Spirited News and Observations and Opinions ...

[Genie of the Lamp]

I've got a question who doesn't bring a cellphone or any electronics in the parks? I'm just wondering if that's weird of me to do. I tried a cellphone but last time I got no service so now I just go with a wallet, is that unusual?

It's considered weird if you don't have an electronic device/cell phone no matter where you are in public.

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

So is avatar officially dead or in the same state as it has been

Currently, it appears in the same "snail's pace" state as Burbank wants George to pick up the pace on this project.

 

[M.rudolf]

So is avatar officially dead or in the same state as it has been

On life support, but I do know that pressure is being put on Cameron from 20th century to move on the sequels ASAP, he's also got pressure from disney to finally decide on the final layout. From all things outside of lightstorm, the real avatar crusader is Iger. People on both sides of the fence have given up on the project. I would say if something doesn't happen by June then it's over, but at this point who really knows, you hear one thing tonight and tomorrow morning everyone's poops and giggles, and saying that its going to have the largest 3d 360 degree immersive simulator ever built and really pumped to build it. This project has been a huge weight on a lot of people, one example, they designed at least 15 attractions and only 2 have been considered. One posted here the other hasn't even gotten to true print stage

 

[Figments Friend]

I've got a question who doesn't bring a cellphone or any electronics in the parks? I'm just wondering if that's weird of me to do. I tried a cellphone but last time I got no service so now I just go with a wallet, is that unusual?

I would say it is probably considered unusual these days, as it seems everyone and their dog has a phone or some other tech toy in their pocket. But you are not alone my friend....i also do not bring tech toys into the Parks. I do not even own a cell phone, let along a smart phone. Nope...i am old school.
I also just being a downsized thin wallet and no bag(s) of any kind.
No need for all of that really, exspecially when you have visited the Parks so often.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I've got a question who doesn't bring a cellphone or any electronics in the parks? I'm just wondering if that's weird of me to do. I tried a cellphone but last time I got no service so now I just go with a wallet, is that unusual?

I do that too!

Except, I sometimes don't even bother with even a wallet and just bring a credit card and entrance ticket.

I don't carry things along in WDW. Partly to immerse myself in the magic and forget the outside world, partly because of the punishing Florida climate.

 

[M.rudolf]

I would say it is probably considered unusual these days, as it seems everyone and their dog has a phone or some other tech toy in their pocket. But you are not alone my friend....i also do not bring tech toys into the Parks. I do not even own a cell phone, let along a smart phone. Nope...i am old school.
I also just being a downsized thin wallet and no bag(s) of any kind.
No need for all of that really, exspecially when you have visited the Parks so often.

I just want to enjoy the parks, if they need me leave a message. Now they have video games in most of the queues so I don't need it for that

 

[Figments Friend]

I just want to enjoy the parks, if they need me leave a message. Now they have video games in most of the queues so I don't need it for that

I feel exactly the same way.
I am not paying all this money, and traveling all this distance, to experience WDW only through a smart phone screen or lens hole.
I have seen Guests watch entire stage shows and rides only through the tiny screen on their phone while they film.

How sad is this?
Do they even realize what they are missing by doing this ??
In this world today, do Guests even know how to be entertained by something other then a monitor screen?

 

[SirLink]

I've got a question who doesn't bring a cellphone or any electronics in the parks? I'm just wondering if that's weird of me to do. I tried a cellphone but last time I got no service so now I just go with a wallet, is that unusual?

I take a phone when I come to parks, I get more enjoyment out of the content on my phone than I do in WDW(apart from DAK) ... but I need one for work for managing workflow when I'm on holidays...

Also of note the games on my phone are better than the games they are throwing into the parks ... kinda tells ya left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing Warrren Spector is doing nothing of note is studio is on the blueprint to be closed by the end of the year...if current thoughts remain true - he could design some...but then it would have a terrible camera system...

 

[awoogala]

I do that too!

Except, I sometimes don't even bother with even a wallet and just bring a credit card and entrance ticket.

I don't carry things along in WDW. Partly to immerse myself in the magic and forget the outside world, partly because of the punishing Florida climate.

I would (my phone is the whatever free one they give me- no toys, nothing fancy, no apps). The only reason I bring it, is we split up a bunch, and i can text dh to figure out where he is, how long the queue, where should we meet up. If my daughter would go on more rides, I wouldn't need it!

 

[ULPO46]

So is avatar officially dead or in the same state as it has been

I would not say its officially dead. It's on the board but this nextgen crap and the new fantasyland junk have really burned a hole in the wallet at wdw. I would say its on hold for now. I don't see it ever becoming a reality. They have not even leveled or created any new areas in construction around animal kingdom. So I'd say it's scrapped for now. It's still to early to say that we're going to pandora by 2015 at this time but I highly think the program will go like the beastly kingdom thing a few years ago.

 

[ULPO46]

As for cellphones. Disney has a major contract with verizon mobile. So if you have another service there is a reason why it's slow and at many areas around the park it will not work. Not because there's a hidden military base but because of the ugly excuse to put up a tree tower by verizon. Any signal you receive are from towers up to five miles away near celebration and I 4

 

[spaceghost]

I've got a question who doesn't bring a cellphone or any electronics in the parks? I'm just wondering if that's weird of me to do. I tried a cellphone but last time I got no service so now I just go with a wallet, is that unusual?

Verizon has much better coverage in the parks. I do find it to be a useful tool for tracking wait times (saves some walking) and quick photos, etc. (although we will use the dedicated Olympus CSC for the "real" pictures). It's also nice if the party splits up. But yeah, I'd still much rather soak up the details in the park than stare at a screen.

 

[Darth Sidious]

I've got a question who doesn't bring a cellphone or any electronics in the parks? I'm just wondering if that's weird of me to do. I tried a cellphone but last time I got no service so now I just go with a wallet, is that unusual?

I always have it on me... I use the app to check wait times and the phone to communicate to my party. It beats the old walkie talkie days... Those were great memories though!

 

[ULPO46]

Who still brings walkie talkies to Disney world. I enjoy picking up frequencies of cms chatting when I am on vacation.

 

[M.rudolf]

Verizon has much better coverage in the parks. I do find it to be a useful tool for tracking wait times (saves some walking) and quick photos, etc. (although we will use the dedicated Olympus CSC for the "real" pictures). It's also nice if the party splits up. But yeah, I'd still much rather soak up the details in the park than stare at a screen.

At the time I was on AT&T but I have switched to Verizon, now I don't have an excuse not to take it

 

[dhall]

The FCC filing for the device listed it as having two passive tags, one UHF, and one HF. Seperately it references the 2.4GHz radio. See the FCC filings linked from wdwmagic's article here - http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/fastp...isney-'magic-band'-rfid-bracelet-revealed.htm

Its true that RFID range can be more than just tap distance - it's all based on the design of course. But on an aside, most of those loss prevention systems at retail are not actually RFID - but other radio based technology.. under the umbrella term EAS - See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_article_surveillance for a listing of common methods out there. RFID is a successor to these types of systems as RFID is not just 'detection that the tag exists' - but the tag actually carries data that can be read too.

I'll admit to being at the limits of my direct knowledge of the specific details, and it's somewhat likely that I have many details wrong. Most of what I know comes from conferences, vendor demos, & articles aimed at trying to get independent software vendors to implement applications of the technology. They have to tell us the broad strokes of how it works, but you don't find out the fine details until you actually write applications.

The reason for the different tags is likely different uses. HF is generally looked at as a range of 1m, while UHF tags are looked at as up to 10m. But because they operate on such different frequencies, they have different characteristics when it comes to material interaction (penetration/reflection/etc).

Powered tags are used in part because they improve the response time and the range of tags. But the FCC info describes the RFID tags in use as passive tags - the battery appears to be for the 2.4GHz radio and whatever IC logic is in the band.

After having spouted off on RFID, I did go look at Wikipedia to see how far off I was -- there's some terminology that I may have backwards. But, one of the things that I found there was that there's a third category that's referred to as 'battery assisted passive': essentially a passive tag with a small battery to assist in interaction, but that the tag is powered down until it is activated by interaction with a reader (assuming that its a special type of reader). That sounds like just the thing for a tag that's not expected to be in the presence of readers for long periods of time. I wonder if that counts as passive for the purposes of FCC regulation.

My theory is the active radio is the 'crowd' or proximity feature. The band could be activated by picking up a signal in the area over the air.. and the active radio just sends out it's ID as a 'hey, I'm here' kind of beacon. Then receivers pick up those announcements and can tell how many bands are in the receiver's area. This allows monitoring of larger areas without having irradiate them with higher power RF. Also, the use of a 'trigger' over the air allows the band to automatically shut it's radio off or put itself in a power save state if it hasn't heard a trigger in a period of time.

This sounds pretty feasible. I tend to doubt that there's a security application being developed (no profit in it, mainly), but if there is, it's probably based on wi-fi as well.

Then, the passive RFID tags would be used for more specific 'explicit' transactions that require a direct, one-to-one, or explicit consent transaction. Such as point of sale.. player involvement in a game.. etc. These could be close range or explict tap systems.

Agreed. I'd feel a lot more secure if I knew that the financial information is only exchanged on a tap, and that the tap is required because the range is on the order of 10cm or so. Apparently the State Dept screwed up the RFID on passports, allowing it to be read at a few meters when it was supposed to be a tap-type system. They had to modify the existing passports when some researchers demonstrated scraping information from a few feet away.

Or.. it could be as simple as 'the systems we purchased were incompatible..'.. the door locks they wanted to use use HF.. and the POS systems used UHF Could be as simple as that... but not really possible to say from here at this point in time. Since this is a NEW roll-out.. it probably has more to do with different application needs.

I particularly like this theory -- for as many different vendors have to be involved for a project this size (and given the reputations of the companies involved, both the vendors and the customer) a little accidental redundancy seems fairly likely.

 

[Darth Sidious]

I just want to enjoy the parks, if they need me leave a message. Now they have video games in most of the queues so I don't need it for that

That is a good attitude to have though. Especially with family... you don't want work cluttering your time together.

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

Really? Are you one?

Educational psychology. Got the advanced degree and everything.

You may not be a psychologist in real life....you shouldnt play one on this board either.

You were the one who popped off about being "late" if you weren't five minutes early. You asked if that qualified as having OCD. Based on my education and experience, it certainly raises a red flag.

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

And yet you still use a timeing device....ie. clock. Whats the difference?

I don't wear my iPhone. It's neatly tucked away, out of sight, but readily available for use. That's the difference.

Many people find items like watches and jewelry uncomfortable if not inflammatory. I can't wear them because of contact dermatitis from both metal and plastic. Which basically puts the kibosh on the NextGEN TragicBand device for me and other allergy sufferers.

Should be interesting to see if Disney will allow folks to stick the band on a lanyard around their necks. I'm guessing not.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I wear a watch 24/7/365, and I don't go anywhere without my iPhone. I have been known to do real time photo updates (for Orlando United) in the parks when something new like "themeing has begun on the Transformers building" occurs while I am there.