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Disney's 'Star Wars' theme park trailer takes you inside its rides
Since it snagged LucasFilm for $4.05 billion in 2012, Disney's churned out Star Wars movies, shows, toys, VR experiences and games. But in the background it's been tinkering away on something even more immersive: a full-blown Star Wars theme park. On Christmas Day, Disney dropped a new trailer for the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme park and two of its main attractions, "Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run" and "Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance" -- with Disney describing the latter as "the biggest and most immersive Disney Parks attraction ever."
Google adds Disney parks to Street View
Last year Google revamped its Street View cameras to help us better map the real world, now it's taken the technology to a much more magical land. From today, you'll be able to explore inside 11 Disney Parks, getting an on-the-ground glimpse of all its castles, rides and attractions, including the captivating Avatar-themed world of Pandora. It'll also definitely prove popular when the Star Wars area opens up next year. Now if only the imagery was available in real time, so we'd know whether to bother lining up for Splash Mountain or not.
Lyft's ‘Minnie Vans’ will drive guests around Disney World
Earlier this month, Lyft teamed up with Taco Bell for a new Taco Mode service that lets riders add a stop to the fast food chain on their late night route. Now, Lyft is partnering with another brand -- Disney. As of today, guests staying in Disney World's Boardwalk, Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts can call a Lyft to drive them to wherever they want to go within the Walt Disney World Resort. And the best part is that the vehicles are painted to look like Minnie Mouse's dress and are called "Minnie Vans."
Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ theme park is taking shape
Universal Studios Japan recently released the first trailer for its in-construction Super Nintendo World attraction, and now Disney has gone one better by building an actual physical model showing off its upcoming Star Wars Land (unofficial title). Due to open in 2019 at both Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida, the new area "will transport guests to a never-before-seen planet" -- which just happens to look like every weathered, forgettable world characters from the films briefly touch down on to get a ship part or intel or what have you.
'Avatar' attractions are coming to Walt Disney World in May
Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced that the entertainment giant will soon be opening a park based on James Cameron's Avatar. From May 27th, visitors to Disney World Orlando will be able to explore a large area based on the hugely successful sci-fi movie, imaginatively entitled "The World Of Avatar". Based in the park's Animal Kingdom, fans of everything blue will be able to experience the family-friendly water ride "Na'vi River Journey" and motion simulator ride '"Avatar Flight of Passage" as well as Avatar-themed bars, restaurants and gift shops.
Google Street View might add a virtual Disney World tour
Whenever the Google View Street View Trekker is spotted in a certain location, a virtual tour of that place is sure to follow. Well, Orlando Weekly has reported that someone who was wearing the photo-capturing backpack was seen walking around the Magic Kingdom earlier this month with some cast members. Folks on Twitter were also quick to report their Trekker sightings in various parts of both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks, which means we might be able to tele-visit Orlando's Disney World via Street View in the future.
Disney is closing its first virtual reality attraction
Disney World broke ground in virtual reality when it launched its DisneyQuest "interactive theme park" back in 1998. To say that times have changed would be an understatement, though -- DQ is using primitive VR technology that makes even Google Cardboard look like a quantum leap. Appropriately, the company now plans to close DisneyQuest in 2016 and replace it with an NBA-themed attraction. The exact reasons for the shutdown aren't clear, but it's likely a combination of the less-than-impressive technology with mounting support costs. At one point this spring, most of the attractions weren't working -- it's hard to imagine Disney pouring lots of money into hardware that's more likely to make you yawn than gasp in awe. You might feel nostalgic if you have fond memories of visiting DisneyQuest as a kid, but it's hard to mourn the loss when you can have a much nicer experience at home. [Image credit: Dave Pape, Wikimedia Commons]
Disney World starts accepting Apple Pay and Google Wallet this week
Making a trip to Walt Disney World during the holidays? You might not avoid the long queues or endless parking lots, but you won't always have to pull out your wallet. As promised back in September, the Orlando area theme park will start accepting mobile payments on December 24th. The launch will let you use Apple Pay, Google Wallet and tap-to-pay credit cards to buy tickets, shop at stores and order from both bars and fast service restaurants. There are a few gaps. The system doesn't yet work at places that need a portable payment terminal, so you'll still have to break out the cash or plastic at a table service restaurant. You'll also have to wait until 2015 to get similar treatment at Disneyland in California. But hey, it's a start -- and it may save you a few headaches the next time you're jonesing to take a ride at Space Mountain. [Image credit: Kent Philips]
iPads aid Disney's Imagineers in expansion of Magic Kingdom
Disney has posted a pretty cool video that shows how their "Imagineers" are using iPads to monitor and make changes to the New Fantasyland at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Using proprietary Disney software on the iPad, which allows Imagineers to view and manipulate a 3D digital rendering of Fantasyland, the Imagineers can communicate with the engineers and contractors working in the field to immediately see if any conflicts of design vs. practicality emerge. If there are any conflicts, the contractors can use the iPad's built-in cameras to photograph or record the areas in question. If there's a conversation to be had, they can kick off meetings right on the spot with Cisco's WebEx for iPad software. Check out the video below to see the whole process as well as some cool behind-the-scenes footage of how a theme park is built. It's wonderful to see Apple's "magical and revolutionary" device helping create magical and fantastic places.
Disney World's Haunted Mansion gets interactive upgrade, digital spooks (video)
It may not be as scary as Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents, but the Florida theme park's Haunted Mansion just got a ghostly upgrade. The ride's grand finale, which previously positioned hitchhiking ghosts -- by way of half-silvered mirrors -- alongside unsuspecting visitors, is now reportedly using a series of digital mirrors and sensors to make things more interactive. As opposed to just popping up next to passengers, Disney's Ezra, Gus, and Phineas are now equipped to rip your head off, blow it up balloon-style, and send it flying. Sure it sounds scary, but this is Disney, the same company that didn't see the nightmare-inducing capabilities of a robotic Obama. For a peek at the new creepers, peep the video after break.
Disney converting Droid Eris into GPS tour guide (update: video!)
If you shed a tear when Verizon put the Droid Eris out to pasture, it's time to dry your eyes; it seems the handset's found greener fields in Florida, at Epcot Center to be precise. That's right, Walt Disney World is reportedly testing out Verizon's HTC Hero as a GPS navigator and tour guide for the entire park, complete with shopping discounts, special bonuses and up-to-the-minute wait times for rides. How or when you'll get your hands on one is presently up in the air, though the man who snapped these shots told Mickey Updates the phones may be an inexpensive addition to your vacation -- perhaps like the $10 BREW-based Mobile Magic application Verizon and Disney introduced last year. Here's hoping that chunky case includes an extended battery -- there's no way a stock Eris could last as long as Nintendo's guide. Update: A video walkthrough of the whole shebang is posted after the break. Thanks, Matt! %Gallery-99188% [Thanks, Durango Jim]
Walt Disney World on 5 apps a week
We did a write-up of apps used at Disneyland and Walt Disney World back in November, but I just spent a week at Walt Disney World where my daughter got married, and wanted to add some personal perspective on my experience with five iPhone/iPod touch apps for seven days. There are a lot of apps out for Walt Disney World, but from reviews both here and anywhere else I could find, I decided upon, and bought, five of them. The quality of these apps ranged from beautiful but arcane, to incredibly useful. The most eye-catching of all the apps has to be The Walt Disney World Maps Boxed Set US$3.99 [iTunes Link]. This set contains maps of all four parks: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot, along with Downtown Disney, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and the Orlando International Airport tossed in for good measure. Maps of each of the parks can be bought individually for US$.99. When running the app, you are presented with the main screen which goes black for a few seconds and then re-appears. Odd. Tapping on any of the parks gives you a detailed "cartoony-looking" map that can be pinched and stretched to an extent. You can't pinch any map enough to see the entire park on one screen. This means that you really have to know basically what you're looking for before the app can be of much help, and since the map has no text of what the buildings represent, it's hit or miss. At least it was until I found the spyglass button which brings up a screen that searches attractions either by A to Z, by location, or by category. Choosing one brings up a screen with the name, a one line description, and some additional information.
Walt Disney World unveils incredibly scary, robotic version of President Obama
His likeness is so... unlike him, so incredibly, terrifyingly creepy (and yet still impressive all the same).
Disney brings back the House of the Future -- with help from Microsoft and HP
The Disney parks have been getting all kinds of upgrades lately, and the latest is the revival of the "House of the Future," which originally opened in the 50s and showcased such space-age household technologies as microwave ovens and plastic furniture. The new attraction eschews the original's pod-shaped exterior, pictured above, for a more traditional look, but it's inside where the action is: Disney, Microsoft, HP and LifeWare spent over $15 million on hardware and software designed to give visitors a glimpse of a hyper-connected future. Tech on display will include home automation, automatic networking, Surface and touch-based computing, and smart appliances -- all things the designers envision as being five to 10 years away. The new House of the Future is set to open in May at Tommorrowland -- any guesses how long it takes before someone builds a complete replica?Read - New House of the FutureRead - Original House of the Future (with pics)
