Charm and nostalgia give animatronics staying power in Las Vegas
Outside a Boulder City diner, a familiar face waves to passersby. This cowboy sits on a bench along the town’s main drag, often in holiday attire throughout the year. The figure draws customers in with its charming, slow movements, offering a photo opportunity. The man is no man at all, but that doesn’t take away from his charm.
Inside, he’s nuts and bolts, wires and mechanical alignments that allow him to replicate human movement. He’s an animatronic, or a mechanical puppet created for entertainment.
The machines live on a spectrum from low-tech to hyperrealistic, movements that span from lifelike to twitchy. Tourists outside this diner don’t seem to mind that he’s somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. They sit alongside, big smiles and peace signs.
That’s part of the allure of these figures, the down-to-earth joy that animatronics provide to all ages.
Animatronics originated as automatons, or self-operating machines, evolving from a line of cuckoo clocks and keepsake jewelry boxes. Descriptions of such toys and figures can be found in Greek mythology, the story of King Solomon and ancient China.
Solomon’s mechanical animals and the story of Yan Shi’s humanoid presentation to King Mu of Zhou aren’t far off from what appeared later in the Middle Ages: Al-Jazari’s most well-known automata was a hand-washing device that featured a mechanical servant offering soap. His 1206 book on his inventions earned him the title of a father of modern engineering.
Hundreds of years later, they’re used in more places than people realize, something that may have delighted Al-Jazari. More advanced figures, now called animatronics, are seen in roadside attractions, carnival rides, casinos, bars, arcades, gift shops and tourist stops. The modern term is sometimes attributed to Walt Disney’s shortening of “animation and electronics” in the 1960s.
For some time, you couldn’t turn a corner in Las Vegas without seeing one — even if you didn’t recognize it as an animatronic — from the pirate show (long shut down) outside Treasure Island to the 80-foot dragon (retired to his “cave” for two decades) atop Excalibur.
While their massive presence on the Strip may have faded in favor of corporate gloss and new technology, the machines are still synonymous with entertainment. For some properties, they’ve been technologically upgraded, like the “SpongeBob SquarePants” characters in a Circus Circus ride.
Some nostalgic animatronics remain with surprising resilience — take the Rainforest Cafe, a chain restaurant with an outpost on the Strip, internationally known for its animatronic jungle dinner show, delighting children nightly.
‘They love it, the charm’
Down the road from that Boulder City diner is a warehouse adorned with kooky characters, where Olaf Stanton, his family and a handful of others are painting, programming and producing a familiar sight: Zoltar fortune-telling machines. You’ve probably seen them, or perhaps tossed a few coins in for a paper fortune after Zoltar “speaks.”
Fortune-telling machines date to 1904, with one machine made by Mills Novelty Company. Versions of the machine were made in small batches by various companies in the years following, until an early version of Zoltar Speaks appeared in the 1988 film “Big,” launching the careers of both Zoltar and Tom Hanks.
Since the mid-’90s, Zoltar machines have been exclusively licensed by Stanton’s company, Characters Unlimited. The company now goes through 3 million fortune cards a year, available in several languages and adorned with small drawings by a late local artist, Rod Beasley. Even Zoltar’s clothes are sewn locally.
The Characters Unlimited warehouse is full of Western-adorned door greeters, custom molds, animals, presidents-as-aliens and just about anything else anyone could think of. It has produced animatronic cowboys for local businesses, attractions like the gone-but-not-forgotten Bonnie Springs, and even a snake in the Erotic Heritage Museum. But Zoltar is the star.
“Zoltar has been morphed into four different models, and now they’re on a new one,” Stanton says. A colleague recently told him he’s never seen a machine with so much staying power. Zoltar appears on nearly 600 slot machines at casinos nationwide.
The walls of the Boulder City warehouse are lined with face molds, including custom requests like Zak Bagans’ fortune machine at The Haunted Museum. They’ve sold nearly 40 different fortune-telling machines featuring President Donald Trump in the first half of 2025. They made alien versions of Trump — as well as former presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama — for Alien Fresh Jerky out in the Nevada desert. Stanton has sold an animatronic of a customer’s deceased mother, a replica of another customer himself, and a Route 66 band in Oatman, Arizona. The list of characters goes on.
Stanton said throughout his 35 years in business, customers would buy his characters and a year later report it was “‘the best money we’ve ever spent.’” He added, “We kind of forget who all has our animated characters.”
“People tell us, ‘We’re known as a store with a cowboy out front, and this is the best advertisement.’ And then we started making them talk and move … it doubled the effect, because then people could actually sit out front of their store and have the guy talk to them and greet them,” Stanton said.
Many of the animatronics can be remotely operated with a wireless microphone. The models’ facial sculpting is done entirely by hand by one of the company’s contractors, and the turnaround for custom models is approximately four to six weeks.
Stanton is proud of his work, which he said takes people back to their childhoods.
“It heavily has an impact on people, and they love it, the charm,” he said.
His daughter Karina Multani adds, “People love our stuff because we’ve just kept it the same. People love that it’s not (artificial intelligence) or super-realistic. That’s the charm of seeing the mouths cut out and knowing it’s animatronic.”
Characters Unlimited produces approximately 150 machines per year, effectively cornering the market in the West.
“We still get it at trade shows. People look and stand there, ‘This is really cool, but who buys these things? What do you really do for a living?’ ” Stanton said. “Starting off, running around and selling them in a van, there were some tough times where maybe, (I thought), ‘I should get a regular job with my college degree and give this up.’ But yeah, this just worked out somehow.”
‘Survived the test of time’
“It is said that the waters of Mystic Falls are enchanted.”
Those are the first words you hear in the Sam’s Town atrium, known as Mystic Falls Park, as towers of water begin to dance. The east valley hotel-casino’s attraction was built in the mid-’90s amid a rush on the Strip to give every property an edge through fantastical themes. It has remained while those Strip properties slowly hid such thematic elements in favor of polished looks.
Around the atrium, highlighted by a Disney-esque man-made mountain, you’ll find several animatronic animals: bear, cougar, eagle, wolf, deer, woodpecker, beaver and owl. The animals were installed with the original show in 1994 at the Boyd Gaming property.
On our recent visit, their famed bear was missing, but only temporarily, as it had been sent to Advanced Animatronics in California, the company that installed the show and has maintained the animals ever since. (A sight to see: The bear sings along to Christmas jingles during the holidays, when all the animals are sporting Santa hats.)
The show pauses the usual waterfall, which pumps 30,000 gallons of recycled water through the day. The atrium, also home to a bar and hotel check-in, is lush with real plants, hand-watered daily.
Before 1994, the area was the hotel-casino’s pool deck, but it’s hard to imagine anything else in this spot, which David Strow says is part of the Sam’s Town brand.
Strow, vice president of corporate communications for Boyd Gaming, said they have no plans to change or eliminate the show, as its staying power has never been in question.
“It’s part of what people have grown up coming to and experiencing. And so that’s really why I think it still works here,” he said. “This is a destination, so we want to preserve and keep it that way, give them something to keep coming to.”
He added the attraction is “probably one of the best-kept secrets in the valley.”
Behind the scenes, the tech is upgraded regularly to keep it running, according to William Bibb, director of facilities for Boyd. Everything from the nozzles that transform the water during the show to the lights and, of course, the animatronics’ movements.
“We have a show that’s very much at the quality of what you see on the Las Vegas Strip, in terms of the total production. They don’t realize it’s just right here at Sam’s Town on Boulder Highway,” Strow said.
The magic, they say, is in the generational reaction to the kitsch display. Since its installation, cohorts who grew up watching the show now bring their kids to experience it.
“It is a lot of fun to watch kids when they come and see it for the first time, their jaws drop when they see it, and they just think it’s really very cool,” Strow said. “And that’s just something special to see.”
We witnessed that firsthand, as the show drew its usual crowd from around the property.
Aimee Fontenot was there with Hennessey, 13, to celebrate a birthday. “It’s cute. It’s something different. It’s more local-friendly than going to the crazy, big Strip,” Fontenot said. The eagle was Hennessey’s favorite part.
While there certainly was a peak for themed attractions on the Strip, “not many of them are still going on, right?” Strow said. “This actually survived the test of time.”
During the year, the eight-minute show (which is started by hand each time) runs at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, with an added show at 4 p.m. Fridays through Sundays. During the holidays, when Mystic Falls Park transforms into a winter wonderland complete with snow, the free show runs hourly from 4 to 10 p.m.
The holiday show kicks off Nov. 27 and continues through New Year’s Day.
‘Truly magical’
Every half-hour beginning at dusk, the Lake of Dreams at Wynn Las Vegas comes to life. The free, multimedia production features popular music, high-tech sound, lighting and imagery projection, punctuated by a couple of beloved animatronics.
This environmental theater is marked by a lush pine oasis covering 3 acres of Wynn property but is designed to separate it from the bustle of the Strip. A large pond filled with mechanical tracks leads to a 45-foot water wall. Atop the wall, characters change depending on the rotation of performances that night. Still, you can expect to see an elaborate dancing and singing toucan, flanked by two more tropical birds (known as “Fabulous Ladybirds”), or Wynnie. This giant frog sings along to Frank Sinatra (at times, complete with a fedora and cigarette in hand).
To get a sense of these animatronics’ scale, Michael Curry, the show’s production designer, said in a 2020 behind-the-scenes video that the frog’s lower jaw alone is 16 feet across. Curry has said hundreds of people across several organizations in multiple countries worked on the various elements that come together at the Lake of Dreams, which debuted its current version in fall 2020.
Matt Scherbring, front feature production manager, said their animatronics are maintained in-house, with support from Curry’s company. Their team manages regular cleanings, aesthetic touch-ups, as well as detailed mechanical and electrical inspections.
“There’s something truly magical about live, in-person storytelling. The Lake of Dreams offers an immersive environment where whimsical, larger-than-life characters bring lighthearted joy to the evening. It’s this blend of artistry and craftsmanship that sets us apart on the Strip,” he said.
Animatronics can be found in other corners of the Strip, including the free “Fall of Atlantis” show at the Forum Shops at Caesars, which plays hourly Thursdays through Mondays. The story, sort of fantasy fiction, sort of Greek mythology, comes complete with a 20-foot animatronic dragon alongside its main characters.
It’s as popular today as in 2013, when the RJ covered the show’s makeover. Maureen Crampton, then the mall’s marketing director, said of animatronic shows: “You wonder, are people still interested in this? And they are.”
Contact Kristen DeSilva at kdesilva@reviewjournal.com. Follow @kristendesilva on X.
