Disneyland Tiki Bird Replica
- Thread starter Lord Hater
- Start date
Dr Jones Sr
Sr Member
Around 35 years ago a guy showed up for a job interview at Disneyland for a machinist position.
He showed the Disney guy doing the interview a Tiki Room bird, and demonstrated its fully functioning animatronics.
"Where did you get that??"
"I made it."
He was hired on the spot, and he's been there ever since. He's in the Animation department. His team keeps the 100+ figures in Pirates of the Caribbean functioning.
Did you ever visit Animation? It's really cool. They have the moulds for all the heads, hands, and for some figures the feet seen in Pirates, and can cast and replace the "skin" as needed. They have a full machine shop and can recreate any part that breaks.
He showed the Disney guy doing the interview a Tiki Room bird, and demonstrated its fully functioning animatronics.
"Where did you get that??"
"I made it."
He was hired on the spot, and he's been there ever since. He's in the Animation department. His team keeps the 100+ figures in Pirates of the Caribbean functioning.
Did you ever visit Animation? It's really cool. They have the moulds for all the heads, hands, and for some figures the feet seen in Pirates, and can cast and replace the "skin" as needed. They have a full machine shop and can recreate any part that breaks.
Last edited:
Spencercanada
New Member
Does any one here have a 3d model of the bird head they'd be willing to sell or perhaps donate? I'm trying to build a Tiki bird animatronic as my final project for my production design class (I'm currently studying film production), but I don't have enough time to model the head myself or rather enough time to model it well enough.
Lord Hater
Active Member
I suffer from a sort of mental illness where I believe that if I’m willing to suck at something long enough and fail enough times I can be OK at just about anything.
When the pandemic broke out that illness told me, “when you’re done bleaching your groceries and quarantining your mail, you should teach yourself animatronics.” Having no experience whatsoever in mechanical engineering or programming robotics, this was a terrible idea.
But it was also wonderful. It forced me to try new things, get better at subjects I had struggled with my entire life and accept failure and setbacks as the necessary steps to succeed.
Fittingly, as the Pandemic is officially being declared over, after three years of failure and sucking at something, I have finally finished my Tiki Bird.
When the pandemic broke out that illness told me, “when you’re done bleaching your groceries and quarantining your mail, you should teach yourself animatronics.” Having no experience whatsoever in mechanical engineering or programming robotics, this was a terrible idea.
But it was also wonderful. It forced me to try new things, get better at subjects I had struggled with my entire life and accept failure and setbacks as the necessary steps to succeed.
Fittingly, as the Pandemic is officially being declared over, after three years of failure and sucking at something, I have finally finished my Tiki Bird.
division 6
Master Member
AAAAAWWWWSOME JOB.
Just amazing!
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