Amazon and Disney Introduce ‘Hey, Disney!’ Voice Assistant to use at Home and at the Walt Disney World Resort

Sep 28, 2021 in "The Walt Disney Company"

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Posted: Tuesday September 28, 2021 4:12pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Amazon and Disney have today announced ‘Hey, Disney!’, a new kind of voice assistant that will work alongside Alexa at home and across Walt Disney World Resort hotel rooms.

The Digital Assistant will be coming to Walt Disney World Resort hotels including the new Contemporary Resort rooms

‘Hey, Disney!’ is expected to arrive in 2022 and will let fans and guests interact with some of their most beloved Disney characters, simply by saying “Hey, Disney!” on supported Echo devices at home and at Disney Resort hotels.

Pricing is to be announced, and ‘Hey, Disney!’ will be available for purchase in the U.S. in the Alexa Skills Store for use on all supported Echo devices.

“We’re bringing the worlds of Disney directly to Echo devices with ‘Hey, Disney!’,” said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President, Amazon Devices and Services. “By combining the strength of Alexa’s technology, with Disney’s unmatched storytelling expertise, we’re creating the next generation of immersive experiences to make guests’ vacations more memorable and giving our customers a way to make their homes a bit more magical too.”

“Our focus is to bring Disney storytelling to our guests wherever they are,” said Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. “Through Alexa technology, ‘Hey, Disney!’ will unlock new ways for guests to engage with our iconic characters and stories both at home as well as at our Walt Disney World Resort hotels.”

‘Hey, Disney!’ and Alexa will be available in Walt Disney World Resort hotel rooms as part of an upcoming integration using Amazon’s Alexa for Hospitality service. ‘Hey, Disney!’ and Alexa will work side-by-side to simplify your stay by answering questions, fulfilling special requests, and more. You can ask ‘Hey, Disney!’ for more blankets and towels, the fastest way to get to the park in the morning, and where to get your favorite food. With Alexa, you can hear the news, ask for sports scores, play music, and more.

The ‘Hey, Disney!’ voice assistant was developed from the ground up by Disney, featuring original character voice recordings and audio, with over 1,000 magical interactions to discover, as well as a brand-new character created as a guide—the Disney Magical Companion. ‘Hey, Disney!’ will mark the first time an Alexa Custom Assistant will be available on Echo devices. Alexa Custom Assistant is a comprehensive solution that made it easy for Disney to create their own custom voice assistant tailored to Disney’s personality and customer needs, built on Alexa technology. Alexa Custom Assistants have unique wake words, voices, personalities, and capabilities, and can coexist and cooperate with Alexa.

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G00fyDad11 days ago

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

HauntedPirate12 days ago

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

CaptainAmerica12 days ago

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.

MisterPenguin12 days ago

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

castlecake2.012 days ago

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.

CaptainAmerica12 days ago

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.

tissandtully12 days ago

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.

ToTBellHop12 days ago

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.

tissandtully12 days ago

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.

Squishy12 days ago

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.