Epcot Visitors Get into Game to Solve Kim Possible Mystery
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
September 6, 2006
Those mild-mannered shopkeepers and their well-tended establishments at Epcot's United Kingdom Pavilion are now embroiled in a world of secret agents, mystery, and an evil plot to turn the whole world into one giant golf course.
So that explains what those kids, Ellen and Faye Meadows, were doing crammed in a phone booth playing with cell phones. Was that a golf ball that just popped out of the pay phone's change return? A clue!
Sleepy little areas in Epcot's World Showcase are coming alive with high-tech intrigue, as young heroes such as Ellen, 9, and Faye, 7, of Hemel Hempstead, England, run around trying to save the world, playing a prototype, high-tech, adventure game that Disney researchers are testing.
Ellen, Faye and others are on missions to help the cartoon character Kim Possible and her friends save the world. At the same time, they're helping Walt Disney Imagineering's research and development department explore possibilities for using the latest generation of interactive, hand-held technologies in theme-park environments.
Every weekday for another week or so, up to 100 selected visitors at Epcot are being handed specially programmed cell phones with global-positioning-system chips. Video, audio and text messages direct the participants to places, then activate special effects when they arrive, as they try to solve the mystery.
Disney Imagineering's research and development team is watching closely, first to see if the game is a hit, and what should be done to make it a permanent attraction someday. But more significantly, the researchers want to see how such technologies might be woven into new or enhanced Disney experiences without disrupting normal operations. The U.K. Pavilion, for example, cannot devolve into being just a game set.
If and when the game returns, it might cost extra. Disney officials say it is too soon to talk about whether visitors would be charged for the experience. But it's similar in nature to the Segway transporter attraction that Disney offers at Epcot. People can sign up for lessons on how to ride the two-wheeled scooters, then tour World Showcase before it opens, for $80 a person.
Bruce Vaughn, vice president for research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney's creative branch, envisions similar technology going into games or other activities that could be used not just in the parks, but at hotels, Disney Cruise Line ships and other places. In addition to games, Vaughn sees prospects for everything from concierge services to interactive guided tours.
Who better to try out such gadgets first than the people most likely to know how to use them -- kids?
"This new generation is growing up with the Internet, cell phones, mobile devices, hand-held devices, video games. This younger generation, I would say 20 and under, have a whole different idea about how to consume entertainment, how they can be involved in entertainment," Vaughn said. "That same generation, when they come to the park and we hand them a Kimmunicator and say, 'Go out and interact in the park as a secret agent and save the world,' they totally get it."
In the current test, which runs though Sept. 15, participants follow leads, collect clues and eventually try to help Kim Possible -- the main character of the Disney Channel adventure cartoon -- defeat the dastardly Dr. Drakken.
Ellen and Faye played the U.K. Pavilion version -- there's also a France Pavilion version -- while their parents, Julian and Sarah Meadows, relaxed nearby at an outdoor table of the Rose & Crown Pub. Faye, a big fan of the Kim Possible show, said she knew from the start that she would love the game. Much older and worldly Ellen wasn't so sure, until she started playing.
"I really want to continue now; I don't know why I almost turned it down," Ellen said, just before she and Faye rushed off to find another clue in the teashop.
"It's very interesting, they're trying to come up with new ideas, a new kind of entertainment, I think. It's fantastic," said Julian Meadows, an antique-furniture restorer. "It gets the children so involved. And I can sit here with my Guinness and I'm sure that they're safe."
The phones and GPS chips are not the only technologies involved. Lasers, talking puppets, audio and video special effects and other devices, all activated by the phones, move the story along toward a big finale in the bonus round. At least one professional actor is involved, and some of those shopkeepers must play along. There also is a chance for participants to communicate with one another to seek help. And it's not just for children; adults are playing, too.
After the test runs its course, Vaughn's staff will take all the surveys and observations they've collected back to the labs to figure out what to do next. It might be a year or more before the devices re-emerge for good. Regardless, it's clear to Vaughn that the time has come for personal digital devices to become part of the theme park fun.
"We believe this kind of device, with [software] overlays, we can make it appropriately for any age," Vaughn said.
Team Possible Photo Gallery
[Do Note: the photo gallery displays guests actually playing the game and reveals some game elements]
8/29/06 Update
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