Disney Alexa in all rooms?

[DonMacGregor]

There are many Marriott properties that had Alexa devices in their rooms when I traveled for work pre-Covid — Irvine CA being one I remember distinctly.

I’ve seen quite a few too. That’s why I commented upthread that Disney is by no means leading this charge and that the majors are already well on their way to implementing a smart room model.

 

[BillPA]

With Disney's crack IT team, smart is not what comes to mind.

 

[chrish2]

Some will find it cool however as someone in tech it's a firm NO to having such device in the room.

Also, feel they missed a trick by not having the hot phrase "Hey Mickey" and it chime back with "you're so fine. You're so fine, you blow my mind".

 

[gharter]

Really? Mine does all the time for Facebook ads! I don’t have Alexa either.

Maybe its because I rarely order or search for things on my smart phone, I do that on my tablet, laptop or desktop.
There, absolutely Google follows that closely and ads will pop up for anything I searched.
I guess, I still a difference between an item that I actively searched for vs something we were talking about.

 

[The Jackal]

Can the wifi even handle this. They had to shut down in park wifi because it was crashing. I mean wifi is already very spotty at resorts.

 

[Sandisw]

Maybe its because I rarely order or search for things on my smart phone, I do that on my tablet, laptop or desktop.
There, absolutely Google follows that closely and ads will pop up for anything I searched.
I guess, I still a difference between an item that I actively searched for vs something we were talking about.

That has to be it! I search all the time on my phone. I do get that some people will be uncomfortable having this in the room.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I don't like these things but then I'm older and see no reason for Alexa. I can look things up just as fast myself.

Even more annoying will be trying to get my husband to actually leave the room instead of constantly playing with the stupid thing. He loves technology.

 

[Chuck S]

I don't like these things but then I'm older and see no reason for Alexa. I can look things up just as fast myself.

Even more annoying will be trying to get my husband to actually leave the room instead of constantly playing with the stupid thing. He loves technology.

LOL..I'm older, too. I love technology. I'm guessing you have WiFi at home? And Amazon Prime? Get him his own Alexa dot for Christmas, they're reasonably priced, and a few contollable lights, if he has his own office/man cave. He'll have fun.

 

[Chuck S]

Can the wifi even handle this. They had to shut down in park wifi because it was crashing. I mean wifi is already very spotty at resorts.

Wait...there's no in park WiFi? And they want us to use our phones for everything? They should have kept the Fast Pass system they had, at least until they upgraded in park WiFi.

 

[Marionnette]

Wait...there's no in park WiFi? And they want us to use our phones for everything? They should have kept the Fast Pass system they had, at least until they upgraded in park WiFi.

They shut it down on Friday but it's been restored since then.

 

[bwang123]

Some will find it cool however as someone in tech it's a firm NO to having such device in the room.

I'm in tech and good with it.

 

[KimMcGowan]

Are folks planning on doing the whole "Hey Alexa, how is my Goldman portfolio performing today?" while getting ready to catch the bus to MK? I get the whole Big Brother thing, but seriously how much of anything important does anyone say in their hotel room at WDW? And anyway, the NSA is listening to everything already anyhow...

I have been laughing at this post for over a day. I keep imagining variations of the following conversation:
Husband: Honey, could you pass me the Visa card with account number 1234 2345 3456 4567?
Wife: Certainly! Don’t forget the CVV changed to 567. Oh, after you buy that new golf club, I think you should contact our Wells Fargo bank, account number 456738790, and make a payment.

 

[SteveH]

I'll just leave this here: Woman finds Amazon has thousands of recordings of her - all from home devices - this is from the Mirror so I have no idea how balanced it is as I'm a yank... none the less this is why people like me unplug these or return them to the front desk if they are in my hotel room. Thankfully this experiment that a few chains did back in around 2017 died out, thus makes me surprised Disney would venture down the path.

 

[bwang123]

I'll just leave this here: Woman finds Amazon has thousands of recordings of her - all from home devices - this is from the Mirror so I have no idea how balanced it is as I'm a yank... none the less this is why people like me unplug these or return them to the front desk if they are in my hotel room. Thankfully this experiment that a few chains did back in around 2017 died out, thus makes me surprised Disney would venture down the path.

all this article says is that the device will record your voice which is known already. it records audio when you use the wake word. i opened mine and its full of me asking what time it is, weather, play a song, not anything personal that i wouldn't input into my phone ,computer or say out loud already.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I do think it has a nice twist and will be useful if it has uniquely Disney Resort things in it. Like if I can ask it "bring me some towels" (which is their example) and 2 minutes later, mousekeeping shows up with towels. Or I can ask it "make me a reservation at Le Cellier at 5pm tonight" and it comes back with "I found you a reservation at 5:15, will that be okay?" or "how long do I have before my bus to Magic Kingdom arrives" and it tells me to be at the bus stop in 15 minutes.

The problem I have is that in my above examples, given Disney's usual, the towels will show up 2 days from now, Le Cellier will be booked for the next 62 days (longer than my trip allows) and the bus will have taken a wrong turn at Poly and got stuck looping the I-4 corridor for the next 3 hours.

But the theory at least sounds good!

 

[Chuck S]

and 2 minutes later, mousekeeping shows up with towels.

You're very optimistic.

 

[DonMacGregor]

You're very optimistic.

Minutes, months, must be a typo....

 

[TiggerBouncy]

You're very optimistic.

Did you read my second paragraph?