During an USC (University of Southern California) Marshall and Annenberg event in Santa Monica, CA, Bob Iger, CEO of Disney said that the firm will not be looking at installing any VR rides at the Disney parks. The LA Times reported him saying that while he is playing each Tuesday on an augmented reality headset, he believes that virtual reality rides are not what Disney park visitors are wanting do.
Augmented reality headsets on the other hand are playing very well with the scale and real live look of other Disney park attractions, rather than rides. The article quotes him saying that he is able to have a light-saber duel with a stormtrooper or ride in the cockpit of Han Solo’s spaceship, Millennium Falcon using a headset. Connecting this with the upcoming Star Wars attraction in Orlando and Anaheim, we may have a good idea of what the attractions may include. Other areas he mentioned were attractions like Cars and Avatar that could include AR technology. This is in contrast to other amusement parks like Knott’s Berry Farm, SeaWorld and Six Flags for example.
Analyst Comment
After Apple’s Tim Cook, Bob Iger is now the second CEO of a larger consumer=facing company that is not so enthusiastic about virtual reality and is looking at augmented reality instead. While Bob Iger is on the way out, this may change going forward, depending on whom Disney is bringing in as the new CEO. Nevertheless, he has a point that the exclusion from the real world, what VR is based upon, is not beneficial for a park like Disney that spends many millions on creating an alternative reality for the visitors. If you are disconnected from your surroundings anyway, why would you pay pretty stiff entry fees to do this in a Disney park? On the other hand we have to wait and see how the visitor interest in VR rides develops in other parks. (NH)
I took the image below of a vibrating, rotating VR ride that was shown by Korea Telecom at the recent MWC event and, although I didn’t try it (I’m not keen on roller coasters, anyway), it looked pretty involving for those taking part. I can imagine someone like Disney using something like this as a ‘taster’ to promote ‘the real thing’. One of the points that struck me this week at Laval Virtual, where I tried on a wide range of headsets, is that, personally, I have yet to find one that I would be happy to spend any significant time in. (BR)
VR Ride shown in Barcelona by Korea Telecom. Image:Meko
