Are costumed characters about to go the way of the dodo?

mharrington

mharrington

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
On Facebook, I found an article about a patent, for which Disney was approved, involving some new 3D technology that claims a simulated 3D version of a Disney character can be used to meet-n-greet you: https://www.tag24.com/tech/forget-c...jLd4DjLYn7Unctr48A7ELGfFLP6bfENlVysOpaXooo6Ng.

Needless to say, the comments on FB naturally concluded, presumably based on the dramatic title for the article (not necessarily on the article itself) that the days of costumed characters may very well be numbered, even though Disney said they had no immediate plans for this technology.
 
brb1006

brb1006

Well-Known Member
06f.jpg
 
D

DisneyHead123

Well-Known Member
Seems to me that this wouldn't replace the personal interaction portion of meeting a costumed character. Paired with the fact that costumed characters don't cost them much money in the grand scheme of things and yet are a major draw, I don't see any incentive for them to do away with them (If anything I think the obvious route would be for them to rely on character meetings more as a fairly easy money maker. $200 for your kid to go the extra special dessert party where MICKEY MOUSE HIMSELF is seated at your table. Wait, sorry, that the $300 ticket. Where MICKEY MOUSE HIMSELF is seated three tables over!!)

I could see this as a form of pandemic preparedness either for new strains of Covid or future global pandemics, though. In that case, yes, characters would presumably be temporarily removed again.
 
S

Skywise

Well-Known Member
Nope.

This isn't "3D" 3D, this is "3D Projection" - that is, projecting things on 3D surfaces... like Cinderella's Castle - not hologram type stuff.

This particular patent encompasses "personal projection" so that the character being projected can interact with an individual - but they're still stuck to the wall... like Peter Pan's Shadow... which would be a perfect use of this tech. (Though given Disney's current trends for creative usages - they probably won't DO that and will just have pogs waddling around you...)
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom