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Official wait times now available on the iPhone via official WDW app 'Mobile Magic'
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Rasvar
Well-Known Member
I've had it on my Android for a while. It gives current times and fastpass distribution return times only when you are in the specific park and have your GPS enabled. It is quite specific gps wise. I actually had to cross the threshold of the gate at Disneyland into either of the two parks to get the realtime info. It seems to be a little looser at WDW. I can get the info in the monorail station. 
Crush Dude!
Back from WDW!Counting down to DLP in November!
Any UK version coming???
montyz81
Well-Known Member
I've had it on my Android for a while. It gives current times and fastpass distribution return times only when you are in the specific park and have your GPS enabled. It is quite specific gps wise. I actually had to cross the threshold of the gate at Disneyland into either of the two parks to get the realtime info. It seems to be a little looser at WDW. I can get the info in the monorail station.
I have had it for awhile as well. I never noticed the wait times though. As for the trigger of where it works has more to do with your gps radio and the actual position of the satellites. I walked into DTD by Rainforest Cafe and it was telling me I was at Saratoga Springs. The very next day it corrected itself pretty quickly. Also, as I walked by UK and France, it would tell me I was on the boardwalk.
Monty
Brilliant...and Canadian
- In the Parks
- No
I heard about it this morning and went looking in the App Store, no luck. Then I switched over to my U.S. App Store account and found it there. So it hasn't been released to the Canadian App Store.
You can create a U.S. account by following the instructions here. I can't guarantee it will work, I created mine years ago using a different method that as far as I can tell would no longer work. If you don't want to wait for it to be added you your country's App store, it might work... :shrug:
THECARISMINE
Active Member
I vividly recall playing with this in the android version like last week-ish, odd they weren't updated together
Dads 2 Boys
Well-Known Member
Once in the parks it uses GPS like technology and gives the posted times for each attraction that's posted in front of the attraction. It locates your location and says (for example)....."your location is Main St USA".
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Consider me grumpy, its not compatible with my new phone. I don't care this thing whoops on anything I have ever used, I'm sure disney will get ICS compatibility soon.
GrumpyFannyPack
Member
Two words:
Sa Weet!
Sa Weet!
Rasvar
Well-Known Member
One issue is that the phone has to have the actual standalone GPS turned on and given about five minutes to lock enough satellites if it has been a while since it is armed. But having the actual GPS turned on will drain the battery quickly if you leave it on all the time in the park with the app running. So I only turn on full GPS when I want detailed times. It will give you a general location if you only have cell phone GPS turned on (a cell company misnomer to make people think it is GPS when it triangulates on cell tower signal) but won't give you realtime data. Plus, some phones work better. The Droid X and Droid X2 seem to work the best with the app that I have used. I have never had a problem with getting a proper sat lock so I see the detailed wait times in the park. Walking inside and it giving you a different location makes sense. It loses sat lock and then falls back to cell phone location which is not as accurate on property. That is one problem with looking at times in the park, most of the time you have to make sure you are outside with a semi-clear view of the sky (or near a window) or you may not get the real time information or you get an inaccurate location.
Pioneer Hall
Well-Known Member
Since GPS kills battery, I usually have it off. In Disney, if I want times, I will turn the GPS on to use the app. You can get satellites faster if you use something like GPSTest that allows you to clear and reset the satellites your phone is finding. It always gets my mobile magic and navigation working faster on the droid.
Rasvar
Well-Known Member
Yep, I do it the same way. I had a friend who was working on the Mobile Magic app development about adding a quick GPS on/off button. Apparently each phone type has a slightly different method so it could not be done. I wonder if the IOS version has the capability since that would not be an issue.
bhg469
Well-Known Member
Location can be found using cell towers so it can be done I just don't know if special permissions are needed for that. My GPS is on all the time but only kicks in when an application needs it.
Can you tell your friend to updated it so the most recent version of android works? I have this huge HD screen and nothing to view on it.
Rasvar
Well-Known Member
He's not working on it anymore. The problem with cell towers is there is not enough coverage to triangulate within the park accurately enough. If you only can hit one or two cell towers, which is normal on property, it can't get an accurate enough lock to tell if you are in the park. So the app only pays attention to location when the stand-alone satellite GPS function is turned on. The thing is that the Disney Mobile Magic app keeps running in the background and keeps checking the GPS quite often while it is running if it has been activated. You have to do an actual "exit" of the program to stop it from using GPS all the time. Part of the reason it stays active is to service reminder alerts and, down the road, they are planning on adding location dependent alerts. My impression is that it would be something tied into NextGen. But it is over a year ago since my friend has worked on the project.
Sprint/Nextel may be the exception to the one or two tower rule. Disney com system depends on it, so it seems possible they may have some extra coverage on property.
Rasvar
Well-Known Member
Not saying it doesn't work. Just the accuracy on property is the question. Disney wants it to be running at about 20M or less accuracy for their future locational service needs. Disney restricts the number of towers on property so the level of coverage varies. The closer to the center of the property you get, the more cell service gets a little spotty. I know of a a number of cell dead zones with my Verizon phone in Epcot. For the most part, my phone location service is accurate to about 100M. My wireless 802.11 location is usually better since most of the places I connect to are accurately GEO-IP coded. But to reach sub 20M, I almost always need a sat fix. Just testing right now, I am bouncing from 100M to 20M accuracy on cell location service but when I turn on the GPS, I get between 6M and 3M. I'll have to do an accuracy experiment in the park in a couple of weeks.
I have to admit, I am a bit of a radio and GPS geek. Even taught a class on using commercial grade GPS systems.
Millionaire2K
Active Member
I think this is GREAT!! And it makes total sense to limit wait times to guest in the park. This will prevent someone from taking the data at their home and feeding it to their own app. This is why Universal took down their Wait time web page. People were making apps to match the parks times and making $$ off it.
I’ve used this app a few times on my old BB and never had any problems with it not knowing where I was.
Also the wait times are always exact and change exactly when Disney changes the posted times.
I think the Fast Pass times and availability is also GREAT. Knowing what fast passes are and wait times are at any location in the park is a great thing!!
LOVE THIS!!
It was also nice of them to make this for ALL iPhone customers. They just added the following Verizon "Premium Features::
•More than 100 behind-the-scenes, seasonal, sneak peak videos.
•‘Pirates’ games that test your knowledge of the famous attraction.
•Guess the character before the timer expires with Disney Character Puzzle.
•Find out which character is most like you with the Disney Character Quiz
I’ve used this app a few times on my old BB and never had any problems with it not knowing where I was.
Also the wait times are always exact and change exactly when Disney changes the posted times.
I think the Fast Pass times and availability is also GREAT. Knowing what fast passes are and wait times are at any location in the park is a great thing!!
LOVE THIS!!
It was also nice of them to make this for ALL iPhone customers. They just added the following Verizon "Premium Features::
•More than 100 behind-the-scenes, seasonal, sneak peak videos.
•‘Pirates’ games that test your knowledge of the famous attraction.
•Guess the character before the timer expires with Disney Character Puzzle.
•Find out which character is most like you with the Disney Character Quiz