For the first time, Disney stories and characters will be integrated into Philips Ambient Experience for MRI at medical facilities around the world to help create calmer, more comfortable patient experiences
Today, The Walt Disney Company and Royal Philips announced that beloved Disney animated characters and stories are being incorporated directly into Philips Ambient Experience for MRI at medical facilities in 87 countries worldwide to support children undergoing imaging procedures. For many children, this type of immersive environment can help shift attention away from the clinical setting, creating a more comforting and engaging experience during scans, and helping more children complete their exams successfully.
“At Disney, we believe stories have the power to bring comfort and emotional connection to children and families,” said Lisa Haines, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, The Walt Disney Company. “We’re proud to collaborate with Philips to extend that impact into MRI rooms in a meaningful way—using our beloved stories and characters to help provide moments of escape, normalcy, and reassurance during what can be an intimidating experience for kids in hospitals.”
Tony Chambers, President, The Walt Disney Company, EMEA said: “To see an idea originating from EMEA roll out globally is a huge achievement. Collaborating with Philips and leaning into the power of our storytelling, the teams have created something that we hope will give children and their families the strength and ability to cope at a time when they need it the most.”
“By bringing Disney stories into the MRI environment, we are helping create a setting where children can feel more at ease and remain still during scans,” said Atul Gupta, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Diagnosis and Treatment at Philips. “Reducing stress can improve the experience for young patients and their families, while helping care teams deliver efficient, high-quality imaging so they can care for more children each day, supporting better care for more people.”
Evidence supporting improved paediatric MRI experience
MRI scans can be challenging for young children. Entering a large, unfamiliar machine that makes loud noises, combined with the need to lie perfectly still for up to 40 minutes, can be intimidating. In fact, 66% [1] of paediatric patients report feeling anxious during MRI scans. This anxiety or claustrophobia can lead to re-scans, longer procedures and, in some cases, the need for sedation, increasing demands on care teams. These disruptions can limit the number of patients who can be seen each day, leading to potential delays.
Child-friendly, immersive content in paediatric MRI settings can help reduce operational disruptions, such as re-scans, long pauses, or aborted procedures. A multi-centre study conducted across six hospitals in Europe [2] highlights the impact of Ambient Experience with Disney themes:
- For children ages 6–10, post-scan paediatric patient stress levels were reduced by 43% compared to pre-exam
- MRI efficiency was enhanced by reducing scan disruptions from 65% to 44%
- Pauses during scans dropped by 63% compared to procedures without intervention
“The data showed that a child-friendly audio-visual intervention reduced stress levels in young children and decreased scan disruptions, supporting a smoother MRI workflow,” Emilio J. Inarejos Clemente, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Sant Joan de Deu Hospital, Barcelona, Spain. “This can help clinicians maintain efficiency and focus on delivering high-quality diagnostic imaging, helping more patients to be seen without compromising care.”
Helping to make the paediatric MRI experience calmer through collaboration
Philips innovates to make MRI exams faster, more comfortable and easier for patients. A key part of this effort is Philips Ambient Experience, which uses calming lighting, sound and visual elements to help patients relax before and during the exam. Within this approach, Disney-themed content is incorporated as part of the Ambient Experience environment to offer comfort with beloved Disney stories and characters to reduce anxiety and stress in children undergoing MRI exams. This builds on Philips’ focus on improving care experiences for patients, particularly children undergoing imaging.
Through longstanding collaborations with children’s hospitals worldwide, Disney has developed content and environments tailored for clinical settings, helping make healthcare experiences feel more familiar and less intimidating for young patients. This includes a recently fulfilled commitment of $100 million USD supporting more than 1,700 children’s hospitals and paediatric places of care in 45 countries. In addition, thousands of hospital staff have been trained through Disney Institute programmes, and millions of items have been distributed to children in care settings. Disney supports kids and families in children’s hospitals by bringing comfort and joy when it’s needed most. As part of this ongoing charitable commitment, Disney has provided the art and imagery in the Ambient Experience at no cost. Children and families can choose characters from across Disney, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Marvel superheroes, favourites from Star Wars, Disney Princesses and many more.
Today, Philips Ambient Experience for MRI is the exclusive MRI platform using these Disney themes. Early adopters of the themes include the pilot hospitals across Europe and industry leading hospitals.
Calderdale Royal Hospital was the first NHS site to introduce Disney-themed MRI scanners designed to help make scans less frightening for children. Around 200,000 children in the UK undergo MRI scans each year, with roughly one in three requiring a general anaesthetic because they struggle to stay still or find the experience distressing.
The state-of-the-art Philips scanners use lighting, sound and integrated Disney characters to transform the MRI environment into a more immersive, calming and familiar experience for children undergoing scans.
Clinicians at Calderdale report encouraging results, with one radiologist noting: “We have huge success with this, and our general anaesthetic rate has come right down.”
The technology is now being rolled out to 87 countries worldwide. As part of the global launch on Thursday 28 May, more than 100 NHS hospitals already using the Philips Ambient Experience system will now be eligible to access Disney stories and characters at no additional cost.
[1] van der Vleuten-Chraibi S. et al. “Magnetic resonance imaging related anxiety and workflow: impact of a child-friendly audio-visual intervention.” Paediatric Radiology, 2025.
[2] De Amorim e Silva et al., 2006