Building excitement for a brand new theme park ride, like Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, is an interesting challenge because you run the risk of spoiling the spectacle! But, if you create an interactive companion piece, you can introduce the theme and style of the ride to audiences the world over without undercutting the fun and pageantry of your original experience. This is what inspired us to create Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Adventure! By using assets and music from the Disney World ride itself, we crafted an independently entertaining AR experience that allows kids to explore, create, and race alongside these iconic Disney characters.
From within the DisneyNOW app, kids can bring the world of Runaway Railway into their living rooms and select Mickey, Minnie, or Goofy to pilot around in either Augmented Reality—on any flat surface in their home—or purely 3D. Three scenes from the Disney World ride itself are featured, each with their own distinct look and feel! Fans can also become creative architects as a wide array of props and objects can be built and customized throughout the scene to make for fun and challenging racecourses! To unlock even more items, kids can race through their custom-made worlds while gathering picnic-themed collectibles. This endlessly replayable sandbox experience was a careful collaboration between the NeoPangea, ABC Disney, and Disney Imagineering teams who worked closely to ensure the game perfectly aligned with the real-world ride! I worked as the sole audio engineer for the NeoPangea team.