Video Games Join the Ride on Disney Cruises

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Step aboard a Disney (NYSE:DIS) cruise ship, and you expect to see people dressed as Goofy, Mickey and Minnie Mouse. You also expect all sorts of activities to keep the kids entertained.

What you may not expect are video games.

CNN reports that Disney is integrating interactive electronic gaming into the designs of its new cruise liners. Designers of the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream, which cost close to $1 billion each, are adding specialized “interactive experiences” that will be unique to the cruise ships.

“Because technology has become more progressive in the home, it challenges us as Imagineers to design experiences for guests that they can’t do at home,” Bob Zalk, a senior show producer for Walt Disney Imagineering, told CNN.

Interactive games like the Magic Play Floor are featured on both the Dream and the Fantasy. The Magic Play Floor consists of 32 high-definition displays mounted on the floor, permitting as many as 32 children and adults to interact with the video games that unfold on the screens by touch and gesture.

Sensors at the edge of each screen act as controllers, detecting the motion of players and permitting them play the game.

With the Magic Floor, players can participate in games based on popular Disney movies, including TRON: Legacy, Lilo & Stitch and The Princess and the Frog. CNN notes that each Disney ship has two Magic Floor installations to accommodate demand.

The ships also come with touch-driven table-size consoles called — what else? — Magic Play Tables. These large interactive gaming tables can handle up to four players.

Forbes notes that Disney has also included gaming for adults with Goofy’s Golf Simulator.

Players stand in front of a large screen that projects simulated images from 100 actual golf courses. Players can then swing real Callaway (NYSE:ELY) golf clubs at real balls. As they do so, sensors detect the swing and path of the ball and calculate what that would look like on the course displayed in the screen. Players then see their “ball” bouncing on the green on-screen.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2012/04/video-games-join-the-ride-on-disney-cruises/.

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