Disney Brings National Geographic Immersive Environment to Vision Pro
Credit: National Geographic
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Disney was one of the fastest streaming services to embrace Apple’s Vision Pro. It had an enhanced visionOS Disney+ app ready on launch day, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down as it adds its fifth immersive environment to Apple’s spatial computing headset.
The entertainment giant’s enthusiasm for Apple’s latest product wasn’t a big surprise, considering Disney CEO Bob Iger took the stage during the product’s unveiling in June 2023 to talk about how the House of Mouse was working with Apple to ensure its content was ready to go and preparing “deeply personal experiences that bring our fans closer to the characters they love.”
At launch, the visionOS Disney+ app offered immersive environments themed from Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars content, including a Disney+ Theater, Avengers Towers, Scare Floor, and Tatooine. Now, it’s taking a page from its National Geographic content to move into immersive reality rather than fantasy.
The new Iceland environment will transport viewers to Thingvellir National Park. It presents a snowy vista of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, complete with gently falling snow, created from imagery captured by a team of professional National Geographic photographers and then turned into a set of high-resolution 3D panoramas by Disney Studio Technology.
Since its inception, National Geographic has been at the forefront of photography and has led the way in using groundbreaking technology to tell stories that inspire a deeper connection to the natural world. Creating this immersive environment was a natural next step for us to take to build on that legacy and to continue enabling audiences to experience the beauty of our natural world and see places they may never go to otherwise.David Miller, EVP, National Geographic
While it’s a first for the Vision Pro, National Geographic has previously produced virtual reality (VR) adventures for other devices, such as an antarctic kayak ride on the Oculus Quest. However, this is more of an environment than an adventure, as it’s intended to be a backdrop that can be dialed in to make you feel like you’re sitting in a snowy landscape while watching your favorite content on Disney+.
To make that more compelling, Disney is also adding several new 3D movies to its Vision Pro collection, including Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. The new MCU titles join several other Disney classics like The Little Mermaid and The Lion King that have been available in 3D since launch.
Unfortunately, as stunning as the new Iceland environment is, you’ll only be able to enjoy it while using the Disney+ visionOS app. Apple hasn’t yet provided a way for app-based immersive environments to be accessed system-wide, which means you’ll be limited to the ones that Apple provides with visionOS when working in most other apps.
Although it’s unclear when (or if) Apple will ever allow this, Disney has been at work on other immersive projects that exist as standalone apps. Earlier this year, it released Marvel’s What If…?, an interactive story based on the popular comic book series of the same name. While we have yet to see anything concrete, Iger also hinted that Disney-owned ESPN would soon be providing immersive game experiences where “fans would be able to watch an NBA game as if they were sitting courtside,” which is something that Apple still promotes as part of its in-store Vision Pro demos.
