Alexa has company. I met Disney’s new voice assistant at CES this week, and it’s pretty cute. called “Disney’s magical companion”, the disembodied voice is born from fairy dust and lives in Amazon’s Echo smart speakers and displays. The goal is to summon various characters – including Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars favorites – to help you with common voice assistant chores (timers, alarms, weather), and entertain you with stories, games, and other pinches of Disney magic.
You conjure up the assistant with the phrase “Hey Disney!” – here’s a short demo I did at CES this week:
One cool thing about the integration is that you never know which character will answer your question – it could be Dory Finding Nemo or Olaf van Frozen one moment, then Mater out cars or Animal of The Muppets the next.
Currently, “Hey Disney!” is in limited hotel rooms at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort as part of a phased rollout at Disney’s hotels, where it also helps act as a virtual concierge of sorts. But the Magical Companion will also come to your home in 2023, via the Alexa Skills store. No pricing has been announced, but it’s included for free with an Amazon Kids Plus subscription.
