Amazon and Disney show off 'Hey Disney!' voice assistant at CES

Jan 04, 2023 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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'Hey Disney!' Voice Assistant

Posted: Wednesday January 4, 2023 3:57pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Amazon and Disney are introducing the new "Hey Disney!' voice assistant to the general public at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

'Hey Disney!' Voice Assistant

Already in limited use at some Walt Disney World Resort hotels, 'Hey Disney!' is set for a general release to people's homes later in 2023.

'Hey Disney!' Voice Assistant

Built in partnership with Amazon, 'Hey Disney!' will offer several Disney features, including trivia, jokes, greetings from Disney characters, weather, and more.

'Hey Disney!' will also integrate with the recently released MagicBand+, adding more use to the wearable when not at the parks. The band will light up and buzz in response to alarms and timers.

The release date and pricing are still to be announced, but Disney expects a 2023 launch.

"Disney is the master storyteller, and its stories are so powerful for so many people," said Aaron Rubenson, the vice president of Alexa. "Now people can keep talking to a character, they can continue with the storyline when they go back to their room at the end of the day, or when they go home after the vacation is over. It's just gratifying to imagine that we're a part of literally bringing that magic home."

You can read more about the 'Hey Disney!' Disney Magical Companion at TechCrunch.

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G00fyDadAug 27, 2024

What were they thinking trying this? Too many freaked out people thinking Big Brother is listening to them so they were obviously going to unplug these things so they would not listen to them. Meanwhile, those same people carry a cell phone. LOL

HauntedPirateAug 26, 2024

Us as soon as we see one of those upon entering our room: And then into a drawer it goes.

CaptainAmericaAug 26, 2024

Dude my housekeeping staff must have been on some kind of diabetes task force because they would not refill my sugar no matter how many times I asked or how much tip I left. Six packets of Joffrey's coffee, 20,000 things of creamer, but like 2 sugars per day was my full ration.

MisterPenguinAug 26, 2024

I help out the switchboard by grabbing what I need from a Mousekeeping trolley when no one's looking.

castlecake2.0Aug 26, 2024

The main purpose of these is to reduce the amount of calls the switchboard is taking for things like room amenities. The extra things like the soundscapes are an added bonus that I use every time.

CaptainAmericaAug 26, 2024

My kids liked using the "tell me a story" feature and did that probably every night. They also liked the soundscapes. We never asked it for information so I can't vouch for its performance there.

tissandtullyAug 26, 2024

At the minimum they should know Toy Story Land is not at Magic Kingdom lol. Yeah, I mean we have no need to use them, but they aren't for people who are on forums all the time like us.

ToTBellHopAug 26, 2024

I mean, it searches in the internet. Everything is true on the internet, right? My kids enjoyed these things the day we arrived. They we all ignored them the subsequent 8 days.

tissandtullyAug 26, 2024

They are so bad. Even at stuff they are supposed to be good at, I asked the one in our room last year where Toy Story Land is located and it said Magic Kingdom. It's like no one vetted these at all.

SquishyAug 26, 2024

Disstevefan1Jun 27, 2023

The family gets back to their room from a day at the Magic Kingdom. The Hey Disney unit detected they were back when they swiped their magic band to get in the room. The “listen” LED hidden in the back of the Hey Disney unit lights up green and Mickey is listening. Dad says, “Oh boy, what a day. That place was MOBBED today. Maybe we should have gone to the Magic Kingdom yesterday instead of going to Universal.” The “listen” LED in the back of the Hey Disney unit flickers. “Hey Dad, when we are going to Universal again?”, asks Jonny. The “listen” LED in the back of the Hey Disney unit flickers again and turns yellow. Dad says, “We are going again to Universal, day after tomorrow.” The “listen” LED in the back of the Hey Disney unit flickers again at a higher frequency. Jonny say, “I want to go to Universal tomorrow!” Sue joins in, “Me too!” Jane, Mom, of Jonny and Sue says to Dad, “The kids really want to go to Universal tomorrow.” The “listen” LED in the back of the Hey Disney unit brightly flickers again at a higher frequency. Dad says, “Look, we got the STUPID park pass reservations for Disney tomorrow, I already paid for the STUPID Genie+ and STUPID ILLs. Disney is so aggravating!!” The “listen” LED in the back of the Hey Disney unit goes from flickering yellow to solid red. The kids begin chanting, “WE WANT TO GO TO UNIVERSAL, WE WANT TO GO TO UNIVERSAL!” The Hey Disney unit begins to smoke. Dad, thinking quickly yanks the unit and throws it in the shower and turns on the water to save the day! Mom, calls guest services, “Hello, guest services, our Hey Disney unit went on fire!” Jake of guest services answers, “We are sorry for the inconvenience , we will send someone right up” and hangs up. Jake says to his associate Hank, “We got another Hey Disney meltdown”, I slacked you the room number. We hear keyboard clicks as Hank checks the logs, "Yup, guests were talking about Universal again."

KamikazeJun 27, 2023

Do you use Alexa or another voice assistant at home?

habumaJun 24, 2023

Shameless plug, but... Although I can't get "Hey Disney" to do anything parks related at home except play a soundscape, there *is* an Alexa skill called "Mouse Guests" that *does* give park hours (and wait times, and fun facts, and Lightning Lane availability, and show times, and height requirements, and a lot of other things). Just say "Alexa, open Mouse Guests" and then ask things like "What time does Epcot open tomorrow?" or "How long is the line for Haunted Mansion?" How do I know so much about this skill? Well, because I created it. At the moment, it's only available to Alexa users in the US, but after I polish it a bit more, I hope to expand it to *at least* other English speaking locales. And I'm currently working on a "widget" that lets you say "Our next trip to Disney World is {some date}" and the widget will display a countdown on your Echo Show devices. Also, it works VERY well in the parks if you're using the Alexa app on your phone, Echo Buds, Echo Frames, or (my personal favorite) the TalkSocket device. Lets you ask things like "Where can I get a churro?" and based on your location it will guide you to the nearest place to get a churro (or whatever snack or food you might want). It's not perfect...I'm keenly aware of some of its bugs and quirks...but I'm kinda proud of it. Totally free for now (although I might add some premium features in the future). Please check it out and let me know what you think.