President Obama goes robotic

Walt Disney World in Florida unveils audio-animatronic President Obama

Travel Insurance News - 06/07/2009

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In Orlando Florida iconic theme park Walt Disney World has just updated its Hall of Presidents attraction. Now, taking pride of place is an audio-animatronic figure of President Obama, which moves and speaks alongside America’s other presidents from the past.

The effigy of Obama takes pride of place next to the 42 other U.S. presidents at Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents, which was reopened last weekend.

The likeness of President Obama was created by Disney sculptor Valerie Edwards. Of course, creating the image of such a well recognized figure posed quite a challenge for the artist, but she tackled the task with gusto. In a recent interview, Valerie Edwards revealed that she used an assortment of pictures and video clips of the president to help her to capture each and every facial expression.

"Well, it's a great pressure of course to completely do an accurate job of somebody that's in the media so often," Edwards said. "I can watch the different speeches and I can watch his cadence as he speaks, I can watch his muscles as they move, I can see how his face changes as he speaks to see if there's any dominance in muscle,” Edwards added.

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