[citation needed] From the entrance at the back of the pavilion, guests walked into a holding room with a digital counter reading the time until the next show.

On the walls hung propaganda posters encouraging guests to enlist in the "Cranium Command" (similar signage could be seen advertising the show around the Wonders of Life pavilion).

[2] The movie screen would soon illuminate showing an animated segment featuring the boisterous and loud General Knowledge (voiced by Corey Burton)[3] briefing his "Cranium Commando" troops on their mission: to pilot human brains and keep the people they are in out of trouble.

The main show was presented in a 200-seat, dimly-lit theater designed to represent the inside of a human head; the outside world seen on rear projection screens where the eyes would be.

Helping him pilot the twelve-year-old named Bobby (Scott Curtis), via appearances on other screens, were the logical Left Brain (Charles Grodin), the wacky Right Brain (Jon Lovitz), the hungry Stomach (George Wendt), the panicky Bladder who is also referred to as "Elimination" (Jeff Doucette, in an uncredited role), the hyperventilating Lungs (Kevin Meaney, also uncredited), the Adrenal Gland (Bobcat Goldthwait) who was prone to overreacting, and the heart's Right and Left Ventricles (Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon, reprising their Hans and Franz roles from Saturday Night Live).

In the end, Buzzy (via help of General Knowledge's advice) eventually learned how to effectively balance the needs of his body crew in order to combat potential stressful situations.

Designed by Imagineer Rolly Crump, the stage and concept would be similar to the final incarnation, but with three animatronics dedicated to emotion, intellect and the nervous system.

Imagineer Steve Kirk replaced Crump on the project, and worked with Barry Braveman to flesh out the idea of "The Head Trip" into its own full attraction.

Partially inspired by the 1943 Walt Disney-produced animated propaganda film Reason and Emotion, they explored the idea of transforming the concept into a parody of the Star Trek franchise.

Animator Steve Moore, who worked on both versions, recalled, "They were doing more of a Fred Crippen, Roger Ramjet style, which was fun, but not winning points with the clients.

The complexity of creating the seemingly uncut point-of-view (POV) shots which had to interact with several other pieces of media was a "wild" task for the ambitious director.

Without optical or digital assistance, he used camera tricks and matching blur frames to stitch together the POV footage to seem like one continuous shot.

Finally, he reached post-production by first mocking the eight screens of the theatre in Los Angeles and editing all the various film items together along with the animatronic dialogue, which bewildered executives such as Katzenberg when reviewing the production.

[citation needed] Once editing was complete, Rees came back to Orlando and spent the remaining time with Imagineering in the finished theatre putting all the pieces together.

[9] Composer David Newman, who had previously worked with Rees on The Brave Little Toaster and "Back to Neverland" (a short about animation at Disney-MGM Studios) wrote the show's music score.

Cranium Command's opening was largely overshadowed by its sister attraction in Wonders of Life, the flight simulator thrill ride Body Wars.

[2] Jerry Rees stated that out of the record-setting 13 theme park attractions he did for Disney, Cranium Command was at the top of the list of the ones he most enjoyed working on, so much so that for years afterward he unsuccessfully tried to get a feature film made shot entirely from a man's point-of-view.

When he got back to Glendale, he found himself needing to assign a new director to Beauty and the Beast (1991) after firing Richard Purdum from the project due to creative differences.

Immediately he thought of Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who were major players on turning the troubled Cranium Command project around in record time, and giving it a sense of humor which Beauty and the Beast needed.

Katzenberg hired the duo who in turn ended up making Beauty and the Beast one of the most critically acclaimed animated films of all-time, and one of Disney's largest hits.

Directed by Leo Matsuda, the short "is the story of the internal struggle between a man’s Brain—a pragmatic protector who calculates his every move, and his Heart—a free-spirited adventurer who wants to let loose."

[18] However, some time during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project, along with several other announced enhancements such as the Mary Poppins attraction in United Kingdom and the retooled Spaceship Earth, was put on indefinite hold.

[22] Later that month, former Disney employee Patrick Spikes was arrested in connection to the theft of the Buzzy animatronic character's belongings and selling them on the black market.