I agree, this is pretty amazing, powerful and scary stuff, but something that is clearly needed in this day and time.
I have trouble seeing how it could be applied for use at Disney though. The strong point of it seems to be finding and linking data across multiple systems for the purpose of finding abnormalities or fraudulent activities. And, while Disney could probably use something like this to catch bad guys on property, I'm not sure it's what they're aiming for with NextGen.
Everything I've read about NextGen points to finding new ways to improve the guest experience in hopes of influencing them to spend more money, with the thought being a happy guest will spend more money, and choose to come back sooner. Yes, they will achieve this via data mining and the more detailed feedback they will be able to get from MagicBand, but it's more about streamlining the experience. Mind you, there may be more involved that they're not spelling out, but the following is just some of what I've found.
The following is from patent: - 7720718 - Management of the flow of persons in relation to centers of crowd concentration
-A goal of this invention is to improve the desired functionality needed to derive increased guest satisfaction, additional revenue opportunities and resort differentiation.
The following from another patent (application) - 20120271834 - Managing experience state to personalize destination visits
-For example, the operator may change arbitration rules based on data mining that may indicate that entitlements have not been distributed as desired (e.g., experiences were being provided in a too concentrated manner to a small fraction of visitors, experiences were not being delivered to preferred customers as often as desired, and due to other business rules/goals). In other cases, the I/O devices may be used to alert operators of the management system when a visitor is about to leave a facility without receiving one or more experiences (which they may have purchased the entitlement to), and the operator may the take proactive steps to try to provide the visitor with the experience or to take later steps to make up for the missed opportunity (send the visitor a free pass or gift).
And one more from a more recent patent application - 20130018661 - Guest experience management system and method
-One disadvantage at many theme parks and amusement parks is the long lines that guests face to enter the park, at the attractions within the park, and when purchasing food at mealtimes. Long wait times for attractions in particular detract from the guests experience, not just from the time spent standing in lines, but also by causing the guest to rush from attraction to attraction to maximize the number of popular attractions, without taking time to notice or enjoy the other offerings of the theme park such as music, live entertainment, restaurants, shops, etc.
-Additionally, guests that rarely frequent the park are typically unfamiliar with the layout of the park as well as with the peak times for more popular rides. This can further decrease those guests enjoyment, as they may take circuitous routes in order to try and visit as many attractions as possible, and may cause them to experience even longer lines by failing to visit the most popular attractions at off-peak hours.
-Different methods have been used to try and minimize wait times in theme parks and amusement parks, including limiting ticket sales on a given day to prevent overcrowding and allowing guests to purchase more expensive express tickets that allow the guest to use shorter express lines for popular attractions. These methods are limited and more prevent overcrowding in the theme park itself, but do not guarantee guests that they will have shorter wait times.
-Similarly, other methods to try and minimize wait times in theme parks include allowing guests to appear at the attraction and reserve a specific time in the future when the guest can return to the attraction and enter through an express line. This method is also limited in that it does not allow guests planning their trips to know ahead of time what attractions they will be able to visit on a given day, and what is the best route through the theme park for those desired attractions. Moreover, such systems will typically not allow the guest to make multiple appointments (manifested as flexible return windows)s at the same time. Thus, if the only available appointment times for a popular attraction are late in the day, the guest must either make the appointment and forego the opportunity to make appointments at other attractions, or risk missing the popular attraction entirely.
-Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system that better manages the guest experience and the wait times at theme parts, amusement parks and resorts.
I should add that this last one includes a whole lot more detail about providing customized experiences, not just more FP+s, but interactive elements and special effects made available for specific guests based on what "experience level" they purchased. (This could point to a new ticket pricing structure.)
I could cite more examples, but I think this should suffice (for now).
