‘Hey Disney!’ is a brand new Amazon Alexa system that’s now accessible in lodge rooms at Walt Disney World Resort. This publish covers the whole lot it’s essential to know concerning the new voice-activated assistant that helps friends order facilities, communicate with Solid Members, get solutions to widespread questions, plan park days, have enjoyable character interactions, and extra.
In mid-February 2024, Walt Disney World celebrated a milestone within the multi-year rollout of ‘Hey Disney’ as each certainly one of its greater than 28,000 lodge rooms now could be outfitted with the ‘Hey Disney!’ system and all friends in these rooms now have entry to the free voice assistant service.
‘Hey Disney!’ was first introduced earlier than the kickoff of Walt Disney World’s fiftieth Anniversary and was anticipated to roll out starting in late 2021 by means of 2022. As a substitute, the system debuted in mid to late 2022 (except you rely the modified model in Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser) in choose rooms and has had a slower rollout since. Regardless, it’s now all over the place as of Winter 2024.
Utilizing Amazon’s Alexa know-how for Echo gadgets, the ‘Hey Disney!’ digital voice assistant brings characters and tales to life and permits friends to ask questions on climate forecasts, in addition to carry out primary duties like setting timers and alarms, and so forth.
Company may hear from greater than 25 in style characters together with Mickey Mouse, Olaf, Rocket, Groot, Princess Tiana, and plenty of extra. ‘Hey Disney’ can inform a Vehicles story or allow you to snigger together with jokes from Goofy. Loosen up with a Star Wars soundscape or take off on a Muppets journey.
Within the Echo gadgets discovered inside Walt Disney World Resort lodge rooms, friends can use ‘Hey Disney!’ to study useful details about their trip, providing information about transportation, and extra. The assistant can reply questions, like when Magic Kingdom opens, the place to get a meal, or instances for nighttime spectaculars.
Out of your room, you may as well use the ‘Hey, Disney!’ assistant to make particular service requests. Want extra pillows, towels or espresso? Simply inform ‘Hey Disney!’ and a Solid Member will deal with your request.
‘Hey, Disney!’ was designed with Amazon’s Alexa to boost the Walt Disney World visitor expertise with issues like jokes, interactive trivia for households, private greetings from characters, soundscapes, and extra. As famous above, it gives genuine character voices, authentic recordings, distinctive audio environments impressed by movies and parks, plus over 1,000 interactions.
The expertise as an entire is guided by the “Disney Magical Companion.” Basically, this companion is a Disneyfied model of Alexa. It’s a customized voice that Disney itself developed to information customers by means of the ‘Hey, Disney!’ expertise.
Resorts provide the ‘Hey, Disney!’ service options by means of Alexa for Hospitality. That is an enterprise service that simplifies duties for lodge occupants: enjoying music, getting the climate forecast, calling the entrance desk, ordering room service, controlling in-room temperature or lighting, and trying out.
Amazon pitches Alexa for Hospitality to the business as “voice immersive experiences to assist your property improve revenues, cut back prices, and enhance visitor satisfaction.” Alexa for Hospitality is already utilized by a number of lodge chains; as with most hospitality improvements, that’s significantly the case in Las Vegas. (Right here’s an attention-grabbing Wynn Las Vegas case examine about Alexa for Hospitality.)
When it comes to commentary, I’m going to maintain this comparatively temporary as a result of–in my expertise protecting this–only a few followers care about ‘Hey Disney!’ To the extent that you simply do care, it looks like roughly three-quarters of you might be involved concerning the privateness implications. No less than, if judging by feedback to previous posts about ‘Hey Disney!’ previous to its rollout.
I do suppose that over-represents these with privateness considerations. Most individuals are detached to this form of factor, which is exactly how so many corporations are capable of provide services and products in alternate for person knowledge. Those that do care remark; those that don’t care…don’t.
With that mentioned, I discover it attention-grabbing that the ‘Hey Disney!’ help web page on DisneyWorld.com pertains largely to privateness. There are 4 questions listed, two of that are primary ‘getting began’ ones. The opposite two are: “When is the Machine Listening?” and “Do I Should Have ‘Hey Disney!’ in My Room?”
That second query truly made me snigger out loud. It makes me marvel if, throughout testing, they’d requests from friends to take away the gadgets…or Mousekeeping stored discovering them within the safes or hallways. (For these curious, no direct reply is given to the query, simply: “When you’ve got every other questions or considerations, name the Entrance Desk.”)
In any other case, Disney and Amazon try to preemptively deal with by friends’ considerations by needing to choose in, not choose out, to make use of ‘Hey, Disney!’ Upon arrival, the ⊘ button on high of your system will likely be pink, that means the system is muted. If you wish to use the good speaker press the button to unmute it. For those who don’t, do nothing.
As soon as unmuted, the digital voice assistant will pay attention for the wake phrases “Hey Disney” or “Alexa.” To get began, say or faucet “Hey Disney, begin the magic!”
The in-room expertise at Walt Disney World is designed with privateness in thoughts and so no audio is saved by default. Guests is not going to log in with their very own Amazon accounts to make use of the expertise–that means no private data is transmitted or identified when interacting with ‘Hey, Disney!’
We’ve solely seen ‘Hey Disney!’ within the wild twice now. I stored anticipating to see it final yr throughout my resort stays–particularly in newly-reimagined rooms at Deluxe Resorts–however that by no means occurred. I don’t know if that was simply unhealthy luck, or if a lot of the rollout has occurred in 2024. (It looks like the system has been testing eternally.)
In any case, I’ve admittedly solely accomplished cursory testing with ‘Hey Disney!’ The soundscapes, jokes, and all the interactive options are enjoyable sufficient. They’re cute and I might see youngsters having fun with the jokes or bedtime tales. A enjoyable sufficient solution to begin or finish the day. I do know some households used to like the wakeup calls from Mickey Mouse, and this looks like this subsequent evolution of that.
Although it’s larger in scale and scope, it’s additionally not the identical? I dunno, possibly it’s simply me, however there was a sure novelty in that wakeup name and even the bedtime channels on the resort TV. There has since been a know-how tidal wave, and issues like Amazon Alexa have turn into ubiquitous. Although they will do an entire lot extra, they don’t fairly have that very same magic of the extra ‘analogue’ issues of the 90s. Perhaps that’s simply me having an outdated man yells at cloud second, although.
Maybe youngsters immediately love these items, and ‘Hey Disney!’ is definitely an enormous hit on the TikTok, the #1 trending subject for the final yr with a bunch of viral dances devoted to the system. In spite of everything, if anybody doesn’t have privateness considerations, it’s undoubtedly TikTok customers.
For no matter it’s price, I’m not saying I dislike ‘Hey Disney.’ The interactivity is way deeper than something ever seen in resort rooms–even on the brand new good televisions. There’s quite a lot of cute little stuff in there! It’s nicely accomplished, and there’s quite a lot of it. Youngsters might in all probability play with ‘Hey Disney’ for hours and never exhaust its leisure choices.
Actually, although, it’s very arduous for me to ‘overview’ this as grownup male solo vacationers nearly assuredly aren’t the target market. Perhaps if Megatron had been a number of years older and we had been utilizing ‘Hey Disney’ as a household, my opinion of it might be dramatically completely different. As an grownup, I’m largely simply impartial on ‘Hey Disney,’ having used one of these factor in the actual world for some time.
The one factor I actually do like about ‘Hey Disney’ is the flexibility to make requests from Mousekeeping. I additionally like that this may be accomplished by way of the touchscreen, and doesn’t require enabling the good speaker. I’ve used this to request extra espresso, and viola, extra espresso appeared in my room whereas I used to be out for the day.
In any other case, the sensible aspect of ‘Hey Disney!’ doesn’t appear all that deep. When this was first introduced, Disney teased integrations with the Genie service (presumably the itinerary planning aspect because you wouldn’t be logging into the system along with your My Disney Expertise account).
None of that got here to move. That’s not an enormous shock, because the free aspect of Genie flopped and Walt Disney World hasn’t actually accomplished something with it since launch. No matter information you may get concerning the parks from ‘Hey Disney’ is superficial; you’ll nonetheless need/should be on the app very first thing each morning, so why not simply get the identical information there?
Past utilizing ‘Hey Disney’ late final yr and in early 2024, we had the prospect to make use of the D3-O9 Logistics Droid aboard Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser when that launched (however earlier than it closed). This character interacted with you by way of an panel on the wall, and is each audio and video.
Whereas the interface is completely different, D3-O9 was just like the ‘Hey, Disney!’ Alexa service on steroids. This logistics droid has the flexibility to temporary friends on mission components, particulars, and extra. Now D3-O9 truly did have that magic high quality, truly feeling like a personality come to life. The droid had persona and it was like an precise two-way interplay–a dialog.
Maybe that is why I’m much less enthused about ‘Hey Disney!’ The gadgets in common resort rooms remind me of Amazon Alexa, a tool I used again in the actual world nearly a decade in the past and have since stopped utilizing. The novelty wore off way back. In contrast, D3-O9 was one thing new and distinctive, and felt imbued with that sense of Disney marvel and attraction. In fact, Starcruiser additionally price a ton of cash and in the end failed, so I wouldn’t anticipate to see something like this in commonplace lodge rooms.
In the end, ‘Hey, Disney!’ is a worthwhile service with regards to trivia and interacting with their favourite characters, listening to bedtimes tales, jokes, and that form of factor. Households with young children will in all probability get pleasure from it. Principally, I feel ‘Hey Disney!’ is a strong addition when judged solely from the attitude of “a enjoyable factor for teenagers.” I might see some households getting quite a lot of mileage out of this. Some youngsters will completely adore it.
As a function that improves the standard of the visitor expertise or keep, ‘Hey Disney’ is ok. It’s good to have the ability to request room facilities (and so forth.) with out selecting up a telephone and coping with the entrance desk/name middle or no matter. On this regard, I’d file ‘Hey Disney’ as an incremental enchancment.
My guess is that almost all friends received’t use ‘Hey Disney’ in any respect, by no means unmuting the microphone upon arrival into the rooms. Most of these individuals who do allow it would toy round with it for a couple of minutes, deeming it a cute novelty after which forgetting about it for the remainder of their keep. Some who do will discover it mildly entertaining, with a small minority of households actually loving it as a solution to maintain their youngsters entertained. On the different finish of the spectrum, one other small however extra vocal minority will likely be angered at its existence and the privateness considerations introduced. I might guess that most individuals received’t be so passionate; indifference would be the high response to ‘Hey Disney!’ (and this publish about it).
Planning a Walt Disney World journey? Study resorts on our Walt Disney World Accommodations Critiques web page. For the place to eat, learn our Walt Disney World Restaurant Critiques. To save cash on tickets or decide which sort to purchase, learn our Suggestions for Saving Cash on Walt Disney World Tickets publish. Our What to Pack for Disney Journeys publish takes a singular have a look at intelligent gadgets to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Trip Guides will assist. For complete recommendation, the perfect place to begin is our Walt Disney World Journey Planning Information for the whole lot it’s essential to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider the “Hey, Disney!” Alexa assistant? Excited to do that out at Walt Disney World or would you like to not have an Amazon system in your lodge room? Assume this will likely be useful and enhance the resort expertise, or are you skeptical/detached? For those who’ve used ‘Hey Disney,’ do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Different ideas or considerations? Any questions we will help you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas beneath within the feedback!
