Ahead of Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary kick off, Disney has announced a new partnership with Amazon utilizing their Alexa technology. The new collaboration is called ‘Hey, Disney!”
This new Echo device will be available in Walt Disney World Resort hotel rooms and you can use it in your home as well. Interact with your favorite Disney, Star Wars and Pixar characters as well.
According to Tech Radar:
“At launch, “Hey, Disney” will offer a variety of experiences for Disney fans, including jokes, interactive trivia, greetings from favorite Disney characters, and access to audio environments called “soundscapes,” which are inspired by Disney films. As users play with the new features, they’ll hear from favorite characters from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, and more. Meanwhile, the experience as a whole will be guided by something called the “Disney Magical Companion.”
The “Disney Magical Companion” is their version of Alexa. So instead of saying “Alexa” and asking a question, guests can say “Hey, Disney!.”
“Hey, Disney!” will roll out to Walt Disney Resort hotels starting next year with an Echo Show 5 being added to their rooms. Guests will be able to ask it questions like “What time does the Magic Kingdom open?” or “What is the fastest route to get to EPCOT.” It can also be used to contact guest services for things like room service, cleaning, towels, and more.
As for privacy concerns, which was my first thought, the hotel room version will work a bit differently from the home version:
Amazon told us the “Hey Disney” experience offered in the resorts will differ from the home experience, as guests will not be able to log into their personal Amazon accounts and Amazon doesn’t save the audio recordings for the in-room interactions. The in-home version of “Hey, Disney,” however, will adhere to the guidelines for other child-directed experiences running on Alexa. That means parental consent must first be granted, and customers can view and manage their voice recordings using the existing privacy dashboards and interfaces.”
I hope that’s true.
You can sign up to emailed by Amazon when it becomes available HERE.
What do you think? Comment and let us know!
Source: Tech Crunch, Disney Parks Blog
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