Magic Bands - lost children?

[RamieGee]

Just curious, and inspired by a discussions another thread, I was wondering if anyone has heard of Disney using the RFID in the Magic Bands to connect lost children and parents?

When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I visited a Six Flags park with my family of 4 and my cousins (family of 5). At some point plans were made for the fathers to take the 3 big boys to the big roller coasters, and the Moms would take the youngest boy to the kiddie land, and everyone would meet back at the agreed upon spot in 2 hours or so. I most certainly wanted to go with the big boys on the rollercoasters. I said something about needing to go the bathroom, but I guess no one heard me/was paying attention to me, because when I returned, everyone was gone! The fathers assumed I was with the mothers, the mothers assumed I was with the fathers. Anyway, after finding a security guard, I ended up sitting around, bored and angry, in the baby changing/"lost parents' station for about 2 hours until everyone met back up and realized I was with neither group. I was SO MAD. I didn't find "Home Alone" all the funny for years. Terrible, right? (Ironically, I ended up working in that park for 3 summers as a teenager).

Anyway, I was wondering, if I child goes "missing" from their parents, can/does Disney use the Magic Bands to track them or the parents down? Having gone through what I went though, I hope I NEVER need to find out first hand with my two kids! But, although some think the RFIDs are a little "big brother-ish" I wonder if they can be used to increase guest safety in this way?

 

[SeilerBird]

Disney cannot track you with a MB. If you are worried about losing someone then equip them with a cell phone and carry one yourself. Or buy a set of walkie talkies.

 

[wdwrich]

Disney cannot track you with a MB. If you are worried about losing someone then equip them with a cell phone and carry one yourself. Or buy a set of walkie talkies.

No, but if the lost child has a MB, it could be scanned so a CM could identify the family and potentially get a parent's cell phone number from the MDE account.

 

[RamieGee]

I'm not personally concerned with losing anybody, just curious about the technology and its possibilities. I was just thinking that if Disney could use the technology to enhance safety it would be interesting since children "misplace their parents" daily in the parks.

 

[Gracie09]

No, but if the lost child has a MB, it could be scanned so a CM could identify the family and potentially get a parent's cell phone number from the MDE account.

Not all cm have access or the rights to access personal information. A cm at a food stand doesn't have access to your phone number. You would have to find someone with the correct access and have them scan it. The bands don't store any actual data. The fastest way to get reunited is to have your child have your phone number physically on them (temp tattoo or wrist band wtc) then instruct them to go to the nearest cm (assuming they are old enough) and when you realize they are missing go to the nearest cm. more cm have access to cell phones than scanners with the appropriate access. Also take a picture of your kid every day.

 

[wdwrich]

Not all cm have access or the rights to access personal information. A cm at a food stand doesn't have access to your phone number. You would have to find someone with the correct access and have them scan it. The bands don't store any actual data. The fastest way to get reunited is to have your child have your phone number physically on them (temp tattoo or wrist band wtc) then instruct them to go to the nearest cm (assuming they are old enough) and when you realize they are missing go to the nearest cm. more cm have access to cell phones than scanners with the appropriate access. Also take a picture of your kid every day.

Yes, that's why I stated that the information would come from the MDE account. Also, if a particular CM doesn't have a scanner with appropriate access, he/she can certainly get the child to a CM that does.

 

[Gracie09]

Yes, that's why I stated that the information would come from the MDE account. Also, if a particular CM doesn't have a scanner with appropriate access, he/she can certainly get the child to a CM that does.

right but its much more likely that a cm would find another cm with access to a phone in an area close to where the child was found and quickly. Having to find a CM with the appropriate authorization to access personal data through a magic band would take longer and probably require leaving the general vicinity of where the child was lost. If the purpose is to quickly reunite the child with its family I don't see how this is any faster or better than what is currently in place. In fact it seems like it would be slower and cause more issues.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

only way it's going to work in all circumstances is if you get a sharpie and write your cell number on the underside of the kid's band.

 

[wdwrich]

only way it's going to work in all circumstances is if you get a sharpie and write your cell number on the underside of the kid's band.

Perhaps, but the point is that the infrastructure is now in place to make this a workable solution to the lost child scenario in many instances.

 

[kay1864]

Perhaps, but the point is that the infrastructure is now in place to make this a workable solution to the lost child scenario in many instances.

I'd rather depend on the cell number I've written on my child's band, than to depend on a CM having access (or being able to leave their area to find one who does).

 

[wdwrich]

I'd rather depend on the cell number I've written on my child's band, than to depend on a CM having access (or being able to leave their area to find one who does).

Just to be clear- At no time did I state that the magic band link should be the only method for lost child reunification. It's just another tool in the box that could be used since the system is now in place that connects magic bands to the information in MDE. If I were visiting with small children, I'd surely have some sort of identification/phone number on each child in addition to the magic bands.

 

[tesslor]

What about the technology that they use to deliver your food to you at BOG after you seat yourself, or your concessions that you order thru the app that can be delivered to your seat at Fantasmic. Would this technology that can locate you not be able to be used to locate a lost child?

 

[wdwrich]

What about the technology that they use to deliver your food to you at BOG after you seat yourself, or your concessions that you order thru the app that can be delivered to your seat at Fantasmic. Would this technology that can locate you not be able to be used to locate a lost child?

I believe that technology does not depend on magic bands (not all off-site guests would have MBs). Instead, I think it's the "magic rose" they hand you when you enter BOG that transmits your table location.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

I am not sure how many readers Disney has around the parks, but the current magic bands can be picked up at a distance. Yes, Disney could use them in this way if they set up an application to do so and if they had enough readers around the park (not just in ride areas).

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

Disney cannot track you with a MB. If you are worried about losing someone then equip them with a cell phone and carry one yourself. Or buy a set of walkie talkies.

That's not technically correct. They may or may not currently be tracking guests via their MagicBands, and whether they'd want to divulge that information by using it to locate a missing child is another question, but the technology absolutely makes it possible to track the location of the RFID across a net that they could deploy throughout the parks, should they choose to do so (or if they already have done so for marketing purposes).

 

[tesslor]

I believe that technology does not depend on magic bands (not all off-site guests would have MBs). Instead, I think it's the "magic rose" they hand you when you enter BOG that transmits your table location.

My understanding is that now you only get a "magic rose" if you do not have a magic band. Is this incorrect?

 

[jec6613]

That's not technically correct. They may or may not currently be tracking guests via their MagicBands, and whether they'd want to divulge that information by using it to locate a missing child is another question, but the technology absolutely makes it possible to track the location of the RFID across a net that they could deploy throughout the parks, should they choose to do so (or if they already have done so for marketing purposes).

Exactly - they can at least identify the time and location of the last MagicBand scan, which can narrow a search down significantly.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Exactly - they can at least identify the time and location of the last MagicBand scan, which can narrow a search down significantly.

Not just that - they can pick up the RFID signals at a distance. If they have enough readers scattered throughout the park, they could locate the child to within a few feet. That is, if they build an application that would search for and report locations of individual magic bands when necessary.

 

[bumbershoot]

which can narrow a search down significantly.

But there's not going to be a search needed. Lost kids get noticed immediately. Not necessarily initially by CMs, but by other parents. And parents notify CMs (misguided parents take control of the situation and try to help the child directly...horrible idea, one that can get that well-meaning parent yelled at if the kid's parent thinks the situation is other than what it is). And CMs have their long standing, tried and true, methods for uniting kids and parents.


In a situation like the OP, where the parents aren't communicating and didn't think things through enough to make SURE everyone knew where everyone was, even the tried and true methods aren't going to work. So hopefully parents are thinking things through more thoroughly nowadays. But don't rely on phones; I have yet to reliably have my phone work as a phone (as a touring-plan-accessor, sure, but not as a phone) or text-receiver, and even if it did work, I can't hear it at the parks. So unless you have it in hand and have amazing service, who is to say you'd get that call?

Tried and true. Take a picture of your kid on an accessible device each morning so no one has to rely on memory to describe the child that day. When you notice a child missing, if there's one adult, stay put. If there's more than one adult, have one stay put and the other go to the last place you KNOW you had the child. Get CMs involved immediately.

And tell your kids that if they find themselves alone, to find a CM at a cash register (Disney used to sell nametags to guests that looked like real CM nametags...being at a register helps to determine that they are truly CMs) and tell the CMs they don't know where their group is.

And everyone needs to trust the process. And stay calm. Or at least have *one* parent stay calm.

 

[disnut8]

The technology is there to do this. However, many parents might not be comfortable with their cell phone number being accessible on the My Disney Experience. Sure, they can enter it in there but where to cross the line that Parent A wants that number accessible but Parent B doesn't? Also, there are parents who don't want their cell phone number given out and even if Disney said they wouldn't there will be parents who wouldn't feel comfortable with that. Using cell phone numbers outside a person's personal comfort level is like peeling an onion - way too many layers.

And, in my opinion, it's not the kid that is missing, it's the parents. The kid knows exactly where she/he is. And yes, I have had the experience at Disney World. And K Mart. Not a nice feeling.