Social Media Abuzz With Realistic Lightsaber Unveiled By Disney Chairman Josh D’Amaro
Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products gave a press conference yesterday afternoon titled “A Special Look Inside Disney Parks” which took an optimistic look at the future of Disney theme parks worldwide. Though the BIG news from this media event was the reveal that Disney California Adventure’s Avengers Campus will be reopening on June 4th. That’s not what has sent social media into a FRENZY!
D’Amaro ended the presentation with a show stopping moment that may just be the mic drop to end all mic drops as Ashely Carter says in her tweet below. Check it out:
Disney Parks chairman Josh D'Amaro did a mic drop at the end of the virtual press conference but with a real lightsaber. It happened so fast. I'm shaking.
— Ashley Carter (@AshleyLCarter1) April 8, 2021
You read that right. According to reports, the Chairman pulled out a hilt and blade the emulated a real lightsaber simply saying “It’s real.”
As the collective gasp from this moment is still reverberating through the universe, we have to say that it’s been rumored for quite some time now that Disney was looking to come up with its own version of a Lightsaber that would make the wands at Wizarding World look like child’s play.
As a matter of fact, our MickeyBlog writer John Bishop has been following this story since 2018 when Disney filed an application for a lightsaber patent an image of which you can see above. The patent, which is still posted on the US Trademark Authority website here was our first hint that Disney had big plans for this iconic Star Wars weapon.
A snippet from the patent previously posted by John reads as follows:
[0029] According to the exemplary implementation shown in FIG. 3, AR accessory 340 is depicted as a virtual sword, such as a virtual light sword, for example, having virtual sword blade 341 with length 346, and having activation zone 348. It is noted that, as used in the present application, the term “activation zone”, as applied to AR accessory 140a/140b/340, refers to a volumetric region of space in AR venue 126 in which AR accessory 140a/140b/340 can achieve scoring strikes or hits against a user or object within AR venue 126. For example, in the exemplary implementation shown in FIG. 3, activation zone 348 of AR accessory 140a/140b/340 may be a volumetric region surrounding a user of AR accessory 140a/140b/340 determined based on length 346 of virtual sword blade 341.
I feel like this is something D’Amaro has been teasing for a while. Just check out this Instagram post from last May!
View this post on Instagram
What remains unclear is whether or not this neat bit of tech will be designed for Galaxy’s Edge, for Disney World’s upcoming Galactic Starcruiser hotel or both.
Disney has previously shared concept art for the Starcruiser (pictured abvoe) that seems to suggest that the hotel will have a lightsaber training area. This may be one of the places where we will see this new patent put to use!
This is a story that we’ll continue to follow closely here at MickeyBlog. Readers are encouraged to keep checking back with us for further news and updates.
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