There’s a great likelihood you’re aware of the story of Hercules and have seen Disney’s retelling in a basic, 1997 animated movie, however I guess you’ve got by no means seen it on a ship. The story of how scenes are set, props are constructed, and characters come to life in a brand new staged manufacturing aboard a transferring cruise ship is a hero’s journey worthy of the unique.
As I’ve already unpacked, Hercules aboard the Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Future ship is utilizing a boatload of expertise in some surprising methods – sure, there are projections on scrims, the stage, and the partitions surrounding it within the Walt Disney Theater, nevertheless it’s additionally getting used on performers to take one of many basic songs to new heights.
‘It’s onerous to determine the right way to carry these characters to life’
Arin Dale
Much more stunning, although, is that inside the 2 Titans that make themselves identified throughout a battle scene with Hercules is an exoskeleton. The Ice and Rock Titans, as pictured above and beneath, mark the primary time Disney Experiences is utilizing exoskeleton expertise.
“It’s onerous to determine the right way to carry these characters to life in a larger-than-life form of means,” defined Arin Dale, a Disney Reside Leisure producer. “Our Hercules is 6 ft tall, so you actually should be sure that these characters are epic and that they’re efficient and impactful.”
Turning exoskeleton tech into storytelling
Whereas exoskeleton expertise is way from new – and we’ll doubtless see lots of it at CES 2026 – this software is firmly in keeping with Disney’s strategy to utilizing expertise in service of storytelling and immersion.
Disney has been creating this exoskeleton system, dubbed Mission EXO, since 2020, and right here it capabilities as a puppet-style mechanical swimsuit worn by the performer.
At its core, the system transfers nearly all of the Titan’s weight down by the body and into the bottom, reasonably than putting that load on the performer’s physique. In that sense, it operates much less like a powered robotic and extra like a wearable puppetry mechanism.
The exoframe is primarily human-driven, with the performer controlling motion by their very own physique, nevertheless it additionally incorporates pneumatic help at key joints to assist increase energy when transferring outsized limbs. That help doesn’t drive movement by itself; as an alternative, it reduces pressure and makes repeated, expressive motion doable throughout a stay efficiency. It is a key means for Disney to carry these characters from display screen to life, although.
Basically, Mission EXO permits a single performer to function a large character by combining weight switch, leverage, and mechanical help. The dimensions concerned is critical: the Ice Titan stands roughly 13 ft tall, whereas the Rock Titan, although smaller at round 9 ft, remains to be imposing – underscoring why this hybrid of puppetry and mechanical help is critical to carry towering beings to life on a stage.
‘We’re transferring round, you understand, 110, 120 kilos of mass’
Michael Serna
Even with that measurement, the performers inside – every Titan is managed by a single human – can transfer the arms, heads, legs, and different elements of the physique. They interact in stage fight with Hercules and may transfer shortly throughout the stage.
To make that sustainable over the course of a whole efficiency, the Titans embody built-in help factors – successfully canes built-in into the design – that permit the performer to take a short respite. Nonetheless, the exoskeleton does lots of the heavy lifting.
The bottom Mission EXO body weighs 40 kilos, and as Michael Serna, Govt Inventive Director, defined, the Rock Titan provides roughly 60 kilos of extra construction, whereas the Ice Titan provides nearer to 70 kilos.
“So we’re transferring round, you understand, 110, 120 kilos of mass that Zion is accountable for – and he has to do combat choreography,” Serna stated.
What it takes to maneuver a Titan
Zion performs because the Rock Titan, whereas Cam takes on the Ice Titan. Each are dancers with Disney Reside Leisure and didn’t anticipate finding themselves working and performing inside exoskeletons.
“I used to be simply excited to maneuver in one thing like this, so it was a cool factor for me to get to do whereas having the ability to dance as a lot as I wish to as nicely,” Zion stated.
It clearly works within the present, and the combat sequence between Rock, Ice, and Hercules is one in every of its most compelling moments, full with results hitting the Titans themselves and CO₂ emitting from Ice as chilly air.
Beneath the floor, Mission EXO is shaped from particular supplies designed to steadiness energy with weight. “There’s all types of stuff – 3D-printed titanium, minicell padded work, elements for that,” Serna stated.
That design strategy comes with onerous limits, notably round weight and complexity.
“Added animation and added performance additionally comes at a value – yeah, comes at a weight, and also you’re simply complicating it unnecessarily,” Serna stated.
For the workforce, the objective was by no means to name consideration to the mechanics themselves, however to let the efficiency take over.
“I don’t need individuals to consider these things in any respect,” Serna stated. “I need them to be wowed and on the finish go, ‘Wait, how did that – how did that occur?’”
A stress take a look at at sea
In that sense, Hercules aboard the Disney Future isn’t only a showcase for Mission EXO – it’s a stress take a look at.
That is the primary formal deployment of exoskeleton expertise in a Disney stay efficiency, and it’s taking place inside a theater with a 40-foot broad stage, tight wing area, flying surroundings, and the added complexity of a ship that’s continuously in movement.
‘Video and doing results doesn’t at all times work’
Arin Dale
But the expertise holds, and extra importantly, it serves the story. The Titans don’t really feel like technical demonstrations or effects-driven spectacles – they really feel like characters that belong within the area, whether or not seen from the balcony, the orchestra, or standing simply ft away as they cross the stage.
That bodily presence is intentional. As Disney Reside Leisure producer Arin Dale defined, relying solely on screens or projected illusions wasn’t the objective.
“Video and doing results doesn’t at all times work,” stated Dale. As an alternative, the problem was determining the right way to carry one thing bigger than life into the room in a means that felt tangible and plausible for the viewers.
That philosophy helps clarify why Mission EXO has taken years to succeed in this level – and why its first main look arrives not in a park meet-and-greet or a short demo, however inside a full Broadway-style manufacturing. The exoskeletons aren’t meant to be seen as expertise; they’re meant to vanish into the efficiency, permitting the Titans to maneuver, combat, and emote in ways in which promote the phantasm.
‘We’ve realized lots simply from this’
Jeff Conover
And whereas this marks the primary time Disney Experiences has formally used exoskeleton expertise in a stay present, it’s clearly not positioned as a one-off. The teachings realized right here – from weight distribution and supplies to performer endurance and choreography – counsel a basis that may be constructed upon.
As Jeff Conover, Inventive Director, famous throughout the dialog, “If we do wish to do one other character that employs such a tech, we’ve realized lots simply from this.”
A basis for what comes after
For now, that future-facing potential is anchored firmly within the current. On a transferring ship, inside a tightly constrained theater, Mission EXO proves that bodily efficiency – not screens – stays one in every of Disney’s strongest storytelling instruments when paired with the suitable expertise.
Taken collectively, the expertise contained in the Walt Disney Theater aboard the Disney Future displays a really deliberate philosophy. The objective isn’t to overwhelm audiences with seen techniques or flashy methods, however to make the bodily world onstage really feel as convincing because the animated one audiences already know.
As Michael defined, relying purely on digital instruments was by no means going to be sufficient.
The exoskeleton is actually the newest lightbulb piece of expertise housed contained in the Walt Disney Theater aboard the Disney Future – it’s a tech powerhouse. As Mina Shayesteh, stage supervisor, described, the manufacturing infrastructure behind the present is in contrast to something Disney Cruise Line has tried earlier than.
“We now have 500 lights, 13 projectors, 10 snow machines, 12 confetti cannons,” Shayesteh stated. “We now have 100 automation axes, 115 automation cues in Hercules. So something that strikes on stage total all through that present, now we have 115 completely different instances the place I say the phrase ‘go’ to make these items transfer – which is larger than any present in your complete fleet that now we have throughout Disney Cruise Line.”
‘Know-how fusing with theatricality’
Michael Serna
But even with that scale, the intention isn’t for the expertise to turn out to be the main target. As an alternative, it’s meant to fade into the background, permitting performers, characters, and story beats to take heart stage.
“The expertise fusing with theatricality so it doesn’t get in your means, so it is simply letting you will have a extremely nice expertise, however you are not interested by the technical facets,” Serna stated, describing the steadiness the workforce goals for.
That steadiness is very evident with Mission EXO. Regardless of years of improvement, complicated supplies, and vital weight inside the fits, the system’s success is measured by how little the viewers notices it – and in the end what it lets the performer accomplish.
In fact, if you wish to see these larger-than-life Titans, you will must guide a visit aboard the Disney Future, which is crusing out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, however for those who’d reasonably see the Titans of their authentic type, you may stream Hercules on Disney+.
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