With the Disney parks closed, it can be weird to think about upcoming expansions and updates.

But, as Walt Disney would say, we’ve got to “keep moving forward!” And that’s exactly what teams of innovators and Imagineers are doing behind the scenes right now.

The last couple of months have shown us a whole slew of new cutting-edge inventions that Disney has been working on. We’re taking a look at the Disney patents to see what could be coming to Disney parks in the future!

Scanning Wearables to Learn Guest Preferences

First up is one of the most interesting patents we found. We spotted a patent for a “Preference Implementation System for Acting on Preferences of Facility Visitors.” That sounds confusing so we’ll break it down a little bit.

Essentially, this is tech that could scan a wearable signifier (like a readable sticker or wristband) to learn about what a consumer likes!

In practice, this could mean that you get a sticker, wristband, or another accessory to wear around the park as a voluntary opt-in into the system. Cameras would scan these, kind of like a fancy QR code or MagicBands, and would be able to tell Cast Members about your name and preferences. 

This could mean that Cast Members have customized menu suggestions for you at dining locations, rides could know your favorite color and adapt to it, or it could mean that your child’s favorite character already knows his name when he walks up! The possibilities really are endless.

This tech is built on the “unique opt-in identifier” which means you have to choose to participate, so no need to worry about everyone knowing all about you without your permission! (How Disney tracks you WITHOUT you knowing about it is another story altogether!)

Click here for our ULTIMATE guide to MagicBands!

Tracking Theme Park Guest Location

While the abilities of the preference indicator tech is a little bit off-putting, it isn’t the only creepy patent we found. There’s also one with the name “ID Association and Indoor Localization Via Passive Phased-Array and Computer Vision Motion Correlation.” Translated into normal-speak, that means this tech will be used to track and identify folks in an indoor environment — like those found in parts of the theme parks.

Yep, Disney could identify the exact location of a specific theme park guest with this technology! Don’t worry, though — the scope of this isn’t that large. The system would be arranged indoors somewhere and wouldn’t be able to keep tracking folks once they left the building.

This tech could be used to help Disney keep track of guests in a queue or a specific pavilion in Epcot. Maybe Epcot’s upcoming Play Pavilion? Knowing everyone’s location helps them to control crowds and provide personalized experiences. 

To see more about how Disney currently tracks guests via MagicBand, check out this video!

So, as you can see, just because the parks are closed doesn’t mean that Disney inventors have stopped moving forward! We’ll be keeping an eye on patent filings and you can BET we’ll check in with you when we spot something interesting.

Want to see more Disney inventions? Click here to check out one of their latest!

What do you think is the coolest new tech? Tell us in the comments!