July in Anaheim, California - D23 Expo - The Ultimate Disney Fan Event – brings together all the worlds of Disney under one roof for three packed days of presentations, pavilions, experiences, concerts, sneak peeks, shopping, and more. The event provides fans with unprecedented access to Disney films, television, games, theme parks and celebrities.

Panasonic announced an exciting long-term Alliance with Disney at CES 2017 in January 2017 where they were designated as the official Projection Technology provider for Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California and Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. 

The power of collaboration

The D23 Expo 2017 featured pavilions from many elements of The Walt Disney Company. Panasonic was honored to offer support for the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Pavilion which featured a first look at the epic, fully detailed model of the Star Wars-themed lands under development at Disneyland park in Anaheim, California and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

These lands known as Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge are scheduled to open at both parks in 2019. To illuminate this model and add visual excitement to this pavilion, Disney’s Imagineers looked to Panasonic as their preferred projection solution provider to meet the need for high-picture quality, accurate color, high brightness, and rich contrast.

Bringing life to the welcome ceremony

Panasonic chose the RZ12K and the highly acclaimed RQ13K 4K resolution projection systems that made the main stage come alive during the welcome ceremony. The two projectors illuminated the main stage screens with over 20,000 lumens of HD and 4K imagery that dazzled the audience as they enjoyed the rich colors and stunning artistic vision that only Disney can provide. In late September, a part of this model was put on display at Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Guests to enjoy in advance of the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in 2019.

Official projection technology of Walt Disney World Resort

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts delivers unparalleled guest experiences that combines Disney’s signature storytelling, creativity and innovation that not only bring favorite stories to life, but also enables their guests to customize their vacations. Panasonic was honored that Walt Disney Imagineering looked to Panasonic as their preferred projection solution provider to meet the need for high-picture quality, accurate color, high brightness, and rich contrast to help enhance the Disney guest experience.

Most recently, Panasonic collaborated with Disney creative teams to enhance the guest experience at an amazing experience inside Pandora – The World of Avatar, a new land which recently opened at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park – one of four theme parks at Walt Disney World Resort.

“It was important to us that the two worlds work seamlessly with one another, and Panasonic’s projection system allowed us to achieve that level of realism,” said Jim MacPhee, Senior Vice President for Operations at Walt Disney World Resort. “This was accomplished through projection imaging that provided perfect color rendition, precise levels of brightness, and robust systems that could function reliably. More importantly, the secret to success laid within collaboration.“

The Panasonic team enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate on parts of such a ground-breaking theme park innovation as Pandora-The World of Avatar.