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Ramble: Best Animatronics (Patreon)

Published:
2021-05-01 19:48:05
Edited:
2022-11-18 05:54:10
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

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Content

I cannot. BELIEVE how close I am to 10k patrons right now

Anyway here is about an hour of animatronics discourse

(I felt like something was off the whole time I was recording/editing and didn't realize I had recorded with the webcam output flipped until it was too late to alter course)

EDIT I forgot to add re: upcoming videos, I've been working on a video about Evermore Park and have already researched/written up its history, but would like to go there in person if it ever reopens. So that video is tentatively incoming. And I'm fully vaccinated now! (The side effects were brutal but mainly because the nurse told me not to take anything for pain/fever. Which was misinformation! I was fine after I took tylenol.)

Files

Best Animatronics

Comments

Angelica Sather Hodgetts

I wanna second that, that's exactly how I remember it too! And I was going with my naughty older cousins and aunt and that was where I first learned the joke name "Ben Dover" ...this is a core memory for me...

JungMoses

I feel like this video has given me some nice catharsis because I saw Skippy in your background in your main channel videos and he always gave me a chill because of the awful torture that they put him through in the pre-show to Alien Encounter. The actual ride never scared me at all, but that pre-show chilled me to the BONE. Thank you so much for noting how awful this was as he was a super adorable character. It really in hindsight was so un-Disney-- I guess they were trying to be a bit more edgy at the time? I dunno, I think you can go edgy without torturing cute little critters, that bit had teenagers abusing cats vibes, I hope they fired that guy.

Robert Romero Jr

Funny anecdote but I watched so much ET as a kid it was probably my favorite movie. I would watch it then rewind it again and start all over. I had watched it so many times the tape was destroyed and it stop playing. However I haven’t seen it since and I for the life of me cant remember a single thing about the movie other than what has been parodied from other shows like the flying bikes and ET phone home etc.

alex

i went to universal with my family when i was around 7 or 8 and i remember my dad gave them a silly name (but can't remember what it was) so ET said "thank you (silly name)" as we were leaving and it absolutely was the funniest thing to me and my younger brother for like years after that

Mike Kelley

Late to the discussion but when I was a little guy in the 1970s I loved the barbershop quartet mushrooms and piano playing frog in Kings Dominion in Virginia. I believe they played every 15 minutes and I made my parents sit and watch them over and over until my little brother couldn't take it any more. I loved them. It looks like they brought them back recently. I'll have to go back and relive the experience. https://youtu.be/Mx75Bt4dZKo?si=po-TNbgV90cwuGqU

Maddie Arnautov

They could totally convert the Splash Mountain “geese” into the pelicans from the Dig A Little Deeper song

Astroletariat

Idk if Jenny reads these but I want her to know there are at least 3 enormous animatronics displayed in at least 3 different yards of Portland Ave in South Minneapolis. I've seen two Jurassic Park-sized dinosaurs and one life sized shark so far. I think the people who own them are friends, the location of the animatronics has been known to move around the area over the years. Her people.

notgerardway

I remember on my senior trip we went to disney world and were dragged to the American Adventure show and yea it was kinda boring but at the same time i was genuinely freaked out and impressed by the animatronics and as boring as the show is im surprised there isnt at least a little more love for it cuz while the contents were boring, seeing all of those animatronics was definitely pretty dazzling for me and honestly i would go there again if i ever go back to disney. i also really liked country bear jamboree i cant lie i would watch that like multiple times over i have problems

AshFerraz

Jenny, you should watch the YouTube video “Disney: the worlds worst tech company” by Poseidon Entertainment if you haven’t already. It made me want to go back and watch this video again! Disney has really gone down hill and it’s crazy to watch it happen

jellybones

god that side note about the animation classes being empty was so sad.

CPK Grownup

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an Animatronics in person

Bruce Leckenby

It’s from the mirror universe. Terran Jenny.

Rick Clark

It’s okay, I’ll just watch it in a mirror!

Parker Nisbett

so excited to watch this later but the flipped video is triggering my fight or flight response lol

majesdane

.ynneJ ,gnihctaw ot drawrof gnikooL

Shred Cadmium

Aragog's Figment hat 🕷🧢😄

Sgt Sweetcheeks

Having not one but two Bibble plushies feels very powerful

Charlie

I guess I could see Elsa’s face suddenly transforming into code being mildly traumatizing

Catherine Escobar

Aragog’s eyes look really soulful in this video.

Sterling Desrosiers

I haven’t started watching yet but i’m so excited this is my favorite topic.

Bryan Sutton

Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It'll be spring soon, and the orchards will be in blossom, and the Bibbles will be flexing.

Monica McFadden

When I was a kid (in the 90s) my family went to California and rode the Universal Jaws ride there . . . It was really fun! At one point the shark lunges and the boat tilts heavily to one side, like the shark is dragging it into the water. Everyone was screaming and getting soaked, it was great. There was also a Star Trek: The Next Generation feature (like a stage show) where they would grab audience members and record an 'episode' that you could buy on VHS afterwards. Edit: Okay, your list is giving me so much nostalgia. I went on the E.T. ride too, and rode the first version of Star Tours. (At least I think it was the first one, IIRC it was a new-ish feature.) I mostly remember the pilot robot almost crashing a lot, and I think R2D2 and C3P0 were in the ship giving commentary? I'd never been on a motion simulator before and thought it was the best ride in the world.

Andreas Stahl

My main animatronic memory is the dinosaur in the Times Square Toys'r'us, I once took part in a Flashmob that incorporated it (I don't know which part of that sentence ages me more)

Dapper Gent

Your deserve it jenny, You always bring solid content!

Brent Hirose

When I went to Universal Studios Japan, Jaws was CLOSED, so instead I went to BACKDRAFT. You know, the beloved "expirienced" based on the equally beloved Ron Howard movie BACKDRAFT????

Monica McFadden

Twitter in particular seems to have so many bad-faith people in the past couple years. It really sucks that talking about a comic book movie is pretty much guaranteed to garner harassment (especially if the person talking is a woman). Sorry that you have to put up with that! I'm super excited about the Barbie movie list, those are such classics! Oh, also thank you for sitting through all those Land Before Times movies. After watching your vid I was like, "It would be fun to watch them, worst to best, so I could really get the full effect of what Jenny's talking about." I got five minutes into "The Wisdom of Friends" before I couldn't take it anymore, lol. So thanks for taking one for the team by watching those.

Steven Clark

It's kind of fascinating to me that there are so many great Yeti animatronics, since there has never been a good movie Yeti in the entire history of cinema. There's just something about the Yeti that inspires imagineers and confounds filmmakers.

Eric MacMillan

Another VPD vid length video incoming...I am so excited!

AK Barratt

Damn this hurt to read. Sorry, what a bummer. :(

minohoonoo

I'm so excited for the barbie movie video! I watched Rapunzel and Princess and the Pauper approximately 1 million times with my sister as a kid. Iconic.

Brent Hirose

What made it even worse was that the video aspect (which is like 90% of the whole boring thing) was dubbed over in Japanese, with the English *just* loud enough to know it was there, but completely impossible to hear so it was a lot of looking at Ron Howard speaking in Japanese incomprehensibly.

Dan Gibbins

When I was a kid that sea monster was the absolute best. I cared more about re-riding the submarine and seeing the sea monster again than I did about the fact that we'd misplaced my brother.

Lamb Draws

Efteling has some very impressive animatronics, also outside Symbolica (the ride you mentioned not wanting to spoil) Sadly the huge dragon is permanently static now :( Wish you could have seen her!

Grant Schwabacher

There are Stew Leonard's on the east coast (CT and NY) and they have a bunch of animatronics I love! Favs are the dancing banana and the singing combo of Cindy Celery and Larry Lettuce. Make shopping for fruits and vegetables much more enjoyable!

M

Should we start a pool on how many hours long the response to a Justice League video will be

Lamb Draws

theres also a huge living tree that tells stories 👀

Shred Cadmium

As the younger brother of an older brother I will guarantee he would find this very relatable 😆

Jaden

a little sad to hear the beanie baby vid has been put out to pasture.. totally understandable to pause a project if/when not feeling it, just kind of had my heart set, but i guess i'll get over it..

Shred Cadmium

We're even having to number the numbered lists

Carl Sage

"...regal snuggies..." For the win.

Hannah Boyer

My fave animatronics are the ones that used to be in our local puttputt golf place before it closed a couple years ago. It was called Woody's and it was like knock-off Indiana Jones, so lots of jungle animals and treasure chests that shook and things like that. Loved it, v sad it's gone now.

Lumi Næss

Not a lot of animatronics here in Norway. I remember one sea serpent (more like The sea serpent of Norse mythology) in a viking ride here at Tusenfryd park. I remember it being huge and the fact that it was partially submerged (I think) made it even more freaky. I'm almost certain it hasn't held up well, and probably was taken out many years ago.

wittyandgay

I don't know if I would call the Jaws animatronic my favourite, but it is the one that has had the most profound and lasting impact on me and is also my nemesis. The flashbacks when it came up! When I was about 5 or 6? I was on holiday with my family in Orlando and saw what I thought was a charming boat ride I wanted to go on. So I used my turn to pick the ride to go on this delightful jaunt down a river, when all of a sudden! A shark was attacking us! And in my tiny child mind where I did not realise I was on a Jaws ride, I thought this was 100% real and we were all going to die. We'd seen a boat go down with a big cartoon bite taken out of it, and I'd insisted on sitting at the edge so I was in prime chomping distance when that animatronic lunged out of the water next to me. That shark was in my nightmares for years.

Dan Gibbins

I was the younger brother, I was like, "How is this on me, can't I just do the submarine while Dad handles this, it's right there."

Rick Clark

Fantastic choices! Great video. Thanks! My hot takes... Most impressive: Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland, esp. the moment that he stands up. Technologically super-advanced for its time, and my understanding is that when he first played to audiences, they about lost it. Still impressive today! Favorite: The talking mounted heads at the Country Bear Jamboree at the Magic Kingdom, FL. (Bonus points for having a second version of them in the restaurant next door!) Honorable mentions: - The entire Hall of Presidents - Dreamfinder’s steampunk blimp - Those singing caged chickens from the pumpkin farm/corn maze visit

Dan Gibbins

The only time I rode Star Tours pre-C3P0 was Eurodisney. So for me, that little pilot droid is French.

run_away

My favorite part of this video is the aragog placement. He's staring right into my brain.

Tbing34

Stew Leonards is a Northeast thing I’m pretty sure but it’s great! My fav is definitely the Chiquita Banana animatronic but the singing milk cartons (the Milkies) are great too and have such fun designs. It’s also just so surreal buying bananas and having a giant salsa-dancing banana woman in front you.

Shred Cadmium

all hail the hypnospider 😵‍💫

Ted Koutz

My maker space got the animatronic shark from a low budget movie called Lake Shark: it was the upper half of a foam rubber shark with detachable mechanical guts. It lived in the kitchen, I took a couple pics of it, and then someone took Lake Shark to Burning Man and it was damaged beyond repair. No idea if it still worked, the guts looked like square aluminum tubing, pistons, and tubes you'd hook up to an air compressor.

Luis

Was smiling through the entire ramble even though I haven't been to a theme park in ages and don't know much about animatronics :D But I too am fully vaccinated (yeah that second shot of Moderna is horrible) so I think now is the time to plan a trip!

Linnea

I love the animatronics in the Monster Mansion ride at Six Flags over Georgia because they are a little goofy but I find them to be charmingly dated, as they haven’t been updated since the 80s and they always look a little dusty. Also the entire ride floods every time it rains so sometimes all of the animatronics just hang out in a flooded set.

Sean Farrell

You'll be at the top of my Hugo ballot! (I'm a voter, but I really only read novels and novellas so I was very excited to have something to nominate and now root for in Best Related Work.)

Brian Smith

That Alien ride horrified me as a child. My mom has a story about six-year-old me grabbing her arm and whispering "momma... momma... are we okay?" over and over again.

Bullseye

Storks bring babies. Geese take them away.

Dree

What are those blue plush things next to Jenny

Pocket & Locket

I hate asking because I know I've seen comments about it on various videos, but I am curious what's going to happen to your Star Wars Land Part 2 video! I'm still really eager for the next exciting installment lol. There's probably a lot of reasons why it got delayed, just wondering if there's a plan to getting it finished or if it'll never be released (which I can make my peace with, but the mystery is killing me!!).

Kate

It makes me so sad that you get so much hate for just existing on the internet. We will always be here for you and will always support your decisions!

Rachel Cook

The walking carnotaurus always gets me in the ride because it hits some primal part of my brain that thinks, “If this thing can walk, it can kill me!” So I totally relate to Jenny’s thoughts.

Nolan Veldey

In Madison, Wisconsin where I live there used to be a place called Ella's Deli & Ice Cream Parlor which sadly closed in 2018 after 42 years. The whole restaurant was filled with vintage animatronics and displays and there were mirrors on the wall so it looked like it went on forever. There was a Chicago coin band box that was really cute, and some gymnast figurines made to look like they were performing on parallel bars. Big part of my childhood! There was also a carousel outside. I remember me and my sister and friend rode it all afternoon once because we had a lot of free coupons for it and no one else was there so we had it all to ourselves.

Steve Ray

Given her newfound status and fame, I hope Our Hostess can work out a collab with her *fellow* Hugo-nominee, America's #1 Living-Food content creator, Dr. Chuck Tingle!!!! I'd like to see *those* animatronics on a dark ride, boy-howdy!

Kyan Krumdieck

I joined this patreon because of Lindsay's video. You're pure joy to me and it's awful people are shitting on you! It's getting so insane online right now, I feel like people have gotten used to attacking someone as an activity that they are always searching for the next person to attack. If you fuck up, listen and apologize, but if you haven't, ignore it all!

MrKirbs

The flipped camera and bold makeup gives this a real Evil Twin Jenny vibe

Dundough Breadbox

Congratulations on Hugo nomination and finalist! (in 5 out of 277) About ten minutes in I had forgotten mention of flipped video (above) and thought everything moved, mostly by horse-shelves. Flipping video sounds way easier.

Conor

bubsy collectors frothing out of their mouths at two of the ten known bubsy plushies on earth in every jenny video

TheAdmiral91

Is tylenol just paracetamol or has it got other shit in it like codeine?

Andr

Yes but we call the generic drug acetaminophen here. Standard Tylenol should just have that but they may have extra-strength or other variants with codeine

Brett Watt

Way up in Canuckistan (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), we have Scotia Theatre in West Edmonton Mall, which featured a giant fire-breathing Chinese dragon. Its tail started a floor beneath the theatre level of the mall. Every hour, it would go through a 5 minute animatronic show that would culminate in three giant fireballs aimed at a balcony entry into the IMAX theatre. It scared the pants of my 6 year old nephew when we went to see... King Kong about 15 years ago?

Joel Keene

This is wild, i had no idea how asymmetrical your mannerisms are. This is like watching an entirely different human being.

Sterling Desrosiers

I always try to sit as close to Max, Melvin, and Buff as I can so I can watch them throughout the show and listen to their loud clicking noises

Shaun Cheah

"Flexing My Bibbles" is the title of the latest post on Peregrin Took's OnlyFans.

Sterling Desrosiers

My personal favorite animatronics (other than skippy, sonny, figment, and a lot of the others you named) -the goats from living with the land specifically the one on the box -beacon joe and rufus from the rivers of america -from monster mansion @ sfog: buzby, the second fritter bitter, the fluffy necked “bad monster”, buster, and the E-Rategator -Max Melvin Buff -sam eagle on a mule in america sings -the melanie ravenswood that was moved to the top of the stairs

Tyler Honsel

Congrats on the nomination! I love your videos and your takes. Thanks for doing it.

Kinetics Video

So if dinosaurs are easier to make convincing animatronics, and birds are able to be easier animatronics because of the feathers, how convincing would feathered dinosaurs be?

Ghostfellow

I'm kind of surprised you didn't mention the new ending scene to the Jurassic World ride at Universal with the new dinosaur. Seriously an amazing animatronic, I can't wait to see him in person. Also a walking animatronic!

Teresa C

The Jaws ride and the ET ride both have such a special place in my heart. I also have no real connection to the ET movie, although I have seen it. But that ET ride was always a must stop/first stop ride for me.

Emily Bishop

There used to be an amusement park in my hometown called Joyland, which closed years ago. But one of the clown animatronics was stolen shortly after the park closed. In like 2015 the police did a raid of this guy’s house because he was doing some illicit activities, but they also found the long missing Louie the Clown animatronic in his basement. And since his rescue from this man’s basement, he’s like a mini mascot of the town. Local shops sell buttons and t-shirts of him. The local donut shop has a donut themed after him. I do not know his current location because last year there was a lawsuit over where he should end up. Various former investors and workers of the park wanted to claim him and there was a custody battle over Louie the Clown, the organ playing clown of Joyland.

Victoria Blake

The animatronic I’m most obsessed with is from my hometown’s local zoo. They turned the annual haunted house building into a dinosaur exhibit full of animatronics which I saw when I was like 4/5 and I LOVED IT. Though I can remember snippets the one animatronic that is vividly engraved into my memory in this one velociraptor or something tearing at and eating a dead dino , you know? But because they thought it would be too scary if it had meat in its mouth the velociraptor pulled out CONFETTI STREAMERS from the dead Dino’s stomach??? ? Not even in pink/red but like blues and purples. I was still terrified as a kid but in retrospect I am fascinated by the creative decisions that lead to its existence

Avatar

There is an old mansion in Toronto called Casa Loma, in the winter they have an old decrepit Santa animatronic deep in the underground tunnel that connects house to the stable. A kid behind us burst into tears and had to be consoled by their parents that it wasn't real, you could see behind Santa's eyes into its head, pure terror.

Ham

So we're adding "Watch E.T." to the May Topics list, yes?

aqwedcxz

+++ good vid

hypercube

It's so messed up that harassment is just a given for the audacity of being a woman with an opinion. Thank you for your videos -- your gift for storytelling, your insights and your humor make every rant a joy to watch.

Bruce Climas

Enormous congratz on the Hugo nomination

Allessandra

your bibble voice is so good omg

Rushka Unverricht

Congratulations on the Hugo nomination Jenny! That really *is* pretty cool. It also gives me something extra to casually mention while convincing people to watch your videos, "... oh, and she's also been nominated for a Hugo Award". It's weird how the brain knows with the screen being flipped something's not quite right, it's a bit like a Bizarro World video. Everything's the same but feels slightly off! Good ramble though, a fun topic. 

Steve Ray

I thought all of that talk was a little racy for a family website.

Dash

I hear Sarah McLachlan when I look at him.

Mariayuri Kumagae

Beauty and the beast itself is a pretty good ride (I rode it twice), but sadly if you go in with high expectations for animatronics you will be underwhelmed...they're not bad, but not mindblowing or anything. My favourite might be lightning mcqueen from the hollywood studio show. I don't know how technically advanced it is, but I've never been so convinced by an animatronic which made me feel it was the actual character from the movies.

Silver Wings

May I ask if your Beanie Baby video is still in the works? I have looked into that scam a bit, and it is fascinating. I would love to hear your take and observations. :)

Tiffany Clark

I lived a couple hours from Orlando all through primary school, and it's taken me a decade of being deprived of Disney to come to appreciate how bizarre and delightful the Country Bear Jamboree is. I'm sure it isn't a favorite, but I never get tired of giant crooning bears.

D

:) Yay, I didn't know about most of these and it was cool learning about them. Near Adelaide in Australia there's a bunyip in a sewer. The google images are marvellous, I want to see it one day.

Ren ☆

I just got my second vaccination and I’m shocked by how little it effected me

Harrison Martin

have you gotten much hate since the Lindsay video? i don't see where these people are finding your racist past

Jerry Nicholson

If you're on a computer, go here and repeatedly tap your F key

Brittny Bush

I don't have much experience with animatronics but I DO remember that terrifying Alien ride from my one and only time at Disney World. We weren't there long so I didn't get to experience much. I would have to say the Showbiz Pizza band are my fave animatronics. They inspired equal amounts of horror and excited joy in me as a child. I especially remember when the curtain wouldn't close all the way and you could see them motionless in the dark. Yikes! also Yay! Great video.

Embiss

Holy Shit, congrats, Jenny! That video was amazingly done - my only interaction with MLP was the 3rd? generation of toys/show, and then nothing until hearing jokes about Bronies, and you made me feel like I had experienced the whole ride.

Paul Ganzevoort

As somebody from the Netherlands all my favourite animatronics are from the Efteling. Lange Jan isn't very technically impressive but kid me's deep love for still holds. The dragon from Raveleijn is super rad, it's LARGE and the way it is hidden at first is great. I'm also shamelessly throwing in some giant group nominations: the entirety of Droomvlucht and Symbolica. I really hope I'll get to see Efteling content from you at some point in the future haha

RadCatCreations

My personal favorite animatronics are the Dinosaurs at the St. Louis Science Center. They are super old and basically never have any maintenance done so they are extremely dusty. It was like a right of passage for St. Louis Children to go get their picture taken standing under the TRex and be filled with absolute terror. The diorama is also great because it's not just a Trex standing around, it's specifically a Trex standing over the dying body of a Triceratops. The Trex is roaring all proud for its fresh kill and the Triceratops is all bloody and like whimpering. It truly scarred me and I'm sure many other kids but I do love those dinosaurs now and I'd be sad if they ever got rid of them.

Ash Gabrielle

I loved Alien Encounter when I was 6. I was disappointed as a teenager when I went back to Disney and it had been replaced.

Conor

its really weird. how are we to know the video is actually flipped and she hasn't been flipping her videos this whole time? lmao jk

Conor

she talks about it at the end of the video. she is just feeling burnt out like with the brony vid and needs to take a step away from it and come back later. makes sense. im getting hyped for the barbie vid.

Joel Keene

Conor, sounds like the plot of a horror movie. Next you're going to tell me Lindsay Ellis wasn't really drinking whiskey in that one video.

Dee Crosier

Congrats on the award nomination, and a curse upon your haters!

Shred Cadmium

The current shambles of a 'discourse' is a bit of a nightmare. I can imagine famous folk sort-of expect a certain amount of idiocy from obviously-antagonistic morons. But treachery from those who hold themselves out as being 'better' must be very hard to handle. At the end of the day both groups should be dismissed out of hand. There's really nothing the second group are doing that raises them up over the first. The second group might <b>feel</b> they occupy a moral high ground but I'll guarantee that the first group believes that they do, too. They might start out from apparently-different positions but they end up in the same place: doing other people down because in their self-hatred & insecurity they have a scrambling need to find a way to feel superior. Does that make any of it any easier to deal with? I don't know. I doubt it, but I hope so 🤞 There are so many more of us that support Jenny than the contrary - although I think we all understand the psychology of it: one unfairly-negative voice can drown out a thousand justifiably-positive ones. Jenny does deal with it all very well, I think - but that's the unfairness of it: there shouldn't be any kind of <i>need</i> to 'deal with' anything at all. Ah well - I think all we can continue to do is to be part of those thousand voices, and then our support is there and can be taken as a given as & whenever-when it may be useful ✊

Harrison Martin

interesting, so is the more "scientific" name acetaminophen or paracetamol?

Harrison Martin

but i don't even understand why jenny is a current target. i havent seen any receipts or old tweets... in one her older videos she explicitly says she doesnt want to look racist in the ugly toto costume, so i dont get it!!

Nick Oswalt

I grew up in the midwest but would take a trip to North Carolina every year or so to visit my grandparents. My grandma worked at a grocery store called Harris Teeter and the only things I remember about it are the food groups animatronics displayed above the open-faced dairy cases. They would sing cool songs about food if you pressed a button. It was there that I fell in love with animatronics, pavlovian buttons, and the concept of theatre.

Notation

Hi, this is a small comment and I hope you take it the right way. It might be a California thing, but it always feels like when you're talking about the maintenance people you're talking about "guys" like, guys? A lot of women are making strides in getting into that too. Not a big thing and probably just dialect, nothing for you to change but just wanted to mention to some people that's a bit how it sounds to our ears. Great video.

Shred Cadmium

Aye, well, that's the correct view: don't be tempted to look for a 'kernel of truth' or anything, because there isn't one. Not-understanding is actually the correct position! 😁👍 This isn't actually about Jenny, except insofar as she is a successful and intelligent woman who has built a platform for her opinions through hard work and talent. Some people are threatened by some or all of that, and that's the only explanation. There's literally nothing else there, but these people <b>need</b> there to be something there, so they imagine it or outright fake it to try to make themselves feel better. About themselves. Again, it's all about needing or trying to feel superior (which is not necessary unless one actually ... isn't). This is all very easy for me to say, of course. I don't have to live with the consequences of this kind of tinyminded thinking. I just wish that everyone could be a bit happier with themselves! And then no one would have to deal with this nonsense, too 😢

Ben Detrixhe

In the small town of Belleville, Kansas, near where I grew up, is a great little place called the Boyer Gallery. It features a collection of small animated scenes made out of wood and wire by a local man. Most of them are humorous scenes of hand-carved wooden characters with exaggerated features, and there are also some more abstract wire models that feature balls going down chutes and bouncing off things. They are all in glass cases around a room, and you can go up to each one and push the button as many times as you want. Well worth a visit if you find yourself driving across the central plains.

Benjamin A.

From the Oxford dictionary. guys [plural] (informal) a group of people of either sex Come on, you guys, let's get going!

JoAnna Black

I think within the context of a maintenance professional, maintenance guy still connotes a man, not any human person

Isabella Whitesides

I am sick with what is possibly stomach flu rn and the horrible Bibbles in the background are the only thing keeping me together

Kit

This isn't a favorite animatronic, but it *is* the one that made me the most curious as a child. I don't know if anyone is familiar with the now defunct Discovery Zone?? But it was a kids utopia effectively. It's hazy now, but I remember what felt like an endless mecca of slides, ball pits, tunnels, etc.... Regardless, there was an clown-esque animatronic (might have been their mascot, Z-bop? I'll call him that), and he lived in a portion of the tunnel complex with many ball pit balls. This version of Z-Bop was all stretched out and skinny-- towering over the room he resided in. The point of this attraction was to shoot hoops with the ball pit balls. The "net" connected to a vacuum tube and everytime you made a basket, Z-Bop was supposed to move a bit, congratulate you and spit the ball back out. However, at the location in my town, Z-Bop was often broken. I remember throwing ball after ball, only to have them get stuck and for this terrifying, towering Z-Bop behemoth to garble some words and open his mouth to produce.... Nothing. Anyone else have this experience?

Camille

re: food animatronics there's an iconic setup in a kosher grocery store near my house. It's a cartoon looking old grocer man named mr goodchoice surrounded by various singing fruits and vegetables and when you push a button they do a song about like eating your vegetables and not doing drugs (I think... i havent visited they guy in a while). unforch they dont maintain it at all, most of the fruits and veg dont move anymore and theyre looking a little parched and cracky around the mouth corners. i think there was a video of him on youtube at one point.

Luis

Watched the ramble two more times just for Jenny's amazing E.T. voice impression!

Dash

Agree, though I will say that caution needs to be taken in painting all voices of contention as people just looking for a fight. Sure, a lot of times some people are looking for any tiny slip up that they can turn into a crusade to showcase their moral one-upsmanship, but sometimes complaints are legitimate, and/or at least as far as the individual is concerned, they genuinely feel hurt, marginalized, or attacked in some way. Now, for people who are obviously on the side that takes a stance against everything you believe, I agree that a complete non-response is appropriate. But regarding complaints from those who are more or less “on your side,” one has to be *very* careful not to be glib or dismissive of such things in order to avoid amplifying the problem or allow for any mischaracterization of their actual perspective. This, as far as I can tell, was the unfortunate misstep by LE.

Ola Sarcasm

I've only been to 1 American theme park and it was Universal Studios in LA in 2010. There was a ride that was just screens, I think it was king kong beating up some dinosaurs. There was also the JAWS ride and I think it had the animatronic shark! I have almost no memories from the theme park, my most vivid American memory is seeing a cop having a gun at his side and it scared the living heck out of me

AppleSnaps

Where do we stand on creatures like the doozers, the coca-cola polar bear, or Falkor? Do they count as animatronics or not because they are puppets and thus not automated?

Minivet

I think it's US acetaminophen, UK paracetamol.

Avia Lewis

We live in Utah, Evermore just announced they're reopening on June 4!

Steve Ray

It's true during company meetings, or if someone from HR is standing right there, but the informal form of of a job title will use the culturally assumed gender, and then clarify as needed. Example 1: "Why are you using the broken microwave?" "Oh, they sent over a lady maintenance guy today, so it's fixed." Example 2: "Why are you always getting meatloaf now?" "We now have a male lunch lady, and he says they have a whole freezerful that's about to go bad soon, so eat up."

Steve Ray

It's the Jacobins' Dilemma -- unless you're leading a mob against someone, soon someone will lead a mob against you. And the longer things go, the smaller the transgressions get, and as Ms. Ellis noted, defending anyone from an accusation usually lands you on the chopping block right next to them, to the point where mobs will even believe Jenny must be guilty of something.

Josh Draper

I HATED the Alien Encounter preshow when I first saw it. The attraction itself was actually pretty cool despite being on the intense side (at least from a kid's perspective, I was 9 or 10 at the time), but the whole "teleporting Skippy" thing always struck me as rather mean-spirited. Idk what they were going for or why they chose that as a tone-setter. On top of being disfigured by the sadistic Tim Curry robot, Skippy then gets "suspended indefinitely" during teleportation, which is a pretty Black-Mirror-esque concept for a 90s Disney ride. I got a stuffed Skippy on the way out, if only because I feel like they did him dirty and he deserved a better home. (Maybe that was what they intended all along?)

i named my dog albus before joanne came out as a terf fml

Please make an Efteling video! It’s my favorite theme park in the world and it has so much history. It also has such a cool and weird Dutch/Belgian aesthetic in the characters and theming (look up “Holle Bolle Gijs”). The new Symbolica ride is incredible, and it carries forward the original pure-fantasy theming from when the park first opened in 1952. Originally, the Efteling was just the “Sprookjesboos” or fairy tale forest, which is a wood full of winding paths and little animatronic scenes of fairy tales, all with this creepy old Grimm energy - like you round a corner and there’s a candy cottage with Gretel cowering in fear from the witch in the doorway, and Hansel is in a cage all fattened up to be eaten. The animatronic that I used to love and fear as a child was this dragon that guarded a treasure chest right by the path. You can go up and pull on a piece of treasure, and the dragon lunges down with its long neck and bellows steam from its nose, and you run away shrieking. One other beloved animatronic that is also Very Dutch is Lange Nek, (Long Neck) who is a big old lanky guy with a neck that extends upward to just a silly length. He has this wide-eyed expression and looks around like he can’t believe what’s happening to his neck. I think that guy has been around since the beginning too and he has so much personality for so few moving parts. Anyway my fingers are crossed for an Efteling video once everyone can finally travel again!

Citizen Calmar

I don't think I've ever been to a theme park, so I don't really have any strong opinions about animatronics, but I thought the "projected faces" thing on the Frozen animatronics was a really interesting concept. Even if it does look janky and only really works in dim lighting, I just have to think, well, the technology is pretty new. Presumably it will get better with time. It will be interesting to see what other applications it will eventually be used for.

Melody Borg

This made me envious that I don't live near anywhere that has animatronics. The only ones I remember are from a long-dead supermarket chain here in Australia called Franklins, back in the 90s. It's one of my earliest memories. Googling them, they're way more horrific-looking than I expected, and most of what comes up are Reddit threads of other people having very vague memories of the place.

Nick Libasci

thank you for acknowledging stew leonards, their dancing avocados genuinely horrify me

Trystan

As someone who lives 30 minutes from De Efteling and has been there at least 3 or 4 times in my life (I'm not much into theme parks) it is one of the best ones I've ever been to in terms of theme and atmosphere.

Elliot Asher

Have you read Twisted by Miranda Leek? I would love to see you do a review of it. Truly wild theme park content.

Austin Baker

I don't know where I am or who you are with the camera flipped

George

My extended family lives in Danbury, CT. Whenever we went up there, my mom and I would always make at least one trip to Stew Leonards. There’s this one animatronic banana sponsored by Chiquita, essentially flanked by real bananas on all sides (A banana display, if you will). I remember there being a big red button you could press that would make the animatronic banana lady loudly sing and dance about Chiquita bananas. I remember her movements being much more impressive as a child - not sure if it’s lack of maintenance or my own delusion. I never got to see Kitchen Cabaret, but I’m at least pleased that I felt like I had an amicable, albeit fleeting relationship with this banana. https://youtu.be/sljcNqfURKE

Avery Gee

Jenny this outfit and hair style youre rocking today is really good!

sylvia davidson

there's these expensive beautiful vintage figment pins on depop that i favorited because they reminded me of you lol i've never heard anyone talk about figment other than you

Eamonn

I don’t rlly know why but I’ve always been obsessed with the Ariel animatronic on Journey of The Little Mermaid

Heather Landers

Oh my god I’ve been on such a huge animatronic kick lately this video could not have come at a better time

Ginny Mabrey

Cannot fathom that you didn’t include Hopper from It’s Tough to Be a Bug. Insanity. my FAVORITE one 10000%

Rachel

Jenny this is not related to this video however I just listened to the Musicalsplaining Descendants episode and I cannot even begin to express how excited I am about the slight possibility of you making a Once Upon a Time video. That show is so insane and yet the premise was so cool, would love to listen to you dissect it just like Vampire Diaries. No idea how serious you were about that comment but wanted to express my extreme support!

Might Be A Giant

Can I second the hope that there will be a Once Upon a Time video? I listened to the musicalsplaining podscast episode today and got so excited at the prospect. And I've actually seen some of the early seasons of Once upon a time, so I'll have some familiarity with the topic

Tj Belton

I’m not sure if this is a hot take or not, but I think talking food animatronics are the best animatronics. They’re so simple but I could watch them for hours.

Madeline Jackson

most impressive for me is uhhh whats his name in the preshow for the millennium falcon ride... thought he was just a dude in costume, the walk looked soooo good. my favorite is keys dog forever and always. love you, keys dog, glad you made it to the big screen.

mollying

This is Jurassic Park River Adventure erasure.

Jerry Nicholson

When I saw "Musicalsplaining Descendants" for a moment I thought Jenny did a podcast about hardcore punk from the 80s and I got really excited.

YeeHawYuri

Where's Buzzy?! They're so lost that they're even missing from Jenny's animatronic lists!

AudreyDuck

I went on that ride for the first time last year and was floored by how impressive that animatronic is (although, I had just spent a whole day in screen-based Harry Potter rides, so a puppet on a stick probably would’ve looked impressive to me).

Shred Cadmium

I guess Jenny thought it might be a little gauche to rank animatronics that she personally owns 😏

Dash

Not directly related but at the-avocado.org they've been having a tournament for favorite YouTubers and Jenny is duking it out for champion against some channel named ProZD. I don't mean to game the results or anything, but then again Jenny doesn't really need it as she has a small but comfortable lead which I think will carry her through. And I don't know ProZD, I'm sure they are awesome, but come on, it's Jenny! Also, Jenny's buddy Lindsay is in the lead for third place honors. Go team Omniverse! Oh, here's the link: https://the-avocado.org/2021/05/05/battle-of-the-youtube-stars-finals/

Mandi Coffey

Ok I'm a new patron, and I am APPALLED that the first exclusive video I get to watch is accusing me of not being a diehard animatronics fan

Mandi Coffey

My favorite animatronic is really strange, I always say that its the Bird in the line of the Jungle Cruise, mostly because he feels like a friend when I'm stuck in the horribly long line that goes upstairs on busy days. I also think his little caw is extremely cute.

Steve Ray

HELP JENNY WIN AN OVERWHELMING VICTORY!! The UI for the "Poll" is upvotes and downvotes in the comment thread. FIRST, go to This Link --> https://the-avocado.org/2021/05/05/battle-of-the-youtube-stars-finals/ SECOND, Scroll way down to the bottom of the page, then click the Load More Comments bar. The last three comments have the "polls" in them. Each candidate gets a post with a YouTube Embed of one of their videos. Jenny's is the Weird Hallmark Party Advice one, so click it an upvote, then savor our collective power.

Will

I’m so excited for the Barbie movie video!! During the difficult summer I’m sure we all had last year, your Land Before Time video became a comfort video for me, and I look forward to the Barbie video serving a similar purpose whenever you put it out. I already adored ModernGurlz’s takes on the films and can’t wait to hear yours. Thanks for all your hard work, Jenny!!

Dash

To clarify, in order to upvote you have to have a Disqus account which is the commenting system they use. You can get to the voting section without scrolling all the way down by sorting the posts by Oldest (the system defaults to sorting by Newest which is why the videos are way at the bottom.) Also, just so it’s not only about gaming the results of this one tourney, once you’re on the site I encourage you to look around and check out some of the other articles. It’s a cool online community and there’s a good chance you’ll find relatable topics and other like-minded people with interesting insights. It is, after all, where I first learned about Jenny :)

Phil C

Hi, glad you are safe!

Elías Mochán

I'm very hyped about the Barbie video. I've seen a few of those movies and some are guilty pleasures :P. Congrats on the nomination, totally deserved. The brony-con video is amazing and this comes from someone who knows next to nothing about MLP.

Katie

Oh bibble

Cliff Odell

I respect and admire the shit out of you, and you inspire me as well. I cannot wait to see your next project! Stay safe and stay tough!

SweetAlissum

I really hope to see the video on Evermore. I was originally going to visit that before the pandemic hit and was pretty sad the future of it is in question now. It was originally a suggestion from my friends for my bachelorette party (also a casualty of the pandemic) and it would have been really fun. There's also not a ton of information about it out there since it was only open for like 2ish years before the pandemic, so a well researched video from you would really satisfy my curiosity.

Tasha

I like the dragon under sleeping beauty's castle in Disneyland Paris. As small children me and my sister we're terrified of it. Took my daughter a couple years back (age 3) and she was equally terrified so it's had a long run of giving children nightmares!

hannah lehrfeld

let me just say that i was shocked to find buzzy nowhere near these lists

Scott Tominey

Jenny for sure bought that sea monster animatronic. That will be a huge reveal!

Dash

I have to admit that I’m not well versed on YouTube personalities as Jenny is pretty much the only one I watch, but judging by the results of this tournament it does seem like a fairly insular group as apparently each of the finalists are personally acquainted with one another. Speaking of which, I’m not sure if it’s been mentioned here yet but Jenny and her opponent ProZD (SungWon Cho) have collaborated on a pilot for a sci-fi comedy podcast called Night Crew. Jenny plays the role of Arakosh, the Spider Queen (so, herself, basically) and does voice work directly opposite EG FREAKING DAILY which is all kinds of awesome. If you’d like to listen and possibly contribute to making a season of the podcast, they have a Kickstarter page where you can donate through June 4, found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peterchayward/night-crew-a-comedy-sci-fi-podcast

ogden hashmore

Is there a way to search thru comments? I can't be the only one struck by side ponytail; would like confirmation

who is counting

I'm quite sure there was at leas the other one comment about that :) patreon user interface is quite terrible afaik there is no option to search the comments (hah, maybe it was a joke I didn't get?)

Savannah Madeira is VERY Impressed!

Jenny I’m very relieved to hear that we have the same opinions about The American Adventure which is unironically my favorite Epcot attraction

Nikki Lev

Is the Donkey at Universal an animatronic or a puppet????

Libby

the bibbles in the background only increase my excitement to see a barbie video from jenny

Libby

I have been to epcot like ten times and am only just now learning the american adventure even exists

detunedpiano

jenny your hair looks so good

Tori

I'm glad rex pre-Star Wars Land(tm) was brought up. Favorite animatronic hands down. Mazel tov to Jenny for being fully vaccinated.

Avia Lewis

In case you're interested in more stops just down the road from Evermore, that otherwise-pretty-empty area has formed this sort of cursed entertainment district: Evermore, The Void HQ (RIP), a kid’s inflatables party venue (Kangaroo Zoo), a multi-level-track go karting company (The Grid), a family farm (Hee Haw), a trampoline park (Airborne), an escape room company (Alcatraz), and a “real life video game” company (Labyrinth Reality Games). The last one is the one I wouldn’t miss. We just went the other week, it’s hard to describe accurately but it’s basically a hallway full of themed doors (think "ninja" "volcano" “morgue” etc.) and behind every door is 3–4 progressive rooms. You have to figure out how to get the next room to unlock and it’s usually some combination of a mental puzzle or a physical task like an obstacle course. And each time you get through the last room of a theme, you get a piece of a map to solve the “final labyrinth” room. It was surprisingly hard for us, in 2 hours we only finished 3 of the themes and we were wiped out from all the obstacle courses. It’s also really low budget lol. Like a lot of it’s just plywood, and a couple rooms we couldn’t get through because the nerf gun we were supposed to shoot was busted, or stuff like that. (At least the location in Lindon, the South Jordan location closer to SLC looks a lot nicer.) But I would still recommend it to anyone!

libbydd

Not sure if this counts as an animatronic but I love this toy called something like Yano the storyteller, he was this furby looking thing with a rubber face who you'd slot tapes into and he'd tell you stories. He had buttons on his belly and stuff. Great guy :) Also I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all the shit you and Lindsay etc have been going through. It's beyond frustrating to see people act in such bad faith towards you guys for literally no reason than to make themselves look good. Makes me so angry. And don't worry about new videos, honestly just make what you're proud of and then upload it. But try not to hold yourself to too high a standard because it can be a really vicious cycle where you judge yourself way too harshly. I can guarantee whatever you find interesting we will too.

Gabrielle Montes

I’ll always have a soft spot for the animatronic talking tree in the queue for the Macy’s SantaLand at the flagship Macy’s in New York. (Context: Before you go see Santa at that store and have the regular sit-on-lap Mall Santa experience they make you walk through this long queue full of whimsical animatronics and model train sets and decorations and stuff. It’s a shell of its former self as of the last time I was there 5ish years ago bc they don’t have the money to maintain it but it was brand new when I was a kid and that was great.) There’s an animatronic tree with a face towards the beginning of the walkthrough that would sing Christmas carols and it’s super cute. Also, and I can’t find any video to prove this second bit, but I am So Sure that originally there was a second animatronic made to look like a holly bush clinging to the side of the tree and they used to look at eachother and sync up and sing alternating bits of Holly Jolly Christmas and do cute banter back and forth. The only video I can find of the tree operational is without the holly bush. I don’t think I imagined it but googling it and finding nothing has left me feeling kinda nuts. Tree def existed though and he was rad.

AF

The ET ride is the only thing I remember about going to universal as a kid. I loved it. It was goofy and full of animatronics and atmosphere. I’m happy to remember it actually is as fun as I remembered it being

Erik Amaya

I worked the E.T. Adventure at Universal Studios Hollywood in the late 1990s. The Spielberg video will forever be part of my memory ... but it didn't pay particular attention to E.T.'s friends. Instead, it focused on an intergalactic passport (sponsored by AT&T) which would enable E.T. to to thank you BY NAME at the ride's conclusion. Any number of hours during a daily shift would entail giving guests these passports and typing their name into a computer and assigning it a barcode -- the real power behind the passport -- so the focus on E.T.'s friends at the Orlando version is something of a surprise. I'm guessing the passports are not a thing in this version?

James OSullivan

Just got to watching this one and honestly? A little disappointed with the lack of Buzzy. DID YOU FORGET OUR BOY?!?!

Julie Adams

you should have heard the "YEAH!" i let out when the beauty and the beast animatronics were mentioned. no list of "most impressive" would be complete without them

Gus Retrieval

I have made myself comfortable with the geese.

Kale

Im so late to this but was anyone else notably traumatized by the BugaBoo Creek Steakhouse wall-mounted animatronic moose head who was Very Aware he was trapped on the wall watching us Eat?

Amanda Kay

I’m so amused by the idea of a “living” tree. I know she means anthropomorphic, but still. Living tree. Also, I still have the hilarious picture of my family on the dinosaur ride when we went to Disney World in the 90s when I was like 8. My mom and sister are in the front and screaming at the big dino, but my dad and I are full on trying to exit the ride screaming looking fully to the left because there was a second huge dino coming at you from the side. This has been a story no one is interested, bye!

Jessie

I was actually wondering if Stew Leonard's would make this list! It was considered a ~destination~ in my family.

Emily Schermer

My sister and I have a very long running inside joke about the Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin animatronics at the end when they're on the statue of liberty and how bad their attempt at a handshake is. I laugh every time I see it

Jenny Nicholson

On my most recent trip Ben's right arm was stuck in a rigid position at his side in that scene, and whenever he turned his torso it made a loud cracking sound as it smacked against the railing

Rose Stachowicz

I consider myself very lucky because I got to ride the Everest ride with the full Yeti. It was amazing and the best part of the ride. This was 2006-07 when my entire marching band went to Disney World to march down Main Street. The yeti was so popular that one of the flag girls did a "tan tattoo" (because we're out in the sun all day) of a "Y" which stood for "Yeti." *shrug* Band kids are weird

Shiloh Skye

The hot steam from the Jaws ride burned my leg shortly before it was shut down and I'm glad it's gone. It was also rather boring. So don't worry, you're not missing much.

Alison Diem

Hi! This video is showing as private- am I not at the right tier for this or was it taken down? I live with an animatronic super-fan and would love to watch it with them. ❤️❤️❤️

Alison Diem

Of course, now it works for me, lol

Kara Kaspar

I’m surprised that you didn’t include the giant Kong face! That’s like the second animatronic the popped into my mind after the shaman of songs

SimmerRose

JENNY I LITERALLY CANT BREATHE THE SPLASH MOUNTAIN BIRDS CRACK MY SHIT UP EVERY TIME I RIDE ITS A HUGE INSIDE JOKE IN MY FAMILY I LOVE THEM SO MUCH THEYRE SO FUNNY I LAUGHED SO HARD WHEN THEY WERE YOUR NUMBER ONE FAVORITE IVE NEVER FELT SO VALIDATED IN MY LIFE

Al Hunt

I had a completely different ending experience on E.T. the Ride. I rode it probably within a year or two of the movie. None of that stuff about looking for the three special E.T.s, or that chat with what's'is'name. As you were entering the ride, they asked for each person's name, and typed it in to a console. They gave some vague answer when asked why the needed it and hurried you along. At the end of the ride E.T. (if I recall correctly -- wasn't he still in the bike basket?...) was standing prominently to one side. As you passed, he waved and thanked everyone in the ride by name. "Thank-you, Jimmy. Thank-you, Alan...." Pretty neat. So it looks like they got rid of that to either streamline the loading of the ride, or didn't want to keep paying "fast-typist" premiums to the ride staff.