Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[bubbles1812]

The complaints about having to cross the park and then find return times was brought up by people before the new tools. Just search back posts from below20k or whatever his handle is for prime examples. Petty or not... People were crying over it for how Disney should change fp

Oh I'm well aware if the complaints. I just think most exaggerate the inconvenience. It really isn't that far a walk anywhere, especially at say the MK. Or across Future World. My point was that even accounting for "walking across the park" time, I still save on the time in waiting in the queues. I still get on more rides even with walking to get FPs. Though I suppose I would be considered one of the "pros" in terms of how to manage FP and wait times as a whole. Not trying to brag by any means. Just recognizing that I can see the difficulties others might have.

 

[Goofyernmost]

A couple of thoughts on why or whether the government would be involved in or interested in this project. My gut feeling is that the NSA (or any other government agency) is not directly funding this project. The Chinese government is also not likely to be funding it. Since I have no inside info I can't say I know any of this for sure. Just an opinion based on available info.

To those saying "why would the government care about what I'm doing at WDW" you are missing the point. They wouldn't care. The government's interest would be in the technology not the data. In this case I could see them having interest in the predictive behavior side of the software a lot more than the tracking technology and the bands. The intelligence community is very interested in profiling people and attempting to predict their future behavior. If they had a large database of various behaviors of citizens (maybe say based on phone calls and emails) they would want to be able to analyze the past behaviors of known "bad guys" and attempt to develop a profile. Common actions create a red flag and when someone takes those actions they get added to some kind of watch list or something. The Disney system is likely to have some pretty powerful predictive behavior software that will be using a much larger and more complex data set then has ever been tried in the past. I can't see how the government would not be interested in this.

This could very well be the crux of it. However, I wonder why the Gov. would be interested in buying that technology from Disney. Couldn't they just develop their own and label it as a toilet seat or something to have it slide through the budgeting process?

 

[GoofGoof]

This could very well be the crux of it. However, I wonder why the Gov. would be interested in buying that technology from Disney. Couldn't they just develop their own and label it as a toilet seat or something to have it slide through the budgeting process?

WDW is becoming a giant lab they can't possibly simulate. The government could develop the software on their own but how will they know it works without testing it? That's where I see a lot of the value for the government with WDW.

 

[Nubs70]

A couple of thoughts on why or whether the government would be involved in or interested in this project. My gut feeling is that the NSA (or any other government agency) is not directly funding this project. The Chinese government is also not likely to be funding it. Since I have no inside info I can't say I know any of this for sure. Just an opinion based on available info.

To those saying "why would the government care about what I'm doing at WDW" you are missing the point. They wouldn't care. The government's interest would be in the technology not the data. In this case I could see them having interest in the predictive behavior side of the software a lot more than the tracking technology and the bands. The intelligence community is very interested in profiling people and attempting to predict their future behavior. If they had a large database of various behaviors of citizens (maybe say based on phone calls and emails) they would want to be able to analyze the past behaviors of known "bad guys" and attempt to develop a profile. Common actions create a red flag and when someone takes those actions they get added to some kind of watch list or something. The Disney system is likely to have some pretty powerful predictive behavior software that will be using a much larger and more complex data set then has ever been tried in the past. I can't see how the government would not be interested in this.

Let's look at Facial Recognition (FR) applications. How would FR benefit law enforcement? Using FR to record cash transactions would be of great interest to law enforcement. Using Walter White as an example, would he have made it past season 1 if his cash transactions were recorded. Could Skyler have laundered proceeds through the carwash?

 

[Nubs70]

This could very well be the crux of it. However, I wonder why the Gov. would be interested in buying that technology from Disney. Couldn't they just develop their own and label it as a toilet seat or something to have it slide through the budgeting process?

Depending on the agency involved, there exists budgets that are outside of public or governmental review.

 

[marni1971]

You talk about minimal queuing but if you add the time it takes you to walk from wherever your family happens to be in the park to pick up your Fastpass, return to wherever your family has gotten to, and then go back to Splash in your Fastpass window, you aren't actually saving any "queue time," you're just converting it to "walking back and forth" time.

No, minimal queuing at the attraction.

Perhaps we enjoy walking the park. Perhaps we stay in an adjacent area until the pass is ready. Perhaps we ride the CoP or WEDway (neither of which under the current system needs pre booking I might add) until out Space Mountain Fastpass is valid.

Booking a ten minute time slot for a specific park on a specific day weeks or months in advance is not our idea of fun.

 

[marni1971]

Or you could desire no fp at all to fit your model.

And that would put us at a disadvantage compared to today as in we would have to wait longer at attractions.

And doing so would alienate us from any business plan the pencil pushers have pushed through. We would go elsewhere.

 

[doc_holiday3500]

FP+ is a totally different beast. We're talking weeks and months, not minutes.

I want to choose to ride Splash Mountain an hour or so before actually doing so. With minimal queuing. Not weeks or months in advance.

That's why FP+ is a failure to my family.

This hits the nail on the head for me. My complaint is not the data mining, etc. but rather the loss of FP spontaneity. This is why I hope the FP+ system is tailored to keep an allotment for same day and perhaps even to allow different variances of how many you can get based on which ticket you have.

Other than this I have, thus far, little concern and hope NGE is a success as I like some of the other conveniences. Wouldn't it be nice to decide in tommorowland that you want to ride Splash and are then able to reserve fast passes for your family without marching across the park? I think this would be a plus for Disney as well as guests could then eat, shop, or browse for this lost time spent grabbing fast passes.

 

[Voice of Disney sanity]

Okay I'm the most libertarian don't-trust-the-government wacko you'll ever meet but SERIOUSLY? Why on God's green earth would the feds care that I eat a turkey leg once a year or that I tend to buy XL men's t-shirts and S women's ones?

They don't, they're simply interested in the technology

 

[doc_holiday3500]

And that would put us at a disadvantage compared to today as in we would have to wait longer at attractions.

And doing so would alienate us from any business plan the pencil pushers have pushed through. We would go elsewhere.

That's what doesn't make sense to me. If this system is designed to streamline waits and keep guests in locations where they might spend money I can't imagine this hasn't been thought of.

I may be missing something but do we have ALL the facts yet on how this system will work? As I understand there are still specifics we are waiting to hear.

(on a side note: I finally reached 100 posts - it only took me 9 years)

 

[GoofGoof]

Booking a ten minute time slot for a specific park on a specific day weeks or months in advance is not our idea of fun.

10 minute time slot? Tell me that's not true. I just assumed it would be the same 1 hour window as the current system.

 

[Goofyernmost]

10 minute time slot? Tell me that's not true. I just assumed it would be the same 1 hour window as the current system.

It is!

 

[RSoxNo1]

tell that to every 'monorail expansion' thread poster...

While no one visits disney just for it's efficient 'xyz' - these work as contributing factors to make you enjoy your experience and make you prefer your experience in Disney vs somewhere else.

Yes, but the reason Disney isn't expanding the monorail is because they correctly surmise it won't result in people booking vacations. It might make their vacation better once they're there (and in turn result in more accelerated repeat business), but infrastructure by itself is not a reason to book a vacation.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Yes, but the reason Disney isn't expanding the monorail is because they correctly surmise it won't result in people booking vacations. It might make their vacation better once they're there (and in turn result in more accelerated repeat business), but infrastructure by itself is not a reason to book a vacation.

Which is hilarious, because the only reason WDW exists is because Walt wanted a ginormous space to experiment with...infrastructure.

 

[RSoxNo1]

You talk about minimal queuing but if you add the time it takes you to walk from wherever your family happens to be in the park to pick up your Fastpass, return to wherever your family has gotten to, and then go back to Splash in your Fastpass window, you aren't actually saving any "queue time," you're just converting it to "walking back and forth" time.

Yes, but the benefit of eliminating back tracking is eliminated with the 60 day pre-planning component. You're changing the argument of the "benefits of FP+" to the aspect that we all agree on.

 

[RSoxNo1]

A friend of mine participated in the "Spartan Race" last weekend, and as a component of this he was wearing an RFID enabled device. They were able to film him along the course thanks to this RFID device. As he said, they happened to catch him and his buddy walking and it basically looked like the two of them were taking a nice romantic stroll through the woods. Having said that, I guarantee beyond any shadow of a doubt that the budget for this infrastructure at the Spartan Race was at most 1% of what Disney is spending for Next Gen. So far, I've been more impressed with what they've been able to do at the Spartan Race.

 

[marni1971]

10 minute time slot? Tell me that's not true. I just assumed it would be the same 1 hour window as the current system.

Sorry, by ten minutes I meant an average 5 minute FP line, load, two or three minute attraction, then unload.

As in deciding where and when specifically to dedicate a ten minute part of my vacation well before I arrive. Even before I get plane tickets.

 

[flynnibus]

You talk about minimal queuing but if you add the time it takes you to walk from wherever your family happens to be in the park to pick up your Fastpass, return to wherever your family has gotten to, and then go back to Splash in your Fastpass window, you aren't actually saving any "queue time," you're just converting it to "walking back and forth" time.

That's an extreme... With return times a min of 45nins I doubt anyone hits that break even.... But it is valid to think that time and effort could be used more productively

 

[lazyboy97o]

If you're interested in the possibilities of a technology would you really get overly focused on a company with a poor track record in the field?

 

[flynnibus]

, but infrastructure by itself is not a reason to book a vacation.

When you add 'by itself' you change the discussion and few would disagree with you. But remove that little addition and you get back to the real point - 'it takes a village...' - infrastructure included.