A Billion-Dollar Bracelet Is the Key to a Disney Park

Yahoo Finance ^ | April 2, 2014 | Brooks Barnes

[C19fan]

Walt Disney World has spent more than a year rolling out a $1 billion system that changes how visitors do everything from enter their hotel rooms to ride Space Mountain. But a few weeks ago a front desk agent at one of Disney’s marquee hotels was still wrestling with the technology.

“Behave, you naughty thing,” a Wilderness Lodge reservations clerk muttered at the malfunctioning management system. Scolding didn’t work, but a computer reboot finally did.

So it has gone with MyMagic+, an ambitious effort to make Disney World more profitable by making its 30 million annual visitors happier. The multifaceted system has taken longer to introduce than expected as Disney has confronted an array of daunting complexities: training 70,000 employees, equipping 28,000 hotel room doors with radio frequency readers, prompting guests to wear data-collecting electronic wristbands.

[C19fan]

The NSA is going to be jealous of all the information Disney can grab from a visitor to one of its parks.

[Menehune56]

Actually, the NSA is probably just using Disney as a front for gathering the information, much of it voluntarily provided their guests.

[MeshugeMikey]

The people running the NSA Magic Kingdom wont want to be eclipsed by the disney version...

[Resolute Conservative]

Disney parks have been a fools’ errand since the 80’s why anyone still goes is beyond me?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Used one last fall. Worked great.

[rktman]

Cause their kids DEMAND it and parents just can’t say “NO!” to the little darlings. The bracelet is just another thing that won’t be on my “worry about” list. :>}

[kingu]

Correction, nearly two billion, and more than half of the profits from the Anaheim resorts, curtailing or cancelling expansion and ride rebuilds there, and pushing back the Cars Land expansion for Disneyworld.

As for NSA being jealous of what data Disney can collect - they'd just be happy if the bands worked as well as the ‘Keys to the Kingdom’, RFID equipped cards that they've had for years now. Except they had to replace most of their readers because while customers have no problem holding a card up to a door for a moment, they do object to more than waiving a wrist towards the same door.

Heck, if the NSA wants to come down and fix Disney World's system, they'd be very happy.

See, while you or I would think that such a system should be able to track a visitor on the resort property (very handy for finding a lost child,) no such features or abilities are incorporated into the system. I know a few of the designers of the system and they were shocked that this was the first thing I expected of the system. ‘It never came up in focus group conversations..’ (held in Seattle, mostly by tech savvy nerds talking to not so tech savvy young adults.)

[staytrue]

Ok, so if the government mandates this bracelet for you to get healthcare or to drive on the “freeways” who will do it and who will not ?

[wideawake]

What information do they collect, exactly?

Probably less than Amazon does.

According to what I've seen they track when you go in and out of the park, when you go in and out of the hotel, and which Disney restaurants you dine at.

Clearly it's a commercial thing so they can pitch you deals on hotels, travel packages, meal packages, etc.

Before this they had a meal plan card for you, a hotel swipe card for you, and a ticket that was read by an electronic reader.

Probably the biggest piece of new information they're getting is what time you leave the park - which they had probably already been calculating from the time your card swiped in your hotel room door.

[C19fan]

Actually it tracks where you go inside the park. Say you go on a ride that takes you photo. The band will tell Disney where you are on the ride and they will send you the ride photo for potential purchase. Also Disney Cast Members will receive information about say if you are there for a special reason and act appropiately.

[wideawake]

OK. So they also have information on what your favorite rides and attractions are.

[moovova]

All for just $99 a wack...

[jrg]

Disney parks have been a fools’ errand since the 80’s why anyone still goes is beyond me?

I agree. Too expensive and I still have to clean the gay juice off of everything.

[FroggyTheGremlim]

"Disney parks have been a fools’ errand since the 80’s why anyone still goes is beyond me?"

Oh, you old crab - think I'll ruin your day.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears
It's a world of hopes, a world of fear
There's so much that we share
And it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small small world 

[coon2000]

Did your designer friends give you any more information as to what they were hoping to accomplish with this? They already had the cards that tracked information. It is a massive amount of money to spend to just change from cards to bracelets. I am really curious.

[Resolute Conservative]

Are you drinking a coke while you sing?

[John S Mosby]

Disney Beta testing the NWO police state— bracelets for all
the “happy” populace. North Korea sent a research team to Mickey for application in the worker’s paradise.

[TNoldman]

Walt Disney was an evil and was an early supporter of the communist “agenda 21 concept with EPCOT (Experimental Preliminary Community Of Tomorrow).

[null and void]

I had a friend who was stuck in that ride for 45 minutes to an hour. He was never quite the same after that...

[GailA]

Disney channel new show Taylor has 2 MOMS, do you want your 5-9 yr old watching this stuff?