Disney has revealed that, in addition to utilizing Meta’s technology behind-the-scenes, it is leaning into its partnership with the tech company by developing an application for the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses.
In the most recent We Call It Imagineering video, Executive Creative & Interactive Experiences Imagineer Asa Kalama delved into how the company intends to take advantage of the glasses’ speakers and cameras to create a virtual park guide for guests. In such an application, guests could simply look at a park area or attraction, and the glasses would then provide the wearer with pertinent information about the desired area. As Kalama puts it, this would help Disney enhance the way it tells stories at its parks.
Bruce Vaughn, President and CCO of Walt Disney Imagineering, concurs. Vaughn commented on how guests needing to constantly glance down at their smartphone breaks the immersion that Disney Parks hopes to create, and that leveraging smart glasses could provide a remedy.
“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,” explains Vaughn. “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.”
