I haven't seen this discussed elsewhere but I apologize if it has been covered. We have a 7 and 9 year old. Our son has a.s.d. He does tend to wander. Can Disney use his magic band( the info on it) to find out who he is and who he came with? Can they then track our exact location even if we're not on a ride? I'm pretty sure the answer is yes and although I know it creeps some people out, it would make us feel a lot safer. Has anyone found someone this way personally? Thanks. Btw, we're passholders- not usually staying on property.
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Lost kids and magic bands
- Thread starter Orangeanna
- Start date
networkpro
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- Yes
No, its not set up as a people tracker. It only uses short distance transponders for things like the tapstiles and on ride pictures.
Voxel
President of Progress City
The Original Iteration of the Magic Band had what is called Short RFID Antennas. Likewise, Magic Bands also have a 2.4g transmitter with a small battery, thus it is actively transmitting. Both these systems in theory could be used to track any individual on Property, assuming there are enough beacons to cover the property. Is this done? Officially NO. Unofficially, I would bet the mortgage that Disney is doing it. Almost every store in America tracks your location through your phone to understanding shopping habits. Disney has a device that makes it easier by actively transmitting. It would be safe to assume Disney is tracking people in the park and discovering shopping and other visitor habits.
That being said, no you can not ask Disney if they can tell you the location of your child, though it is a capability I'm sure Disney has thought about in the future.. (Before Magic Band became the $3 Billion project it did)
My husband feels like Disney's official line is they don't track outside the rides and turnstiles but they can and do track bands throughout the park. Does anyone else feel this way?
Voxel
President of Progress City
*See my previous statement. I fully believe Disney Tracks in most Guest Related areas.. Remember the Magic Bands were a 3 Billion dollar piece of technology to implement.
Sorry that posted after the last one. So in an emergency the official Disney line is that the just " happened" upon your child by accident? I wish they would just our with it, cruise ship style. Yes, we can find your child or parent. But I guess that would require permission and there would be privacy concerns. In reality the privacy ship has long since sailed, and they are tracking our every nautical mile.
Voxel
President of Progress City
Honestly, assuming Disney is tracking I would bet there is "currently" no way to do a search.. Think how Google Maps tracks. Google knows where every car is on the road to help predict traffic, but they don't have the ability to look where certain users are.
Tracking is easy.. Searching becomes a lot harder (esp when you can just remove the Magic Band). I would assume in the case of a missing child Disney would resort to a more traditional Code Adam.
righttrack
Well-Known Member
They have the capabilities but does staff have access to the data in a way that would be meaningful, ie locate a child? I'm not sure they do. The data capture is there, but the actual reporting may not be.
KBLovedDisney
Well-Known Member
You could always get one of these.
Edit: Actually, come to think of it, Disney should start selling Magic Bands that have these attachments for parents of wandering children.
Of course they would be more expensive....
Edit: Actually, come to think of it, Disney should start selling Magic Bands that have these attachments for parents of wandering children.
Of course they would be more expensive....
castlecake2.0
Well-Known Member
The Bands on the ships don’t track the children, they just sense when the child is checked into a secured space. Once the child leaves a secured space the band will just inform the computer that the child is no longer in the space they were checked into, but can not pinpoint where the child is. I’m assumig the magic bands are similar where the system will pick up on what area/attraction you are in/have passed through, but can’t track second to second you like a GPS. However, as others have said, Cast Members can use the band to see your name/Resort/Party members.
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
You could always get one of these.
Edit: Actually, come to think of it, Disney should start selling Magic Bands that have these attachments for parents of wandering children.
Of course they would be more expensive....
Usually, we agree on most points, but I would NEVER put a leash on a child, no matter what. To me, it just looks very tacky, and gives the parent a false sense of security to the point where I've seen kids on leashes while the parent has their face buried in their smart phone.
Secondly, let's say they're walking down Main St...child decides to go left, stretches the cord to it's max and another group of people aren't paying attention, walk/trip over the stretched cord and the toddler goes FLYING...That scenario could very easily happen.
I just think that's a bad idea...
Paper straw fan
Well-Known Member
Even if not, they are quite good at handling lost children. Even at Busch Gardens before I had a lost kid come to my station, and within minutes we’d reunited the family.
J_Krafty24
Active Member
Is your son capable of going to a cast member if you get separated? If yes your best option may be to have him carry your cell phone number, either on a bracelet, in his shoe, taped to the inside of his shirt hem, etc. That way if you get separated he can go to a cast member, give them the number and they can call you. Another tip I have heard is to take a photo of your son first thing in the morning to document what he is wearing. That way you can give the CMs an accurate description instead of having to try and remember if he was wearing the red toy story shirt or the blue nemo shirt.
DuckTalesWooHoo1987
Well-Known Member
I was literally just thinking about this yesterday and I don't know if they can or not but a year or so a guy we were in line with was saying he thought they probably could. At the very least they can identify someone with a magic band. Maybe you could put your contact info inside of a lanyard and let him wear it around his neck? It's awful he has to deal with something like that and I hope nothing like that happens and you folks have the best trip ever. If an accident should happen though just know that the cast members are absolutely GREAT at managing things like that.
KBLovedDisney
Well-Known Member
It's ok to disagree. Nothing wrong with that and expressing your opinion.
I will say that I do agree with you on the part where the parent will be buried in their phones even more. Even without a "leash", they would still do that, but I guess they at least pay more attention when they have to keep looking up to make sure their kid is around.
MickeyLuv'r
Well-Known Member
I've always assumed that even if they aren't actively tracking you - they can actively track certain checkpoints. I've also always assumed that my band is linked to those in my party, and that if I hand over my band- they could find the last known location of other members of my party.
I've also assumed, that they aren't going to ANNOUNCE they have checkpoints.
But it kind of seems silly to think that they don't have checkpoints. I don't scan my band when I ride 7Dwarves, yet somehow I'm able to buy an image of me riding it.
Why wouldn't they have the same kind of sensors near the park exit?
I've also assumed, that they aren't going to ANNOUNCE they have checkpoints.
But it kind of seems silly to think that they don't have checkpoints. I don't scan my band when I ride 7Dwarves, yet somehow I'm able to buy an image of me riding it.
Why wouldn't they have the same kind of sensors near the park exit?
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
There are serious legal issues with actively tracking children. The technology could do it but it’s less of a mess to just not do it. Secretly finding children using the location of their MagicBands would be illegal.
Really? Do you have law to cite?