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  • Welcome to TPM vid's Disney Beat

  • Where we talk about all things\

  • Disney! If you're new to the channel hit that subscribe button and click the Bell icon to be notified when we upload a new video.

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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

  • Videos follow the link in the description below, thanks so much for watching click the T p.m.

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