Disney didn’t animate Hercules’ Titans for its show on Disney Destiny — it engineered them
Chances are you know the story of Hercules and I’ve seen the Disney story in a classic 1997 animated film, but I bet you’ve never seen it on a boat. The story of how scenes are staged, props are constructed and characters come to life in a new production staged aboard a moving cruise ship is a hero’s journey worthy of the original.
As I have already unpacked, Hercules aboard the Disney Cruise Line Disney Destiny The ship uses a host of technology in unexpected ways – yes, there are projections on the scrims, stage and walls surrounding it in the Walt Disney Theater, but it’s also used on the performers to take one of the classic songs to new heights.
“It’s hard to figure out how to bring these characters to life.”
Arin Dale
What’s even more surprising is that inside the two Titans who make themselves known during a battle scene with Hercules is an exoskeleton. Titans of Ice and Rock, pictured above and below, marks the first time Disney Experiences has used exoskeleton technology.
“It’s difficult to figure out how to bring these characters to life in a larger-than-life way,” said Disney Live Entertainment producer Arin Dale. “Our Hercules is 6 feet tall, so you really have to make sure these characters are epic and that they’re effective and impactful.”
Turning exoskeleton technology into storytelling
Although exoskeleton technology is far from new – and we’ll likely see plenty of it at CES 2026 – this app fits firmly into Disney’s approach of using technology in the service of storytelling and immersion.
Disney has been developing this exoskeleton system, dubbed Project EXO, since 2020, and it functions here as a mechanical puppet-style suit worn by the performer.
At its core, the system transfers the majority of the Titan’s weight through the frame and into the ground, rather than placing that load on the performer’s body. In this sense, it functions less like a motorized robot and more like a portable puppet mechanism.
The exoframe is primarily human-piloted, with the performer controlling their own body’s movements, but it also incorporates pneumatic assistance at key joints to help increase force when moving oversized limbs. This assistance does not stimulate movement alone; instead, it reduces tension and makes repeated, expressive movements possible during a live performance. It is, however, a key way for Disney to bring these screen characters to life.
Essentially, Project EXO allows a single artist to harness a massive character through a combination of weight transfer, leverage, and mechanical assistance. The scale involved is significant: the Ice Titan stands around 13 feet tall, while the Rock Titan, while smaller at around 9 feet, is still imposing – highlighting why this hybrid of puppet and mechanical support is necessary to bring imposing beings to life on a stage.
“We’re moving, you know, 110, 120 pounds of mass.”
Michael Serna
Even with this size, the performers inside (each Titan is controlled by a single human) can move their arms, head, legs, and other body parts. They engage in stage combat with Hercules and can move quickly across the stage.
To make this durable throughout a full performance, the Titans include built-in support points – actually canes built into the design – which allow the performer to take a brief respite. However, the exoskeleton does the heavy lifting.
The base frame of Project EXO weighs 40 pounds, and as Executive Creative Director Michael Serna explains, the Rock Titan adds about 60 pounds of additional structure, while the Ice Titan adds over 70 pounds.
“So we’re moving, you know, 110, 120 pounds of mass that Zion is responsible for — and he has to do fight choreography,” Serna said.
What it takes to move a Titan
Zion plays the role of the Rock Titan, while Cam faces the Ice Titan. Both are dancers at Disney Live Entertainment and never expected to find themselves operating and performing inside exoskeletons.
“I was just excited to move into something like that, so it was a cool thing for me to be able to do that while still being able to dance as much as I wanted too,” Zion said.
It clearly works in the series, and the fight sequence between Rock, Ice, and Hercules is one of its most compelling moments, with effects hitting the Titans themselves and CO₂ emitting from Ice in the form of cold air.
Beneath the surface, Project EXO is formed from specific materials designed to balance strength and weight. “There’s all kinds of stuff — 3D printed titanium, minicell padded work, parts for that,” Serna said.
This design approach has strict limitations, particularly in terms of weight and complexity.
“Animation and added features also have a cost – yes, it has a weight, and you’re just making things unnecessarily complicated,” Serna said.
For the team, the goal was never to draw attention to the mechanics themselves, but to let performance take over.
“I don’t want people to think about that stuff at all,” Serna said. “I want them to be impressed and at the end say, ‘Wait, how did that happen, how did that happen?’
A resistance test at sea
In this sense, Hercules on board the Disney Destiny isn’t just a showcase for the EXO project – it’s a stress test.
This is the first formal deployment of exoskeleton technology in a live-action Disney show, and it takes place in a theater with a 40-foot-wide stage, restricted wings, flying scenery, and the added complexity of a constantly moving ship.
“Video and effects creation don’t always work”
Arin Dale
Yet the technology holds up and, more importantly, it serves the story. The Titans don’t look like technical demonstrations or effects-driven shows: they look like characters belonging to the space, whether seen from the balcony, the orchestra, or standing a few feet away as they walk across the stage.
This physical presence is intentional. As Disney Live Entertainment producer Arin Dale explains, the goal wasn’t to rely solely on screens or projected illusions.
“Video and creating effects doesn’t always work,” Dale said. Instead, the challenge was figuring out how to bring something larger than life into the room in a way that felt tangible and believable to the audience.
This philosophy explains why Project EXO took years to get to this point – and why its first major appearance came not in a park meet-and-greet or brief demo, but as part of a full Broadway-style production. Exoskeletons are not intended to be seen as technology; they’re meant to disappear into the performance, allowing the Titans to move, fight, and emit in a way that sells the illusion.
“We learned a lot from this”
Jeff Conover
And while this is the first time Disney Experiences has officially used exoskeleton technology in a live show, it’s clearly not positioned as an isolated case. The lessons learned here – from weight distribution and materials to performer endurance and choreography – suggest a foundation on which to build.
As creative director Jeff Conover noted during the conversation: “If we’re going to create another character using this type of technology, we’ve learned a lot from it. »
A foundation for what comes next
For now, this potential for the future is firmly anchored in the present. On a moving ship, in a theater with tight constraints, Project EXO proves that physical performance – not screens – remains one of Disney’s most powerful storytelling tools when paired with the right technology.
Overall, the technology inside the Walt Disney Theater aboard the Disney Destiny reflects a very deliberate philosophy. The goal is not to overwhelm the audience with visible systems or flashy tricks, but to make the physical world on stage as convincing as the animated world the audience already knows.
As Michael explained, relying on digital tools alone would never be enough.
The exoskeleton is actually the latest technological bulb installed inside the Walt Disney Theater, aboard the Disney Destiny – it is a technological powerhouse. As stage manager Mina Shayesteh described it, 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 signals in Hercules. So everything that moves on stage throughout this show, we have 115 different moments where I say the word “go” to make these things move – which is bigger than any show in the entire fleet that we have on Disney Cruise Line.
“Technology merges with theatricality”
Michael Serna
Yet even at this scale, the intention is never to put technology front and center. Instead, it’s meant to fade into the background, allowing the performers, characters, and story beats to take center stage.
“Technology merges with theatricality so it doesn’t get in your way, so it just allows you to have a really good experience, but you don’t think about the technical aspects,” Serna said, describing the balance the team sought.
This balance is particularly evident with Project EXO. Despite years of development, complex materials and heavy weight in the combinations, the success of the system is measured by how little the public notices it – and ultimately by what it allows the artist to 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 sails from 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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