Panasonic revealed its latest partnership with Disney Parks at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show. The company is providing projectors that when combined with breakthrough technology from Disney’s Imagineers, will help transform a two-dimensional cartoon into an amazing real-world experience in the upcoming Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
“The specific visual requirements of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway attraction require imaging systems that meet the highest technical requirements of precision color rendition and brightness. Panasonic’s laser illuminated projectors do that extremely well,” said Tom LaDuke, Principal Show Systems Designer, Walt Disney Imagineering. “We look forward to working with Panasonic to push technological boundaries that bring our guests to places only previously achieved in their imaginations.”
In 2016, Panasonic and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts announced that Panasonic Projection Imaging Systems would be the “Official Projection Technology” of Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. and the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. As part of this long-term agreement, Disney Parks have access to the latest in Panasonic’s market-leading projectors with advanced image processing and lens solutions.
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to once again provide Panasonic’s cutting-edge projection technology for a new Disney Parks attraction, especially for the first-ever ride-through Mickey Mouse attraction,” said Ron Martin, director, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory, a unit of Panasonic Corporation of North America. “Panasonic is proud to help Disney Parks immerse their guests in the animated world of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in a way that has never been done before.”
Panasonic already maintains a significant technology presence at Disney Parks in attractions that include: Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland; Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure; Haunted Mansion and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom; Frozen Ever After and Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros at Epcot; Na’vi River Journey at Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme.
I can already hear you saying, “Please DIsney, no more screen based attractions.” I hear your cry. And yet, I don’t think of any of the above attractions as solely screen based. Disney does a good job going behind the screen for a real-world immersive experience. I expect the first ever attraction in American dedicated to Mickey Mouse to elevate the game again.
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens to the public in Fall 2019.