WIRED: If you want to imagine how the world will look in just a few years, once our cell phones become the keepers of both our money and identity, skip Silicon Valley and book a ticket to Orlando. Go to Disney World. Then, reserve a meal at a restaurant called Be Our Guest, using the Disney World app to order your food in advance.
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It's really interesting to read about the actual process of designing the magic bands, because I knew it involved an entire overhaul of so many of the functions that go on in the park, but I just really hadn't considering the individuals that would have to be pioneering all of the functions of the bands themselves. I also can't even begin to imagine the dissent that would be brewing amongst employees who knew about the plan but also were a bit suspicious about whether or not the plan was actually going to work. The bands just kind of slowly became integrated to the system without a hitch, at least from a park visitors perspective. I'm sure behind the scenes it was an absolute mess, particularly on the initial launch days of the bands. At what point did all of the systems switch over to using the bands, and at which point did they just start giving them to visitors who bought tickets, who likely didn't know what they were? It's all very interesting, and very secretive, in typical Disney fashion.
I think the MagicBand system is amazing. It makes life so much easier for people at Disney. When you are at a theme park and going on rides you do not want to have to worry about too many things. You would not want to worry about your wallet or tickets falling out of your pocket when you are on a ride, but having the MagicBand with ticket information and having it linked to your credit card. You may not need to worry about having that stuff in your pockets and losing it. The technology behind the restaurants is so cool. People often want to eat relatively quickly so they can get back to the attractions of the park. Taking out the step of waiting for the server to come take your order and figuring out what you want and then waiting for them to make the food for a while saves a lot of time. When the host greets you by name when you walk in, it makes you feel more welcomed and special and that is extremely important to Disney. The MagicBand gives them a lot of information about your location, but not too much for it to be really creepy because it is only a 40 foot radius.
Disney always seems to be leading with magical new technology for the public. I think that the magic wrist band is a great new idea for Disney. Everything about Disney theme parks is geared towards creating a fairy tale magic atmosphere, and using new technology is just another element. I understand that some people are a little put off by it, because it is a tracker and people are getting notifications to your whereabouts, which is concerning. However its really not that far off from our normal technology. Most people carry a cell phone on them everywhere, which can be tracked pretty easily. The way Disney is using the wristbands is all for creating a more magical experience, which I am sure people love. I think Disney is being very smart because it adds more to the experience, and it gets them more money. People invest in the wristbands and get an even better experience and then get to keep the band as a reminder.
This was certainly a long article but it was packed with information both about the magicbands at Disney world, but also Disney philosophies and general ideas about how it is run. Disney is a finely tuned machine and one that is always improving. Disney parks will never be in a state where they are not being improved because imagineers are constantly coming up with ways to make the guest experience better, whether that is with a 1 Billion dollar magic band overhaul or changing the paint color on a building. I have always thought working for Disney resorts would be amazing because the possibilities are endless. It feels as though there is nothing Disney can’t do. With magic bands Disney is pretty much tracking your every move and decision but no one seems to care too much since it makes your experience better. If this technology were to by used in the real world there would be epic uproars (granted that is a different situation), this proves that not only do Imagineers have the freedom to do anything but Disney can pretty much get away with anything.
The beginning of this story when the author is describing the experience of the Be Our guest restaurant reminded me of an experience that is the closest I’ve come to a system like Disney’s magicband. It was a feature of my iPhone that I discovered last spring as I was traveling between my internship and school and trying to find the fastest way to do so as well as just getting a better idea of how long it was actually taking me. I had brought up the pull down notification/reminders/weather screen to see if I needed a coat and instead of the sentence describing the temperature I was expecting I saw a little text block telling me that from my current location it would take about 15 minutes to get to Davis Square (the location of my internship). With out me telling it to or even realizing this was something it was capable of doing my phone had figured out my daily routine and the time it took to get between locations (not google maps time estimate but the time it was actually taking me to make the trip) and placed the information there for me should I ever pa y enough attention to notice it. I found this to be a wonderful feature and wish there was a way to have it give me this information all the time. But going back to the idea of the magicband, I love products like this, I know that some people would find it creepy that Disney can basically follow who ever they want precisely through their park but honestly they could probably do that already through security cameras. All this does is make everyone’s life easier and add a little more magic to the Disney experience.
The first time I went to Disney world with the magic bands was an entirely new experience. Streamlining the guest experience while also managing to come up with a new avenue of merchandise was a stroke of genius. By adding holes along the band, users can attach little crocs-style grommets, which run about 5$ in the theme parks. For a plastic thing to go on another plastic thing. The bands are powered by simple NFC technology, which, to the outside user, must seem like magic, but in reality is just simple chipsets interacting with a main server. Also, the scary part about the bands is the fact that they log your credit card info, for the sake of you being able to make purchases easily. I can imagine a child getting capricious and nabbing my band in the middle of the night and buying as many Olafs as his tiny hands can carry. which is adorable, but expensive. The potential risks of credit card data being on the band is the only thing that always caused me to take pause with the bands, other than that, hands free park entry, ride fastpasses, and dinner reservations on your arm were always a sick novelty.
I don’t really know how I feel about this idea. On the one hand, it’s kind of creepy how the bracelets Disney is proposing can so easily track you and hold so much information about you, like your credit card information. However, as the author states, many of us incorporate technology in our lives that is in actuality really creepy when we really think about it. The overall concepts and ideas behind the bracelets are actually quite innovative that can have effects outside the entertainment industry. Although if the technology in the bracelets was used in the outside world at this moment, many people would be upset. Though if used in the future, after people have gotten used to the concept, this kind of technology could be revolutionary, streamlining everyday life. This is what's so amazing about Disney, the fact that their solutions to problems at theme parks and cruises can eventually be applicable to outside the Disney Corporation.
This is a great idea. It makes vacations to Disney simpler, and gives people more of what they want with their time. I am somewhat amused by the fact that Disney has no red lights, but it makes sense. The pre-ordering at Be Our Guest, which I assume they will extend to other restaurants, makes a lot of sense. I assume the next step would be to make it so the plates come to the table all on their own, with wait staff to check in on customers, but the actual food appearing on plates that magically find your table. I also love the potential for both personalization and accurate data collection. In terms of the personalization, I think one of the coolest things is that you could put which characters your kids want to meet, which would give the ability for the wristband to either alert the parents when a character on the list is nearby, or it could even allow characters to know to go up and say hi to kids who have that character on their wish list. In terms of data collection, Disney can now get a better idea of where people go, how long they spend in line, what routes they take, and how often they get lost. Though, presumably, the wristband could be used to give people accurate directions to where they want to get since it knows where you are in the park. Overall, I’m not sure if I would call these wristbands a bet. They are a thought out, calculated, and well planned decision, with well considered and predicted results.
This article almost says more about the very bizarre and unique rules that Disney operates under than it does about the technology of a bracelet that, in all honesty, could have been invented years ago (RFID tags have been around for years, it’s all about the R&D for the network Disney now uses). The way that the article presents the concept makes the whole ordeal seem a little eerie, what with naming the family the Tanners and all the other oddly specific details you’d carry in your bracelet around the park every day. I’m not so sure that an experience like this is the future, because as the article pointed out, all of the technology exists on your phone already. Disney has invested money on creating the bracelet, I’m assuming because they want to have a lot of control over the nature of the device, and they want to create a physical object which they can present as ‘part of the magic’, but the real system we should be looking to is the network of sensors that help provide services. If those are focused on, they might be able to be used in the theatre, to order a drink during your show for intermission on an extremely dark screen built into the seat, to browse a season catalogue, purchase tickets, request an usher, etc. Those services are all I can come up with, and some seem like they might be intrusive to the performance, so who knows how this kind of technology can effect traditional theatre? Maybe in a more experiential and participatory performance (as Disney’s theme parks are essentially experiential and participatory performances to some degree), there will be a use for these wristbands.
This is a classic example of Disney, the design, for all its technological complexity, just works. I love seeing the work that Disney does in their parks because it is never a half assed launch they are planning to upgrade later. They do all the work up front so that when something goes live it isn’t just a gimmick like so much of the other wearables market. They control the whole ecosystem so while apple pay or android pay are still struggling to make it out into the consumer market in order to be used by the apple watch or a slew of other products, in Disneyland it just works. This makes for one of the smoothest ecosystems on the planet and although it may not be the city of the future that Walt Disney imagined it to be Disney certainly points the way to what our future could be.
Working on the Full Monty has been a really cool experience and would have been a great one if not for getting sick the day of our dress rehearsal. That aside however it has been really awesome to see how much Patrick still cares about CMU Drama and the Full Monty in general. I am really glad that I got this opportunity to work with such a talented cast and creative team as a member of their run crew. I really learned a lot from the experience even if I’m a little ready for a long break from the show. The article talks about the collaboration between Patrick and the cast but watching it live is completely different. All of them just get the show and every run it gets a little better, sometimes by little tweaks from Patrick and sometimes because Amanda Jerry somehow managed to find a way to go just a little bit bigger in her Life With Harold solo.
I actually really want to experience Disney with these Magic Bands. I feel like i've been enjoying the parks in such an analog mode now after hearing the technology used to accommodate. I do have to agree with some thoughts on how it is sort of strange that so much of your personal information can be accessed through a bracelet. Vital information that is shared freely. On the other hand, this sounds really cool. The fact that it has changed the way people experience and enjoy Disney parks just furthers the idea that technology is just going to move forward and on in creating new experiences for the public. Of course there is so much financial gain with this wristband and the fact that people DO want to use them and heighten their experience, just proves that Disney yet again, succeeded with a new idea. It is really great to see what imagineers come up with and the mentality behind their ideas. I can't wait to see what else they come up with.
My first time using the Magic Bands was last summer when I went to visit my boyfriend, who was working there. I was excited to receive them in the mail, but I sort of rolled my eyes at them in an "I know what you're up to" sort of way, having researched them already. Understanding how they work and what their purpose was, I thought, would have ruined the fun and the magic of it. I couldn't be more incorrect. Like the article says, the bands blend in as well as sunburn in the park, and it was really awesome to be able to use them for everything from fastpass rides to getting into the hotel room to receiving our photos at the end of the trip (a pleasant surprise, since we hadn't saved them all ourselves! thank you GPS tracking). There's also something really fun about seeing everyone else with the bands on too. It feels like we're all really together in doing the Disney thing, and I loved that. I love that I have a little token of my trip as well, with my name written on the inside of it. It sits in my desk drawer and reminds me of a magical weekend at Disney that was made so totally carefree by a little piece of technology helping us along the way.
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