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Disney creates the happiest data mine on earth
An image of Disney's NextGen RFID FASTPASS bracelet, also known as a "MagicBand."
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Okay...so how's this for a fantasy? You take the kids to Disney World, or go yourself, and there are no turnstiles to deal with. No epic lines at Space Mountain. And you've got reserved front row seats for the fireworks.
Magic?
No. More like Disney's new MagicBand.
Come spring, visitors to Disney World will be given wristbands with chips that hold credit card numbers, FastPass codes and other personal information, like your child's name and birthdate.
So, for instance, when your little princess meets Snow White, Snow will know her name.
“It’s really Big Brother being brought to the theme park,” says Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services.
And Speigel means that in a good way. He says Disney’s new MagicBands -- which are equipped with radio chips -- will let the company do things the industry has only dreamed of doing.
"It’s enabling Disney to understand, watch, follow, track the guest and then utilize the information -- not only during their visit -- but for future visits during the years to come,” Speigel says.
University of Chicago Prof. Robert Grossman says Disney is using technology that’s not terribly different than what’s on most smart phones these days. He isn’t concerned Disney will abuse this additional data.
"The company has a very good reputation for handling information safely, for having a very rich consumer experience,” he says.
A lot of attention is being paid to the new marketing power these wrist bands will give the company.
But Len Testa, author of the "Unofficial Guide Walt Disney World," says thinks the company is taking the longer view.
“If you go stand in one of the lines at Walt Disney World, everyone is looking at their cell phones,” he says.
Testa says if Disney wants to be relevant in today’s digital, interactive world --- Mickey better know kids' names.
Tech’s potential invasion and abuse of personal privacy tends to disappear and reappear on society’s conscious like an irking fear that just won’t leave for good. Is this unsettling fear a justified anxiety or exaggerated phobia? We cringe at every reminder that Google and Facebook market our personal searches and statistics for selling personalized advertisements (See 2010 WSJ Article where even Google execs argued over the morality of targeted ads http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870330970457541355385185402...), and we gasp anew every time some (let’s call it) shocking new tech-privacy conspiracy comes to our attention.
Why do we continue to be surprised? A recent New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/29/technology/mobile-apps-have-a-ravenous...) points out a survey by an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University proposing that the large majority of the billion people who have purchased Angry Birds, one of the most popular apps in the world today, are unaware that it stores their locations to sell targeted advertisements. Once some users learned this, they deleted the app immediately.
How worried should we be? The article explains that technology markets have been moving faster than the pace at which existing privacy protection laws can keep up. Most mobile apps are loosely regulated, and legal revision drafts that regulate mobile app data collection more strictly aren’t expected until later this year, at the earliest. (The exception being, interestingly, children’s privacy protection laws, for whom an amendment is expected shortly. See article here: http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/19/tech/childrens-online-privacy-rules/index....)
Despite the growth of privacy policies that apps across the board are beginning to voluntarily include, many apps don’t clearly convey to users why they collect the information that they do. It matters when we don’t know what our information is being used for, because it reinforces that the very technology that we rely upon is not exempt from being an unreliable source. For example, targeted advertisements on websites like Google can be harmless, but targeted search results on Google, travel websites, and beyond can also be incredibly unfair when they present different products, price points, and inconsistent, potentially misleading views of reality (See Orbitz for Mac users example from WSJ here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230445860457748882266732588...).
When Disney uses an app or magical wristband to tell me the wait time on a park ride, give me a paperless FASTPASS, serve as my credit card and dinner reservation assistant, or help Mickey know my name, of course that sounds like a delightful convenience. They’re making it easier for me to stay at the park longer and spend more money… good for them. And so what if Disney is exploiting convenience to better sell, not outside ads, but itself (marketing its food, merchandise, and, yes, affiliates) to those who’ve already bought into the experience, anyway? Sounds harmless, no? Perhaps part of my cringing, then, is an anticipation of inabilities to exercise impulse control (e.g., leaving the park earlier and spending less) as a MagicBand consumer. If, however, Disney uses the app information to obscure my perception of available FASTPASS times, dinner location reservation availabilities, or other theme-park options, because they think they’re appropriately targeting me as consumer, that’s when I’ll do more than cringe.
This sounds really good. I have nothing to hide, so the big brother thing doesn’t bother me that much. But what happens if everybody who visits the park buys a MagicBand? I guess it will be first reserved first served? But it's Disney, there'll be plenty of other things to do while you wait.
Ignoring big brother stuff, this could solve the biggest problem - waits for rides. Watch this:
I touch my bracelet to one of 50 get-in-line devices in a lobby area. I'm removed from being in line for anything else, and now I'm in line for this ride. My smartphone (or the ipod touch rented to me with admission) tells me it'll be an hour and 15 minutes until the ride starts. Now I can wander around, buy stuff (!!! for Disney), play non-line games, use bathrooms, e.t.c. while I wait. I'll get a buzz if I go more than a 15 minute walk from the ride, or if the system ever thinks (based on it's estimate of my land speed) that I'll have trouble arriving more than 10 minutes before the ride starts. I get a buzz 25 / 15 minutes before it starts, that says "get to the ride", and brings up lots of side information about the ride (and offers the chance to buy ride-relevant stuff from my phone). I can select options (the equivalent of the photo taken during the roller coaster ride).
And my parents and park security, on their smartphones, have a dynamically updated map of where I am, list of my purchases (and control over them), e.t.c.
Sounds like a win for Disney (less line time = more spending time + happier customers), parents (smarter monitoring tech), and kids.
Not so good for privacy, but it's a pretty nice package in exchange for the price.
I understand how special a little kid would feel that Mickey knew her name. I also see the ease of payment and not carrying passes or tickets. But to me, being tracked 100% through the Disney properties is just greepy. I am not ready for big brother.
