New RFID technology in the parks?

[theguitarman]

Since my post was quoted in the "why is everyone so paranoid" post, let me clarify. There are no complaints in this post. Please don't mistake my discussion of all they can do as negative/paranoid, its curiosity! Tech = fun, so I like to discuss it and all of it's abilities/implications!

They can already do that. Without RFID.

Yeah, they can, but they can do more tracking with RFID. For example, see what ride you went on at what times, which right now they would only have if they did facial recognition and cameras. Or see what stores you go into. Really no big deal, as they would just be using that data for statistics.

 

[Oddysey]

There are people spend that $1000 per night to stay on property.

Does that make them more 'loyal'? Not really. Loyal isn't the right word. Does it make Disney more money if you stay at their resorts? You betcha. And thats why its ok for them to reward resort guests over non-resort guests.

The $1,000 does not take into account the amount of money I spend in the parks. The amount of times I go to dinner. The amount of times I by a drink in the showcase. The amount of times I buy merchandise. You get my point. The "a resort park guest spends a lot of money" does not hold up when considering the additional $1,000s I likely spend annually while I am frequenting the parks on a weekly or monthly basis.

Making the argument more irrelivant is that I have purchased 2 APs annually for about a decade, and will soon be purchasing three (daughter). Some resort guest come once in a lifetime or once every five years. When you think of it this way, do resort guests always spend more money than AP holders, and do they deserve to have a better experience than my family because we live closer to the parks? Disney gets a fair share of my annual income, and while I dont believe I should get special treatment, I believe I should get equal treatment.

On a side note, Disney has not implemented the program yet so this whole conversation may be irrelevant if Disney somehow includes AP holders.

 

[Kamikaze]

Yeah, they can, but they can do more tracking with RFID. For example, see what ride you went on at what times, which right now they would only have if they did facial recognition and cameras. Or see what stores you go into. Really no big deal, as they would just be using that data for statistics.

They can track any ride you Fastpassed already, including return times, if they cared enough to scan the tickets back in.

As far as the stores - they have to have readers installed for that. Ever seen a paypass system? See how spotty they are, and it requires multiple swipes and being inches from the reader? A reader just mounted randomly near doors or wherever is not going to be very accurate. Or the tag reader in the new soda system. It only has a 10 inch range.

The $1,000 does not take into account the amount of money I spend in the parks. The amount of times I go to dinner. The amount of times I by a drink in the showcase. The amount of times I buy merchandise. You get my point. The "a resort park guest spends a lot of money" does not hold up when considering the additional $1,000s I likely spend annually while I am frequenting the parks on a weekly or monthly basis.

Making the argument more irrelivant is that I have purchased 2 APs annually for about a decade, and will soon be purchasing three (daughter). Some resort guest come once in a lifetime or once every five years. When you think of it this way, do resort guests always spend more money than AP holders, and do they deserve to have a better experience than my family because we live closer to the parks? Disney gets a fair share of my annual income, and while I dont believe I should get special treatment, I believe I should get equal treatment.

On a side note, Disney has not implemented the program yet so this whole conversation may be irrelevant if Disney somehow includes AP holders.

And you're not taking into account that other people spend those same amounts, as well as stay on property to give them more. Its a ridiculous argument. Going 'what about ME?!?!!!!111'
What if they offer a $20 fee to buy in to the system, per wristband, for those not staying on property? Would that appease you?

 

[NoChesterHester]

I'm just chuckling to myself the image of 200 people in a command center staring at monitors somewhere trying to "track" the 40,000 odd guests in the park that day. "Oh look the Jamison's are getting BACK in line for Splash Mountain again, alert security if they try to make another loop."

This thread has really brought out the paranoia theorists. That evil corporation that you love their products so much that you log onto internet message boards is interested in your most personal details... please.

I also believe that most are really missing the real story here. This isn't ancillary and just a technology upgrade, this is the first real widespread deployment in where theme parks are headed. Go read the Eddie Sotto thread if you want more background.

The theme park industry is looking for that next revolutionary idea. Audio animatronics changed the way we experienced attractions through story. Fast pass changed the way we travel and wait for experiences. Just building the bigger and better E ticket isn't the next revolution, it is only an evolution of what was already done. The possibilities for this technology will really change the way we look at the theme park vacation and we are just dipping our toe in the water...

Bravo to Disney for getting this out there. Now blow us all away.

 

[majortom1981]

Since my post was quoted in the "why is everyone so paranoid" post, let me clarify. There are no complaints in this post. Please don't mistake my discussion of all they can do as negative/paranoid, its curiosity! Tech = fun, so I like to discuss it and all of it's abilities/implications!




Yeah, they can, but they can do more tracking with RFID. For example, see what ride you went on at what times, which right now they would only have if they did facial recognition and cameras. Or see what stores you go into. Really no big deal, as they would just be using that data for statistics.

They can still see what rides you ride at what time you ride if you use a fast pass . They can also track what stores you are buying at if you use a credit card at those stores. They can see when you eat if you use the dinning plan.

They can track you inside the parks . Everybody with an rfid tag makes it easier.

 

[theguitarman]

They can track any ride you Fastpassed already, including return times, if they cared enough to scan the tickets back in.

As far as the stores - they have to have readers installed for that. Ever seen a paypass system? See how spotty they are, and it requires multiple swipes and being inches from the reader? A reader just mounted randomly near doors or wherever is not going to be very accurate. Or the tag reader in the new soda system. It only has a 10 inch range.

You are right, not disagreeing with the fact that they could do a lot of this stuff if they wanted. This just kinda organizes it all on their end into one convenient system. As for the door, that is a good point, but the distance of reading can be adjusted by adjusting the power of the reader antenna. A higher powered reader in the doorway could most likely pick up the wristbands as they walk through. The paypass system is lower powered so that it will only read from a short distance.

 

[theguitarman]

I'm just chuckling to myself the image of 200 people in a command center staring at monitors somewhere trying to "track" the 40,000 odd guests in the park that day. "Oh look the Jamison's are getting BACK in line for Splash Mountain again, alert security if they try to make another loop."

Hahaha. That is excellent! :ROFLOL:

 

[Kamikaze]

You are right, not disagreeing with the fact that they could do a lot of this stuff if they wanted. This just kinda organizes it all on their end into one convenient system. As for the door, that is a good point, but the distance of reading can be adjusted by adjusting the power of the reader antenna. A higher powered reader in the doorway could most likely pick up the wristbands as they walk through. The paypass system is lower powered so that it will only read from a short distance.

You're correct. I doubt they will be using RFID in that way, however. Do they want more information on guest habits? Of course. But just to see you entered a store? Thats irrelevant to them.

 

[Oddysey]

They can track any ride you Fastpassed already, including return times, if they cared enough to scan the tickets back in.

As far as the stores - they have to have readers installed for that. Ever seen a paypass system? See how spotty they are, and it requires multiple swipes and being inches from the reader? A reader just mounted randomly near doors or wherever is not going to be very accurate. Or the tag reader in the new soda system. It only has a 10 inch range.



And you're not taking into account that other people spend those same amounts, as well as stay on property to give them more. Its a ridiculous argument. Going 'what about ME?!?!!!!111'
What if they offer a $20 fee to buy in to the system, per wristband, for those not staying on property? Would that appease you?

I am taking that into account. While there are people who spend that much or more, there are also people who spend significately less. Like you already stated, It really is a pointless argument.

For your second point (going what about me?!?!!!!111), what well informed consumer would not be concerned of the value of their purchase (in my case an AP) when compared to the value of another consumer who is spending a possible equal amount of money?

Lastly, I think the $20 fee per wristband solves the problem, and it would appease me. Then I would have the option to purchase one, and enhance my families experience.

 

[theguitarman]

This thread has really brought out the paranoia theorists. That evil corporation that you love their products so much that you log onto internet message boards is interested in your most personal details... please.

I keep seeing people saying that the paranoia theorists on on this thread, but I don't see many posts that are worried about it. Mostly just discussion, no?

 

[theguitarman]

You're correct. I doubt they will be using RFID in that way, however. Do they want more information on guest habits? Of course. But just to see you entered a store? Thats irrelevant to them.

True. I would see it more of another way to track store's success from a big picture view for the company. Maybe a store has poor sales, but this system could show that it has high foot traffic. Compare that to a store with bad sales, and no one is going into. That type of info they would want, I would think. Yeah, I know they really only care about the bottom line of the store, but this info could help them to fix struggling stores, and also maybe help them with crowd/traffic planning (see what stores get big rushes after certain events, things like that)

 

[Kamikaze]

True. I would see it more of another way to track store's success from a big picture view for the company. Maybe a store has poor sales, but this system could show that it has high foot traffic. Compare that to a store with bad sales, and no one is going into. That type of info they would want, I would think. Yeah, I know they really only care about the bottom line of the store, but this info could help them to fix struggling stores, and also maybe help them with crowd/traffic planning (see what stores get big rushes after certain events, things like that)

They already have motion counters. Maybe not every store, but I know I've seen a lot of them.

 

[elcanatureboy]

I'm all for this as long as these things don't have something to follow me with... I don't know why they would need to know that I was in the bathroom taking a dump. ....

 

[theguitarman]

They already have motion counters. Maybe not every store, but I know I've seen a lot of them.

Good point!

 

[Hakunamatata]

I'm all for this as long as these things don't have something to follow me with... I don't know why they would need to know that I was in the bathroom taking a dump. ....

Because then they would know your digestive track would be empty and could target you with mobile turkey leg and churro vendors.

 

[wm49rs]

Because then they would know your digestive track would be empty and could target you with mobile turkey leg and churro vendors.

Strawberry-filled churros, no less!

 

[Hakunamatata]

Strawberry-filled churros, no less!

More like "Strawberry Flavored Product"

 

[WDWFREAK53]

I really don't have a problem with this and think it's actually a great idea to limit it to on-site guests only.

Disney offers all types of rooms. Suites, Deluxe, Moderates, Values, even campgrounds...so there is something for everyone...

It's not like they are only limiting these to a certain "group" of people (Only people staying in Deluxe resorts).

It's a simple perk that will be offered to resort guests and will entice people to opt to stay on property rather than to stay off.

It's really no different than them offering Magical Express.

 

[mickey2008.1]

People who stay on property already get good perks, i dont think RFID should also be one of those perks. It's Walt Disney World, where everyone should have an equal experience in the parks. Resort guests get EMH, DME, Disney transportation. We stay at the resorts because i like those perks, and I pay for them, but it does not make my park experience any better, it makes my stay better. I have no problem with RFID, WDW already knows what I do because of my room key, it has everything on it already, where I eat, what I spend, what FPs I have, so whats the big deal.:shrug:

 

[Krack]

I feel sorry for the local AP holders. Anaheim would never pull a stunt like this (limiting it to only guests staying on-site); there would be an uprising.