My Disney Experience - Fine Print

[jcb]

Like deadlines, a hazard of m profession, I suppose, is that I read the fine print. So when I updated my "My Disney Experience - Walt Disney World" app on my iPhone I noticed that the "details" included the following statement:

"We've taken steps to improve wait time accuracy - the app now uses location services and Bluetooth technology to help determine the length of standby lines."


Forget tracking visitors by feet, Disney is using guest mobile phones to measure attraction wait times.

(I don't mean to suggest data mining of this nature is all that new. Shops in malls have been known to do use wifi to measure traffic).

 

[OKW Lover]

Interesting. I know we all were aware that Disney would be using Magic Bands for various tracking reasons. I think this is their first use of our phones.

 

[jcb]

If I remember Mike's lectures from a while back, Magic Bands are fairly passive. They have to be somewhat close to a reader. Phones broadcast radio signals all the time. Not surprisingly, the MDE App now wants to use location services even when I'm not using the app. I don't even let Starbucks have that privilege.

I at least have to give Disney some credit. They are up front about tracking phones.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Interesting. It sounds like the method Google uses to determine traffic patterns in Google Maps - tracking phones using location services, right?

 

[Aerin75]

I wonder how it handles a phone with location services off - academic curiosity.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

If you think somewhere your phone isn't being tracked somehow because you turn the option off is fairly naive.

 

[OKW Lover]

If you think somewhere your phone isn't being tracked somehow because you turn the option off is fairly naive.

In order for a cell phone to work at all it needs to tell the nearest cell tower where it is. However, this information only goes to the cell tower provider. Disney wouldn't have access to that info.

 

[GreatLakes]

I wonder how it handles a phone with location services off - academic curiosity.

If location services are off GPS is unavailable from the handset. If Bluetooth is turned on and Disney is using Bluetooth or BLE to track the phone it can still effectively tell them the same thing that GPS would. If WiFi is turned on they can also use signal strength triangulation to track your movement though that will have a lower resolution than BLE or GPS.

 

[Aerin75]

If location services are off GPS is unavailable from the handset. If Bluetooth is turned on and Disney is using Bluetooth or BLE to track the phone it can still effectively tell them the same thing that GPS would. If WiFi is turned on they can also use signal strength triangulation to track your movement though that will have a lower resolution than BLE or GPS.

Thanks! This is not my area of IT expertise, but I like to learn.

 

[RynB11]

I'm not surprised by this. I'm a Hilton Honors member and at some of their properties you can use your phone (with bluetooth powered on) to unlock your room. I was a bit weary at first, but as mentioned, I figured with wifi and cell use, most of this information is probably readily available anyways. But on the upside, I'm all for accurate wait times in any form we can get them.

 

[pjweaver]

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords and their superior computer brains; Just go with the flow and get me another fast pass.

-Exalted Leader of the Church of Disney Science and Flying Spaghetti Monters

 

[GreatLakes]

It isn't only line wait times this technology can be used for either. This is exactly the kind of tech that could be used to find efficiencies in transportation as well. If they aren't testing it already I suspect BLE, WiFi, and RFID readers will be all over the bus stop areas soon enough.

 

[OKW Lover]

This is exactly the kind of tech that could be used to find efficiencies in transportation as well. If they aren't testing it already I suspect BLE, WiFi, and RFID readers will be all over the bus stop areas soon enough.

That's a great use of the technology.

 

[disneysteve]

I keep saying they need to just implant the chip in my brain and be done with it.

 

[pjweaver]

I keep saying they need to just implant the chip in my brain and be done with it.

You don't have your chip yet?

 

[disneysteve]

You don't have your chip yet?

Maybe it's because we stay offsite. They haven't caught up with me yet.

 

[Heffalump2761]

they can't get me, I never use my phone on vacation or anywhere else for that matter. Husband always moans he can never reach me cause the battery is flat.

 

[Aerin75]

they can't get me, I never use my phone on vacation or anywhere else for that matter. Husband always moans he can never reach me cause the battery is flat.

There's a lot to be said for this