Tom Staggs Confirms Project of "NextGen" Nature

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I wish youd make up your mind about what you are actually talking about.
The overall project costs are surely whats important in the grand picture.

 

[flavious27]

I wish youd make up your mind about what you are actually talking about.
The overall project costs are surely whats important in the grand picture.

huh? I am disputing the inflated billion dollar price tag that someone on a disney board got from a bus driver. I broke down what some realistic costs would be.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

the point the previous poster made was that development and implementation cost significantly in any new project development so the simplistic idea of lumping in a few bits of hardware hardly constitute much more validity than the figure you mock.

 

[flavious27]

the point the previous poster made was that development and implementation cost significantly in any new project development so the simplistic idea of lumping in a few bits of hardware hardly constitute much more validity than the figure you mock.

And as that poster missed, I already mentioned the an estimated software cost in my estimate. And yes I do mock a figure that is more inflated than a goodyear blimp.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Based on what, apart from your opinion and a component catalogue price list

 

[flavious27]

Based on what, apart from your opinion and a component catalogue price list

My education and background with network management. The hardware costs are at the price points that disney will be charged.

If you could back up the billion dollar figure, I would like to see it.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

So there are no development costs or project implementation?

But other than your price catalogue for parts have you anything to disprove the quoted cost and did you compare that to Disneys list cause Im sure wed all love to see where you got your shopping list information?

 

[GrumpyFan]

True, but I mentioned the cost of the software needed to upgrade the reservations system. The software development won't push the price to a billion dollars.

You completely missed the point about Next Gen being far more than just an upgrade and web/smart phone enablement of Fastpass. Full details of the project haven't been made known to anybody publicly. But, from what has been leaked, they include other things like queueless waiting areas and interactive queues, guest management and crowd control. I know they have filed at least a couple of patents for some of the ideas, one includes an upgrade to busses on demand to do guest on-off counting and then more accurate forecasting for park closing and how many busses will be needed. This might also integrate with some of the RFID technologies rumoured as well. The point is, the rumored billion plus dollars is for R&D of a lot of different ideas and technologies aimed at improving the overall guest experience.

 

[GrumpyFan]

My education and background with network management. The hardware costs are at the price points that disney will be charged.

Education and background aren't relative here since none of us know the full extent of the project scope.

 

[flavious27]

So there are no development costs or project implementation?

But other than your price catalogue for parts have you anything to disprove the quoted cost and did you compare that to Disneys list cause Im sure wed all love to see where you got your shopping list information?

The estimated cost for the server would cover its cost of implementation. The workstation and winmo devices would cost $500 each, 2000 devices would place the cost at a million; though disney would be able to get a volume discount. The cost of readers run from $100 to $1,100, so a million or so would be a fair estimate. Hundred touchscreens at $500 would cost $50k.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I bow to your vastly superior IT knowledge but arent you just listing hardware components, surely the costs are all loaded in the development of the interactive elements and software programming that turns it into something "magical" or are you saying its just a glorified prisoner tagging system?

 

[flavious27]

You completely missed the point about Next Gen being far more than just an upgrade and web/smart phone enablement of Fastpass. Full details of the project haven't been made known to anybody publicly. But, from what has been leaked, they include other things like queueless waiting lines and interactive queues, guest management and crowd control. I know they have filed at least a couple of patents for some of the ideas, one includes an upgrade to busses on demand to do guest on-off counting and then more accurate forecasting for park closing and how many busses will be needed. This might also integrate with some of the RFID technologies rumoured as well. The point is, the rumored billion plus dollars is for R&D of a lot of different ideas and technologies aimed at improving the overall guest experience.

And none of this was mentioned in what stagg mentioned. I estimated what was mentioned, not what blue sky ideas will cost. Disney won't spend hundreds of millions on r&d without a clear roi, if they did then we would had a monorail expansion.

 

[GrumpyFan]

And none of this was mentioned in what stagg mentioned. I estimated what was mentioned, not what blue sky ideas will cost. Disney won't spend hundreds of millions on r&d without a clear roi, if they did then we would had a monorail expansion.

Staggs had maybe three paragraphs of very sketchy and vague details of what they're planning. There were no specific details on how they plan to do it or what would need to change to implement these concepts, so how can you estimate that when you don't have a clue what it entails?

 

[GrumpyFan]

I think there's probably some confusion going on here. It's been reported in the past that Disney is spending over a billion dollars on a project they've internally labeled "Next Generation Experience".

Here's one link to a previous posting about it, there are many more, plus if you Google "Disney Next Generation Experience", you'll find a few more.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=431560&highlight=Generation

 

[flavious27]

I bow to your vastly superior IT knowledge but arent you just listing hardware components, surely the costs are all loaded in the development of the interactive elements and software programming that turns it into something "magical" or are you saying its just a glorified prisoner tagging system?

prisoners are tagged?

if wdw turns into the matrix, then costs will get crazy. Equipping ride vehicles with rfid readers and the ability to check in would be about $2,500; 1200 macbook pro, 130 battery, and 1100 for the reader.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

prisoners are tagged?

.

Yes, tagged and released with movement restrictions, tag tells control where they are. much like some seem to think this program is going to offer.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I have my apprehensions on this like many others on here - but given the amount of money that's being thrown around it does beg the question - when was the last time Disney spent that amount of money on something and there wasn't something positive to take from it. The obvious answer is DCA, but that park at least has a decent attraction lineup.

 

[flavious27]

Staggs had maybe three paragraphs of very sketchy and vague details of what they're planning. There were no specific details on how they plan to do it or what would need to change to implement these concepts, so how can you estimate that when you don't have a clue what it entails?

He mentioned a new way to book reservations, m&g and queues.

 

[flynnibus]

The amount that is going to be spent is not going to be a billion +.

huh? I am disputing the inflated billion dollar price tag that someone on a disney board got from a bus driver. I broke down what some realistic costs would be.

The NextGen initiative - which as been discussed in the community for over a year as being a billion dollar initiative.. including being quoted in the Orlando Sentinel as such - its not some rumor from a CM.

See - http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/bu...-plus-next-generation-technology-project.html

And the stuff Staggs discussed in the Investor's Meeting this week is not the full extent of this initiative - only portions that have come out of this initiative.

NextGen isn't one thing or even a small set of things - its a set of initiatives scoping investment in new technologies to advance Disney's parks and experiences.

You're disputing a point no one is claiming...

 

[TRONorail10]

- Less staff at the front desks of hotels. If I can have my room key in my hand when I get to the hotel, I won't need to stop there. Sucks for those employees, but families with cranky kids, or those who just took a long flight would probably love going right to their room to freshen up/crash/make sweet love/hit the parks/whatever.

Hey guess what, those front desk employees don't give two ____*** about your cranky kids. Most make just above minimum wage and are only nice to you because Disney cast members are forced to be nice to the guests. Wow, you get to go straight to your room at the expense of laying off or forcing a transfer of god knows how many employees. Can't wait to see the day when you tell your kids that you can't even afford to go to Disney World anymore because mommy and daddy lost their jobs to a computer system!