Spirited News and Observations and Opinions ...

[awoogala]

Is that really true though? Per Disney's own privacy policy, the Disney Family doesn't seem to include any company that they just happen to affiliate with. Maybe it does, but from the published policy:
The Walt Disney Company brands include, among others, the following:

among others. which means they could have another hundred subsidiaries.
actually, according to wikipedia at least 136.
It's a moot point to keep arguing. I see nothing good, and much bad, in all of this, and you are taking an optimistic view.

 

[CTXRover]

among others. which means they could have another hundred subsidiaries.

That's a pretty big "if" if you ask me to lump on third party companies as part of a Walt Disney company brand. I believe the "among others" would include truly Disney affiliated companies not listed such as DreamWorks, Lucas films, Lifetime, among others. Not just companies they contract with, which are truly third party companies. I'd be curious to see how GM or Siemens or GP or coke would like being defined as a "Walt Disney company brand".

That said, I suppose "affiliated entities" in their definition of a family company could be broad, but I truly believe they are taking about Disney branded companies.

 

[Pixiedustmaker]

It will only get more as more details poor out and more people become aware of the database Disney wants to compile.

I've already been approached by several media outlets (REAL ones) with interview requests.

Maybe you mean like that show Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura. I could see you talking to Jesse with your voice altered and face hidden in a shadow:

74: "Jesse . . . you gotta understand this secret database that Disney is building is to sell data to marketers. We've been lied to, they can take our data and do with it whatever they want, this is the opening slavo in repealing the US Constitution."

JV: "But why would a respectable company like Disney try to make money off of data of its theme park guests. What does Disney know about its guests, whether they like Peter Pan versus Winnie the Pooh?"

74: "It goes beyond that Jesse, to the highest levels of the company. They want to break APers like me Jesse, they want to break us by not improving the parks and selling our souls to corporate America."

JV: "But doesn't Disney want to basically sell merchandise, isn't that the point of these new fangled wristbands? Why sell kids email addresses to the Russian Mafia or whoever?"

74: "Iger and his goons have been hinting about this for months, and they watch what we do online, but we will resist them."

JV: "Sorry 74, I've covered Area 51 and other far fetched conspiracies, but this one just doesn't make sense, do you have a personal vendetta against Disney?"

74: "I go there all the time, I want clean parks and new rides, they shouldn't spend money that doesn't go to the loyal guests like me."

 

[CTXRover]

It's a moot point to keep arguing. I see nothing good, and much bad, in all of this, and you are taking an optimistic view.

I didn't think I was being argumentative. It just seems their own published policies differ from some of what's being discussed and i wanted to better understand. I may just be naive and they will change all their privacy policies.

I'm not sure how I feel yet about this whole thing until I see it in action. Could work, could be even, could be a disaster. I don't have any ability to know outside what I read here or elsewhere on the internet. However, I didn't realize that potentially having an optimistic view was a bad thing.

 

[nytimez]

It would be like McDonalds tracking the names of kids who bought Happy Meals and selling their names and Happy Meal interests to marketing, as well as with "data collected in our restaurants of patrons activities." Nobody would really want to buy any of this data, or email lists.

Ha. Wrong.

 

[stevehousse]

Are you also able to load money onto the wrist bands??? That would be a cash cow for sure! At our local indoor waterpark, the complex runs on RFID bands an you are able to load money onto it so your kids or you can buy stuff without havin to hide your wallet from getting wet all the time!

 

[englanddg]

Are you also able to load money onto the wrist bands??? That would be a cash cow for sure! At our local indoor waterpark, the complex runs on RFID bands an you are able to load money onto it so your kids or you can buy stuff without havin to hide your wallet from getting wet all the time!

For what I read, the wristbands can be used for charging the room...but in the same manner as the Key to the World Cards work, where they are charged back to your room.

I agree it would be awesome to put a limited amount of money for kids...instead of having a "able to charge" and "not able to charge" option...

 

[SirLink]

Given that minors will be involved, Disney obviously wants to maintain their sterling reputation with kids, they won't be sending out info about specific kids to anybody, and probably not even homogenized info as it really isn't worth that much to businesses outside of the parks, especially since social media offers so many opportunities for advertising and data mining anyway.

It would be like McDonalds tracking the names of kids who bought Happy Meals and selling their names and Happy Meal interests to marketing, as well as with "data collected in our restaurants of patrons activities." Nobody would really want to buy any of this data, or email lists.

Oh yes they would especially like email lists with names, even more so if they a company has analysed your behaviour and found "oh Johnny only likes to wear Blue t-shirts" so they send you an email with more blue T-shirts in a hope you click the link in your inbox.

When you get further in the hole and start talking about videogames that are played on consoles, especially MS and Sony efforts, they are doing exactly what Disney wants creating a database of your behaviours to sell for favors, like "exclusive products" for their brand - or rather more sinister sell the behaviour to another media corporation...basically you have lost your voice as a Consumer. E.g.You didn't want yet another X-men film to be made ... well you rated all the films 2/5 stars oh you played all the games, you even re-watched 3 of the films... we will produce more X-men films. Or even money!

And going back to your original example, then you have the thing the UK government has wanted to end for a long time marketing of junk food to kids ... your kids will be subject to ... oh well!

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I'm no Wall Street expert, but sometimes the problem isn't with the numbers themselves; rather, it's how the numbers compare to analysts' expectations. So if I were a Disney executive, I'd want to keep quiet about some of the revenue-generating aspects of this new venture, which in turn will keep expectations lower (allowing Disney to exceed expectations if they've correctly predicted internally how NextGen will play out).

Disney's gotta keep some of their tricks up their sleeve (or at least attempt to do so).

Except investors already know Disney is spending a huge chunk of change on this, so they need to talk it up somewhat to keep the stock price up now. Keep the stock price up right now, and hope that the revenue from NextGen comes through to keep it up later.

 

[misterID]

I think you underestimate how much generalized guest data is worth, and furthermore, why Disney would part with data which is proprietary in the sense that it involves details of park operations that Mickey might not necessarily want telegraphed to the outside world.

Disney has been collecting such proprietary data for decades—in the form of daily ride counts, and guest satisfaction surveys, as well as how many plush Poohs are sold over Piglet each year. Ride counts at CBJ, Pooh's sold, dinning reservations at Le Cellier, . . . so much of this data is Disney specific, and has little value for the outside larger marketing world.

NextGen is a game that offers perks. Plain and simple, get guests hooked on making fast pass reservations months ahead of time, and whatever else Disney can cook up. Making the paperwork at the parks smoother is where the money will be made, especially allowing teenagers with RFID bracelets to run amok buying churros and plush Merida dolls.

We all know what you and WDW1974 want (and what the rest of us would like), a couple E Tickets added to each park, and the proverbial fresh coat of paint. Well, slamming NextGen won't make this come any faster as I think NextGen is going to catch on with seasonal guests big time, and the money is already spent.

APers already know how to smooze the system, and they don't like seeing this new group of premium guests getting perks they won't, while having fun doing it. I'm all for everybody being on equal footing, but I've also enjoyed Front of Line Passes and more perks than the vast majority of guests, so I think it is OK to let everybody have a similar sort of fun.

Eventually, though, total ride capacity issues at MK, and other Disney parks, will catch up with Burbank due to steady attendance growth and a relative lack of attractions.

Are you kidding me? Of course that info is profitable. And it's laughable to think Disney would be spending this money in just the hopes of catering to "upscale" in park guests so they can spend more money. I imagine tracking guest behavior and spending habits, putting it all into a database that divides them into demographic-based catergories, from parents, men and women, children, race, etc., to the smallest of details, on this scale, would be very interesting to a great many people/companies.

 

[SirLink]

Are you kidding me? Of course that info is profitable. And it's laughable to think Disney would be spending this money in just the hopes of catering to "upscale" in park guests so they can spend more money. I imagine tracking guest behavior and spending habits, putting it all into a database that divides them into demographic-based catergories, from parents, men and women, children, race, etc., to the smallest of details, on this scale, would be very interesting to a great many people/companies.

Exactly think of tool they could generate, especially if they pull extra data from if you have had reservations for lunch everyday of your holiday and take the info for what you ate and drank and plug that in the profiling system.

Also if you come back for another holiday and it looks you up in the database and keeps gathering extra data entries - and then link all the data points together and make unnatural assumptions based on people consumption habits ...oh...

 

[Cosmic Commando]

"Now I'm paying for something that used to be free AND you are selling info about me? Screw that...I'll be at Gringotts").

Careful, children under 3 can choke on the MAGIC!

 

[alphac2005]

Except investors already know Disney is spending a huge chunk of change on this, so they need to talk it up somewhat to keep the stock price up now. Keep the stock price up right now, and hope that the revenue from NextGen comes through to keep it up later.

On the money. No giving Staggs much credit, but within our giant thread here, I've seen it noted that the focus is on not building new attractions and rolling this out and how this has taken away from those funds to build more. (Personally, I could care less about building more at this point, rather having the product that is there in top notch condition, but anyway....)

What's being missed by a lot of people is that he has to say that to the investors, plain and simple. It's naive to think otherwise. He and the PR machine aren't shielding the cost, as you noted, because it's out there. They've just spend a small fortune on some tech and those investors expect results. They certainly don't want to hear that they're going to spend more money on this and that. Greed says that we (investors) want to make more money and don't want to hear about spending another cent.

It's known quite well in-between the lines and well within those lines to the investment community what this is all about, revenue. That's why Staggs stated such in the NYT interview, which is actually a bold move out of a company that is notorious for masking everything thing as for the betterment of the guest and not the betterment of the company's bottom line.

Now, will essentially having a wristband recoup over a supposed billion dollars in cost, well that's the billion dollar question. Who knows? The easier that you make spending and disconnect people from the reality of actual money, the easier they spend, but.... they need a lot of spending. That's a lot of impulse buys from customers. Plus, you're still having to do a pin at over fifty dollars, so that's where the notion of a heck of a lot of small purchases will have to add up. On the flip side, will they get people who rebel against the system and are quite bothered by what they're doing and when they are there, will they actually spend less?

 

[BigThunderMatt]

That's a lot of impulse buys from customers.

Not to mention there is very little being offered to impulse buy on. Do you know how frequently I impulse buy at Disney? Never. Know how frequently I impulse buy at Wizarding World? Every time I visit. Why? Because its the only Harry Potter related shopping area where I can consistently find unique offerings related to "my" house and they always have something new every time I visit.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Universal has developed over a thousand pieces of Harry Potter merchandise.

 

[asianway]

I'm hoping the CPSMC gets a couple slices with the axe and a new strategy with these layoffs...
A Totoro can dream...

Typical the first thing done when cuts are being contemplated is an automatic hiring freeze to gain some cuts through attrition. Wonder if there's still room for one more...

 

[alphac2005]

Not to mention there is very little being offered to impulse buy on. Do you know how frequently I impulse buy at Disney? Never. Know how frequently I impulse buy at Wizarding World? Every time I visit. Why? Because its the only Harry Potter related shopping area where I can consistently find unique offerings related to "my" house and they always have something new every time I visit.

You don't want the latest "year" items? The guest needs to re-collect the whole line of 2013 stuff. How about Vinylmation? Pins? Same old, same old. When we were last at the Wizarding World, I was really impressed by the merchandise. I even noticed several products from manufacturers that my company deals with either private labeling or creating unique products from their own product line for Universal. It's great stuff and I can't wait to see how it's all expanded with the expansion.

 

[unkadug]

I'm hoping the CPSMC gets a couple slices with the axe and a new strategy with these layoffs...
A Totoro can dream...

What is CPSMC ?

 

[Longhairbear]

On the money. No giving Staggs much credit, but within our giant thread here, I've seen it noted that the focus is on not building new attractions and rolling this out and how this has taken away from those funds to build more. (Personally, I could care less about building more at this point, rather having the product that is there in top notch condition, but anyway....)

What's being missed by a lot of people is that he has to say that to the investors, plain and simple. It's naive to think otherwise. He and the PR machine aren't shielding the cost, as you noted, because it's out there. They've just spend a small fortune on some tech and those investors expect results. They certainly don't want to hear that they're going to spend more money on this and that. Greed says that we (investors) want to make more money and don't want to hear about spending another cent.

It's known quite well in-between the lines and well within those lines to the investment community what this is all about, revenue. That's why Staggs stated such in the NYT interview, which is actually a bold move out of a company that is notorious for masking everything thing as for the betterment of the guest and not the betterment of the company's bottom line.

Now, will essentially having a wristband recoup over a supposed billion dollars in cost, well that's the billion dollar question. Who knows? The easier that you make spending and disconnect people from the reality of actual money, the easier they spend, but.... they need a lot of spending. That's a lot of impulse buys from customers. Plus, you're still having to do a pin at over fifty dollars, so that's where the notion of a heck of a lot of small purchases will have to add up. On the flip side, will they get people who rebel against the system and are quite bothered by what they're doing and when they are there, will they actually spend less?

...and Staggs says building new attractions doesn't cut it anymore.
Welcome to Staggnation at WDW.

 

[danlb_2000]

I think that the big angle of the RF Device is that you can use your credit card wirelessly to buy stuff . . . Obviously, Disney hopes that this will enable impulse shoppers of degrees, and I happen to think it will.

Also, from an operational standpoint it's a benefit to Disney to reduce the amount of actual cash that front line CM have to handle. The more people they can get to pay electronically the better.