Tom Staggs Confirms Project of "NextGen" Nature

[flavious27]

Although I'm cautiously optimistic about the entire Next Gen project, I have two reservations. First, how does this affect APs and CMs who are staying at hotels but don't have MYW tickets? Second, I'm in the same place as SkipperG: I'm a HUGE tech-geek, but one of my favorite things to do in WDW is switch my iPhone to silent and forget about it. When I stay in a hotel, my laptop or iPad usually stays in a case. I go to WDW as a guest to unplug from everyday stress, not to stay connected to it.

But I'll deal with being tethered to my phone if it means I don't have to run for a TSMM Fastpass at rope drop.

I am a huge techie also and the underpinnings of what would be happening interests me.

 

[AEfx]

I love my toys and gadgets as much as anyone, but I long for the days of our first trips 20 years ago when there were no cell phones in the parks, you didn't need an App to now the wait times, no FastPasses and the 3:00 o'clock parade was at 3:00 o'clock. It didn't matter if you were staying at the Grand Floridian or the Days Inn on I94. The CM's were so kind and there seemed to be more of them than Trash Cans.

It's funny, but I did really enjoy the different Apps at Disneyland. What was great is that since it only takes a few minutes to park hop you could check wait times over at DCA from DL or vice versa. Unlike WDW where park hopping is much more of an effort it was great. They also are done by locals and such who are always updating it - and I found them very accurate.

At WDW, though, I don't see as much usefulness. First, much less attractions per park (well, at least compared to DL itself), park hopping is a bit less spontanieus, and basically if there is a wait on one big ride, most of them are going to have big waits.

Of course, if they do an "official" one, as opposed to the several un-official ones at DL, you risk sending everyone around the park just in time to see everyone else who got alerted to a low-wait time attraction, thereby increasing it's wait. It's like what they talk about in the UG, with the "well only less than 1% of park visitors will be exposed to this touring guide, so it won't cease working because of it", but if Disney is promoting it on maps, etc., it would see a decent amount of use.

Still, I just don't see a *need* for it. So many other things they could spend money on than just rejigging how people go on existing attractions. Those that don't plan still won't plan, this will just feed the people who already plan and they will plan even more - who likely already know when to go to attractions to minimize wait.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

What I dont understand is spending that amount of money when they have dire need of investing in more attractions in two of the parks.

 

[JEANYLASER]

thanks for alot of infomation!

 

[flavious27]

It's funny, but I did really enjoy the different Apps at Disneyland. What was great is that since it only takes a few minutes to park hop you could check wait times over at DCA from DL or vice versa. Unlike WDW where park hopping is much more of an effort it was great. They also are done by locals and such who are always updating it - and I found them very accurate.

At WDW, though, I don't see as much usefulness. First, much less attractions per park (well, at least compared to DL itself), park hopping is a bit less spontanieus, and basically if there is a wait on one big ride, most of them are going to have big waits.

Of course, if they do an "official" one, as opposed to the several un-official ones at DL, you risk sending everyone around the park just in time to see everyone else who got alerted to a low-wait time attraction, thereby increasing it's wait. It's like what they talk about in the UG, with the "well only less than 1% of park visitors will be exposed to this touring guide, so it won't cease working because of it", but if Disney is promoting it on maps, etc., it would see a decent amount of use.

Still, I just don't see a *need* for it. So many other things they could spend money on than just rejigging how people go on existing attractions. Those that don't plan still won't plan, this will just feed the people who already plan and they will plan even more - who likely already know when to go to attractions to minimize wait.

They could implement a system that would send an alert and allow guests to book a FP on their phones based on a profile they submitted. There won't be a mad rush across the whole resort to one ride and it would help to equalize the wait times.

 

[flavious27]

What I dont understand is spending that amount of money when they have dire need of investing in more attractions in two of the parks.

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

 

[jumblue]

Couple thoughts I've had.

Personally I'm one of those go with the flow kind of people. I would not reserve ride times six months in advance. Maybe a couple meals at the really swanky places, but that'd be it.

What catches my interest is the talk about crowd control. Picture this scenario:

You're in Fantasyland, and it's way too crowded. Behind the scenes park management sees this, and sends out the following text or pings an app on your smartphone, "Would you be interested in seeing Soarin' at (reasonable time to accommodate for a monorail ride) and 33% off at the Garden Grill?"

After responding to this, your FP could be updated (as I'm sure this will be moving to a ticket-less system) and maybe they give you a code word ("Walt sent me!") or can show the message on your phone for the meal discount. This enables them to shuffle people around (without having CMs handing out vouchers at peak times). One button press, and they can send however many guests to parts of the world that aren't so populated. I'm sure they'll quickly amass the statistics needed so that they'll have it down to a science.

Wristbands would certainly help with gathering those, as they can easily track how many people actually take them up on that offer (not just by responding to their phone, but by actually walking on to the ride). If there's reservations, they can start to get an idea, at the very least, of who's planning to be in what park and maybe anticipate where to start sending "overflow" guests.

Going to rain? I'm sure they could send out similar messages, stating the inclement weather, and even offer choices for attractions not affected. I could definitely see this as keeping a representative of guest services in your pocket, always at hand with useful information and offering (potentially better) alternatives.

I'm sure this whole reservation system is going to be an add on component of the Magic Your Way ticket. Although, it could be at the level of Park Hopper. My thought when they say "resort differentiation" is it could simply mean differentiating them from the competition, not so much moderates versus deluxe versus value.

I also don't see them turning people away from rides simply because they don't have a reservation. That would not increase guest satisfaction, and void the whole point of updating the queue lines to be interactive. I'm sure as it goes on they'll pin down (probably through soft-openings) exactly what percentage of riders should be FP, RFID/Reservation, and the bulk will be standby.

Of course, this is best implemented using Smartphone technology, though some of it could be done with simple texting ("Send YES to 55555 to accept").

I think part of what they are trying to do is help those people who have no idea what they're in for when they book the trip. This could wake them up to potentially get their feet wet with some research, and if they have their phone on them at the park, the ability to get help right there. I see they implemented some new things on the WDW site for selecting hotels, which makes me think they are really focusing on "ease of use." Which again ties into making a better experience...

 

[Future Ape]

I don't care what "Gen" this project is, booking rides times is lame. "Oh no, I've got to rush out of my lunch quick to make my 12:30 small world appointment!"

 

[WDWGoof07]

I'm not too keen on ride reservations. I'd rather they just keep Fastpass and standby as they are and continue with their work on interactive queues. Otherwise, the rest of this sounds good.

What I dont understand is spending that amount of money when they have dire need of investing in more attractions in two of the parks.

Does the NextGen money come out of the same budget for WDW attractions? I'm not trying to sound argumentative; it's an honest question. As I understand it, NextGen is for all of Disney's parks, which leads me to believe that it is independent of attractions at any given resort.:shrug:

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I'm not too keen on ride reservations. I'd rather they just keep Fastpass and standby as they are and continue with their work on interactive queues. Otherwise, the rest of this sounds good.

Does the NextGen money come out of the same budget for WDW attractions? I'm not trying to sound argumentative; it's an honest question. As I understand it, NextGen is for all of Disney's parks, which leads me to believe that it is independent of attractions at any given resort.:shrug:

Does the billion include implementation? Surely implimentation would be relervant to each park and a capital cost for their budget. Who knows, nor do I care that much to be honest. For Im sure the loyalists will pronounce it the next great thang and those of us who want new experiences will be underwhelmed.

However the point I was making for the hard of thinking was that given the much spouted party line on here that times are tough and money has to be conserved, a project like this seems to be focussed on the wrong things given the level of attractions on offer across WDW and the associated maintenance problems of taking an e-ride down for refurb.

 

[WDWGoof07]

Does the billion include implementation? Surely implimentation would be relervant to each park and a capital cost for their budget. Who knows, nor do I care that much to be honest. For Im sure the loyalists will pronounce it the next great thang and those of us who want new experiences will be underwhelmed.

However the point I was making for the hard of thinking was that given the much spouted party line on here that times are tough and money has to be conserved, a project like this seems to be focussed on the wrong things given the level of attractions on offer across WDW and the associated maintenance problems of taking an e-ride down for refurb.

I suppose that's the billion-dollar question.

 

[ABigBrassBand]

How the hell will this work? Just leaves me confused, really...for die-hard travel junkies this is a dream, but for the everyday customer this might just be the most frustrating thing ever.

 

[Criswell3000]

Maybe they will figure out a way to not have to do your dining reservations six months in advance. Also, if they are keeping track of attendance via RFID, then they would know if someone is on property and if they are likely to make their dining reservation. If they are not there, then they could open up more walk-in spots. I think it would also eliminate double booking. There are a lot of efficiency advantages for both Disney operations and maybe the local guests, if it is used this way.

 

[flavious27]

Does the billion include implementation? Surely implimentation would be relervant to each park and a capital cost for their budget. Who knows, nor do I care that much to be honest. For Im sure the loyalists will pronounce it the next great thang and those of us who want new experiences will be underwhelmed.

However the point I was making for the hard of thinking was that given the much spouted party line on here that times are tough and money has to be conserved, a project like this seems to be focussed on the wrong things given the level of attractions on offer across WDW and the associated maintenance problems of taking an e-ride down for refurb.

Cite your source for the cost, it wasn't in the conference call.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Well can you share the true cost?

 

[paul436]

I just wonder if this will be as "seamless" as Staggs makes it sound.

Nothing, especially an idea as this sounds to be, is going to happen seamlessly. There will always be hiccups whether it be with the new technology (the on-line dining system certainly went through growing pains) or staff unable to understand the new systems right away. In the long run, it will be fine. I do think that some guests (read as those of us who spend a good amount of time on this board) will be rewarded for their advance planning. One potential downside could be to the casual guest who doesn't know about or understand the system. The system will try to be user friendly but look how many questions the dining plan still gets.

 

[flavious27]

Well can you share the true cost?

For a rack of servers, couple thousand workstations and winmo devices, equal amount of rfid readers, hundred touchscreens, updated reservation system, and flash programs for the queues. Not even the apple tax will hike the price up to a billion dollars.

Servers may cost a million, workstations and smartphones would about another million, readers would be a million or more, touchscreens will be about 50k, the updated reservations system would be a million or so depending on if disney does the job from the inside, the same cost would be for the queue system. So that would be a cost of 5 million.

 

[WDW_Princess]

I love the idea. My WDW vacations are planned at least 6 months in advance. I know every detail of every day down to each hour. I am not crazy about it, things get off schedule sometimes and that is okay. I would love to plan my ride, dining and show times in advance. My stress level would drop while on vacation.

Did I mention that I am ?

 

[GrumpyFan]

For a rack of servers, couple thousand workstations and winmo devices, equal amount of rfid readers, hundred touchscreens, updated reservation system, and flash programs for the queues. Not even the apple tax will hike the price up to a billion dollars.

Servers may cost a million, workstations and smartphones would about another million, readers would be a million or more, touchscreens will be about 50k, the updated reservations system would be a million or so depending on if disney does the job from the inside, the same cost would be for the queue system. So that would be a cost of 5 million.

From what little has been exposed of the "Next Generation Experience" project, there's a lot more involved than just an upgrade to Fastpass. They're supposedly looking into many many different areas of visiting the parks and how to enhance that for the guests and drive additional revenue.

It wasn't mentioned, but I suspect the new "command center" for crowd management that was recently publicized has some "Next Generation" backing to it.

Also, I should point out that much of what they're proposing will involve a lot of new software development, systems integration and new interfaces to existing systems to implement in its entirety. It's not as simple as just adding a bunch of servers and remote access devices.

 

[flavious27]

From what little has been exposed of the "Next Generation Experience" project, there's a lot more involved than just an upgrade to Fastpass. They're supposedly looking into many many different areas of visiting the parks and how to enhance that for the guests and drive additional revenue.

It wasn't mentioned, but I suspect the new "command center" for crowd management that was recently publicized has some "Next Generation" backing to it.

Also, I should point out that much of what they're proposing will involve a lot of new software development, systems integration and new interfaces to existing systems to implement in its entirety. It's not as simple as just adding a bunch of servers and remote access devices.

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.