Disney is honestly weirdly into noses, but they’ve got a good reason.
Spaceship Earth at EPCOT
For many a Disney fan, a favorite part of the parks experience is the smells. Walking down Main Street, U.S.A. we love to get a whiff of that fresh-baked bread. Lots of folks REALLY miss the orange smell from Soarin’ Over California. Oh, and the burning smell from Spaceship Earth? COME ON. Now, Disney is working on tech that could make smell engineering a more common thing, both in and out of the theme parks.
Disney recently filed a patent for “Scent Blending.” Well, Disney certainly NOSE what’s up (sorry) with scents, so we SMELL some exciting new ideas with this one (double sorry). This tech would help to create realistic transitions from one scent into another!
Main Street, U.S.A.
The patent discusses how smells have primarily been used to pump aggressively into one area in relation to one visual stimulus. You know EXACTLY how it feels to be metaphorically punched in the face with burning smells when the town is set on fire on Pirates of the Caribbean! The new tech would create a system that could phase one smell out and another smell in a realistic way, or even layer smells on top of one another how they actually do when experiencing real scents.
©Disney
Um…cool! Disney is so into your nose and what it’s experiencing due to the fact that scent is super underdeveloped when it comes to experiencing entertainment media. Audio and video have rapidly improved throughout history to provide better auditory and visual experiences, but smell has pretty much remained stagnant. It’s not often used and when it is it’s in a very straightforward way.
Soarin’ Queue
Disney’s new scent-blending tech points to the fact that they are still VERY much interested in developing smell-based technology. Plus, these systems could be used anywhere! The patent specifically mentions a still and video display, motion picture, amusement park ride, augmented and virtual reality experiences, theatrical performances, and sporting events.
©Disney
Imagine, you’re watching the latest Disney flick in the theaters and you can SMELL the field of flowers the main character is standing in. You ride through pirates and can smell a whole combination of smells — gunpowder, rum, fire, you name it! This tech is a base system that could bring a whole new WORLD of nose-based experiences to entertainment. So neat!
Pirates of the Caribbean
As always, we’ll be keeping an eye out for Disney patents so stay tuned to DFB to make sure you’re in the loop on all the latest Disney inventions!
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In 1960, I went to a movie in a specially equipped NYC theater that featured smell-o-vision (produced by Mike Todd, who was married to Elizabeth Taylor, but I digress). We sat in the balcony section next to the “smell machines”. I knew right away it would never catch on. And it didn’t. Just because they can do it, doesn’t mean they should. I also found out I am very sensitive to odors, including some that are already in Disney attractions. For me, adding more scents would be a deterrent. I don’t expect Disney to cater to my whims (and allergies), but I bet there are others with similar problems who feel the same