Spirited News and Observations and Opinions ...

[Genie of the Lamp]

I may be in the minority but I always thought EMH were overkill in the summer. When it started, it was only done during the lighter seasons when the parks closed earlier. It made sense to have options for guests on property after all the parks closed by 9:00. Keeping the MK open until 3:00am on a regular basis in the summer always seemed crazy. 9:00 to midnight or 1:00am always seemed sufficient. If they got rid of it at peak park times, I wouldn't be upset. It is more needed in off-peak times. Those are the times I will miss it.

Here's a very reliable and so true saying/statement Economists and other businesses (not AOL apparently which is why they went out of business) value so dearly: "INCENTIVES MATTER"! TDO and to a possible extent Burbank doesn't believe in this now. This is what drives any business to reach out to their loyalty customers. As a proud 9 time on property deluxe resort guest, I am starting to feel that Disney doesn't want to offer any more Incentives for their guests to stay at their resorts any more be it with cut back on discounts or no more EMH. TDO employees are "Cost Cutters" in essence so that doesn't suprise me they would want to go this route with EMH. Seriously though, as a way of me giving my fair share of time and $ going towards their business and my once every 3 years vacation here, I want return on my investment. I want 80's WDW quality everywhere I look, see, etc. That has/is starting to disaparate at a very quick and secretive pace. Now is 3 am a necessary time to keep the parks open: not necessarily. But that doesn't mean the parks should never be open at 3 AM. Look at the success they had last year with the 24 hr disney day which should be part of LTM this year. EMH needs to exist every day in the summer, holidays, etc. because those are the most busiest times at WDW and as a resort guest "paying their fair share", I would demand that the parks be open during EMH so I could optimize and personalize my WDW experience as much as possible w/o the big crowds as seen during the day. Now yes, maintenance is an issue that needs to be confronted with, but my suggestion is to open certain attractions on certain nights during EMH. For example, they could open select big rides such as TOT and TSMM one night at the Studios, then the next night DHS has it they could open select big rides such as ST 2.0 and RNCR.


Edit: Meant to say keep the parks open during the summer , not during EMH

 

[Darth Sidious]

^^^I wouldn't put my money on Disney owning the parks in four years, let alone 40.

While that is definitely a possibility I just don't think it will happen. I think you'll always have people on both sides of that argument so it will stall something from happening. That being said the parks could be turned into super profitable assets at some point with some work. If that happens they really wouldn't consider it. Anything is possible but it is just my opinion of course.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

^^^I wouldn't put my money on Disney owning the parks in four years, let alone 40.

Obviously geopolitics and their effects on oil prices is the issue here. If we have a energy policy that diversifies the risk of say an Israel Iran war on energy costs, they'll be fine. Also important to note that the parks become financially untenable when oil hits 200-250 dollars a barrel.

 

[dhall]

My understanding is that it is not currently a feature but is a possible addition with some significant coding. Likely could be done on a zone basis, not exact location. Not enough Wireless AP's to triangulate. I would still expect any triangulation ability to be used for generic geographic analytics in retail locations in future phases. I don't think there is any intent to have real-time tracking of every person in the park. That would be impractical and overkill.

The "Marauder's Map" style interface that scares everyone when they imagine it like they've seen it on TV is fairly impractical, and really has very limited economic benefit. Knowing the last zone that someone entered isn't all that hard, and would be very helpful in message targeting, but I don't think Disney wants anyone to think that they're actually doing it.

 

[Darth Sidious]

Obviously geopolitics and their effects on oil prices is the issue here. If we have a energy policy that diversifies the risk of say and Israel Iran on energy costs, they'll be fine. Also important to note that the parks become financially untenable when oil hits 200-250 dollars a barrel.

A forward thinking long termed mind might look into alternatives before such events occur. There used to be this guy named Walt Disney and he did stuff like that for his company... oh wait, this is the same company we are talking about... someone messed up.

 

[tracyandalex]

The "Marauder's Map" style interface that scares everyone when they imagine it like they've seen it on TV is fairly impractical, and really has very limited economic benefit. Knowing the last zone that someone entered isn't all that hard, and would be very helpful in message targeting, but I don't think Disney wants anyone to think that they're actually doing it.

I wonder if Disney will comment any more on this because there have been mentions of being tracked in several articles. It will be hard to say "we can't track you . . . until your kid is lost" Wearing the bracelet certainly gives the impression that you can be tracked whether it's actually true or not.
I know nothing about the technology, but I seem to remember that on the cruise ships the bracelets the kids wear can be used for tracking.

 

[GoofGoof]

I wonder if Disney will comment any more on this because there have been mentions of being tracked in several articles. It will be hard to say "we can't track you . . . until your kid is lost" Wearing the bracelet certainly gives the impression that you can be tracked whether it's actually true or not.
I know nothing about the technology, but I seem to remember that on the cruise ships the bracelets the kids wear can be used for tracking.

They can say "we won't use the bands to actively track you unless it's for an emergency". If a kid is lost the bands could tell you the last time they passed a censor and which one. That info is incredibly valuable even if its not real time tracking, if the answer is the kid passed the censor on Main Street 5 minutes ago that narrows down the possible areas where the kid could be. CMs or security in the area could immediately be alerted with the kid's description. That's still completely different than real time tracking which some people see as creepy. Something else they could implement is an active alarm system for missing kids. If a kid goes missing and is flagged in the system as lost if they try to leave the park an alarm would sound at the exit gate alerting security. I hadn't heard this mentioned as the plan, but it seems pretty easy to implement and would help prevent child snatchers.

 

[tracyandalex]

They can say "we won't use the bands to actively track you unless it's for an emergency". If a kid is lost the bands could tell you the last time they passed a censor and which one. That info is incredibly valuable even if its not real time tracking, if the answer is the kid passed the censor on Main Street 5 minutes ago that narrows down the possible areas where the kid could be. CMs or security in the area could immediately be alerted with the kid's description. That's still completely different than real time tracking which some people see as creepy. Something else they could implement is an active alarm system for missing kids. If a kid goes missing and is flagged in the system as lost if they try to leave the park an alarm would sound at the exit gate alerting security. I hadn't heard this mentioned as the plan, but it seems pretty easy to implement and would help prevent child snatchers.

I agree, but I have a feeling (a creepy feeling!) that Disney saying it can track someone in any way will not go over very well. Most people won't be bothered with all the details they will just see the Disney is Tracking It's Guests headline and draw their own conclusions. I think the whole tracking thing is a PR nightmare for Disney if it gains traction.

 

[HMF]

I really am starting to question whether anything will ever get better as far as Disney is concerned.

 

[flynnibus]

The "Marauder's Map" style interface that scares everyone when they imagine it like they've seen it on TV is fairly impractical, and really has very limited economic benefit. Knowing the last zone that someone entered isn't all that hard, and would be very helpful in message targeting, but I don't think Disney wants anyone to think that they're actually doing it.

I described a simple, secure way this could be done previously in these threads.

You already have the idea of 'managed accounts' in MyMagic+ - so you already have a pre-established relationship of authority between the master and slave profiles.

Then, to prevent abuse, you simply make the info available only to an 'authorized' account. How do you prevent CMs from abusing it? Simple.. don't give them access. The only 'authorized' user you can authenticate is the holder of the 'managed' account profile. And how do you verify they are present? You simply require them to swipe their RFID tag.

Inquirer goes to Guest Relations... says I need to find little suzzie.

1. CM asks 'was suzzie part of your party?' 'Yes? ok, please tap your band here..'
2. CM gets a list of managed accounts for that user.. CM challenges the inquirer to name the account they need to locate (and maybe make them authorize their identity too with challenge questions to prevent picking up a lost tag)
3. CM verifies that is on the list and selects that account
4. (with the RFID tap info, the system authorizes the inquiry and searches for the last 'hit' for the tag in question)
5. CM relays to the inquirier 'little suize was last seen entering Peter Pan at 12:40pm..'

If they aren't part of the managed accounts... instead of divulging the info.. you make it like an amber alert for security

1. Inquiring person provides the personal info for the CM to look up the account
2. The CM looks up the account and flags it as a 'missing person' - the CM can not actually lookup any info on the guest in question, only flag them and put in info why
3. The system then takes over and generates an alert for the security team providing them info on a missing child.. and the system tells them the last location the tag was seen. In addition, the system flags the tag to send an update to security anytime it's seen.
4. When security finds the person based on the tags proximity info and the info provided by Guest Relations... the missing person is taken back to Guest Relations

By making it so the info can't actually be given up to the person asking for it, and forcing the second, independent group to be the one to get the alert to a central system... you can prevent individual CMs from abusing the info.. and you can prevent an individual guest from making contact with another guest without the supervision of Disney security.

 

[GoofGoof]

I agree, but I have a feeling (a creepy feeling!) that Disney saying it can track someone in any way will not go over very well. Most people won't be bothered with all the details they will just see the Disney is Tracking It's Guests headline and draw their own conclusions. I think the whole tracking thing is a PR nightmare for Disney if it gains traction.

True. Look at this thread and you can see the spectrum of mildly concerned to conspiracy filled paranoia. I think the average guest will probably not really care, but headlines about tracking people will enrage privacy advocates who never intend to step foot in any of the parks blowing it up into a big issue. I don't think Disney will advertise this as a benefit of the bands, but if your kid goes missing you will be very glad it exists. I know I would as a parent. Actually, if they offered a magic band which did nothing at all but enable me to find my kid if they went missing (based on censors throughout the parks) I would have both my kids wearing the bands every visit.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Earlier I stated that I had spoken with less possessed Disney Fans then us. I semi-explained what was probably going to happen. Magic, etc. and also said the the band would have the ability to know where you are in the park, what you are riding, what store you are in and so on. This has been about 10 people so far. People that are familiar with WDW and have been multiple times. Every single one of them, when told about the tracking, responded with a startling "So"! There seems to be little to no concern about it.

I don't know why, but my guess would be that they are in a confined area doing Park related things and they just plain cannot think of any reason to be concerned about it. Oh, and 8 out of 10, on their own said, that would come in handy for finding lost kids, wouldn't it?

The key would be that one would have to know the full name of the lost kid, randomly it wouldn't tell them anything at all.

 

[xdan0920]

I have mentioned the upcoming setup to a number of sane Disney Fans. By sane, I mean they like the place a lot, but you will never find them reading or participating in discussion boards ever. Anyway, there first reaction is one of genuine excitement. They love the idea. Of course, they haven't and probably won't spend a great deal of time over thinking the situation. They think only of how it benefits them, personally and upfront, and not in what sneaky thing Disney is trying to pull over on us. To them it doesn't matter. If they benefit from it then they are in favor. It's too bad we can't all look at stuff in that manner, it would save on ulcer treatments.

I realize I am a few pages behind, but, I conducted a similar survey of my own. And unanimously the answer was, that sounds awful. Don't we already plan enough. Why would I want to wear a wristband all day?

 

[Captain Chaos]

Earlier I stated that I had spoken with less possessed Disney Fans then us. I semi-explained what was probably going to happen. Magic, etc. and also said the the band would have the ability to know where you are in the park, what you are riding, what store you are in and so on. This has been about 10 people so far. People that are familiar with WDW and have been multiple times. Every single one of them, when told about the tracking, responded with a startling "So"! There seems to be little to no concern about it.

I don't know why, but my guess would be that they are in a confined area doing Park related things and they just plain cannot think of any reason to be concerned about it. Oh, and 8 out of 10, on their own said, that would come in handy for finding lost kids, wouldn't it?

The key would be that one would have to know the full name of the lost kid, randomly it wouldn't tell them anything at all.

I have asked 10 of my friends, who are snorting pixie dust on a daily basis (just not forum members) and they all said this sounds horrible and don't like the fact Disney will be tracking them... I venture to say the 10 you know don't speak for the rest of the population of the world..

 

[crispy]

Most people I've talked are not extremely concerned about the privacy aspect (although some are), but most hate the idea of FP+. Of course, I am sure my biased crept in when I discussed it with them.

 

[DonaldDoleWhip]

I realize I am a few pages behind, but, I conducted a similar survey of my own. And unanimously the answer was, that sounds awful. Don't we already plan enough. Why would I want to wear a wristband all day?

Exactly. It's difficult enough having to plan your exact dining itinerary months in advance if you want to eat at certain TS restaurants. Having to plan out every single day of meals, attractions, shows, and character meet & greets simply sounds awful. Of course, the frequent response is that nobody has to participate, just like you don't have to make ADRs...but if you don't make ADRs far enough in advance, you can say goodbye to a meal in Cinderella Castle, 'Ohana, or many other popular restaurants. Likewise, you'll probably be missing out if you don't book your Soarin' or TSM FP in advance, meaning the quality of your experience suffers if you choose to not (or simply can't) schedule every moment of your trip months in advance.

I've had conversations with my friends on this (they're much more neutral on Disney than I am). They think it sounds horrible. Their words: "our daily lives are scheduled and stressful enough."

 

[stlphil]

After reading Tony's letter, if I were "Imagineers like Michel, Josh, Zach, Dylan, Laura, Manuel, Vanessa and Brandon" I'd be looking over my shoulder constantly these days.

 

[asianway]

After reading Tony's letter, if I were "Imagineers like Michel, Josh, Zach, Dylan, Laura, Manuel, Vanessa and Brandon" I'd be looking over my shoulder constantly these days.

What's Brandon done besides the windows?

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

After reading Tony's letter, if I were "Imagineers like Michel, Josh, Zach, Dylan, Laura, Manuel, Vanessa and Brandon" I'd be looking over my shoulder constantly these days.

Yup. It's almost like code for "run away as fast as you can"!

 

[tracyandalex]

Yay, I'm actually here for the witching hour! Let the games begin!

j/k - what Steve said like 50 pages ago!