Thursday, March 8, 2007

Push

Push is a "cast member" at Disneyland in California, and Disneyworld in Florida. He is a trash can which walks and talks. Push is a robot that is radio governed.

Push looks just like the other trashcans in the area but surprises guests by moving and talking. His name is derived from the huge word "PUSH" found on both flaps that one pushes. I have interacted with the trashcan and it looks just like all the other trashcans, including real trash in its plastic trash bag. The common steel liner and the trash bag inside the trash can hide the radio governed controls amazingly.

He made his first appearance in the Tomorrowland inside the Magic Kingdom theme park at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Recently he has been found in the Tomorrowland of Disneyland, in Anaheim California. I have also recently seen him in Disney's California Adventure (DCA) (also in Anaheim).

From the information I found around the Web, Push was originally operated by two plain-clothed cast members. One of which controlled the movement of Push while the other did all the talking. The talking is done into a voice modulator. The trash can sounds like it has a nasally high-toned voice due to the voice modulator that fluctuates the operator's voice. Nowadays, however, one person usually controls both the movement and the voice. I have seen Push about four or five times but only once did I find the operator. It was the one time which I saw Push in DCA which I was able to find the operator among the crowd surrounding the robot. It was a guy with one hand in a duffle bag and the other hand held close to his mouth with some sort of small microphone in his hand. He appears to most people to just be another person watching the robot interact with the park guests. The operator is close enough to hear what is said to the trashcan, yet far enough from it to not make it obvious they are controlling him, usually around 10-20 feet away from it.

The wheels and tires are much like those found on the mobility scooters that can also be found in other amusement parks and grocery stores to help handicapped people or disabled people with their mobility. While the explicit method of Push's mobility system is not really knwon, it seems to be powered with the conveyance wheels and tires like those of those mobility scooters I spoke of earlier in the last sentence. The first time I met Push I saw him talking to a child who was about 8 or 9 years old, who had his face painted. The trash can asked the boy his name and then addressed the child by his name and asked the boy to give him a hug. Then he told the child how good his tiger painted face looked. He then thanked the boy for the hug and rolled away to another young guest. The second time I met him I was with a group of friends of mine (all adults). One of my friends was riding one of the mobility scooters and Push challenged her to a race. The robot moved back and forth a bit then started chanting "I won! I won!" and thanked her for the race. The next time I saw Push he was moving around in a group of kids who were taking turns peeking inside and throwing trash into it but he was not speaking. I watched him for a few minutes but he wasn't saying a word. The most recent time I saw him was the time at DCA when I noticed the operator. Push was moving around in the small area where about 20 or 30 park guests had gathered to watch and interact with Push. He was thanking people for placing trash inside him and belched.

Push is very entertaining to watch and interact with. I make it a point to look for him every time I visit the Disneyland Resort here in California.


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_the_Talking_Trash_Can
http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/MagicKingdom/Secrets/TL/General.html
http://www.disneylies.com/disneyland/entertainment/streetperformers.shtml
Interaction with "Push" himself.

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