Disney CEO Bob Chapek has revealed the company is developing a way to personalise visitors’ theme park experiences using their Disney+ viewing habits, and vice versa.
In an interview at the Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event, Chapek explained: “It’s the physical and the digital aspects of your Disney lifestyle coming together.”
“If you’re on Disney+, we should be aware – assuming you give us the permission to have that awareness – of what happened, what you experienced, what you liked the last time you visited a park,” he added.
Disney to merge streaming with parks
“And, vice versa, when you’re in a park, we should know what your viewing habits are on Disney+.”
Using the Pirates of the Caribbean ride as an example, Chapek said Disney+ could provide “special programming tailored to Pirates of the Caribbean that would be unique to people like you that is personalized towards your preferences”.
As for when the project will become a reality, he confirmed: “We’re putting the arms and legs on it right now inside our own technical groups.”
In a recent interview with Deadline at this year’s D23 Expo, Chapek shared plans to turn Disney+ into an “experiential lifestyle platform” that would let users experience the company’s parks “from a virtual standpoint”.
Viewing habits and park preferences
Chapek said the streaming service “will not just be a movie service platform”.
The metaverse-style platform is being developed for “the 90 percent of people that will never ever be able to get to a Disney park”, he said.
Instead, it would “give them the ability to ride Haunted Mansion from a virtual standpoint” and “see how it works, see how those ghost dancers move”.
“We are in the very embryonic beginnings of this,” Chapek added.
Earlier this year, Disney appointed Mark Bozon, a former creative and gaming executive for Apple, to help oversee its metaverse plans. He joins Mike White, senior vice president of next-generation storytelling and consumer experiences.
Images: Disney
