Pink Monorail Manufacturing the Magic Ep 16: Early Automatons & Animatronics

Heya friends, I spent the summer of 2025 recharging my creative batteries, and working on side projects. One of which was to continue the podcast series featuring the missus. This podcast is designed for Disney fans, amusement park visitors, and history buffs. You’ll learn the roots of the multi-billion dollar theme park industry from ancient history all the way to today. The missus, and I worked hard putting these episodes together through 2024, until we had a family emergency and had to stop working on it for 7 months. We are back on it through 2025. Click on the picture or link to visit our streaming page hosted on Jim Hill Media. I hope you get a chance to listen, subscribe, and leave a review so we can climb the theme park podcast rankings!

The Pink Monorail Podcast Manufacturing the Magic Ep 16: Early Automatons & Animatronics 

In the sixteenth installment of this educational series, Shelly & Noe Valladolid continued their look back at the history of themed entertainment. This time around, they focus on some of the innovations Walt Disney helped introduce with his family fun park. Throughout this episode, listeners will learn about: 

• How far back in history do automatons go? 
• Who was the first creator to use pneumatics? 
• What sort of control systems were used originally at Disneyland Park? 
• When were Audio Animatronics first introduced? 
• PLUS Special Guest Joe Lanzisero’s experiences working with animatronics 

Are there any current or former theme parks, or attractions that you love? I’d like to hear about it in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!