(REDLANDS, CA) When the two biggest names in theme park animatronics join forces, magic is bound to happen. Garner Holt Productions, Inc. (GHP) of Redlands, California is acquiring Advanced Animations (AA) to create a powerhouse design and production group to service theme parks and other attractions around the world.

“This is big news for animatronics,” said Garner Holt, founder and president of Garner Holt Productions, Inc. “The two most experienced animated figure builders anywhere will now combine talents to help bring projects of all scopes and scales to life. We’re excited to help bring our clients’ vision to reality for guests.”

Together, the two companies bring nearly a century of combined experience in designing and fabricating animatronics and other mechanized magic for the world’s leading theme parks, including Disney, Universal, Cedar Fair/Six Flags, Europa-Park, de Efteling, Merlin, and dozens of other clients. Outside theme park gates, their work is found in hundreds of museums, shopping and dining experiences, schools, military training installations, and even among the treasures of private collectors.

“We think it’s a perfect fit,” said Bob Crean, Advanced Animations’ President and CEO. “Our two organizations have been part of the most significant attractions at all the world’s major parks. I can’t picture a better team up.”

Together, with GHP’s 120,000 square-foot California headquarters and AA’s 50,000 square-foot Vermont shop—along with nearly 100 talented employees between them—the newly combined companies will be able to tackle large-scale projects of both traditional and cutting-edge animatronics. Since 1977, GHP has created more than 5,000 unique animated figures and other elements for its worldwide clients. Since 1980, AA has been responsible for thousands of figures in leading parks around the world.

“This is an exciting new chapter for themed entertainment,” said Bill Butler, GHP’s Vice President for Creative Development. “GHP and Advanced have built more figures than all other animatronics builders combined. We’re eager to bring our talented teams and experience together to create new magic for our clients.”

To best serve its projects, GHP will maintain operations in its California headquarters while developing and producing supplemental project scopes in AA’s Vermont facility. In this way, the combined capacity, specialized machinery, and broadly experienced employees can tackle project scopes of any size and complexity. For the themed entertainment and related markets, GHP is now more capable than ever of making ideas move and magic come to life.

Garner Holt Productions, Inc. is the world’s largest designer and producer of animatronic figures for theme parks and attractions.
For more information, please visit www.garnerholt.com.
Press Contact: DIXIE BINKLEY +1(909) 799-3030 – dbinkley@garnerholt.com

During the IAAPA Expo 2025 in Orlando, Attractions Magazine spoke with Robert Crean of Advanced Animations about their Chat GPT AI controlled robot named ROI (or Jimmy) and how it works.