Creativity and innovation are the foundation of every adventure. Hitachi Vantara supports Disney’s rich legacy of providing seamless and unforgettable experiences for every guest, every time.
Disney’s Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort are home to some of the world’s most sophisticated theme park attractions. Combining incredible design and state-of-the-art technology, they transport thousands of guests every day into a world of imagination.
Disney devotes extraordinary care to ensuring the availability and operating capacity of its attractions when guests are on site. This means maintenance must be planned and executed with precision to keep ride systems running flawlessly.
Delivering seamless operations is a huge challenge, especially when considering the complexity of Disney’s attractions. One example is the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, a complex ride system that requires real-time analysis and management of between 30,000 and 40,000 data points generated by Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors.
Disney’s relationship with Hitachi Vantara is the key to turning this data into actionable insight. Doug Wagner, VP, Engineering Services at the Walt Disney World Resort, comments: “As the Official Ride and Show Analytics Provider of the Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort, Hitachi Vantara's analytic capabilities help us analyze millions of points of data every hour. This kind of speed and accessibility keeps the magic alive and is imperative to a superior guest experience across the attractions in our parks.”
Disney has built a powerful data management and analytics platform using solutions from the Pentaho+ suite of products. The platform captures, ingests and analyzes millions of data points from IIoT sensors located throughout its attractions. It also uses artificial intelligence to assess asset condition and predict when maintenance should be scheduled to keep every component in perfect running order.
“We utilize several key solutions from Hitachi Vantara that help propel our data management to the next level,” says Michael Tschanz, Director, Design & Engineering Technology & Analysis at the Walt Disney World Resort. “One I personally think is the coolest thing we’ve worked on together this year, is our development of the physical-digital twin analysis technology.”
The physical-digital twin enables Disney to enrich the data it receives from its IIoT sensors. The data is fed into a very detailed simulation, using a mathematical model of the complex mechanical and electrical systems of the ride. The simulation automatically derives measurements such as velocity, acceleration, and torque, helping Disney gain a real-time understanding of the condition of each ride system component.
One of the first attractions to demonstrate the physical-digital twin technology is Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. This enabled Disney to improve the monitoring and analysis of machinery operations of the ride in real-time, without creating extra work for its ride engineers or allowing any disruption to the guests’ experience.
“It’s some of the most exciting work we’ve done together,” says Michael Tschanz. “Those sparks of data are all around us. Being able to capture that information and truly harness its potential, is how we give guests moments that feel like magic.”
The physics-based digital twin application is just one area where Disney and Hitachi Vantara are innovating together. This partnership goes beyond technology — both share the vision of how advancing technology can be used for good.
Mike Labonge, VP, Global Engineering & Technology at the Walt Disney World Resort, says: “As two companies with nearly 100 years of history each, we both understand the importance of a legacy that sets the stage for the future. I personally admire Hitachi Vantara’s Powering Good Initiative. The impact they make on the community is just as important to them as succeeding in their industry. Hitachi Vantara and Disney have similar beliefs when it comes to technology solutions.”
Doug Wagner concludes: “Both Disney and Hitachi Vantara know how important every guest visit is, and how special each experience is to the limited time they spend with us. With Hitachi Vantara’s world class data analytics and management solutions, delivering on that expectation of excellence is easier than ever before.”
Data experienced with an intelligent data management platform driving revenue growth, business optimizations and improved customer experiences.
Manage data at scale for rapid business innovation, ease of use, and self-service automation and orchestration.