Real-World Example of NextGen like system (EpicMix)

[TimeTrip]

Hey all,

Just took a trip out to Colorado for some skiing. Before the trip I had purchased the right to 4 days of skiing spread over 6 days. Before I flew out, I received a plastic RFID card. With this card came free access to "EpicMix".

Basically, the lift attendants would scan the area of your body where the card was to make sure you were authorized to ride the lift. Then every lift had EpicMix RFID readers:

Each lift has a certain vertical elevation that it climbs. What the epicmix system would then do was track every lift you rode, and how many vertical feet you accumulated. On top of that it would grant you "Pins", something similar to Xbox 360 achievements. For example, I received:
* "Into the Woods" - Earned for riding the Wildwoods Express and the Northwoods express in the same day
* "9er" - Earned for 9 checkins in one day
* "Dolly Parton (9-5) - Earned for riding a lift between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. as well as riding a lift between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. in the same day."
Of course this can all be tracked on the website or mobile app:

In addition, there are EpicMix photographers on the mountain that will take pictures of you. Most of the time, its usually a photographer in a place for taking group photos with mountains in the background at the top of the lift. Other times they coordinate "action shots" where a guy at the top would radio a guy below and the guy below would take photos of you as you skied towards him. They also have "races" where they will time your run on a dedicated race course. All of these contribute to "points" which you can use to compare against your other friends and have a friendly leaderboard.

On top of this, all of this info can be automatically posted to facebook (with user controlled level of detail) so people know what you're up to, and can comment in near real-time.

So where am I going with this? It seemed like a really *neat* application of RFID tech. Without even talking about FP+, this could easily apply to Disney NextGen. They could have a "score" that is a combination of all the parks you've been to, restaurants at which you've eaten, and rides you've been on. They could add all wacky sorts of "pins" such as "attended all 4 parks in one day", or staying at a park for 12 hours +, or riding all attractions in 1 park in one day, or getting a photo taken at a photo spot Etc. This is something a lot of (likely younger?) folks could really get into. Each day we skied we were comparing notes and feet and points to see how we were doing. Applied to Disney, this could easily get people addicted to the chase of getting pins and such.

Granted, there are still privacy concerns since you're still being tracked *everywhere*, but I thought I would share what appears to be a lightweight version of some (IMO) pretty neat stuff that can be done with RFID tech.

 

[OFTeric]

Disney has often compared itself to Ski Resorts. Back in 2004 Disney execs kept saying that the parks were under priced because a 1 day lift ticket in Aspen was almost 100.00 at the time, therefore 1 Day at a Disney theme park should be around there.... low and behold 9 years later, we are at that threshold.

So it does make sense that TDO would look to them for technological innovation.

The problem here is that unlike on a Mountain, or gaining entry to a Ski Lift where verification is constantly required for continued entry, MyMagic+ is collecting a lot more than that.

 

[TimeTrip]

The problem here is that unlike on a Mountain, or gaining entry to a Ski Lift where verification is constantly required for continued entry, MyMagic+ is collecting a lot more than that.

It actually appeared that the two systems weren't linked strictly. The readers for verifying permissions that were held by attendants weren't the same as the huge pad RFID readers right before each chair/gondola. Also I would add that the hand-held readers for permission checks were only for the lifts at the bottom of the mountain

Still your point is valid, MyMagic+ intends to collect a ton more that the scale the EpicMix is. I suppose it would be neat if they only went as far as something like EpicMix, and not as down and deep (spending habits, fine-grained locations, etc) as it appears they are going to.

 

[GrumpyFan]

So where am I going with this? It seemed like a really *neat* application of RFID tech. Without even talking about FP+, this could easily apply to Disney NextGen. They could have a "score" that is a combination of all the parks you've been to, restaurants at which you've eaten, and rides you've been on. They could add all wacky sorts of "pins" such as "attended all 4 parks in one day", or staying at a park for 12 hours +, or riding all attractions in 1 park in one day, or getting a photo taken at a photo spot Etc. This is something a lot of (likely younger?) folks could really get into. Each day we skied we were comparing notes and feet and points to see how we were doing. Applied to Disney, this could easily get people addicted to the chase of getting pins and such.

Granted, there are still privacy concerns since you're still being tracked *everywhere*, but I thought I would share what appears to be a lightweight version of some (IMO) pretty neat stuff that can be done with RFID tech.

I like your thinking on this, and I wouldn't be surprised if they implemented something like this in the future. If nothing else, behind the scenes, they will have a profile of you and the types of attractions you like.

 

[OFTeric]

Still your point is valid, MyMagic+ intends to collect a ton more that the scale the EpicMix is. I suppose it would be neat if they only went as far as something like EpicMix, and not as down and deep (spending habits, fine-grained locations, etc) as it appears they are going to.

I wouldn't have a problem with MyMagic+ if it was a Casino Players card, where you are opting into a tracking system because you get "comps" and other rewards for using, it. But if you are a person not using the Players Card you essentially aren't missing anything.

If you do not use MyMagic+ your vacation will be DRASTICALLY different from those using MyMagic+

 

[Polaris1]

Good post. We have a place in Keystone and ski the Veil resorts almost every weekend. The Epic Pass has been around for several years up there. For those who haven't seen it, it's basically looks like a credit card that hangs from a lanyard around your neck or on your ski jacket. I think you are correct that the ski resorts have a very "lightweight" version of the RFID technology. A few bits of info for those who haven't been up there to experience it:

-At least for owners (not sure about guests) your Epic pass gets loaded with your credit card payment information, so you can pay for food/drinks on the hill by having the cashier use her hand held scanner and scan your RFID pass under your jacket. Really handy when you have gloves on and don't want to get out your wallet.

-The Epic passes are optional - if you just show up and buy a single day ticket you don't have to have the RFID technology in your pass.

-In my experience the RFID cards can only be read from about 3-4 feet away, at the MOST. The handheld scanners that the employees use need to almost touch your ski jacket to pickup the signal. I don't think the Ski passes can truly "track" you at the ski resorts - but it will log what runs you took, what lifts you rode, and calculate the vertical feet from that. It can't tell you your path down the hill, when/where you stopped, etc.

-A buddy of mine got injured in the backcountry at Keystone last year and we called ski patrol to come help him out. They wanted to know our location and I asked if they could just locate our RFID cards - they said "no dice, we can't use it like GPS to find you", so they need to know what run your on and how far down. This makes me wonder if Disney will be able to truly "track" people almost like GPS, or if it will just log when/where they enter into buildings, rides, lines, etc. I suppose if you had a powerful enough, real-time scanner you could track people's movements but at least at the Veil resorts it doesn't seem like the technology is there.

-There are no biometrics at the ski resorts, so you can freely trade your Epic Pass with friends. If you get caught they will revoke your season pass, but generally speaking they have no way of knowing if you are truly the person your RFID card says you are. I have only been asked for ID once in as long as I can remember.

Just a few thoughts for everybody! cheers!

 

[goodlife78]

Hey all,


So where am I going with this? It seemed like a really *neat* application of RFID tech. Without even talking about FP+, this could easily apply to Disney NextGen. They could have a "score" that is a combination of all the parks you've been to, restaurants at which you've eaten, and rides you've been on. They could add all wacky sorts of "pins" such as "attended all 4 parks in one day", or staying at a park for 12 hours +, or riding all attractions in 1 park in one day, or getting a photo taken at a photo spot Etc. This is something a lot of (likely younger?) folks could really get into. Each day we skied we were comparing notes and feet and points to see how we were doing. Applied to Disney, this could easily get people addicted to the chase of getting pins and such.


Love the thinking here so many cool things Disney can do with this I'm excited for it, can't wait to try it and hopefully with all the interactive cues for ride, pp,fp, ect Disney will do some neat things with it all in near future

 

[prfctlyximprct]

I read an article that Small World will use the RFID technology at the end of the ride where all the languages are saying "Good-bye". It said there will be screens with your name on it as you exit so the ride would read your RFID band and put on the screen Goodbye Nicole! I think this is pretty neat.. that's one positive!

 

[OFTeric]

I read an article that Small World will use the RFID technology at the end of the ride where all the languages are saying "Good-bye". It said there will be screens with your name on it as you exit so the ride would read your RFID band and put on the screen Goodbye Nicole! I think this is pretty neat.. that's one positive!

Universal welcomes Disney to 1990.

 

[dreamfinder]

-A buddy of mine got injured in the backcountry at Keystone last year and we called ski patrol to come help him out. They wanted to know our location and I asked if they could just locate our RFID cards - they said "no dice, we can't use it like GPS to find you", so they need to know what run your on and how far down. This makes me wonder if Disney will be able to truly "track" people almost like GPS, or if it will just log when/where they enter into buildings, rides, lines, etc. I suppose if you had a powerful enough, real-time scanner you could track people's movements but at least at the Veil resorts it doesn't seem like the technology is there.

With a ski resort, especially one with easily accessible back country, it's a very different situation that at WDW. With the ski resort, there is only 1 way up (or however many lifts there are) and then from that lift, you can take a myriad of trails (or off piste) to get back down to the bottom of the lift. With the exception of some double diamond or otherwise dangerous terrain that require you to enter via a gate that has a big sign saying "You enter here, you may die. If you get hurt it may take us a few days to get to you, etc" the entrances to the trails are wide open. Unlike at WDW where entering anything (just about) in the parks requires you to go through a gateway or entrance that is often the size of a door. So at the ski resort they could in theory pull up the swipes from the lift and see that yup, you took the high speed six pack to the top of the main peak, but then they have no clue where you went from there. At WDW they would have the ability to see that you entered the park, then went to Fantasyland (got you going through the castle) but haven't gotten on a ride yet. So odds are you are somewhere in Fantasyland. They may not be able to pin point you exactly, but by using other data points they did collect, they can figure that out. Knowing that if you wanted to go to Space Mountain first, odds are you would have gone direct to Tomorrowland, or through Adventureland if you wanted to ride Splash Mountain.

 

[Lee]

Universal welcomes Disney to 1990.

Beat me to it.

This fellow is not impressed...

But of course none of Disney's dark rides since he moved to Orlando have impressed him either. (Except Pooh in Tokyo. To that one, ET says "Respect.")

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Beat me to it.

This fellow is not impressed...

But of course none of Disney's dark rides since he moved to Orlando have impressed him either. (Except Pooh in Tokyo. To that one, ET says "Respect.")

Oooooouch!

 

[bubbles1812]

Universal welcomes Disney to 1990.

This made me spit out my water. I'd forgotten E.T. does that. It's been too long... But that will be rectified come this Saturday

 

[djlaosc]

I read an article that Small World will use the RFID technology at the end of the ride where all the languages are saying "Good-bye". It said there will be screens with your name on it as you exit so the ride would read your RFID band and put on the screen Goodbye Nicole! I think this is pretty neat.. that's one positive!

A negative of that is that, unless you have a variety of nationalities on your boat, then you're just going to have "Goodbye" written multiple times, whereas before you could "learn" how to say it in multiple languages - of course, they could say "Goodbye XXX" in multiple languages, and that would be better, but if they look at your band and just pick up your language and everyone on board speaks the same language, then it could detract from the experience.

 

[danlb_2000]

Each lift has a certain vertical elevation that it climbs. What the epicmix system would then do was track every lift you rode, and how many vertical feet you accumulated. On top of that it would grant you "Pins", something similar to Xbox 360 achievements. For example, I received:
* "Into the Woods" - Earned for riding the Wildwoods Express and the Northwoods express in the same day
* "9er" - Earned for 9 checkins in one day
* "Dolly Parton (9-5) - Earned for riding a lift between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. as well as riding a lift between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. in the same day."
Of course this can all be tracked on the website or mobile app:

I recently saw an article about new things coming to Morey's Amusement pier in Wildwood NJ and one thing the article mentioned was:

" The plans also include a “super secret” project involving software that will allow riders to keep track of just about everything they do, from the number of times they go upside down to how many rides they’ve been on."

Sounds like a very similar idea.

Universal welcomes Disney to 1990.

I love the ET ride at universal, but I felt the "interaction" was a little forced mainly because they don't already have your name on record so the process of having to give it to them and having them scan a barcode kills some of the "magic" of it.

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Maybe I didn't explain it well enough!
http://.com/archives/10714

Hopefully it lets me post the article!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

The stars are with no spaces!

 

[bsiev1977]

Hey all,

Just took a trip out to Colorado for some skiing. Before the trip I had purchased the right to 4 days of skiing spread over 6 days. Before I flew out, I received a plastic RFID card. With this card came free access to "EpicMix".

Basically, the lift attendants would scan the area of your body where the card was to make sure you were authorized to ride the lift. Then every lift had EpicMix RFID readers:

Each lift has a certain vertical elevation that it climbs. What the epicmix system would then do was track every lift you rode, and how many vertical feet you accumulated. On top of that it would grant you "Pins", something similar to Xbox 360 achievements. For example, I received:
* "Into the Woods" - Earned for riding the Wildwoods Express and the Northwoods express in the same day
* "9er" - Earned for 9 checkins in one day
* "Dolly Parton (9-5) - Earned for riding a lift between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. as well as riding a lift between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. in the same day."
Of course this can all be tracked on the website or mobile app:

In addition, there are EpicMix photographers on the mountain that will take pictures of you. Most of the time, its usually a photographer in a place for taking group photos with mountains in the background at the top of the lift. Other times they coordinate "action shots" where a guy at the top would radio a guy below and the guy below would take photos of you as you skied towards him. They also have "races" where they will time your run on a dedicated race course. All of these contribute to "points" which you can use to compare against your other friends and have a friendly leaderboard.

On top of this, all of this info can be automatically posted to facebook (with user controlled level of detail) so people know what you're up to, and can comment in near real-time.

So where am I going with this? It seemed like a really *neat* application of RFID tech. Without even talking about FP+, this could easily apply to Disney NextGen. They could have a "score" that is a combination of all the parks you've been to, restaurants at which you've eaten, and rides you've been on. They could add all wacky sorts of "pins" such as "attended all 4 parks in one day", or staying at a park for 12 hours +, or riding all attractions in 1 park in one day, or getting a photo taken at a photo spot Etc. This is something a lot of (likely younger?) folks could really get into. Each day we skied we were comparing notes and feet and points to see how we were doing. Applied to Disney, this could easily get people addicted to the chase of getting pins and such.

Granted, there are still privacy concerns since you're still being tracked *everywhere*, but I thought I would share what appears to be a lightweight version of some (IMO) pretty neat stuff that can be done with RFID tech.

Wow! Somehow you went through the horror of an RFID experience without having your brain taken over, or losing your identity, or being forced to buy things you don't want to. Hard to believe...

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

So this must of been the real world example Nick Franklin sold to Iger on when he okayed Next Gen Experiment.

 

[dupac]

www.pdcorp.com/en-us/rfid-ent/literature.html

This is the company that produces the bands for Great Wolf Lodge. They have an article about the set-up at GWL as well as an article from LA Times touting this tech as the next big thing for theme parks...

I'm of the opinion that if the product at WDW wasn't stale, I wouldn't mind the new tech. To me it would be enhancing an already great experience. But with the lack of new and exciting experiences, it's disappointing.