Disney has filed a patent for a personalized notification system for theme park attractions. Guests could flag ride elements they find aversive or enjoyable. Software would then warn them, substitute content, or adjust the experience itself before those moments happen. This application, published August 20th, covers characteristics like dark scary scenes, flashing lights, confined spaces, and sharp turns and drops.
Disney Patents a Personalized Attraction Warning and Adjustment System
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- Disney filed a patent for a system that warns guests before scary, intense, or otherwise flagged ride moments occur
- The system could substitute content or send modification data asking a ride vehicle to adjust its effects in real time
- Guests could set preferences through app toggles or free text, with the system learning from feedback over time
The patent is titled “Personalized Notification of Attractions Including User Preferences or Aversions.” Disney filed the application on February 14th, 2025, and it was published on August 20th, 2026.
At its core, the system relies on a user preferences database tied to an individual guest. An attraction, whether that’s a movie theater, an enclosed dark ride, or an outdoor coaster, sends data describing the experience it provides. Those characteristics could be visual effects, sounds, odors, flavors, motion, or tactile effects. Ride mechanics like velocity, sudden altitude changes, and roll, pitch, and yaw are specifically called out in the filing. Software compares that data against what the guest has flagged as a preference or an aversion. When it finds a match, the guest gets an alert.
The patent’s use case illustrations show a mobile app interface with sliders for categories like “Dark Scary Scenes,” “Flashing Lights,” “Confined Spaces,” and “Sharp Turns & Drops.” Each one gets toggled as either avoided or embraced. One example in the filing describes a grandfather selecting scary scenes and sharp drops as aversive, because his young grandson will be riding with him. A second example describes a parent identifying those same categories as aversive for a son with autism or other sensory needs. That parent specifically requests substitute content in place of those moments.
Real-Time Adjustments and Substitute Content
The patent goes further than a simple warning system once a guest is actually on the attraction. Software detects that a guest has entered the attraction, then anticipates when an aversive or preferred moment is coming. For prerecorded content like a film, that anticipation runs off a locked timecode. A moving ride vehicle instead relies on synchronized location tracking to time things correctly.
If a moment matches something the guest flagged as aversive, the system has two paths available. It could warn the guest ahead of time, or provide substitute content that swaps out the objectionable characteristic while leaving the rest intact. Substitute visual and audio effects would likely be more readily available than substitute odors or motion-based effects, since those depend more directly on the physical ride system itself, according to the filing.
For motion and physical effects specifically, the patent describes a second option. Instead of substituting content, the system could transmit modification data back to the attraction’s own controller. That request would ask the ride to increase, decrease, or omit a characteristic entirely, tailored to that specific guest. A flight or space simulator serves as the filing’s example. One guest might request that abrupt altitude changes be reduced or removed. Another guest who enjoys the sensation of acceleration could request the g-forces be increased instead, within safety limits. The same logic applies to loud sounds or bright lighting, which software could dial down for a guest who flagged them as aversive.
How Guests Would Set Preferences
Two ways to identify aversive or enjoyable characteristics show up in the patent. One is a predetermined list, similar to the toggle interface shown in the filing’s use case drawings. The other is a free text field. A guest types in their own words, and the system uses AI to identify the relevant characteristics from that input. Guests could set preferences for a single attraction, or store them in a profile that applies everywhere until changed.
An optional rating system, on a scale of one to five or one to ten, also appears in the filing. That scale would let a guest indicate how intensely they want a characteristic emphasized or avoided, rather than treating every preference as a simple on or off switch. A single motionless spider might rate low on an aversion scale, while a swarm of aggressively moving spiders would rate high instead. Software could use that distinction to decide when a warning is actually warranted.
Location plays a role too. Real-time location data could trigger an alert when a guest is within a set distance of an attraction that includes something they’ve flagged. That would give guests the choice to avoid it before they’ve committed to the queue.
Feedback and Machine Learning
After a guest goes through an experience that included a warning or substitute content, the patent describes the system prompting for feedback. That feedback covers how accurate and well-timed the alerts were, along with how satisfied the guest was with any substitute content provided. Machine learning models built into the software would use that input to improve the timing and accuracy of future warnings, per the filing.
Of course, filing paperwork doesn’t guarantee this system reaches an actual attraction. Disney routinely patents concepts that never leave the page. That said, as Disney continues to look for ways to be more accommodating to all guests, this would be one way to ensure that guests at least have the best information to make a decision.
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