Walt Disney World is taking next steps to provide an easier and more customizable vacation planning experience, especially for first time guests to the property. Utilizing Google Gemini AI, this optional vacation planning BETA test using natural language to assist guests planning a stay at Walt Disney World with its vast array of hotels and theme park options. I was able to hear directly from Disney Leadership on this initiative where they showcased the new tech, why it matters and how it is being tested.
This new AI based program is called Guided Search – BETA, and will only appear for select visitors from the United States and Canada during this initial test run. To use this BETA you will need to be signed in to your Disney account, which helps the program find your additional discounts, like those who have Disney+ Membership. Disney has shared some important details about this BETA:
- This is a test run, looking at how guests actually want to use the AI to help plan vacations
- Guided Search – BETA is totally optional and doesn’t stop guests from using the standard website, calling in or working with Travel Agents
- Group planning, dining reservations and Lightning Lane purchases are not yet part of this pilot program
- Guests will be able to share reservation details to family members via text, letting the trip planner easily showcase the potential plan
- The AI has been built with very strong guardrails and has plans in place for guests attempting to break the chatbot
- 100% of the information being fed to the AI is directly from the Walt Disney Company and uses 0 outside sources
Guided Search is built to offer the cheapest possible room rates
The Disney Leadership team mentioned that some guest concerns, especially for first time visitors, is the immense size of the Walt Disney World Resort. With over 25 hotels, four theme parks, two water parks and two entertainment districts, the destination is more city than it is theme park. This initial iteration of the AI based Guided Search – BETA is built to help guests using their own words. An example they used was a family member mentioning that their kids loved “The Lion King” film.
The AI used that info to recommend the Lion King Family Suites at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which feature Lion King elements in their own way. The Guided Search also went through, asking about select seasons to visit and offered transportation options and how long that transport would take. While these AI questions are optional, giving a few sentences about preferred hotel types, parks and even favorite characters helped the AI pick best options.
Familiar functionality, but now contained within the Disney Bubble
The previews of this BETA showed me a somewhat familiar view, and I mean that in a good way. Google’s search engine uses AI almost constantly at this point with the Google AI Overview near the top of search. This overview gives a quick glimpse at top search hits to summarize, to the best of the AI’s ability, what you are looking for. Users searching for specific questions can keep scrolling for more info or write to the AI for quick, information filled summaries. This is a lot of what Disney is aiming for.
Seen above, even the Guided Search – BETA pricing looks very similar to Google Hotels pricing tool, which uses Google Maps to give an overview of the area with pricing options. Personally, I take this as a positive. Disney is simplifying the process for those who want it. It shows upfront pricing, the locations of the hotels and (when clicked on) extra information about the hotels and why it relates to the initial AI search. With Disney using the Google Cloud services, it is no surprise these functions seem familiar. The AI chatbot also feels familiar, allowing guests to ask questions about rooms, ask for hotel comparisons or change the search. With Google being the most used search engine on Earth, these functions felt familiar and intuitive.
Ask or Refine with AI chatbot
At this point, AI chatbots are not new and nearly 50% of all Americans say they use these chatbots on a semi-regular basis. This chatbot function of the Guided Search – BETA is the largest portion of this initial run for Walt Disney World. The AI won’t make every reservation nor make complex decisions for you to modify plans. Instead, it is, as the name suggests, a guided search tool. Guests can ask about riding on boats, boarding the Disney monorail system or if their hotel will access the Disney Skyliner. This chatbot can explain the transport tools, which hotels have them and even showcase the approximate time it will take to get to destinations.
During the examples we were shown, the search even made sure to mention that hotels were under refurbishment during the selected vacation times. Disney Leadership said this AI will look at all possible dates, deals and vacation packages to get guests the cheapest possible option, if that is what they are looking for. When clicking on possible hotels or dates, the AI will even show which deal it used to get the best deal. This can include Florida Resident Rates, Disney+ Memberships or other ongoing offers.
Guided Search – BETA is part of the ongoing guest experience improvements
Earlier this year we met with the same team where they initially discussed their plans for digital guest improvements. This includes, for the first time ever, adding Spanish to the Disneyland and Walt Disney World apps. According to the team, the Spanish translation has already been used hundreds of thousands of times. In the future the team would like to add more AI based assistance to the My Disney Experience app, including AI overview style answers to questions while in the parks. An example of this could be, “Where can I get chicken nuggets” or “Can my two year old ride on Space Mountain?”
The team also mentioned that they are reducing excessive links on the Walt Disney World website. So, even if you don’t use the AI functions, they have trimmed down navigation, getting rid of about 40% of links. The AI usage is new to the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort planning process and Disney emphasized that this is a BETA test with limited guests. But, the ultimate goal was to meet guests where they are at and make the trip as easy as possible to plan, without taking away key functions like Travel Agents, Disney Cast Members vacation planners and the standard search that is already on the website.
