Alright, let’s talk about Disney. Specifically, what they think you should be doing, or rather, *not* doing, during your pricey theme park day. For years, we’ve heard the lament: too many phones, too many screens. People staring down, missing the magic, breaking that elusive “spell” Disney works so hard to weave. And, frankly, they’re right. It’s a problem. Nobody wants to see a sea of glowing rectangles when they’re trying to escape into a fantasy land.
So, what’s the solution Disney Imagineering President Bruce Vaughn is touting? More tech, of course. Not less. His team is pushing “extended reality” as the way to reinforce shared experiences. The idea? Get those distracting phones out of your hand by putting the information, and presumably the distraction, right into your line of sight, or at least, your ear. They’ve even shown off a new Olaf robot, which, to be fair, looks pretty neat and doesn’t require a screen to enjoy.
But the real kicker here is Disney’s partnerships with companies like Nvidia, Google, and, notably, Meta. Yes, *that* Meta. You know, Facebook. They’re looking to leverage Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses for park guests. Imagineering’s Executive Creative Director, Asa Kalama, laid it out: these glasses come with cameras, microphones, and speakers. The pitch is that they can provide a “virtual theme park guide” in your ear. Look at a building, ask a question, get an answer. Want info on a merchandise item? Look at it, ask, and get the product details piped directly into your brain, or at least your ear. And, naturally, a hands-free camera could mean fewer phones pulled out for photos and videos.
Now, on the surface, this sounds like a clever idea to some. Maybe even futuristic. The park experience for the tech-savvy crowd often means one person becomes the group’s designated “tour guide,” glued to their phone, navigating wait times, Lightning Lane passes, and mobile orders. That person, myself included, often feels that “spell” breaking. You’re so busy planning the next move, you miss the current moment. So, if these glasses can offload that burden, great, right?
But let’s be honest. Does adding *another* device, another layer of digital interface, truly solve the problem of digital distraction? Or does it just replace one screen with a more embedded, potentially more intrusive one? Guests are already shelling out a small fortune to get into the parks. Are we now expected to purchase expensive smart glasses on top of that? What about the millions of people who wear prescription glasses? Are they to wear these over their existing frames, or pay for prescription smart glasses from Disney? It’s another expense, another barrier.
And then there’s the Meta question. Some guests are already raising concerns about partnering with a company that has, let’s say, a complicated relationship with user privacy. Putting cameras and microphones from a Meta-partnered device directly onto every guest’s face in a family-friendly park? That raises a few eyebrows. What data are these glasses collecting? Where does it go? Who sees it? Disney is built on trust and magic, not on having your every gaze and query potentially logged.
Now, I’ll grant you, current augmented and virtual reality tech can feel clunky. Heavy on the face, not exactly enhancing that feeling of escapism. But the potential, they say, is there. Imagine new layers of magic, blending the physical park with digital wonders. That could be genuinely exciting, a new way to tell stories in an already immersive environment. But the current pitch seems heavily focused on logistics – information in your ear, product details. Is that what guests are truly craving, or just more efficiency veiled as magic?
Ultimately, Disney wants to bring the “magic” back by getting phones out of hands. But their proposed solution feels like replacing a known problem with a new set of questions. Is less screen time really achieved by more embedded tech? Are guests ready to have a virtual guide whisper in their ear, constantly feeding them information? Or does this just shift the “breaking of the spell” from a glowing rectangle in your hand to a subtle voice in your head, constantly reminding you of the next logistical step, while perhaps also collecting data on your every move? It’s a bold move, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off.
