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As much as Disney theme parks are all about the rides and attractions
Another major part of the Disney experience are the characters from meet and greets, the stage shows,
parades and special appearances. All your favorite characters from classic Disney films and TV shows can be seen at the parks
Now throughout Disney's theme park history, especially in the 90s at Walt Disney World,
there's been some weird and interesting characters that have appeared
For the most part they're now all extinct
But these characters will probably leave you scratching your head wondering why?
They're weird for a variety of reasons like characters that aren't even owned by Disney,
strange character costume designs,or the sudden disappearance of an extremely popular character.
So today while looking through some Disney theme park history
We're gonna be counting down the top 5 weird and extinct characters from the Disney theme parks
Number 5 the Dick Tracy crew. If you visited disney-mgm
Studios or Disney Land in the early 90s you may have encountered these guys, and yes
they actually appeared in the parks. Dick Tracy was a comic strip character from the
1930s that was turned into a film by touchstone pictures in
1990. If you aren't familiar with touchstone pictures
It's a label under the Walt Disney studio umbrella
They produce the films that usually aren't directly on brand with the Disney name so when it comes to touchstone characters
Disney decides if they want them to become quote-unquote Disney characters so in
1990 a 28-minute musical called Dick Tracy starring and diamond double cross
Opened at video appleís and Disneyland and at the original theater of the stars at MGM
Now the film used prosthetics to make the actors appear more cartoon like but at the theme parks
They created full masks where the performers were still able to open and close their mouths
Something about them is just really off
They look like those really weird
Halloween masks don't they now it is a bit odd that a show based on a more mature film appeared in Fantasyland at Disneyland
But this appearance kind of makes sense for MGM studios at the time the park was brand new and Universal Studios
Florida wasn't even open yet
so including these non-traditional type Disney characters seem to be a way to directly compete with the
Demographic that Universal Studios would be aiming towards the show at MGM ran for nine months then closed in February of
1991 so these characters were never seen again, thankfully
But this wasn't the end of non traditional Disney characters at the park
Number four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the 90s were definitely the prime at disney-mgm
Studios if you grew up around this time
You'd probably remember that New York Street used to be home to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle show
Now you're probably wondering why are the Ninja Turtles at a Disney theme park?
Well, you aren't the only ones thinking that because if you go back and watch any of the videos on YouTube
There's a lot of confused people in the comments. They made their debut at the park on July 1st
1990 and earlier that year in March the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was released
It was a complete hit and again, Disney was looking at ways to directly compete with Universal Studios
So Ninja Turtles seemed to fit this agenda
multiple times per day
The Ninja Turtles would roll down the street in their van
Head to the stage for a little live show that would do a meet and greet shortly after
At this time the Ninja Turtles were owned by Mirage Studios and were distributed by CBS
The only real connection Disney had to the Ninja Turtles was through Jim Henson
He actually created the articulated costumes for that 1990 live-action film
And this was around the same time when Disney was in negotiations to merge with the Jim Henson company
but that deal didn't go through since Jim Henson passed away suddenly in May of
1990 so it appears that the Ninja Turtles at MGM Studios
Were just a theme park licensing deal that could have been acquired through the Jim Henson connection although
It's weird seeing these characters in a Disney park
They remained extremely popular during the early 90s
But all good things must come to an end Disney's contract for the Ninja Turtles ended on May 31st
1995 when the turtles drove their van right out of the park and disappeared forever
Number three Barbie
So if you think frozen in Norway doesn't fit with World Showcase wait till you hear about this in
1993 Disney brought Barbie to Epcot to celebrate her 35th birthday
That's right. The doll Barbie. She became the ambassador of friendship at Epcot and along with Ken and many of her other friends
appeared in a live 30-minute musical
The magical world of Barbie opened on Thanksgiving Day in
1993 at the America Gardens theater and World, Showcase
Now when Barbie wasn't doing shows she and Ken would also cruise into world showcase in their pink limo to do meet and greets
Just saying the words Barbie and World Showcase in the same sentence sounds really really weird
I mean if this was happening at MGM Studios
It would be kind of normal for the time, but the fact that Barbie was a main part of Epcot
Just makes the whole thing very strange. Now, you're probably wondering
Why exactly Disney would bring Barbie of all characters to Epcot?
Well it has to do with the Mattel toy company becoming a major corporate sponsor of the Disney theme parks Mattel is the company behind
Barbie and because of the sponsorship
Disney was required to create an entire show based on the character also beginning around 1993
Epcot began to see a decrease in attendance so another reason why they may have chose Epcot was to try and boost attendance
Now it is rumored that Disney wasn't too thrilled with Barbie actually being at Epcot
But this sponsorship from Mattel is how we got a roof over the America Gardens theater
So at least that's one good thing to come out of this the magical world of Barbie lasted a year and a half
closing on May 11th
1995 and along with her pink limo Barbie disappeared back into her plastic world
number two Roger Rabbit so earlier in the video we talked about TouchStone pictures
And how Disney uses this label for more mature themed films?
well
They also use it for films that they aren't necessarily confident in just in case the movie flops it wouldn't be
Associated with the Disney brand so back in 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released through touchstone pictures
Due to its more mature themes and the fact that they actually weren't confident with the film
to their surprise it became the second highest grossing film of
1988 and Roger Rabbit became a staple character of the Disney theme parks
Although Who Framed Roger Rabbit was more mature than your average Disney film
The fact that he was an animated rabbit makes a bit more sense that he appeared next to Mickey Mouse
unlike the characters from that Dick Tracy movie from 1988 into the early 90s
Roger Rabbit appeared literally everywhere he had his own segments in multiple stage shows
Let the musical float in spectral magic
Had his own 45-foot balloon float in the daytime parade at Disneyland and Walt Disney World
And was constantly doing meet-and-greets
Roger Rabbit was pretty much the Elsa Anna of the late 80s and early 90s
But the weird part about this character is how he just disappeared
When making Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Disney brought on Steven Spielberg to help with the film and this gave him 50 percent of the rights to the characters
So everything Disney did with Roger Rabbit had to be approved by Spielberg. \ASt first things seemed to be okay
But once he didn't approve the script for the film's sequel Michael Eisner's relationship with Steven Spielberg turned sour
by 1992 Eisner insisted all new projects that included Roger Rabbit
needed to be stopped
The whole fact that Steven Spielberg was also heavily involved with the Universal Studios
Probably didn't help the situation either now Roger Rabbit was still a pretty popular character into the mid-90s
But as entertainment offerings created before 1992 started to close and once Disney stopped creating the Roger Rabbit shorts
He pretty much vanished from the theme parks so if he ever wondered why you never see him anymore. Well. Now you know
number one the Power Rangers
Did you know that from 2005 until?
2010 the Power Rangers were able to be found at Disney's Hollywood Studios
I know it's kind of weird right well actually it turns out it isn't that weird because there was a point in time where Disney
actually owned the Power Rangers
Disney acquired the rights back in 2001 as part of the acquisition of Seban
Entertainment back in the good old days when Hollywood studio still had a parade. This is where the Power Rangers made their first appearance
their float was added to the Disney stars and motorcars parade which ran until March of
2008 now after the parade ended the Power Rangers were still able to be seen near the now extinct lights motors action
Stunt show they'd come out on their parade car for a mini show and meet-and-greet in the streets of America
Although were owned by Disney. They just seemed really out of place at the park
But to be fair Disney was getting tired of the franchise by the late 2000s after
Canceling the TV show in 2009 the Power Rangers at Hollywood studios had their last appearance on August 7th
2010 when Disney sold the rights back to the original owners the fact that Disney acquired the franchise then sold it off so quickly
Makes their appearance in the park seem even more bizarre, but at the end of the day they were still Disney
So did you ever get a chance to see any of these characters in person at the parks?
And if you had to bring one set of characters back
Which one would you choose leave a comment down below and start a conversation?
If you have any videos from the Disney parks that you'd like to share with us to be used in future
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