Luxo Jr Animatronic Coming to Hollywood Studios?

Recent rumors that have circulated online point to a new “living” animatronic character that may be showing up soon at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Luxo Jr., the mascot of Pixar Animation Studios, is rumored to be the next installment in Disney’s ongoing Living Character Initiative, joining the company of Lucky the Dinosaur, the Muppet Mobile Lab, and Remy from Ratatouille. Luxo Jr. is the hopping lamp seen in the Pixar logo (pictured above) and in one of their early short films.

A recent construction permit (download here) filing from Disney’s Buena Vista Construction Co. lists an upcoming project as “DHS Luxo at Mania Building,” likely referring to the Toy Story Midway Mania attraction, which opened last year. The attraction is housed in the Pixar Place area of Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park, so Luxo Jr. would certainly fit in with the theme.

Back in Orlando Attractions Magazine Volume 1, Issue 4 (which featured the opening of Toy Story Midway Mania) we offered readers a hint that something like this would be coming soon:

In talking about Pixar Place, Creative Director for Pixar’s Theme Parks Group [Roger Gould] said “And then we have another thing that’s getting added later that will be even more fun. It’s kind of a companion to Mr. Potato Head, but I really can’t say more now.” When asked it it was another Audio-Animatronic, Gould just laughed.

It now appears that Luxo Jr. is likely what Gould was referring to in our interview.

Update 6/1/2009: The Orlando Sentinel newspaper has confirmed with Disney, Luxo Jr. is coming to Hollywood Studios.

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