Animatronics in any way? The last I can think of was Dinosaurs at Animal Kingdom.

Outside of any major refurbishment projects, I would imagine it's more expensive to keep a division of the company around that only gets projects one or twice a decade rather than work with another company closely on it.

Edit: Stitch refurb was 2004, but that one only one major figure, outside of the cannons, everything else was carried over from Alien Encounter.

 

[RyMickey]

I'm not terribly surprised. Outside of the aformentioned Cars Land, how many attractions built in the last 15 or so years have used Audio-Animatronics in any way? The last I can think of was Dinosaurs at Animal Kingdom.

Outside of any major refurbishment projects, I would imagine it's more expensive to keep a division of the company around that only gets projects one or twice a decade rather than work with another company closely on it.

Edit: Stitch refurb was 2004, but that one only one major figure, outside of the cannons, everything else was carried over from Alien Encounter.

Everest's Yeti...

Oh, wait...that one doesn't work. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to outsource...

 

[RetroCOTfan]

I'm not terribly surprised. Outside of the aformentioned Cars Land, how many attractions built in the last 15 or so years have used Audio-Animatronics in any way? The last I can think of was Dinosaurs at Animal Kingdom.

Outside of any major refurbishment projects, I would imagine it's more expensive to keep a division of the company around that only gets projects one or twice a decade rather than work with another company closely on it.

Edit: Stitch refurb was 2004, but that one only one major figure, outside of the cannons, everything else was carried over from Alien Encounter.

The new Little Mermaid rides have a lot of audio-animatronics. But based on photos on the Garner Holt Productions website, I would guess that those were all (or mostly) created by Garner Holt Prods.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'm really not dismayed by this move. MAPO may have been necessary back in the day when the AA figures where just started. Today, with all the attention to prosthetics and robotics for medical purposes its not like Disney still needs to push the state of the art. The industry is already doing that.

 

[doconeill]

I'm not terribly surprised. Outside of the aformentioned Cars Land, how many attractions built in the last 15 or so years have used Audio-Animatronics in any way? The last I can think of was Dinosaurs at Animal Kingdom.

Outside of any major refurbishment projects, I would imagine it's more expensive to keep a division of the company around that only gets projects one or twice a decade rather than work with another company closely on it.

Edit: Stitch refurb was 2004, but that one only one major figure, outside of the cannons, everything else was carried over from Alien Encounter.

I was going to come back and play devil's advocate.

I think this outsource makes a lot of sense, for the reasons stated. Funding a whole division that isn't fully utilized doesn't work well at any company. Outsourcing to a company that can do it all the time for various customers provides economy of scale.

Disney just isn't turning out AAs frequently any more. Yes, there has been a bunch recently, but we're told that after these expansions things are going to be static for a while.

This goes on a lot...this is exactly why outsourcing exists. I work in IT...I've been on both sides of the equation.

Now, this is a bit different than the idea of outsourcing resort management, etc. - there isn't necessarily a lot to be gained from that in Disney's case. They can't reasonably reduce the size of the staff...the only reductions might be found at the upper management level. The primary reason in that case would be because Disney's suits want out of that business altogether.

 

[chartle]

Everest's Yeti...

Oh, wait...that one doesn't work. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to outsource...

Its my understanding that it WAS outsourced and thats the problem now. The original company is out of business.