Alexa has several companies. I met Disney’s new voice assistant at CES this week, and it’s pretty cute. Call “Disney’s Magical Companion,” the monstrous voice was born from fairy dust and lives inside Amazon’s Echo screens and smart speakers. Its purpose is to call up different characters—including Disney, Pixar, and Star Wars favorites—to help you with common voice assistant (clock timers, alarms, weather), as well as entertaining with stories, games, and other fun Disney magic.
You call the assistant with the phrase “Hey Disney!” — here’s a quick demo I did at CES this week:
One cool thing about the integration is that you never know which character will answer your query — it could be Dory from Looking for Nemo or Olaf from frozen for a while, then Mater from car or Animals from The puppets next.
Currently, “Hey Disney!” is staying in limited hotel rooms at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort as part of a phased rollout across Disney properties, where it also helps as a sort of virtual concierge. But the Magical Companion will also come to your home in 2023, via the Alexa Skills store. No price has been announced, but it will be included for free with an Amazon Kids Plus subscription.
