The new "Disney MRI"
Reimagining the pediatric MRI experience
The new “Disney MRI” is a collaboration between Philips and The Walt Disney Company designed to make MRI scans far less terrifying for children. Philips, the maker of MRI machines, has teamed with Disney to offer children a less stressful experience while undergoing a body scan while placed inside the scan tube. During the” Ambient Experience,” children can select cartoons or colors to project inside the MRI machine, pictured, to help keep them stay calm and still.
Rady Children’s Health Orange County in California is one of the pilot hospitals. The new technology allows children to pick different themes and colors while undergoing the procedure. Patients wear a head mounted mirror using saturated colored light backdrops with synchronized lighting, sound and visuals alongside familiar Disney characters.
Kids can pick from:
Classic Disney (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy)
Disney Princesses (Ariel, Moana)
Marvel Superheroes (Spider-Man, Avengers)
Star Wars
If you’ve ever had an MRI, you know the drill. You’re shoved into a cramped, dark tube that sounds like a jackhammer, and you must lie perfectly still for up to 40 minutes. For a kid, that’s a nightmare. Because children naturally want to move or cry when they’re scared, hospitals often have to resort to using heavy sedation or general anesthesia just to get a clear image—which comes with its own set of medical risks and recovery times.
This new technology has led to successfully completed scans without being placed under anesthesia. “Instead of asking a child to adapt to the healthcare environment, you’re transforming the healthcare environment to better support the child,” said Andrew Ruiz, director of imaging services at Rady Children’s Health.
Disney is providing all the artwork and animation, and Philips is planning to roll out the technology to hospitals across 87 countries.
Sources includes the OC Register newspaper on May 28, 2026 in an article written by Mona Darwish and philips.com