WALT Disney’s granddaughter has slammed the entertainment giant for turning its late founder into a “robotic grampa”.
Disney is set to introduce an animatronic version of Walt Disney for the 70th anniversary of Disneyland this July, despite ongoing objections from his granddaughter, Joanna Miller.
Joanna Miller expressed to the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday that her cherished grandfather, who died in 1966, would not have approved of becoming a talking mechanical replica.
“I think I started crying,” she said, recalling the moment she first saw the figure. “It didn’t look like him to me.”
Miller said she voiced her concerns early on, sending a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger when the idea was first proposed.
She mentioned that she subsequently met with Iger and the team in charge of the attraction’s creation, telling him: “I strongly believe the last two minutes with the robot will cause much more harm than good to Grandpa’s legacy.”
“They will remember the robot – and not the man.”
Despite Iger being “very kind” and despite his promises to protect her grandfather’s legacy, she said her request that they scrap the animatronic was ultimately ignored.
Miller said it “pains” her to call out the very company he created.
She said she was speaking solely on behalf of her grandfather and mother.
In a Facebook post in November, Miller blasted the company’s “idea of a robotic grampa”, writing that it made her feel “so so sad and disappointed”.
She explained: “The idea of a Robotic Grampa to give the public a feeling of who the living man was just makes no sense.
“It would be an imposter. They are dehumanizing him. People are not replaceable.”
She also argued that her late grandfather had “told Sam McKim that he never wanted to be an animatronic”, claiming that she has been provided with first-hand proof to back this up.
The figure will appear in a new attraction called Walt Disney – A Magical Life, located in the park’s Main Street Opera House.
The proposal to show “what it would be like to stop by Walt’s office” was announced by Disney last year.
The company said it would be “a fitting tribute” to the man who made “significant advances with Audio-Animatronics”.
Walt Disney co-founded The Walt Disney Company (originally called Disney Brothers Studio) in 1923, with his brother Roy O. Disney.
Walt is regarded as a pioneer of Audio-Animatronics, famously bringing Abraham Lincoln to life at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
Josh D’Amaro, chair of Disney Experiences, told people at D23, the company’s annual fan event: “Creating our first Walt figure is an idea that’s been whispered in the hallowed halls of imagineering for years, decades, even.”
He added: “We just had to wait for innovation to catch up with our dreams. And we’re finally ready.”
Disneyland California, which opened on July 17, 1955, will celebrate its 70th anniversary this July.
