Revealed in the latest episode of We Call It Imagineering on YouTube, Disney is leveraging their partnership with Meta to use smart glasses for both guest-facing and behind-the scenes applications in their theme parks.
Meta Glasses at Disney Parks
As for how guests will utilize their smart glasses in the parks, Disney envisions the device being able to “put a virtual theme park guide in their ear.” Imagineer Asa Kalama of Executive Creative & Interactive Experiences spoke about the glasses from inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, implying that might be one location where they will be useful. Though he didn’t actually demonstrate their use, he talked about how the cameras, microphones, and speakers in the Ray-Bans could “enhance the ways we tell stories” and unlock information about the land a guest is in.
Guests exploring a land could look around and ask questions about architectural details. They would then get the answer right in their ear from the glasses. The device could also be helpful when wanting to learn more about a merchandise item.
Disney hopes that using such technology will get guests off of their more intrusive smart devices and allow them to interact more with the humans around them.
Extended reality is gonna reinforce the shared experience. A big differentiator for us is that you’re there together with friends and family and people that you care about, and every time you look have to look down at a device or a phone, it breaks that spell. If you can use extended reality, I never stop looking at the environment I’m in or at the people I’m with, it’s gonna be less disruptive.
Bruce Vaughn, President and CCO of Walt Disney Imagineering
Regarding behind-the-scenes uses of the glasses, Vaughn spoke about “fun but intimidating” visits to a greenfield site, which is an area that has been cleared for construction. Imagineers usually just have to picture what the future attraction, land, or theme park will look like at the site but the glasses could give them an early preview of the final product.
Watch the new We Call It Imagineering episode below.
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