Disney Is Listening In: Alexa Resort Room Testing Begins

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks, Disney Resorts

Visiting Walt Disney World as a Resort Hotel Guest? Take note, as Disney has revealed, it is beginning to test its brand new “Hey Disney!” feature via the Alexa platform.

Walt Disney World Resort is promoting “A More Magical Stay Starts with “Hey Disney!” – its brand new high-technology offering that will feature an Alexa in Disney Resort Hotel rooms.

As shared below by @ScottGustin, Guests currently staying at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort have been informed “Hey Disney” testing has officially begun at the Deluxe Hotel:

Disney previously announced this new feature was on the way to its Resorts, but this is the first testing we have seen. Here’s one of the first announcements of the Amazon Echo device from September 2021:

With a simple “Hey Disney,” Guests can ask the in-room Alexa to set a wake-up call message with Mickey Mouse and friends, order more towels to arrive in their room, ask “Hey Disney” to tell jokes, Disney trivia, and stories, as well as experience interactive experiences with characters from Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and the Muppets.

Furthermore, if you don’t have the My Disney Experience App pulled up at the moment on your phone, “Hey Disney” can easily answer Disney Park questions. Guests can ask the Alexa things such as, “Hey Disney, when is Disney’s Animal Kingdom closing today?” and “Hey Disney” will respond with the answer.

With “Hey Disney” featuring the Amazon Alexa platform, are you a Disney Resort Guest that wants to have Disney listening into your conversations… just awaiting the “Hey Disney” words?

The good news is while many Resort Guests will enjoy this addition, Disney has said this complimentary feature is also an OPTIONAL new Guest perk.

This may be the first time we’ve seen Disney testing “Hey Disney,” but when Walt Disney World Resort opened its newest Hotel experience, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, it too featured a test program similar to “Hey Disney” with advanced voice-assistance technology in driod form.

Check out all the details here about this latest in-room technology, “Hey Disney!,” coming soon to all Disney Resort Hotels.

Disney Has Just Given Us a Ton of New Details About “Hey, Disney”

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Resorts, Uncategorized

We live in a world where we have access to everything we could ever want to know at the tips of our fingers. We can program nearly everything to happen remotely — from turning on the coffee pot at a specific time, turning our lights on and off, and even locking our doors if we leave the house and forget to. Disney has slowly been integrating those technological advances into its theme park experience, and soon, more tech will be coming to select Walt Disney World Resort hotels.

Later this year, Disney Guests will have a new — and complimentary — feature in their hotel rooms. It is called “Hey, Disney” — as Disney teamed up with Amazon and its Alexa programming — and will give you a whole new world of features to take advantage of and enhance your Disney experience. Disney Parks Blog shared more information on the fun, new tech coming to the Most Magical Place on Earth.

There’s a magical new digital voice assistant ready to bring Disney characters and stories to life called “Hey Disney!” Using Alexa technology for supported Amazon Echo devices, you’ll be able to ask all the useful questions – weather forecasts, set timers and alarms, etc. – and get answers from more than 25 popular characters including Mickey Mouse, Olaf, Rocket and Groot, Princess Tiana and many more. Plus, when you stay at select Disney Resort hotels, you can use “Hey Disney!” to learn helpful information about your vacation, order room amenities and more. Wondering when the next bus to EPCOT leaves or need to request more towels for your room? Just ask the Disney Magical Companion, a new character who will interact with you via “Hey Disney!”

Hey Disney!’ will begin rolling out in select Disney Resort hotel guest rooms across Walt Disney World later this year as part of our 50th anniversary celebration. Access will be offered as an optional, complimentary feature during guest stays.

Hey Disney

What’s even more exciting, those who have an Amazon Echo device in their home will also be able to take part in the “Hey, Disney” fun! Guests can purchase “Hey, Disney” for any Amazon Echo via the Amazon Alexa Skills Store. If you have purchased Disney’s new Magicband+ — which is not on sale just yet — it will also pair with “Hey, Disney” on your Amazon Echo device.

Hey Disney

Disney has said that the “Hey, Disney” feature is coming to select hotels for the 50th Anniversary. The 50th will only run until March 2023 and Disney has not said if the feature will become a permanent fixture after that. We will just have to wait and see what Disney has to say when it finally releases “Hey, Disney” at hotels.

The newest Disney technology, MagicBand+, comes to Disneyland in 2022

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

We first brought you news about the newest member of the MagicBand family just before the kick-off to the Most Magical Celebration on Earth on October 1 at Walt Disney World.

The next-generation MagicBand+ will feature the latest in ways to access the Magic at Disney Parks, and we’ve just learned that the magic of the new bands will be available to Guests at the Disneyland Resort beginning in 2022 as well!

More details will be revealed soon about all that Guests can do with the next-gen technology of the MagicBand+. Features will differ some between the two U. S. parks, and we’ll learn more about that in the coming months.

ALSO, the most fun technology from Disney ever–the “Hey, Disney!” voice assistant powered by Alexa on Amazon Echo devices will also become available to Guests at Disneyland who book a stay at one of Disneyland’s exciting and themed Resort Hotels.