The Vision Pro could be in trouble. Reports say sales are slow, and Apple may stop producing the high-priced headset soon. But there is a way Apple can turn things around and make history—dare I say, even change the world? Apple could do something with the Vision Pro that has

never been done before. Excuse me, Bridget. Yes, does this have anything to do with the Muppets? Well, yes sir, it does. Apple's Vision Pro could save the Muppets. Disney could work with Apple to preserve Jim Henson's final project, an attraction

that is closing at Walt Disney World called Muppet*Vision* 3D. And if you want to hear more about why this isn't so far-fetched, well, boy, have we got a video for you today! It's the One More Thing show with our very special guest star, Mr.

Scott Stein. Hey Bridget, sorry to cut you off.

Uhuh. Can I try that thing on? Sure. How's that? Ooh, wow! The things I can see! Recently, Disney announced it will close MuppetVision 3D. This is a 33-year-old attraction at the Hollywood

Studios theme park where guests enter a theater, they put on 3D glasses, and watch a 15-minute Muppet Show that blends 3D visual tricks with animatronics and live actors. And it holds some notable tech history; it was one of the final things

Jim Henson worked on before he died in 1990. And Henson is credited with creating the first 3D animated puppet, called Waldo.

Okay. And what Rex is doing is he's taking these moves that I'm doing with my hand and converting it

Into Waldo, on the screen there. See, neat, with the Muppet Vision 3D attraction gone, Disney wants to use that space to build a new land themed to the Monsters, Inc. movie franchise. But with the closing of the attraction, Disney also said it wants to find a way to keep it alive, writing:

quote, "We are having creative conversations and exploring ways to preserve the film and other parts of the experience for fans to enjoy in the future." Now, of course, Muppets are beloved and people would want to see the film again, but what makes this a challenge to

preserve is that the characters in the 3D film have interaction with animatronic characters in the seats and, at times, things are happening behind you or characters are running down the aisles. Just saving the film portion would lose a lot of the in-person gags.

But what if, before this building is demolished, 3D cameras are used to record the physical portions of the show from the point of view of the guest in the seat? So you would be sitting there, looking all around you as the movie plays; you turn your head and you see the

other elements, all while wearing a Vision Pro at home. Now, this is where I bring in my esteemed colleague, Scott Stein, who has much experience with all things mixed reality and immersive entertainment, and he wrote about how Disney should do this to preserve the legacy of the show. So thanks, Scott, for

joining me. Do you think this show could live inside a Vision Pro? Yeah, absolutely. And in fact, Disney's already been investing in VR for years. They had Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, Vader Immortal, Star Wars experiences on the Quest. Tales from the Galaxy's Edge paralleled

The Galaxies Edge experience in the park. Then they also invested in a location-based VR entertainment thing near the parks, which you and I both did – The Void, yeah, which was great. You had to put on a whole rig and go through a Star Wars experience. There was a Wreck-It

Ralph experience, there was a Marvel experience. So they've been thinking about this, and then they're early partners with Apple on the Vision Pro. The Disney Plus app – that's movies and 3D movies – and you have a virtual environment that you can sit in. Now it's

you know, 'tattooing' or Disney Theater or Monsters Inc., but you could do others. And that goes exactly to your question, which is, you know, make something more interactive around you. You could do the Muppet Vision 3D movie in a VR headset or a Vision Pro, but maybe make the

environment truly interactive. Right now, nobody's really doing that much of that, surprisingly, but I feel like it could totally be done. Then you could have the interactive Statler and Waldorf, the Penguins; you could turn around and see the Swedish Chef, and maybe even do something

to the screen. And that would, you know, that would be a foot in the door for Disney exploring archiving immersive experiences like that. When the Vision Pro was announced, Bob Iger was part of that announcement. You know, there was already a relationship between Apple and

Disney, but to your point, yeah, we haven't seen like a real theme park type of reimagining, like, like having the theme park in the headset. So, so that to me is another step. I mean, yes, you mentioned Galaxy's Edge video game, which references the theme park, but would this

Be really a novel thing, well. And the other question would be, would it be worth it? You know, would it be good enough because it would be novel? But then, how many people are really buying Vision Pros right now? A lot of people have Quests, but they're mostly for video games, but...

eventually, if you have more affordable headsets that look really good, in the displays, then you could maybe have something like that that more people could try, and it actually might be around the home. You go, "Hey, I want to try that too!" So with the Vision Pro, the

movies that you might watch are kind of... they hug around you, but they don't go all the way around yet. Correct? No. I mean, there are 360-degree movies out there previously, but they're immersive video format. Kind of wraps around to here, and then the movies. But if you turn around

in the movie theater, I mean you could look around; there's just nothing back there. Or sometimes there might be a scan of virtual seats in those environments, so you could do that and then turn around and see the movie. But nobody has done really interesting stuff

that could be there for you if you were to turn around. It's cool to think about, but will people pay for this, you think? Or would it be just a free thing that Disney might do? I mean, I would pay for it, but yeah, it's a good question. Also,

you know, really what are they getting out of it? Some of these experiences they've done, like uh, some of these interactive ones on the Vision Pro that's Marvel, were free. And the idea was it kind of just is an experiment and it would raise interest and awareness, maybe.

They do this in Disney+ and kind of use it as an extra, to get people interested in using headsets or make people think about the parks, or maybe they do it as a standalone. Or maybe, I mean, what if you started a whole series of these and had

classic experiences and then paid for each experience in the app.  Memories you can relive them. "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience." Oh, I remember that one too! Yeah, you do all sorts of ones like that, like all these closed attractions that were like 3D. You know, *A Bug's Life*, um, *It's Tough to be a Bug*. If that eventually closes, then you could keep that one in there. Keep the past alive, but in our headset. It's a... it's a dream. That's what they're there for. And more people are going to be doing this. There are more

experiences like Burning Man and other things that people are trying to preserve in virtual environments now. Like many companies, Disney uses virtual reality in their research and development. In my past reporting on the theme parks, I talked with some Imagineers that use it when they're

building rides and lands as a tool. But if you're looking to this headset as something more practical for the general public at home, the real success I feel is going to be using this as a memory time machine. The newer iPhones can record 3D videos that appear lifelike as

these spatial videos. It was the biggest "wow" thing for me when I used a device. Seeing my own kids play in front of me again was so much better than just playing the movie on a phone. Now, home movies that feel like they're happening in front of you... they achieve another

level of emotional connection because they tap into this unique nostalgia, the same kind of nostalgia we feel when we think about things like our childhood, theme parks, and well, the Muppets. I'm a nerd; I booked an upcoming trip to Disney to see the show one last time, and you

know what? I'm going to walk through the lobby and use my iPhone to record spatial videos of the space, and just maybe it'll be a little sweeter memory when it's in that format. What can I say? We should all keep believing companies might use tech to do something cool like

this and put it forever in a Vision Pro. Write your own comment on what else we could preserve with mixed reality headsets. What memories might get you to invest in a Vision Pro, whatever the next Vision Pro might become. And a special thanks for watching us here every week.

This is the 100th episode of One More Thing, and it's not the end. We've done just what we set out to do, thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you. Catch you next time.

How Apple and Disney Can Save Muppet Vision 3D

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