Walt Disney World executives revealed details about its new tech that will simplify vacation planning process for its guests, during a media presentation last week.
Walt Disney World is collaborating with Google Cloud to create a new vacation planning experience. The new experience introduces flexible search with more personalized results, a new pricing and availability calendar, as well as the ability to compare options, find the best available rate, ask questions and gets answers based on your vacation plans, schedule and budget, with AI-powered summaries that pull information from official Disney sources.
Let’s break it all down.
Flexible Search with More Personalized Results
Similar to every division of Disney, there will now be AI-powered search on Walt Disney World’s website and mobile app. The AI-powered search will now be able to help guests find more personalized results. In the example above, a guest is searching with a statement of “First time visiting Walt Disney World. Celebrating our son’s 7th birthday. He is obssesed with The Lion King. Easy access to the parks, a nice pool, and any available offers.” Then the results will gather and the example that was used was a comparison between Disney’s Art of Animation Resort and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (as you will see in other photo examples within this article). The new search will be able to answer more personalized and flexible questions. The collaboration with Google is evident as the search box looks straight up like Google Gemini.
A New Pricing and Availability Calendar
As part of the upgrades to the Disney vacation planning experience, Walt Disney World is introducing a new pricing and availability calendar. This will make it easier for guests to compare, and to also find the best offers. Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro in a previous earnings call mentioned how a lot of their guests were unaware about discounts and offers. It seems like the recent efforts at simplifying vacation planning tools will make guests more aware of discounts and offers from Walt Disney World.
Another aspect of the upgraded Walt Disney World vacation planning experience will be giving guests the ability to book and explore by seasons. Walt Disney World also summarizes each season as well. This will help many guests who now plan their Walt Disney World trips around either EPCOT festivals or holidays.
The Ability to Compare Options
Guests will be able to compare resort options, as we saw in the search example earlier. A guest can now compare different resort options. This comparison is between a Value and a Deluxe but the comparison results dive into transportation, dining, and more. For some families the value of having the Disney Skyliner and not just a bus could be a swaying point, for other families having table-service and signature dining may sway them another way.
Pricing Map
Guests will also be able to view pricing comparisons via a pricing map within the new vacation planning experience. For many guests this will provide a even better visual of where you are staying and what it costs. This is just like what Google does for normal hotel results, and I’m actually shocked it has taken Walt Disney World to implement this simplifying change. Yet this is a change that will once again make it easier for guests to compare and contrast their options on property.
Other notes on Walt Disney World’s New Vacationing Planning Experience
Walt Disney World executives reiterated that AI was applied very thoughtfully throughout the experience, and was only used in a measured approach where it can help guests. From the oustide looking in, it seems like the biggest utilization of AI simply comes from the search as guests will now be able to make more detailed questions and statements, and Walt Disney World will be able to serve up more accurate results, and there will be less scrambling to find certain pieces of info. The new search summaries on Disney’s website and apps pull information from official Disney sources and saves guest time in navigating through FAQs.
The new vacation planning experience at this time does not include Lightning Lane or dining reservations. So for guests who were eager to compare Lightning Lane costs/packages or utilize tools to compare various Walt Disney World restaurants that’s not available. Although Walt Disney World seemingly has a robust roadmap with simplifying its vacationing planning experience, so maybe one day?
If for any reason guests don’t want to utilize Walt Disney World’s new simplified vacation planning experience, guests can still use existing search and booking tools on DisneyWorld.com, travel advisors, and cast members at Disney’s Call Center will continue to be available to help guests plan their vacations. This new vacation planning tool just allows guests to plan differently if they choose so, and it’s just another step in Disney’s quest of streamlining its tech experience. Certain guests may prefer finding the lowest Resort & ticket prices by date, comparing, and asking questions themselves instead of relying on someone else.
The new simplifiied vacation planning experience is just another example of Walt Disney World’s quest of making their sites and apps easier to navigate. The recently redesigned homepage on DisneyWorld.com reduced links by 40%, making it easier for guests to navigate. Walt Disney World and Disneyland apps also introduces Spanish translations which has now helped hundreds of thousands of unique users.
The beta experience will be available to a limited number of randomly selected guests in the US and Canada. Guest feedback will help shape future updates as Disney expands avialbility in phases and continues to refine the experience over time.
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Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
