Spirited News and Observations and Opinions ...

[Disneyhead'71]

As I said earlier. If I go to a Disney Park it's cash only. And don't be surprised if my fancy bracelet is found on a squirrel. Since I wouldn't need a pass for regular FastPass anymore, my pass would be in a locker.

I don't actually care about the data mining. I am just a malcontent.

And I hope Disney can track me up at Universal Orlando Resort. Because that is where I'll be. You know for new and exciting attractions.

 

[fillerup]

My goodness, the endless permutations this could lead to.

Imagine driving past the Chevy dealership in your hometown a couple weeks after your WDW vacation and you get a text inviting you in for cookies and punch so you can check out the Camaro you lingered over at Test track.

Or you're looking at a new toilet plunger in Home Depot when you're texted to go to aisle 6 to pick up some Sylvania light bulbs because you watched Illuminations twice in the same week.

It's going to be Magical, absolutely Magical....

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Perhaps Monty your response is more driven by the messenger than the content of the message. But ultimately Disneys drive to have me buy more e wont work as Ill be elsewhere experiencing new less stale things. But having worked in the field untill recently most data mining fails cause no can agree what best to do with it. Even Amazon and Ticketbastard are constantly getting it wrong and they have complete visibility of my purchasing habits.

 

[disney fan 13]

Paranoia and conspiracy theories aside... Who cares?

If Disney targets me for specific advertising based on what I do or don't do in their parks, I still have the option to ignore said advertising. There is no private information being collected that they can't get or glean elsewhere.

I care, and a lot of other people who like their privacy do as well.

 

[flynnibus]

The following links to the current NextGen terms and conditions on the Disney website:

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/media/park-experience-terms-and-conditions.html

That, in turn, links to their generic Privacy Policy, which includes the following:

Yep... I'm not sure what people are so scared of. Their bank, their grocery store, etc have been whoring their customer info all along. Under the guise of 'joint marketing' you can't really opt out anyways.

The ship has already sailed here...

 

[Monty]

With all due respect Monty (you know I luv ya'), I care. I care that my privacy is being invaded, and I care that a place I have enjoyed for many years is basically taking advantage of me while I spend hard-earned money there. And I care that so much money has been invested in this, while attractions that need TLC have been allowed to deteriorate.

I'm at a loss as to where your privacy is being invaded? They can and do keep track of where you spend money and what you buy. They track where you eat, where you stay and virtually everything they can. Yes, this will allow them to do so more efficiently and with more granularity to the data, but the data is and has been being collected for as long as they've run the parks.

If you've had the impression that what you do in a public place is in any way protected by privacy laws, you have been living in a dream world. WDW could assign a CM to following you through the park and manually record everything you do. It wouldn't be as efficient, but they'd get the same information. *Shrug*

 

[Disneyhead'71]

As a news photograher I hear all the time, "you can't take my picture", as they are standing on an Orlando City sidewalk. Well,actually, yes I can. There should be no expectation of privacy in public, and especially when you are a guest on someone else's property. But do you go digging throught guest's suitcases when they are in your home?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

There is no private information being collected that they can't get or glean elsewhere.

Which relates to what I said in post #981. Even the question of how many times you've been before, is asked over the phone during the reservation process.

But that raises another question about what useful information is really gained, sepcifically, as a result of NextGen. It's spending and use of the parks, which sounds great, but who's going to go through millions of unique accounts to determine what useful information really exists? I would think there are ways of tracking avaerage sales figures on items at food and merch locations, but those numbers must have existed before NextGen was created. The same would be true for guest counts at rides.

 

[Nemo14]

I'm at a loss as to where your privacy is being invaded? They can and do keep track of where you spend money and what you buy. They track where you eat, where you stay and virtually everything they can. Yes, this will allow them to do so more efficiently and with more granularity to the data, but the data is and has been being collected for as long as they've run the parks.

If you've had the impression that what you do in a public place is in any way protected by privacy laws, you have been living in a dream world. WDW could assign a CM to following you through the park and manually record everything you do. It wouldn't be as efficient, but they'd get the same information. *Shrug*

I'm not naive enough to think that my life is entirely private, and indeed just posting on an internet forum opens a huge window for others to peek in, but this seems to be really crossing some lines of trust I guess. I'm just not comfortable with it at all.

Now excuse me while I don my tin foil hat and retreat to my cave.

 

[ToTBellHop]

My goodness, the endless permutations this could lead to.

Imagine driving past the Chevy dealership in your hometown a couple weeks after your WDW vacation and you get a text inviting you in for cookies and punch so you can check out the Camaro you lingered over at Test track.

Or you're looking at a new toilet plunger in Home Depot when you're texted to go to aisle 6 to pick up some Sylvania light bulbs because you watched Illuminations twice in the same week.

It's going to be Magical, absolutely Magical....

Well that's a bit extreme. No one will be tracking you once you leave WDW. Personally, I feel most of what they are doing could be legally protected with a statement on park tickets. And there is an implicit opt out...you can opt out of WDW. I, like others, am far more irritated at the thought of what could have occurred in the parks for the fortune they have spent on this. It is sickening how Disney is treating its parks and park guests. WDW used to provide the flagship Disney experience--and they took pride in that fact. Now the parks are just used for some profit and for mining info for other branches of the sprawling company and third parties. Sad and disturbing. Who would have ever thought Universal and Sea World would provide a better product than Disney?

 

[underemployedCricket]

As with any thing garbage in- garbage out.....If you arent selling what i want to buy and arent listening- that data your getting is only on the garbage you are selling and I aint buying- so what do you intend to do with that data-- correct it with survey----when the surveys are skewed so bad that you will never hear anything other than the direction you have already intended on taking it. Where is the blue sky- underneath the garbage.......(yep- I write with run on sentences- dont judge
I wonder if between the lines- there intent is not only to use it for themselves- but to sell the ability to use it to others- flat out lease the technology etc.......how big will the push back be- when over half of the "world" tourists have technologically turned there life over to the virtual world already- with banking, shopping, living thier lives umbillically attached to some device already. I have not liked this since I heard of it- I saw and sensed the dark side no matter how much they tell me- its to make things better for me...to enhance my experience. My pixie dust has gotten particles of rust filtering in-( the magnets will catch it all though once those are installed in the "new next gen" )

If this is reported on- are there ANY reporters out there that actually dig for a story- and not expect it handed to them with no bias attached. Are they willing to data mine this story??? what is the motivation behind it all.


Just my opinion- yours may vary-
I have visited as an adult since 1973- have a wonderful imagination that embraces the magic when it it there-I can and will wear rose colored glasses....but wonder if a hard hat may be a better accessory these days while in the parks.

The monster has too many heads- that want to be fed a different diet- with one stomach that barely tolerate any of it.....and doesnt know the real answer to fixing the stomach ache... and they still want to call it all Disney-

Energize me Disney- dont homogenize me!!!!

.Spirit- I am right there with ya!!!!!!!

 

[Monty]

Perhaps Monty your response is more driven by the messenger than the content of the message. But ultimately Disneys drive to have me buy more e wont work as Ill be elsewhere experiencing new less stale things. But having worked in the field untill recently most data mining fails cause no can agree what best to do with it. Even Amazon and Ticketbastard are constantly getting it wrong and they have complete visibility of my purchasing habits.

The messenger certainly contributes...

I am actually fully in agreement that data mining, as with anything statistical, is only as valid as the people using the data make it and most don't have the ability to use it to any real benefit. It's way too easy to misinterpret the data. As the saying goes, there are lies, damn lies and statistics.

The fact of gathering the data is simply a matter of scope, not substance.

 

[choco choco]

??? What's the context here? This is obviously written external to the company and could have just as easily written by anyone of us with the info we already had. 'Wheres the beef' as they say?


If anything this write up maybe sounds like market analyst coverage ? But the tone sounds off for that too. Maybe even just a reporter writing...

It sounds like it was written by somebody who was trying to write an impressive sounding paper by using a bunch of technical jargon, only to find that there is no technical jargon because there is no content. Ends up being incoherent ramblings like a stoned hippie talking about being "oppressed."

I hope there is more to this, because if not, this is the second poor piece I've read lately by an insider I respect. The other by Mr. Lutz, who wrote a bizarre Monday piece listing a bunch of unconnected complaints he had about the Disney company and then concluding, apropos of nothing, that therefore the Avatar project must be stopped.

 

[Lee]

I'm trying to follow the money.
Can just the booking enhancements and FP+ create enough revenue to justify a nearly $2Billion investment? I doubt it, at least not in the short term.
Do they hope to profit from the sale of the data they accumulate? I would assume so.
How much added revenue will be generated by being able to better target their advertising?

They see a huge pile of money out there that NextGen will allow them access to.
The mystery, to me, is how are they gonna get it.

 

[crispy]

This really bothers me. I know companies data mine all the time, but they seem to be pretty upfront about it. I know Kroger is mining information when they ask me to swipe my Kroger Plus card which is one reason why I choose to shop elsewhere unless I have no choice. Publix and Aldi have what I need and don't require me to swipe a card to get it.

What gets me is that there is more to this than data mining. You don't invest over a billion dollars in something just to get information. We know for certain that that billion dollars was not spent to enhance the guest experience or as a matter of goodwill no matter how much they try to spin it. They are investing a billion dollars because they are expecting a very large return on that investment. The question is how are they expecting to get that return on investment? Why all the secrecy about this? Something is rotten in the State of Denmark, err, Disney.

ETA: Lee posted the same thing (and more coherently) at the same time I did.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I am afraid that with the info they get about me, they will determine I am not a big enough fish to be bothered with.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Yep... I'm not sure what people are so scared of. Their bank, their grocery store, etc have been whoring their customer info all along. Under the guise of 'joint marketing' you can't really opt out anyways.

The ship has already sailed here...

The huge difference is that Disney will require me to carry an active RFID device tracking my every movement, like a released criminal on parole being monitored with an electronic device.

 

[Bolna]

I'm not naive enough to think that my life is entirely private, and indeed just posting on an internet forum opens a huge window for others to peek in, but this seems to be really crossing some lines of trust I guess. I'm just not comfortable with it at all.

Now excuse me while I don my tin foil hat and retreat to my cave.

Here in Germany our supreme court recognizes the "right of informational self-determination" - which is similar, but slightly different from the right to privacy. It emphasises especially the right of every individual to decide for themselves which information they want to keep private and which they give up voluntarily. I think it is especially this element that makes people feel so uncomfortable with what they read: That there should be no opt out. I can't decided which information I want to give up.

I guess I will buy a new bag for my Disney trip - I have seen some that were advertised as "RFID safe" and that's where my Key to the World or wristband will stay in while I am at the park unless I need it for a FP.

 

[xdan0920]

The whole big brother idea is totally irrelevant to me. The real problem here is what an absolutely stunning misappropriation of resources this is.

NextGen is not going to have even a small amount of positive guest impact. In fact, everything we know about it so far looks to be the exact opposite. It is all negative impact. They have spent BILLIONS of dollars, and the only return on investment, for guests, is a worse theme park experience.

And...

Those billions could have been spent so many different ways. Ways that would have improved the resort. Ways that would have improved the guest experience.

"guests"

Not anymore. Just call us customers.

 

[Bolna]

"guests"

Not anymore. Just call us customers.

@ParentsOf4 did even go a step further: Guests are now just considered inventory.

And I agree with everything we already knew and then now this thing (if it really is a valid document - @WDW1974 did add a disclaimer before he tried to post this) it truly shows that using the term "guest" does not mean anything at all anymore.