- The Imagineering Labs app lets Disneyland guests test experimental experiences
- Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge gets an AR adventure featuring Leia
- Guest feedback will help Imagineers shape future Disney Parks experiences
If you’ve ever wanted to get a peek at what Disney Parks is building next — or even help Imagineers shape new experiences — the House of Mouse is starting to open up its creative process a bit more.
We’ve already had a glimpse behind the scenes with the Disney+ series We Call It Imagineering; and now, through a new app, select guests will be able to try new experiences before they’re fully signed, sealed, and delivered.
Asa Kalama, Vice President, Executive Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, told TechRadar, “rather than waiting for an experience to be fully complete and polished, we’re actually offering guests the opportunity to try out new experiences, whether they be entertainment-focused or maybe more utility in nature.”
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It’s a different approach, and one Kalama was quick to note is new for Disney.
At its heart is a new Disney Imagineering Labs iOS app, which will sit alongside the already-available Disneyland Resort app. An Android app is coming at a later date, but for now you’ll need an iPhone.
You’ll need to sign in with your Disney account, and initial access to the experiments within Imagineering Labs will be reserved for Disneyland Magic Key holders — essentially the resort’s annual passholders and some of its biggest fans. A broader rollout to other Disneyland guests is “coming soon,” though there’s no exact timeframe just yet.
The idea is that new experiences, or parts of them, will be available for guests to test while they’re still in development. It’s certainly exciting, especially for someone like me who’s fascinated by how Imagineering blends technology and storytelling.
As Kalama explained, “We love this because it allows designers and project teams to get meaningful feedback while the paint is still wet.” It gives Imagineers the chance to make important decisions about what ultimately gets developed, shipped, or potentially scrapped. It’s also clear these aren’t finished experiences, and within the app you’ll get a sense of each project’s phase, with labels ranging from ‘Early development’ to ‘Taking shape’ and ‘Nearly complete.’
And while Disney isn’t committing to a regular schedule of new experiments or updates, guest feedback will help Imagineers decide whether an idea is worth pursuing further, or if it’s time to move on to something else.
A new Star Wars adventure
So, what’s first? Well, we’re heading to a galaxy far, far away, and an experience that seems pretty well thought-out. It also sees Disney heading back down the road of AR. Secrets of the Spire is a new augmented-reality experience that will take place inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, specifically Black Spire Outpost, home to the Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run attraction and the TIE Echelon.
And if you’ve ever used the original Star Wars Datapad or enjoyed Batuu Bounty Hunters, this might sound familiar. Kalama even described it as “a spiritual successor to the Datapad experience that used to exist within the land,” calling it “the next chapter” of that adventure.
This time around, you’ll receive a transmission from Leia Organa, who needs your help supporting the Rebellion. Your iPhone effectively becomes a pair of Star Wars quadnoculars (aka space binoculars), letting you track down signals across Black Spire Outpost, scan your surroundings, and slice into systems — essentially the Star Wars equivalent of hacking.
Rather than just standing and scanning with your phone, the experience is testing a more involved AR gameplay mechanic. Once you reach a location, your quadnoculars activate a scan mode that creates a grid-like mesh over the real-world environment, helping you hone in on the source of a transmission. From there, you’ll reposition your device to locate the signal and begin slicing into a system, whether that’s connected to a ship or a droid on land.
And there’s a real-world ending here, too. As Kalama explained, “each of these slicing moments is then connected to a physical effect, so there’s a physical payoff for that interaction.” In the preview I saw, successfully slicing into a droid brought it to life, with its head spinning in response.
You’ll play Spires of the Outpost in six locations throughout the land, potentially bridging classic attractions, shopping, or chatting with roaming characters. I like the notion of bridging digital and physical further in an already themed land, though.
And, in a particularly fun twist, you’ll eventually get to decide whether to remain loyal to Leia and the Rebellion or betray her and side with the Empire. Depending on your choice, the experience culminates near either the Millennium Falcon or the TIE Echelon.
There is an important distinction here, though. Secrets of the Spire isn’t a full-fledged adventure just yet. Disney describes this initial release as more of a prologue, designed to test a specific AR gameplay mechanic and learn how guests interact with it.
And the feedback Disney is looking for goes beyond whether you enjoyed the adventure. Kalama raised questions like, “Does it feel like there’s too much plot? Is there not enough plot?” Imagineers are also interested in the difficulty and duration of the interactions, with those insights helping to inform subsequent versions of the experience.
There are also some requirements and expectations here. Disney says it’s designed for daytime use and requires an iPhone 14 or newer. To its credit, Disney is upfront about what you’re getting — you might encounter more errors than usual, and functionality, gameplay, or features could change or even be removed.
Hopefully just the beginning
Even so, this is an exciting development for Imagineering, and Disney at large. It’s another rare look into the creative process, and rather than simply stumbling onto a potential play-test inside the park, Disney is deploying a dedicated app and giving guests a chance to try new experiences while they’re still being developed.
It makes sense that Disney is starting with a select group, and arguably some of the biggest fans of the parks, in Disneyland Magic Key holders. But I do hope we see a wider release sooner rather than later. After all, part of the excitement here is getting a look at what Imagineers are dreaming up, even if some of those ideas never ship.
There’s also the question of where Imagineering Labs goes next. For now, the focus is firmly on Disneyland, and with Secrets of the Spire, that makes sense. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland has seen its timeline reworked to make room for classic characters, including Leia Organa. Still, as someone who’s spent plenty of time exploring Galaxy’s Edge on both coasts, I’d love to see experiments like this eventually make their way to Disney World, too.
And while Secrets of the Spire is the first experiment, it won’t be the only one. It’s very much focused on storytelling and immersion, effectively turning your iPhone into a Star Wars gadget that you can use while exploring Batuu. It’s additive to the experience, giving you another way to interact with Galaxy’s Edge if you choose so.
But Disney Imagineering is also exploring something more utility-focused; and interestingly, something that could help you spend less time looking at your phone while visiting the parks.
You might recall that at Meta Connect 2025, Disney Imagineering and Meta teased the possibility of using Meta Ray-Ban glasses within Disney Parks. And this next experiment does take advantage of wearable technology in a pretty similar fashion.
Dubbed the Disneyland Enchanted Guide, it’s an AI-powered assistant designed to help you navigate Disneyland, check attraction wait times, get recommendations, and more. You can talk to it or type questions on your iPhone, and it’s multimodal, meaning it can also understand images. But perhaps most interestingly, you can interact with it hands-free through devices like Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses or Bluetooth earbuds, such as AirPods.
It’s a pretty interesting contrast to Secrets of the Spire. One encourages you to pull out your iPhone and immerse yourself even further in the world of Star Wars, while the other aims to help you put it away and get back to enjoying the parks.
And I think that’s what makes Imagineering Labs so interesting. We’re getting a look at two very different approaches to technology in Disney Parks. I’m especially curious to see what Imagineering dreams up next — and hopefully, more of us will get the chance to try these experiments for ourselves soon.
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jacob.krol@futurenet.com (Jacob Krol)
