Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[Scuttle]

I think that is the true end game, both with our wonderful government (drop meaningless words like freedom, liberty and justice) and TWDC. I believe that WDW is being used as a sorta test kitchen to further condition people to accept a more restricted/controlled enviornment.

Who would have though that WDW as being used as a communist test bed. Your freaking me out 74. Lol

 

[PhotoDave219]

Here's some information (weird somewhat troubling stuff) related to NGE that has just come into my possession and the source has allowed me to share with just a few slight omissions and edits of mine that in no way change the substance of the material. Here it is ...

<<<

A lot of resources have been directed at overcoming line-of-sight deficiencies or occlusions to gather data within structures. A focus on where in a given store, or structure, a “target” (guest) dwells or hovers appears to be especially important as well as precise geolocation for any “down time” which I understand to mean time not on NGE’s scheduling.

Quasistatic magnetic field technology and investigation is referenced to reduce interference from indoor settings and problems relating to multipath propagation.

While I will stay away from specific surveillance technologies deployed, Disney has specified that its program will include the ability to “radically impact” tracking in part by marrying vision systems with depth sensors. “Characterizing” the image of each individual within a given setting to provide seamless monitoring from outdoor to indoor environs and back is heavily referenced.

The need to target and capture park guest characteristics with a specific focus on guest mobility…in part by “exploiting” the WiFi networking infrastructure “time-of-flight measurements…or precise localization” is incorporated in the NGE project.

There now exists an entire 'division' focused exclusively on data mining and artificial intelligence as well as advancing or adapting materials for both.

New types of biometric identification are cited, some are remarkable if achievable given their stealth nature. Meaning, you will have no notion that you are being ‘scanned and detected’ by this technology. As I've yet to receive confirmation this is actually operational, and it goes into the whole facial recognition discussion, I would rather leave it there for now.

With regard to what some individuals have revisited – the removal of the gates to Pleasure Island and what that signaled, as we have discussed, Walt Disney World now has no gates at its four main gates. The idea at PI was to increase traffic, to encourage the seamless flow from one end of Downtown Disney to the other. Not really a comparison here.

Unless, that is, you see each person passing through that ‘point of entry’ as a data point. And your desire is to measure that flow of data with remarkable precision.

It should also be mentioned that Disney addresses the aim/goal/mandate of NGE to include the forced “migration” of guests from “desirable areas and attractions” to “less popular ” locales.

Moreover, there is a referencing to “limitations on actual resources” that appears to indicate Disney is greatly motivated to strictly govern your experience which could include your exclusion if TWDC determines its limited resources at WDW could be better served by not providing you access. For example, a childless couple in the 45+ demo could be determined to be unworthy or ‘a drain’ on resources when contrasted with the potential of a young family with several additional revenue streams and new data lines for mining.

Known contractors in the sector like Lumidigm and Safran's L-1 Identity Solutions appear to not have the capabilities Disney is requiring for NGE. IQT, through its partners and alliances, is doing work that overlaps if not mirrors many elements NGE.

While I still cannot say if TWDC is both a developer and client, it seems unlikely Disney is riding solo on this given the scope of the technology and the many references to WDW being "the venue" for what are termed 'field experiments' with the same. Also, unlike previous moves, this is not merely a technology upgrade.

Many people might remember that at the last one of those, with the biometric reader installation, Disney used those words. They are not being used today. And, back then, when security concerns were raised, the very company doing the installation, based on the Lumidigm product, said all it would take is selecting an already existing option to capture all of the data that was raising these concerns.

Not very reassuring. Especially as we learn more about the level, the detail of scrutiny our every move seems to warrant.

...

Disney said it wasn't back then. Capturing the data, that is. Now, Disney is saying you (the guests) are "opting in" by wanting to experience their product at WDW. In a model whereby that guest really has no choice but to accept the aim/goal/mandate of NGE. >>>

SO ..... I read this three times. I'm still processing it.

Initial thought is that the New York Times would have a field day with it. "Soon your visit to Walt Disney World may be a tracked field experiment where your every move is logged into a database, according to internal documents...." (Its too late to write a cohesive lede)

The guest experience is being captured, quantified and essentially becoming a giant science experiment. On one hand, thats fascinating as hell, trying to predict guest behavior. On the other? Holy crap, I dont need cameras tracking my every movement.

I am not a data point that will move from easily from a desirable to a less desirable attraction. I do not migrate. (I would describe myself as a casual guest, with little-to-no touring plan or agenda that will likely ride classic high capacity, low intensity rides such as Jungle, Pirates, Mansion, iasw, TTA and COP repeatedly.) I would love to see how this will get guests to actually move off main street during parade fireworks. I know they tried it with Pal Mickey, which IMO was pretty cool. Just too expensive.

Forced Migration? (Mouse-ternment camps? Being held on Stitch until we by our allotted frappachinos?)

My experience will not be governed. Its a theme park for crying out loud. I abide by the stated park rules & dress code and expect to be treated like every other guest, not treated based on what my statistical history says I am.

I have no problem with certain biometric scans - A finger print, for example. If you take the finger print and compare against a registered sex offender, yeah.... thats probably a good idea for a company who's business caters primarily to small children. They are within their rights to do so.

I do have a problem with them using - for example - facial recognition software to determine what stores I go into and creating a buying/spending pattern based on credit card transactions and the name on my annual pass. Or facial recognition software that tracks me through the park, figuring out which rides I go on and building a profile from that.

Closed Circuit cameras are one thing; its private property that caters to children so I have no problem with there being cameras everywhere. I do have a problem with them tracking me.

This is so complex, there's bound to be more thoughts that come to mind. Scary stuff.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I am not sure that will help much. You have no idea how much time I've spent trying to pin things down.

Theres some rather frightning stuff in there. Restricting your experience if you don't meet X criteria?

This is insanely complex. It meshes with a few things Ive heard from friends here and there, especially the "forced migration" part, wherein Disney would text you things to your phone and tell you "hey, short line at XXXX" in some sort of effort to try and lead the crowd there. Only problem is, that is not likely to work.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Red seas.

As opposed to blue ocean?

 

[Black Pearl]

Going to be leaving some comments that I don't want to be tracked or data mined at city hall lol. Suggest everyone else does the same at the least.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

@PhotoDave219 I recall NY Times writing a piece on the crowd control aspect of NGE in 2010 or thereabouts. Keep in mind that said article focused more on the command center qualities of what the crowd control wants to achieve. May have been written by Brooksy, but I can't remember. Will post when found.

Update: Article in question found

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/business/media/28disney.html?_r=0
ORLANDO, Fla. — Deep in the bowels of Walt Disney World, inside an underground bunker called the Disney Operational Command Center, technicians know that you are standing in line and that you are most likely annoyed about it. Their clandestine mission: to get you to the fun faster.

To handle over 30 million annual visitors — many of them during this busiest time of year for the megaresort — Disney World long ago turned the art of crowd control into a science. But the putative Happiest Place on Earth has decided it must figure out how to quicken the pace even more. A cultural shift toward impatience — fed by video games and smartphones — is demanding it, park managers say. To stay relevant to the entertain-me-right-this-second generation, Disney must evolve.

And so it has spent the last year outfitting an underground, nerve center to address that most low-tech of problems, the wait. Located under Cinderella Castle, the new center uses video cameras, computer programs, digital park maps and other whiz-bang tools to spot gridlock before it forms and deploy countermeasures in real time.

In one corner, employees watch flat-screen televisions that depict various attractions in green, yellow and red outlines, with the colors representing wait-time gradations.

If Pirates of the Caribbean, the ride that sends people on a spirited voyage through the Spanish Main, suddenly blinks from green to yellow, the center might respond by alerting managers to launch more boats.

Another option involves dispatching Captain Jack Sparrow or Goofy or one of their pals to the queue to entertain people as they wait. “It’s about being nimble and quickly noticing that, ‘Hey, let’s make sure there is some relief out there for those people,’ ” said Phil Holmes, vice president of the Magic Kingdom, the flagship Disney World park.

What if Fantasyland is swamped with people but adjacent Tomorrowland has plenty of elbow room? The operations center can route a miniparade called “Move it! Shake it! Celebrate It!” into the less-populated pocket to siphon guests in that direction. Other technicians in the command center monitor restaurants, perhaps spotting that additional registers need to be opened or dispatching greeters to hand out menus to people waiting to order.

“These moments add up until they collectively help the entire park,” Mr. Holmes said.

In recent years, according to Disney research, the average Magic Kingdom visitor has had time for only nine rides — out of more than 40 — because of lengthy waits and crowded walkways and restaurants. In the last few months, however, the operations center has managed to make enough nips and tucks to lift that average to 10.

“Control is Disney’s middle name, so they have always been on the cutting edge of this kind of thing,” said Bob Sehlinger, co-author of “The Unofficial Guide: Walt Disney World 2011” and a writer on Disney for Frommers.com. Mr. Sehlinger added, “The challenge is that you only have so many options once the bathtub is full.”

Disney, which is periodically criticized for overreaching in the name of cultural dominance (and profits), does not see any of this monitoring as the slightest bit invasive. Rather, the company regards it as just another part of its efforts to pull every possible lever in the name of a better guest experience.

The primary goal of the command center, as stated by Disney, is to make guests happier — because to increase revenue in its $10.7 billion theme park business, which includes resorts in Paris and Hong Kong, Disney needs its current customers to return more often. “Giving our guests faster and better access to the fun,” said Thomas O. Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, “is at the heart of our investment in technology.”

Disney also wants to raise per-capita spending. “If we can also increase the average number of shop or restaurant visits, that’s a huge win for us,” Mr. Holmes said.

Disney has long been a leader in technological innovation, whether that means inventing cameras to make animated films or creating the audio animatronic robots for the attraction It’s a Small World.

Behind-the-scenes systems — typically kept top secret by the company as it strives to create an environment where things happen as if by magic — are also highly computerized. Ride capacity is determined in part by analyzing hotel reservations, flight bookings and historic attendance data. Satellites provide minute-by-minute weather analysis. A system called FastPass allows people to skip lines for popular rides like the Jungle Cruise.

But the command center reflects how Disney is deepening its reliance on technology as it thinks about adapting decades-old parks, which are primarily built around nostalgia for an America gone by, for 21st century expectations. “It’s not about us needing to keep pace with technological change,” Mr. Staggs said. “We need to set the pace for that kind of change.”

For instance, Disney has been experimenting with smartphones to help guide people more efficiently. Mobile Magic, a $1.99 app, allows visitors to type in “Sleeping Beauty” and receive directions to where that princess (or at least a costumed stand-in) is signing autographs. In the future, typing in “hamburger” might reveal the nearest restaurant with the shortest wait.

Disney has also been adding video games to wait areas. At Space Mountain, 87 game stations now line the queue to keep visitors entertained. (Games, about 90 seconds in length, involve simple things like clearing runways of asteroids). Gaming has also been added to the queue for Soarin’, an Epcot ride that simulates a hang glider flight.

Blogs that watch Disney’s parks have speculated that engineers (“imagineers,” in the company’s parlance) are also looking at bigger ideas, like wristbands that contain information like your name, credit card number and favorite Disney characters. While Disney is keeping a tight lid on specifics, these devices would enable simple transactions like the purchase of souvenirs — just pay by swiping your wristband — as well as more complicated attractions that interact with guests.

“Picture a day where there is memory built into these characters — they will know that they’ve seen you four or five times before and that your name is Bobby,” said Bruce E. Vaughn, chief creative executive at Walt Disney Imagineering. “Those are the kinds of limits that are dissolving so quickly that we can see being able to implement them in the meaningfully near future.”

Dreaming about the future was not something on Mr. Holmes’s mind as he gave a reporter a rare peek behind the Disney operations veil. He had a park to run, and the command center had spotted trouble at the tea cups.

After running smoothly all morning, the spinning Mad Tea Party abruptly stopped meeting precalculated ridership goals. A few minutes later, Mr. Holmes had his answer: a new employee had taken over the ride and was leaving tea cups unloaded.

“In the theme park business these days,” he said, “patience is not always a virtue.”

 

[Longhairbear]

Here's some information (weird somewhat troubling stuff) related to NGE that has just come into my possession and the source has allowed me to share with just a few slight omissions and edits of mine that in no way change the substance of the material. Here it is ...

<<<

A lot of resources have been directed at overcoming line-of-sight deficiencies or occlusions to gather data within structures. A focus on where in a given store, or structure, a “target” (guest) dwells or hovers appears to be especially important as well as precise geolocation for any “down time” which I understand to mean time not on NGE’s scheduling.

Quasistatic magnetic field technology and investigation is referenced to reduce interference from indoor settings and problems relating to multipath propagation.

While I will stay away from specific surveillance technologies deployed, Disney has specified that its program will include the ability to “radically impact” tracking in part by marrying vision systems with depth sensors. “Characterizing” the image of each individual within a given setting to provide seamless monitoring from outdoor to indoor environs and back is heavily referenced.

The need to target and capture park guest characteristics with a specific focus on guest mobility…in part by “exploiting” the WiFi networking infrastructure “time-of-flight measurements…or precise localization” is incorporated in the NGE project.

There now exists an entire 'division' focused exclusively on data mining and artificial intelligence as well as advancing or adapting materials for both.

New types of biometric identification are cited, some are remarkable if achievable given their stealth nature. Meaning, you will have no notion that you are being ‘scanned and detected’ by this technology. As I've yet to receive confirmation this is actually operational, and it goes into the whole facial recognition discussion, I would rather leave it there for now.

With regard to what some individuals have revisited – the removal of the gates to Pleasure Island and what that signaled, as we have discussed, Walt Disney World now has no gates at its four main gates. The idea at PI was to increase traffic, to encourage the seamless flow from one end of Downtown Disney to the other. Not really a comparison here.

Unless, that is, you see each person passing through that ‘point of entry’ as a data point. And your desire is to measure that flow of data with remarkable precision.

It should also be mentioned that Disney addresses the aim/goal/mandate of NGE to include the forced “migration” of guests from “desirable areas and attractions” to “less popular ” locales.

Moreover, there is a referencing to “limitations on actual resources” that appears to indicate Disney is greatly motivated to strictly govern your experience which could include your exclusion if TWDC determines its limited resources at WDW could be better served by not providing you access. For example, a childless couple in the 45+ demo could be determined to be unworthy or ‘a drain’ on resources when contrasted with the potential of a young family with several additional revenue streams and new data lines for mining.

Known contractors in the sector like Lumidigm and Safran's L-1 Identity Solutions appear to not have the capabilities Disney is requiring for NGE. IQT, through its partners and alliances, is doing work that overlaps if not mirrors many elements NGE.

While I still cannot say if TWDC is both a developer and client, it seems unlikely Disney is riding solo on this given the scope of the technology and the many references to WDW being "the venue" for what are termed 'field experiments' with the same. Also, unlike previous moves, this is not merely a technology upgrade.

Many people might remember that at the last one of those, with the biometric reader installation, Disney used those words. They are not being used today. And, back then, when security concerns were raised, the very company doing the installation, based on the Lumidigm product, said all it would take is selecting an already existing option to capture all of the data that was raising these concerns.

Not very reassuring. Especially as we learn more about the level, the detail of scrutiny our every move seems to warrant.

...

Disney said it wasn't back then. Capturing the data, that is. Now, Disney is saying you (the guests) are "opting in" by wanting to experience their product at WDW. In a model whereby that guest really has no choice but to accept the aim/goal/mandate of NGE. >>>

I for one, am a drain on resources, and deemed unworthy. What's going to be interesting, is, if there are many more just like me than they plan on. For instance, I would not be on their NGE scheduling if I went off property. On the other hand, after park closing, they would find me up and awake very late at night, and hanging around my resort. ( we put vodka, or Jack Daniels in our refillable mugs, and drink by the pool).
That scenario "might " work for our needs, if they think I'll spend more money if the parks/resort bars/DTD stay open later.
They will also see we don't get morning coffee, usually, because we brew in villa at our DVC.
DVC membership brings another whole bag of screaming cats. Who cooks, who does not.Where do they get their groceries? That's the type of more detailed info NGE might provide that TWDC might not be too happy with.
I am troubled that my demographic will lead to a lessened experience because of the group I am in. I'm already getting a less value experience already...that is when we go back, it has been 3 years since we vacationed at WDW.
Once we are back, NGE will learn that we buy a balloon every evening, but they won't know why. It's to keep the motion detector on the air conditioning activated so we can sleep.

 

[WDWDad13]

The "bad guy" can easily be a Cast Member (previous or current) trained to use the device. There are also plenty of hackers out there who could figure it out.

There could be a "bad guy" today hacking and getting information on you but that wouldn't play into the nextgen is bad theory

 

[WDWDad13]

I still don't see the big concern but that's just my opinion I understand some have different thoughts on this

You have a Disney account with all your information now (vacation dates, family names, ages of children, dining reservations), you are on surveillance cameras everywhere, and with your cell phone and Internet use, non-Disney tracking is MUCH worse.

Anyone have online accounts, Email, grocery store cards, credit or debit cards, a cell phone or the Internet in general, or how about a GPS? How about things like an Xbox kinect, a laptop tablet or cell phone with a webcam, land line phone, facebook, instagram, etc. the fact is we are tracked and data mined everywhere whether we realize it or not. That doesn't make it ok but if DISNEY wants to do it while I'm just in DISNEY (their area), then I see no problem with that especially if it helps them better plan and develop traffic flow and attractions etc down the road.

For those of us with that nice Disney app with GPS enabled and linked to an online account, they could be doing this today without a wrist band

I personally don't care if they know my family went through the gate and first went to tomorrowland or that there are currently 500 people in the emporium, or I have a fast pass planned for haunted mansion at 1pm. No harm there and I'm not worried about joe bob working at the dumbo ride stalking my daughter because of nextgen.

Now if they were tracking our health records and publicly displaying them on the castle projection show at night I might have more concern but to me this is ok, and data mining is happening WAY more than we realize all around us....Disney is just scratching the surface and only within their parks which I personally think is good for them and good for us down the road. The more data they have on flow within their parks the better

 

[Captain Neo]

What info can companies get from NGE that they can't already get from your Facebook page?

 

[SirLink]

What info can companies get from NGE that they can't already get from your Facebook page?

Behavioral data - that is still a gold mine for selling. Depending on how much of it they can parse/keep secure away from the CM's.

E.g. What colours trigger you to reach for your wallet to spend, can the individual actually know if this is of a "high" quality of food+bev/Merch. etc.

 

[John]

That's pretty much my standpoint. I don't care if you track me, I've got nothing to hide. You want to know where I eat and when I head back to the hotel for a nap? Fine, just build something worthwhile and then you can track me there to your little heart's desire.

See.....here lies the problem. You don't mind them tracking you back to the resort when you decide to take a nap. But you do realize this is just the beginning. Its done in baby steps. By the time you say......whoooooa hold on there......you can track me in the parks but you never said anything about inside my resort room....is my scenario extreme? Five years ago if I would have said that they were going to have you make ride reservations 60 days out you would have said.....I was crazy.

This is a slippery slope. You have nothing to hide? That's not the point. This program and ones like the government (drones) implements is not about catching the bad guy. As mentioned you don't need a billion dollar system to catch shop lifters.

As I said I am going in January and I am bucking the system. I want to see exactly what "opting out" will mean.
I will pay cash for everything. I want to see if Disney deems me a drain on their precious resort. I am the exact childless 45+ demo that was referred to. Guess what? If Disney dosnt want me....there are lots of other vacation destinations that would love to have me.

 

[wogwog]

1984<2013
Wait until they begin to issue you your assigned color of shirt at resort check in you must wear to use your fast passes so even the ground forces disguised as fellow guests will know when you stray off the path they have chosen for you to take. A Hollywood writer should start working on a script.

 

[Longhairbear]

See.....here lies the problem. You don't mind them tracking you back to the resort when you decide to take a nap. But you do realize this is just the beginning. Its done in baby steps. By the time you say......whoooooa hold on there......you can track me in the parks but you never said anything about inside my resort room....is my scenario extreme? Five years ago if I would have said that they were going to have you make ride reservations 60 days out you would have said.....I was crazy.

This is a slippery slope. You have nothing to hide? That's not the point. This program and ones like the government (drones) implements is not about catching the bad guy. As mentioned you don't need a billion dollar system to catch shop lifters.

As I said I am going in January and I am bucking the system. I want to see exactly what "opting out" will mean.
I will pay cash for everything. I want to see if Disney deems me a drain on their precious resort. I am the exact childless 45+ demo that was referred to. Guess what? If Disney dosnt want me....there are lots of other vacation destinations that would love to have me.

If we opt out, do we get a discount?

 

[Darth Sidious]

To me the whole MM+ and FP+ are going to make any future trips to WDW exponentially worse. I don't want to plan my trip 180 days in advance. I already hate ADRs and now they are essentially carrying that model to attractions. I want to be able to stay at any hotel I choose and bounce around to any park I want throughout the day. I want to be able to go back to my room and regroup, eat, shower or hang by the pool and return to a park at night.

Disney doesn't want this but I would bet that most guests do. What are they going to do when they start upsetting guests who were for a long time used to a far superior model? What are they going to do when they continue to raise ticket prices while offering less to the guest. Disney, I know you're trying to build margins but you don't do it by slashing your product and raising its price. While theoretically that does work to raise margins, it also works to drive guests away, thus reducing revenues.

At a fraction of the cost a similarly functioning system could have been made to extract metrics valuable to Disney. Metrics that would lend themselves to making better decisions for the guests in the future. All this while not controlling the guest experience. Metrics can be great but this entire project seems like something that may push guests away from visiting. However, that is all contingent on both how the final implementation ends up and how knowledgable guests actually are on the new system.

 

[alphac2005]

I'd suggest the Guardian as a great place to get news from the USA that isn't reported in the USA.

Just randomly pick nearly any paper from outside the States and you'll get that info.

 

[alphac2005]

Hollywood and big corps in general often put people in positions they have no right to be in. At Disney that could be having a finance guy like Brad Rex become EPCOT VP ... Or a retail guy like Paul Pressler become head of P&R ...or a cable TV guy like Rich Ross become head of TWDS ..or even now, having a financial/strategic planner become head of P&R.

And folks say they want to see Staggs run Disney with nothing to back that up beyond he has kids or some fanbois who find him attractive physically.

Disney has a hell of a track record of putting many that are in over their proverbial heads in top positions. Remember when the studio couldn't attract top-talent because they were so cheap with their wages? I remember the talk was always a combination of being cheap and having people running things that had no business is doing so. Things haven't changed.

While I'm at, you mean unqualified types and then the retreads that make keep going around on the corporate carousel? I've warned friends at HP to watch out because the failure that is Meg Whitman will sooner rather than later make your job go *poof* while her comp is skyhigh and the company continues to spiral.

 

[SJFPKT]

Here's some information (weird somewhat troubling stuff) related to NGE that has just come into my possession and the source has allowed me to share with just a few slight omissions and edits of mine that in no way change the substance of the material. Here it is ...

<<<

A lot of resources have been directed at overcoming line-of-sight deficiencies or occlusions to gather data within structures. A focus on where in a given store, or structure, a “target” (guest) dwells or hovers appears to be especially important as well as precise geolocation for any “down time” which I understand to mean time not on NGE’s scheduling.

Quasistatic magnetic field technology and investigation is referenced to reduce interference from indoor settings and problems relating to multipath propagation.

While I will stay away from specific surveillance technologies deployed, Disney has specified that its program will include the ability to “radically impact” tracking in part by marrying vision systems with depth sensors. “Characterizing” the image of each individual within a given setting to provide seamless monitoring from outdoor to indoor environs and back is heavily referenced.

The need to target and capture park guest characteristics with a specific focus on guest mobility…in part by “exploiting” the WiFi networking infrastructure “time-of-flight measurements…or precise localization” is incorporated in the NGE project.

There now exists an entire 'division' focused exclusively on data mining and artificial intelligence as well as advancing or adapting materials for both.

New types of biometric identification are cited, some are remarkable if achievable given their stealth nature. Meaning, you will have no notion that you are being ‘scanned and detected’ by this technology. As I've yet to receive confirmation this is actually operational, and it goes into the whole facial recognition discussion, I would rather leave it there for now.

With regard to what some individuals have revisited – the removal of the gates to Pleasure Island and what that signaled, as we have discussed, Walt Disney World now has no gates at its four main gates. The idea at PI was to increase traffic, to encourage the seamless flow from one end of Downtown Disney to the other. Not really a comparison here.

Unless, that is, you see each person passing through that ‘point of entry’ as a data point. And your desire is to measure that flow of data with remarkable precision.

It should also be mentioned that Disney addresses the aim/goal/mandate of NGE to include the forced “migration” of guests from “desirable areas and attractions” to “less popular ” locales.

Moreover, there is a referencing to “limitations on actual resources” that appears to indicate Disney is greatly motivated to strictly govern your experience which could include your exclusion if TWDC determines its limited resources at WDW could be better served by not providing you access. For example, a childless couple in the 45+ demo could be determined to be unworthy or ‘a drain’ on resources when contrasted with the potential of a young family with several additional revenue streams and new data lines for mining.

Known contractors in the sector like Lumidigm and Safran's L-1 Identity Solutions appear to not have the capabilities Disney is requiring for NGE. IQT, through its partners and alliances, is doing work that overlaps if not mirrors many elements NGE.

While I still cannot say if TWDC is both a developer and client, it seems unlikely Disney is riding solo on this given the scope of the technology and the many references to WDW being "the venue" for what are termed 'field experiments' with the same. Also, unlike previous moves, this is not merely a technology upgrade.

Many people might remember that at the last one of those, with the biometric reader installation, Disney used those words. They are not being used today. And, back then, when security concerns were raised, the very company doing the installation, based on the Lumidigm product, said all it would take is selecting an already existing option to capture all of the data that was raising these concerns.

Not very reassuring. Especially as we learn more about the level, the detail of scrutiny our every move seems to warrant.

...

Disney said it wasn't back then. Capturing the data, that is. Now, Disney is saying you (the guests) are "opting in" by wanting to experience their product at WDW. In a model whereby that guest really has no choice but to accept the aim/goal/mandate of NGE. >>>

If I am reading this right, and those with more geekiness than I feel free to tell me, they are wanting to use a mesh RFID network or video surveillance with facial recongnition to track people when inside stores. The part that has me questioning this, is they are going to use the existing wifi network. If they are planning that kind of data transfer over their existing wifi network, especially if it is video; first the video quality is going to suck based on reviews of how bad the MK wifi network is and two even if it is just RFID coordinates it is going to bottle neck that whole network. Even something as simple as GPS coordinates time 45,000 is going to kill that network unless they are planning on some major upgrades. I guess they will have to learn that themselves though.

 

[WDWDad13]

See.....here lies the problem. You don't mind them tracking you back to the resort when you decide to take a nap. But you do realize this is just the beginning. Its done in baby steps. By the time you say......whoooooa hold on there......you can track me in the parks but you never said anything about inside my resort room....

I'm sure Disney's evil plan is to know how many times we all go to the bathroom inside our resort rooms... that way they can make more money off of us by selling us dole whip scented toilet paper in an electronic dispenser next to the toilet only activated by our RFID chips in our wristband

 

[WDWDad13]

If I am reading this right, and those with more geekiness than I feel free to tell me, they are wanting to use a mesh RFID network or video surveillance with facial recongnition to track people when inside stores. The part that has me questioning this, is they are going to use the existing wifi network. If they are planning that kind of data transfer over their existing wifi network, especially if it is video; first the video quality is going to suck based on reviews of how bad the MK wifi network is and two even if it is just RFID coordinates it is going to bottle neck that whole network. Even something as simple as GPS coordinates time 45,000 is going to kill that network unless they are planning on some major upgrades. I guess they will have to learn that themselves though.

facial recognition? why would Disney do facial recognition when they could already track us by RFID? besides that is MUCH better (and cheaper) technology than facial recognition software which wouldn't be near as accurate as RFID

I think some of this NextGen news/info is starting to be...well...exaggerated these days especially by those who don't like it. Kinda like that high school rumor that kept being told over and over again by your friends that was totally different than the original story by the time it got to you. lol