New bus app feature being tested at POFQ

ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
J_Carioca said:
If you look at my posting history I think you'll be hard-pressed to find me complaining about anything to do with WDW. So please think before you post something like this. And for those who say "it's voluntary, so don't complain about it", well that's ridiculous. A trip to WDW in the first place is entirely voluntary, but people still might complain about something. I happen to be of the opinion that the over-reliance on technology is ruining the Disney experience, and from what I've read I'm not alone. I was there less than a month ago and now all you see are people with their noses buried in their phones, missing anything that's goin on around them. I don't have to agree with everything Disney management does, and that does not mean I'm a complainer, it means I happen to have an opinion about something.
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Sounds like you need to move to Alaska. As it is, you are complaining about something that will improve the experience of many guests and have no negative effect on your experience. If anything, it will benefit you, too, because bus stops will be less crowded so you can sit on a bench and read your morning newspaper while you wait for the bus to come in 1-35 minutes.
 
G

googilycub

Active Member
J_Carioca said:
If you look at my posting history I think you'll be hard-pressed to find me complaining about anything to do with WDW. So please think before you post something like this. And for those who say "it's voluntary, so don't complain about it", well that's ridiculous. A trip to WDW in the first place is entirely voluntary, but people still might complain about something. I happen to be of the opinion that the over-reliance on technology is ruining the Disney experience, and from what I've read I'm not alone. I was there less than a month ago and now all you see are people with their noses buried in their phones, missing anything that's goin on around them. I don't have to agree with everything Disney management does, and that does not mean I'm a complainer, it means I happen to have an opinion about something.
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There is no "over reliance on technology" here. Somebody that does not use the app will still be able to ride the bus, with the same amount of wait time before the app was in use. It is only providing information, taking advantage of that information is up to the user.

As for people having their noses buried in their phones, it really has nothing to do with what Disney is doing. It is something that you saw really since the first smart phone was introduced, long before Disney embraced the use of apps and mobile technology.

The comparison of a voluntary use of an app and a vacation is so apples to oranges that I will just leave it at that.
 
J_Carioca

J_Carioca

Well-Known Member
peter11435 said:
True, but that really has nothing to do with anything Disney has done. That is just life in 2014. You see the same thing nearly everywhere you go these days.
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I agree that this is something that’s just part of life now, but I would argue that Disney is at least contributing to the problem. Based on my previous 9 trips, the old fastpass system worked very well, and certainly MUCH better than fastpass + worked on my most recent trip. I think that’s a prime example of technology making things worse, not better. And I agree that you see this (people focusing on their phones and not on anything around them) everywhere these days, but I still think it’s a sad state of affairs.
As far as the bus app goes, I have to say that based on about 10 visits, half of which have been a week long, I can only think of about 3-4 times where we waited a long time for a bus (20 minutes or more). Regardless of which resort we have always found the bus service to be really good.
 
TomHendricks

TomHendricks

Well-Known Member
J_Carioca said:
I agree that this is something that’s just part of life now, but I would argue that Disney is at least contributing to the problem. Based on my previous 9 trips, the old fastpass system worked very well, and certainly MUCH better than fastpass + worked on my most recent trip. I think that’s a prime example of technology making things worse, not better. And I agree that you see this (people focusing on their phones and not on anything around them) everywhere these days, but I still think it’s a sad state of affairs.
As far as the bus app goes, I have to say that based on about 10 visits, half of which have been a week long, I can only think of about 3-4 times where we waited a long time for a bus (20 minutes or more). Regardless of which resort we have always found the bus service to be really good.
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Is this where you lift up your cane and yell "Get off my lawn" grandpa? ;)
 
RunnerEd

RunnerEd

Well-Known Member
It's ridiculous that it has taken them this long. Real time bus tracking and arrival time prediction is a piece of cake, especially on limited routes. I helped set up something similar with military vehicles in unplugged environments nearly a decade ago. The University of Alabama (Roll Tide, y'all) has had the Crimson Ride buses' location and arrival time estimate displayed on bus stop monitors and mobile apps for nearly 5 years with the integration of the Tuscaloosa city buses on the mobile. I'm glad they're finally catching up to the 21st century!
 
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
RunnerEd said:
It's ridiculous that it has taken them this long. Real time bus tracking and arrival time prediction is a piece of cake, especially on limited routes. I helped set up something similar with military vehicles in unplugged environments nearly a decade ago. The University of Alabama (Roll Tide, y'all) has had the Crimson Ride buses' location and arrival time estimate displayed on bus stop monitors and mobile apps for nearly 5 years with the integration of the Tuscaloosa city buses on the mobile. I'm glad they're finally catching up to the 21st century!
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Management has been unwilling to pay to fix the problems. They keep delaying them until now, from what I hear. Likely budgetary, IMO.
 
Mia22

Mia22

Member
I hope this is in place for our next visit :). Only once did we have a problem when 3 hs buses in a row turned up and we waited 30 mins for an my bus from cbr. Luckily I had the app on my iphone and was able to amend my fp* times. Other than that buses were fast and efficient. We always have a car but prefer to take the bus on vacation and only tend to use the car for when staying til park closure and avoiding the packed like sardines scenario if staying til park closing time, or visiting off site attractions.
 
RayTheFirefly

RayTheFirefly

Well-Known Member
RunnerEd said:
It's ridiculous that it has taken them this long. Real time bus tracking and arrival time prediction is a piece of cake, especially on limited routes. I helped set up something similar with military vehicles in unplugged environments nearly a decade ago. The University of Alabama (Roll Tide, y'all) has had the Crimson Ride buses' location and arrival time estimate displayed on bus stop monitors and mobile apps for nearly 5 years with the integration of the Tuscaloosa city buses on the mobile. I'm glad they're finally catching up to the 21st century!
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LSU has also had it for about 8 years. I was always kind of surprised Disney didn't have it first.
 
RunnerEd

RunnerEd

Well-Known Member
RayTheFirefly said:
LSU has also had it for about 8 years. I was always kind of surprised Disney didn't have it first.
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I work with GIS professionally (mostly ESRI software). The stuff that would be used at Disney isn't that complicated, innovative, or really that expensive from my experience. I could get the basics put together in a couple of weeks and make it operational (meaning a deployed mobile app/tab in an existing app) in a couple of months without too much help or new hardware installations on the buses. Using the magic bands to track density at stops and route buses appropriately would take a little longer and would probably require more infrastructure than I've seen at the stops but still very doable.

Great game in Tiger Stadium again. I have a love/hate relationship with our rivalry because we always play each other so freakin' tough. Serious big boy football.
 
PhotoDave219

PhotoDave219

Well-Known Member
RunnerEd said:
I work with GIS professionally (mostly ESRI software). The stuff that would be used at Disney isn't that complicated, innovative, or really that expensive from my experience. I could get the basics put together in a couple of weeks and make it operational (meaning a deployed mobile app/tab in an existing app) in a couple of months without too much help or new hardware installations on the buses. Using the magic bands to track density at stops and route buses appropriately would take a little longer and would probably require more infrastructure than I've seen at the stops but still very doable.

Great game in Tiger Stadium again. I have a love/hate relationship with our rivalry because we always play each other so freakin' tough. Serious big boy football.
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Disney wants Off-the-shelf & a plug-and-play System that works by just pushing a few buttons.

You talking about changing the culture of how things get done. And that's not easily accomplished.
 
RayTheFirefly

RayTheFirefly

Well-Known Member
RunnerEd said:
I work with GIS professionally (mostly ESRI software). The stuff that would be used at Disney isn't that complicated, innovative, or really that expensive from my experience. I could get the basics put together in a couple of weeks and make it operational (meaning a deployed mobile app/tab in an existing app) in a couple of months without too much help or new hardware installations on the buses. Using the magic bands to track density at stops and route buses appropriately would take a little longer and would probably require more infrastructure than I've seen at the stops but still very doable.

Great game in Tiger Stadium again. I have a love/hate relationship with our rivalry because we always play each other so freakin' tough. Serious big boy football.
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Agreed on all fronts!
 
RunnerEd

RunnerEd

Well-Known Member
PhotoDave219 said:
Disney wants Off-the-shelf & a plug-and-play System that works by just pushing a few buttons.

You talking about changing the culture of how things get done. And that's not easily accomplished.
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It's very close to that. Maybe I should get in touch and build it for a highly inflate price. If they dropped $2 billion on MM+, they should be able to pay me $500,000 for a couple of days work....LOL.
 
Bacon

Bacon

Well-Known Member
CA0DA791-17A7-4EA4-97AE-EE6CD5E5A4E3.jpeg
 

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