Disney World is rolling out new technology, including some powered by AI, to make the vacation planning process simpler. The goal of the changes is to give guests the ability to book their trips with greater confidence, knowing that they have considered the most important aspects of their vacation while planning.
The rollout includes flexible search options with personalized results, a new way to look at pricing and availability, a compare option, and an AI-powered assistant to answer planning questions. We have all the details based on a recent Disney media briefing. Mickey Visit brings you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including ride rules to follow and new Disney Halloween decorations.
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New Disney World Planning Technology Rolling Out
During a media briefing with Disney executives who lead the Disney theme park product offerings, we viewed a demo of upcoming website changes coming to Walt Disney World to improve the planning process. We got a preview of the new booking engine and updates on the other ongoing technology changes. You can see the updates on the other technology changes here. This article is coming soon.
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The team is working in collaboration with Google Cloud to create smarter search and comparison offerings during the booking process that are powered by AI.
The Disney leadership shared that this AI will function quite differently than generic Google AI or ChatGPT. The Disney model powering the services has been trained specifically on the official Walt Disney World website information and Disney pages and not on any external information. There are also strict guardrails in place that are meant to prevent conversations with the chat feature from straying beyond the key focuses of vacation planning. The limit on where the source information is from is meant to ensure that incorrect information is not given to guests.
Another member of the media who was in attendance asked what would happen if someone asked about visiting the Disney theme park with Harry Potter. Disney doesn’t have anything Harry Potter at the resort. That is at the nearby Universal theme parks. The technology leader shared that the chat would redirect the conversation and eventually elevate the question to a live planning cast member if the user continued to ask questions that the chat couldn’t answer. They shared that the same plan was in place if a guest was trying to break the chat or getting angry.
Now, let’s turn to a specific walk-through of the new search offerings on the website.
The new vacation planning experience includes flexible search with personalized results, a new pricing and availability calendar, as well as the ability to compare options, find the best available rate, ask questions and get answers based on your vacation plans, schedule and budget, with AI-powered summaries that pull information from official Disney sources.
The new search will also now provide shareable links to easily send your vacation information to those who you want to look at the itinerary. It will save it all in one place so that you can easily share the information. This is a read-only web sharing link that is easy to drop in a text message or email.
The visible use of AI purposefully takes a back seat throughout the experience. The chat function is not immediately shown, and the AI is integrated into specific spots in the flow. Instead of having a wide-ranging chat, Disney brought structure to the AI information to better serve the specific needs of the guests in this process. The leaders said that they tested a generic chat feature and it was less popular during testing because of a lack of structure.
Currently, the below AI-powered experience is in beta testing. The service will be offered to a limited number of randomly selected guests in the US and Canada. The team shared that once they get guests using the service, feedback will help to shape future app updates as they make the offering available to more guests.
The team also acknowledged that everyone plans their vacations differently and that this is not replacing any existing tools today. Guests can still use the standard booking flow on DisneyWorld.com, travel advisors, and the Call Center. We highly recommend checking out our travel partner, Get Away Today, for additional savings on Walt Disney World vacations. Click here for savings on Disney World tickets and hotels!
Disney World New Guided AI Search Walkthrough
Here’s the new website homepage that is debuting for all guests. Note in the image the simplified look and the “Guided Search – BETA” tab that now shows for random users as they arrive. Guests have to click to log in to use the AI-guided search.
The Disney team reduced the links on the newly redesigned homepage by 40%.
Here’s a look at the search parameter options. Once you click into “Guided Search – BETA” you’ll have the option to select dates, select number of kids and adults, and enter information about your trip goals into the box.
The box can handle a variety of questions that integrate with specific amenities of the hotels and dates that you want to visit. For instance, you could write that you have a child and are interested in the Lion King, and then the search would recommend the Lion King suites at Art of Animation.
You could also write that the focus of your trip is the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival, and then the search would pull up EPCOT area hotels. You could get more specific and say you want hotel options that are moderate, and it would specifically point to Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort.
For the date input, you can now select between being specific, searching by month, or by season of the year. This then provides search results with options on best prices and fit for availability of resorts.
The team also shared with us that they designed the offerings as intentionally mobile-first to make sure that the flow would look best on mobile, where most guests will be using it.
Once you are in the search results, there is a chat feature and compare feature that you can use to discuss the various amenities and offerings at different resorts.
This is a look at a new details view in the resort booking calendar for each room type. Art of Animation is again a great option to demonstrate this search because you could specifically be interested in finding availability for one of the specific room types based on your family’s interest in a specific character.
Note that we just shared a look at the updated rooms coming to Art of Animation.
Below is a look at the availability function for the Little Mermaid standard room. When it pulls the rate information, it is also pulling in any eligible discounts tied to your account. For instance, if you are eligible for a Florida Resident or Annual Pass Holder rate.
Here’s a new map view in the app to have a better visual understanding of the cost of hotels and the proximity to the theme parks.
There is also a new transportation look to more easily see the options to get from your hotel to the various theme park destinations.
Disney stated that at the time of the rollout, AI will not be implemented for offerings like Lightning Lane, dining reservations, and some more complex search parameters.
I like that Disney is taking a measured approach to bringing AI into their systems. Rather than dumping an AI chatbot on the site and calling it a day, they are thoughtfully finding ways to use the ease of information access to customize the entire site for guests. The addition will be helpful for both new guests who have a more limited understanding of the resort and returning guests who want to more intuitively search the landscape for discounts at relevant resorts.
Walt Disney World is such a complex place to visit that any amount of simplicity that technology tools like this can bring should help to enable more people to get through the process more easily.
We’ll be covering the latest technology changes as they roll out across Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
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