There’s a great likelihood you’re accustomed to the story of Hercules and have seen Disney’s retelling in a basic, 1997 animated movie, however I wager 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 Destiny ship is utilizing a boatload of know-how in some sudden methods – sure, there are projections on scrims, the stage, and the partitions surrounding it within the Walt Disney Theater, but it surely’s additionally getting used on performers to take one of many basic songs to new heights.
‘It’s laborious to determine the right way to convey these characters to life’
Even more surprising, though, is that inside the two Titans that make themselves known during a battle scene with Hercules is an exoskeleton. The Ice and Rock Titans, as pictured above and below, mark the first time Disney Experiences is utilizing exoskeleton know-how.
“It’s laborious to determine the right way to convey these characters to life in a larger-than-life sort of manner,” defined Arin Dale, a Disney Reside Leisure producer. “Our Hercules is 6 toes tall, so you actually must make it possible for these characters are epic and that they’re efficient and impactful.”
Turning exoskeleton tech into storytelling
While exoskeleton technology is far from new – and we’ll likely see a lot of it at CES 2026 – this utility is firmly in step with Disney’s method to utilizing know-how in service of storytelling and immersion.
Disney has been growing this exoskeleton system, dubbed Undertaking EXO, since 2020, and right here it features 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 means of the body and into the bottom, moderately 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 means of their very own physique, but it surely additionally incorporates pneumatic help at key joints to assist increase power when transferring outsized limbs. That help doesn’t drive movement by itself; as an alternative, it reduces pressure and makes repeated, expressive motion attainable throughout a stay efficiency. It is a key manner for Disney to convey these characters from display to life, although.
Basically, Undertaking 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 toes tall, whereas the Rock Titan, although smaller at round 9 toes, remains to be imposing – underscoring why this hybrid of puppetry and mechanical help is important to convey towering beings to life on a stage.
‘We’re transferring round, you understand, 110, 120 kilos of mass’
Even with that dimension, the performers inside – every Titan is managed by a single human – can transfer the arms, heads, legs, and different elements of the physique. They have interaction 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 embrace built-in help factors – successfully canes built-in into the design – that enable the performer to take a quick respite. Nonetheless, the exoskeleton does quite a lot of the heavy lifting.
The bottom Undertaking EXO body weighs 40 kilos, and as Michael Serna, Govt Inventive Director, defined, the Rock Titan provides roughly 60 kilos of further 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 struggle choreography,” Serna stated.
What it takes to move a Titan
Zion performs as the Rock Titan, while Cam takes on the Ice Titan. Both are dancers with Disney Live Entertainment and didn’t expect to find themselves operating and performing inside exoskeletons.
“I was just excited to move in something like this, so it was a cool thing for me to get to do while being able to dance as much as I want to as well,” Zion said.
It clearly works in the show, and the fight sequence between Rock, Ice, and Hercules is one of its most compelling moments, complete with effects hitting the Titans themselves and CO₂ emitting from Ice as cold air.
Under the surface, Project EXO is formed from specific materials designed to balance strength with weight. “There’s all kinds of stuff – 3D-printed titanium, minicell padded work, parts for that,” Serna said.
That design approach comes with hard limits, particularly around weight and complexity.
“Added animation and added functionality also comes at a cost – yeah, comes at a weight, and you’re just complicating it unnecessarily,” Serna said.
For the team, the goal was never to call attention to the mechanics themselves, but to let the performance take over.
“I don’t want people to think about this stuff at all,” Serna said. “I want them to be wowed and at the end go, ‘Wait, how did that – how did that happen?’”
A stress test at sea
In that sense, Hercules aboard the Disney Destiny isn’t just a showcase for Project EXO – it’s a stress test.
This is the first formal deployment of exoskeleton technology in a Disney live performance, and it’s happening inside a theater with a 40-foot wide stage, tight wing space, flying scenery, and the added complexity of a ship that’s constantly in motion.
‘Video and doing effects doesn’t always work’
Yet the technology holds, and more importantly, it serves the story. The Titans don’t feel like technical demonstrations or effects-driven spectacles – they feel like characters that belong in the space, whether viewed from the balcony, the orchestra, or standing just feet away as they cross the stage.
That physical presence is intentional. As Disney Live Entertainment producer Arin Dale explained, relying solely on screens or projected illusions wasn’t the goal.
“Video and doing effects doesn’t always work,” said Dale. Instead, the challenge was figuring out how to bring something larger than life into the room in a way that felt tangible and believable for the audience.
That philosophy helps explain why Project EXO has taken years to reach this point – and why its first major appearance arrives not in a park meet-and-greet or a brief demo, but inside a full Broadway-style production. The exoskeletons aren’t meant to be noticed as technology; they’re meant to disappear into the performance, allowing the Titans to move, fight, and emote in ways that sell the illusion.
‘We’ve learned a lot just from this’
And while this marks the first time Disney Experiences has formally used exoskeleton technology in a live show, it’s clearly not positioned as a one-off. The lessons learned here – from weight distribution and materials to performer endurance and choreography – suggest a foundation that can be built upon.
As Jeff Conover, Creative Director, noted during the conversation, “If we do want to do another character that employs this type of tech, we’ve learned a lot just from this.”
A foundation for what comes after
For now, that future-facing potential is anchored firmly in the present. On a moving ship, inside a tightly constrained theater, Project EXO proves that physical performance – not screens – remains one of Disney’s most powerful storytelling tools when paired with the right technology.
Taken together, the technology inside the Walt Disney Theater aboard the Disney Destiny reflects a very deliberate philosophy. The goal isn’t to overwhelm audiences with visible systems or flashy tricks, but to make the physical world onstage feel as convincing as the animated one audiences already know.
As Michael explained, relying purely on digital tools was never going to be enough.
The exoskeleton is really the latest lightbulb piece of technology housed inside the Walt Disney Theater aboard the Disney Destiny – it’s a tech powerhouse. As Mina Shayesteh, stage manager, described, the production infrastructure behind the show is unlike anything Disney Cruise Line has attempted before.
“We have 500 lights, 13 projectors, 10 snow machines, 12 confetti cannons,” Shayesteh said. “We have 100 automation axes, 115 automation cues in Hercules. So anything that moves on stage overall throughout that show, we have 115 different times where I say the word ‘go’ to make these things move – which is greater than any show in the entire fleet that we have across Disney Cruise Line.”
‘Technology fusing with theatricality’
Yet even with that scale, the intention is never for the technology to become the focus. Instead, it’s meant to fade into the background, allowing performers, characters, and story beats to take center stage.
“The technology fusing with theatricality so it doesn’t get in your way, so it’s just letting you have a really great experience, but you’re not thinking about the technical aspects,” Serna said, describing the balance the team aims for.
That balance is especially evident with Project EXO. Despite years of development, complex materials, and significant weight within the suits, the system’s success is measured by how little the audience notices it – and ultimately what it lets the performer accomplish.
Of course, if you want to see these larger-than-life Titans, you’ll need to book a trip aboard the Disney Destiny, which is sailing out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but if you’d rather see the Titans in their original form, you can stream Hercules on Disney+.
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