Say goodbye to Disney World's Talking Mickey

Say goodbye to Disney's Talking Mickey. Cast members are reporting that the talking version of Mickey Mouse that has greeted fans at the Town Square Theater in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is retiring in favor of the traditional, miming Mickey.

The talking Mickey Mouse character debuted to guests at Disneyland in 2010, then started appearing at Walt Disney World the next year. A talking version of Mickey has been a staple at Disney's theme park press events over the years, but making Mickey "talk" to a pre-recorded track during a single, well-rehearsed presentation is a very different beast than making Mickey talk to a seemingly endless flow of different guests over the course of a day in the park.

A true Talking Mickey requires interactive technology — which Disney has used to customize character dialogue in other theme park attractions, including Turtle Talk with Crush, and the Monsters Inc. attractions in the Magic Kingdom and Disney California Adventure. But Talking Mickey requires even more work than those installations, given the intimacy of sustaining a conversation with a single party that stands within arm's reach.

Disney has not revealed exactly how it makes Talking Mickey — or any of these other interactive attractions — work, but it's widely believed that backstage cast members are involved, creating many more logistical challenges for Talking Mickey encounter than a traditional meet and greet. Plus, the Talking Mickey costume, because it must support a head with the mechanics to move the mouth, nose, and eyes to support the illusion of speech, is likely heavier and more burdensome to cast members than a traditional Mickey suit and head. (And anything that moves wears out faster than something that doesn't, too. Mickey heads ain't cheap.)

Is the enhanced experience for guests worth the extra hassles, expense, and cast discomfort? Especially if the enhanced experience of possibly meeting a Talking Mickey is canceled by a diminished experience if guests have to wait longer to meet Mickey.

Knowing Disney, it would need to see guest satisfaction data for Talking Mickey rate significantly higher than for meet and greets with the traditional Mickey in order to justify its continued operation. I suspect that the company wasn't seeing that. For many fans, simply meeting Mickey is thrill enough. It's the hug, the high five, and the photo opp they'll remember.

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