Magic bands testing late next week!

[finedice]

Some may look upon these new wrist trinkets as generators
of something that can be exploited to unimaginable heights of irresistible sales opportunities.

I see them as generating yet another form of irritating, unwanted (and easily resisted) sales spam.

Unsolicited ads "targeted" to me?
Nothing new.

I ignore cold sales offers now, I can ignore them in the future.

When I WANT to purchase something, I know how to search and find it.

As far as finding out how I spend my time at the parks...
That changes according to who goes with me and my mood that day.
Not much gold-mining to be discovered that will translate into
increased sales.

There is so much "blue sky" projections on the part of those designing these systems that I don't see a solid path to much real return on their extravagant investment.

But, if that's their plan, full speed ahead.
My sensors are set to "IGNORE."

I am totally with you there. But it will be effective with A LOT of people. I don't think it will take all that long to realize a return, The "Walt Disney family of companies" is an imense corporation marketing to hundreds of millions of people and tastes. It goes far beyond just the parks. Sheesh, the patents and tech alone could generate incredible revenue.

 

[6packdoesdisney]

I honestly don't really know squat about this, but I agree that targeted marketing via their guest tracking ability is probably Disney's goal.
Some of it will undoubtedly be used for crowd study, capacity studies, etc....
I think it is still several months away from true park wide deployment as this is a huge tech monster that will have LOTS of bugs to work through.
I seriously hope it is NOT rolled out before our visit in June, as I can imagine lots of blips and issues popping up that could cause delays, wasted time, etc....
It is the way of the future and Disney will make gazillions off of this tech.
I really am so not a fan of being tracked.....as humanity continues to lose their privacy in society.
It's like...want to visit Disney...great, but we are going basically spy on your every move and you are going to pay us to do it, too!

 

[Magpie]

I personally LOVE well-targeted marketing.

My grocery store, for instance, tracks all my purchases. Now I only get coupons for things I actually buy. No more throwing away coupons. And I get to use every one!

If Disney can accurately track my interests and buying habits, I'm all for it.

I'm not particularly worried about them "spying" on me, any more than I'm worried there's something nefarious in my grocery store knowing that I buy a lot of yogurt. I know these companies don't have any interest in me as an individual. But I definitely enjoy the illusion of personalized service.

I, for one, welcome our new marketing overlords.

Now, show me some ads for new Duffy outfits!

 

[Karen Elaine]

as others have posted before, FP+ and interactive cues are really just "side effects", and a way to get you to opt in.

So this is the first time I've heard the opinion that Fp+ is just a "side effect" to get guests to opt into Magicband+. I actually find that kind of encouraging because if this is just all about marketing and FP+ is just a "side effect" than maybe Disney will be more likely to be flexible on all the restrictions they are placing on the new fp system.

Unfortunately, I am afraid that Fp+ is also a major part of the plan to increase revenue. You have to wonder why the plan is to offer only three. As others have suggested, it seems likely that only allowing three will give them the option of offering more as the "carrots" to get us to do all kinds of things. When others suggested that Disney may well do away with EMH as well as discounts and free dining and now use additional fp's to entice people to not only stay onsite but at a higher level resort, I thought "no way." But the reality is that additional fp's would be an enticement for me to continue to stay on site even if they did away with EMH and discounts. I can't imagine how unenjoyable our trip will be if we have to spend the majority of our day waiting in stand-by lines. And when you think about it, it's really kind of brilliant. Offering a fp doesn't, for the most part, cost them anything, and if those who seem to be more "in the know" are correct, than Disney isn't making money on EMH so they would save money on operating costs and obviously no room or ticket discounts and no free dining also brings in a lot more revenue. I hope that myself and all others putting this theory out there are wrong, because it all makes me very unhappy.

 

[finedice]

as others have posted before, FP+ and interactive cues are really just "side effects", and a way to get you to opt in.

I suppose what I really meant to say is that the primary focus of NextGen and MDE is the benefit that Disney sees themselves gaining in marketing. I believe that this was the objective when it was dreamed up, and that everything else that goes with the system is "gravy". I do not think FP+ was the goal of the tech when it was first conceptualized, yet it has been "spun" as a positive and beneficial thing for the guest.

 

[Carlyzmom]

So, how will these bands fasten on? I hope it's not something that can fall off easily.

 

[Robo]

So, how will these bands fasten on? I hope it's not something that can fall off easily.

Fall off, no.

 

[linzbear]

Now they can also see what you looked at for a while, which displays you found interesting, what themes attract you, whether you drive or take their busses, if you were willing to wait in line with your daughter for 45 minutes to meet Ariel, whether you spend a lot of time at the pool or not, whether you like to walk around DTD (and which areas), which resorts you like to visit when NOT staying at them, and much, much more.

What? The band isn't a GPS tracker. The 'asset tag' part of the Magic Band can be read at 15ft, and that's about it. Think about retail stores with the huge detectors by the doors. It's the exact same thing with one major difference - the store asset tags have larger antennas.

 

[ManyMinnie]

What? The band isn't a GPS tracker. The 'asset tag' part of the Magic Band can be read at 15ft, and that's about it. Think about retail stores with the huge detectors by the doors. It's the exact same thing with one major difference - the store asset tags have larger antennas.

From what I understand, there will be readers/sensors all over the parks, in order to track movements of people.

 

[mom2rtk]

From what I understand, there will be readers/sensors all over the parks, in order to track movements of people.

That was my first thought. It really does come down to how many readers they have.

 

[bwang123]

That was my first thought. It really does come down to how many readers they have.

They just installed wifi throughout all the parks and those wireless access points can be used to track active RFID tags which the magic bands are supposed to have. So if they have some type of location manager built into the wireless, they can track your movement where there is current coverage. So, Disney already has the infrastruture in place to track your movements and you get free wifi along side it.

Also, if you use your wireless capable device (cell phone, ipad, etc) to connect to their wireless network, if a location manager is implemented, they already have the ability to track your movement through the parks with those types of devices.... no Magic Band required.

Here is a link about active/passive RFID and Cisco's Locaiton Manager. It's technical but contains useful information if you want to know more about the type of technology. I don't know if Disney is using Cisco for wifi but other vendors have the same capability. I have seen many live demos of this equipment and it keeps really accurate historical information of your movements.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Mobility/wifich6.html

What? The band isn't a GPS tracker. The 'asset tag' part of the Magic Band can be read at 15ft, and that's about it. Think about retail stores with the huge detectors by the doors. It's the exact same thing with one major difference - the store asset tags have larger antennas.

15ft is all they need. they already have readers everywhere, they are called wireless access points and people are already using them for free wifi. actually, the store asset tags on product are probably passive and only set off alarms when they move through a stationary reader like at the exits ("chokepoints"). magic bands are active RFID and have longer range.

 

[linzbear]

They just installed wifi throughout all the parks and those wireless access points can be used to track active RFID tags which the magic bands are supposed to have. So if they have some type of location manager built into the wireless, they can track your movement where there is current coverage. So, Disney already has the infrastruture in place to track your movements and you get free wifi along side it.

Also, if you use your wireless capable device (cell phone, ipad, etc) to connect to their wireless network, if a location manager is implemented, they already have the ability to track your movement through the parks with those types of devices.... no Magic Band required.

Here is a link about active/passive RFID and Cisco's Locaiton Manager. It's technical but contains useful information if you want to know more about the type of technology. I don't know if Disney is using Cisco for wifi but other vendors have the same capability. I have seen many live demos of this equipment and it keeps really accurate historical information of your movements.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Mobility/wifich6.html




15ft is all they need. they already have readers everywhere, they are called wireless access points and people are already using them for free wifi.

First, they do not have wireless access points up every 15 ft. Maybe every 100 ft, and even that's pushing it. There would be far too much interference with that many access points up. Second, even active Wi-Fi tracking uses triangulation. They can't tell what product you're looking at because it's not GPS. Third, they will not be tracking and storing every move you make. There is far too much data coming in to do that. Reports on that much data would take weeks to run.

No, what they're doing is when you triangulate to a certain location, you get a text or email with a coupon deal. That you can opt out of. Then they'll increase the number of people in their database that triangulated to that location. You know, kind of like the ride turnstiles that just counted how many people went into the ride? That's the information they're getting and storing, and that's how they'll track crowd movements.

They will not be tracking your every move. That's just conspiracy, and not only is it useless information on a person to person basis, it's just too much information to store daily.

Of course now when I go in May, I'll be checking my WiFi analyzer just to see how many access points are around me as I walk around the parks.

 

[Disneytwinsmom]

Wow! This is alot of "techy" info that is so over my head. i just want the bands with fastpass+ up and running by November!

 

[bwang123]

First, they do not have wireless access points up every 15 ft. Maybe every 100 ft, and even that's pushing it. There would be far too much interference with that many access points up. Second, even active Wi-Fi tracking uses triangulation. They can't tell what product you're looking at because it's not GPS. Third, they will not be tracking and storing every move you make. There is far too much data coming in to do that. Reports on that much data would take weeks to run.

No, what they're doing is when you triangulate to a certain location, you get a text or email with a coupon deal. That you can opt out of. Then they'll increase the number of people in their database that triangulated to that location. You know, kind of like the ride turnstiles that just counted how many people went into the ride? That's the information they're getting and storing, and that's how they'll track crowd movements.

They will not be tracking your every move. That's just conspiracy, and not only is it useless information on a person to person basis, it's just too much information to store daily. Of course now when I go in May, I'll be checking my WiFi analyzer just to see how many access points are around me as I walk around the parks.

yes, the access points may be spaced out every 100ft (most likely quite less) but either way, the wireless signal stretches out past that 100ft and overlaps with signals of multiple access points. Thats how you have seemless coverage as you walk through the park. You don't just get a signal every 100ft as you are indicating. You would just have to be 15ft within a covered area which you obviously do as I can take my phone and walk around the park surfing the web.

You obviously have never been involved in a wireless survey of any kind. The signals have to overlap so it can have full coverage. Yes, there is some interference where the signals overlap but you can use different channels to lower that interferance. And they can track you, look at the Cisco link i posted. I have seen it demos of it at Cisco so it works with a normal wireless coverage.

i am not saying they will have to store your locations but they will defintely be able to tell within a few feet where you are. Disney may not be doing doing this but with what they have installed, they have the capability.

ALso, your statement about having to be GPS to track you is not accurate. It is done with RFID all the time. In the medical field, they track medical equipment with active RFID all the time in hospitals. Some hospitals with lower budgets will only have a certain number of some item and people would hide them in closets so they would have access to them. Well, the hospitals utilized their wireless coverage and active RFID and now they know exactly where the items are. I worked in the Houston medical center and have seen it in action. Now, just replace medical equipment with a person wearing a Magic Band ... same thing.

 

[susanktz]

Fall off, no.

So, how will these bands fasten on? I hope it's not something that can fall off easily.

But are they removable? I hate any kind of bands. Will I be able to take it off when I am in the room or out shopping?

 

[Robo]

1- But are they removable? I hate any kind of bands.

2- Will I be able to take it off when I am in the room or out shopping?

1- Yes.
2- Yes. Although, many guests will likely USE the bands while shopping on DIsney property.
They will work as "touch and pay" as current Resort RFID plastic cards can.