How close does Disney track you with magic bands?

[babaganoosh]

A couple situations make me intrigued / surprised / alarmed at how much tracking Disney does of people in the park.

We stayed on property and got magic bands. We went on some rides, like the 7DMT. Got home and got an email offering for me to see my pictures. They had pics of us on space mountain, test track, 7dmt, dinosaur etc.

For some rides, I don't recall bothering to look at pics when getting off the rides if that was offered. and in 2 I DO remember pressing my magic band to the picture's display.

anyone know how they get the seat picture so correct? are there magic band readers in each seat?

And at 1 show - Indiana jones, we used fastpass to get in (it was our first use of FP). we got good seats even with the arena half filled with FP people. I went to a CM just to talk to him saying the place is so full already - is that how FP works? and jokingly ask about a roped off area of seats. He air quotes that those are for VIPs. I lighthearted ask when / if that opens up. He winds up saying come with me and puts me (and I pulled the rest of my party from their seats) into that VIP section.

The next day, I was talking / complaining to guest services about problems with fast pass and park hopping that we were experiencing. she was typing on the PC and said 'you used FP yesterday for Indiana Jones'. I shrugged that off - it didn't seem like faster / better than standby - it was pretty full already. and she said something but you got VIP seats. Not sure if she meant getting in early gets you better seats. or saw notes how we got moved to the VIP seats.

Do CM have magic band readers and by walking with him, he could pick up our bands then logged that he moved the person with that magic band into the VIP seats?!

a bit scary they watch people that closely. And frustrating when I think how close the band has to be to the admission 'turnstile' / guest bedroom / pay system?

Anyone know backstage details of this?

 

[prudence64]

It doesn't need to be held to a reader for them to know you are on a ride and produce a photo, so there must be some sort of GPS type thing attached to it. The readers are to sync it with your scheduled plan/tickets but they must be able to track them otherwise.

 

[HollieS]

I was under the impression they used facial recognition software like cruise ships do.

 

[mhconley]

A couple situations make me intrigued / surprised / alarmed at how much tracking Disney does of people in the park.

We stayed on property and got magic bands. We went on some rides, like the 7DMT. Got home and got an email offering for me to see my pictures. They had pics of us on space mountain, test track, 7dmt, dinosaur etc.

For some rides, I don't recall bothering to look at pics when getting off the rides if that was offered. and in 2 I DO remember pressing my magic band to the picture's display.

anyone know how they get the seat picture so correct? are there magic band readers in each seat?

And at 1 show - Indiana jones, we used fastpass to get in (it was our first use of FP). we got good seats even with the arena half filled with FP people. I went to a CM just to talk to him saying the place is so full already - is that how FP works? and jokingly ask about a roped off area of seats. He air quotes that those are for VIPs. I lighthearted ask when / if that opens up. He winds up saying come with me and puts me (and I pulled the rest of my party from their seats) into that VIP section.

The next day, I was talking / complaining to guest services about problems with fast pass and park hopping that we were experiencing. she was typing on the PC and said 'you used FP yesterday for Indiana Jones'. I shrugged that off - it didn't seem like faster / better than standby - it was pretty full already. and she said something but you got VIP seats. Not sure if she meant getting in early gets you better seats. or saw notes how we got moved to the VIP seats.

Do CM have magic band readers and by walking with him, he could pick up our bands then logged that he moved the person with that magic band into the VIP seats?!

a bit scary they watch people that closely. And frustrating when I think how close the band has to be to the admission 'turnstile' / guest bedroom / pay system?

Anyone know backstage details of this?

RFID tags like those used in MagicBands typically have read distances of 20-30 feet. Disney requires the touch at the turnstiles, doors and pay points to ensure the device only reads the band touching it. Disney uses very sophisticated face recognition software to match pictures to people / MagicBands. Disney use of technology is on the bleeding edge. That's why there are so many niggling little problems and outages.

Martin

 

[Laketravis]

To a degree sufficient enough to determine exactly what time of day you suddenly get an urge for a Churro and to be able to predict where in the park you'll be so that a cart can suddenly appear.

Seriously, I'm pretty sure they don't currently "track" anyone thru the parks. They collect demographics, for sure, and purchasing patterns and other data. But probably not to any more of an extent than someone who uses a Randall's card or toll-road tag.

At least, not yet.

 

[Laketravis]

It doesn't need to be held to a reader for them to know you are on a ride and produce a photo, so there must be some sort of GPS type thing attached to it. The readers are to sync it with your scheduled plan/tickets but they must be able to track them otherwise.

The bands contain long-range RFID and proximity RFID. The first is good for a few meters, the other only a couple of inches. A battery supplies the power for the long-range (which eventually dies), the reading sensor provides the power for the short range (which never runs out of a power source since it is supplied by the reader).

 

[prudence64]

Also, if you go to BOG they bring your food to you even though you seat yourself so they find you through the bands without ever physically scanning them.

 

[Laketravis]

Also, if you go to BOG they bring your food to you even though you seat yourself so they find you through the bands without ever physically scanning them.

That's actually a pretty cool use of the technology. Look under your table the next time you are there, you'll see the wire coming from the sensor.

 

[erc]

Does your name happen to be Truman Burbank?

 

[MsThumper]

If you request a FP+ for a certain attraction, then the information is in their computer system. Do you think they purge all the information immediately?

Quite frankly, I couldn't care less what information they gather about me for their own purposes while I am on their property. However if they started publishing it for the public to see, I would get upset. When we utilize technology, we often give up much of our privacy. I don't mind giving up some of my privacy when it makes things more convenient for me.

Three out of the last 4 times that we have stayed at a Disney resort, we have received fantastic upgrades on our rooms. I have no doubt that they have information on how often we stay, how much we spend, whether or not we have made any complaints, etc. and maybe sometimes that information works to our advantage.

 

[spiderann]

Does your name happen to be Truman Burbank?

great reference!

 

[IWannaBuildASnowman]

I'm sure they track us far more closely than any of us realize (or would be truly comfortable with if we knew). The information is, I'm sure, used later for crowd control, planning, predictions etc. which I'm OK with if it's anonymized.

 

[Richard M Nixon]

I never understood why there is concern about monitoring. I say it's great to build up a robust data warehouse. Track everyone - adults, kids, CMs. More data means more possibilities.

I'm hoping to see some cool benefits in the future. Imagine being over in Frontierland and you get a text that says 'hey, it's busy over there but there's almost nobody at Space Mountain. We've given you a FP for the next 30 minutes.'. Real-time management of crowds, smoothing of traffic patterns, oh my!

 

[strawberrylilacs]

I personally do not care if Disney tracks my movements while I am on their property. What I do care about is security, especially in this day and age. I am reassured that this helps Disney Security with it's tracking power, in case of an incident. I count on Disney to help protect my family while I am visiting their home. I am not naïve, am realistic, but every bit o security improvement helps.

 

[Laketravis]

I never understood why there is concern about monitoring....

I could see Nixon saying something like that.

 

[Flamingeaux]

They sent me an email and told me I forgot to wash my hands after using the bathroom.

 

[erc]

I'm fine with keeping track of my behavior when I want to be tracked. Especially when it might result in a better personalized experience for me, but sometimes I don't want my behavior to be part of my "profile". Sometimes I can't resist clicking on that article about Kate Upton's "Wardrobe Malfunction". But that doesn't mean I want to be inundated with Kate Upton or wardrobe malfunction articles when I am browsing the web.

The cards provide only the close-proximity sensors, so anyone can choose to forego the bands if they are worried about too much long-range tracking in the parks.

 

[chartle]

The only slightly odd thing in your post is the VIP seating thing. It is possible they had the long readers in that section. Possible they have the long range readers in every section.

But even before Magic Bands they tracked all sales that were put on your room charge and what and when you got FPs. They didn't know if you used it but knew you got one.

I once got VIP seating for FOLK walked in made eye contact with the CM seating our section and she asked how many and sat us in the front row. We could have reached out and touched the dancers.

 

[kay1864]

I'm sure they track us far more closely than any of us realize (or would be truly comfortable with if we knew). The information is, I'm sure, used later for crowd control, planning, predictions etc. which I'm OK with if it's anonymized.

This kind of info is actually not very useful for crowd control and planning, especially considering the minority of people using MBs. All available evidence is that the long-range sensors in the parks are used only for PhotoPass/Memory Maker on photo-equipped rides.

I suspect crowd control is achieved with cameras and smart technology that can "count" density in various areas around the parks. It is known that there are CMs in the utilidors that direct resources (and open up lines, etc.) in response to crowded/not crowded conditions.

 

[kay1864]

They sent me an email and told me I forgot to wash my hands after using the bathroom.

You'll never get a decent FP time again.