I started a thread on the DVC board because keeping track of all the DVC and other perks is a real job -- and we usually wind up finding out or remembering after the fact that we could have done something cheaper or faster. And as the thread has progressed, some others have expressed similar experiences.
So here is an idea whose time is maybe almost here, thanks to the continuing proliferation of handheld mobile devices. For many years, a whole industry in travel books has grown up, with many books now dedicated to WDW. But hauling that around and trying to read it everywhere you go -- or trying to master it all before you go -- is just not in the cards for most people. And for those with Disney Club or Disney Vacation Club, there's even more to keep track of.
So it seems like only a matter of time before innovative travel publishers start putting their material on handheld mobile devices -- such as a pocket PC. The key feature that has to be there is accessibility of the information rapidly and specifically tailored to where I plan to go -- or where in WDW I am right now. I should be able to say we will be in MGM today and will follow roughly this route, and it would suggest things like maybe you want to set up priority seating at this restaurant since you will be in that area about lunch time -- or you can get a 10% Disney Club discount in this shop through the end of this month (which would require that Disney provide Club members with downloadable modules that would work with the software) -- or you are planning to go to MGM but since you are a resort guest you could go an hour early if you went to Animal Kingdom on that day.
The thing should be proactive and extremely well organized. The problem with the overwhelming mass of information now out on websites and in books and in Disney mailings is that it is just too much for most people to assimilate in a way that they will be able to use more than about 5% of it. So just repeating this inaccessible mass on a pocket PC is NOT the answer. The key is in the accessibility and the proactive nature that it would give you.
So there's the idea. Please let me know when you are ready to go to market with it.
(And yes, I think that Disney themselves might do this better than any travel publihser would.)
So here is an idea whose time is maybe almost here, thanks to the continuing proliferation of handheld mobile devices. For many years, a whole industry in travel books has grown up, with many books now dedicated to WDW. But hauling that around and trying to read it everywhere you go -- or trying to master it all before you go -- is just not in the cards for most people. And for those with Disney Club or Disney Vacation Club, there's even more to keep track of.
So it seems like only a matter of time before innovative travel publishers start putting their material on handheld mobile devices -- such as a pocket PC. The key feature that has to be there is accessibility of the information rapidly and specifically tailored to where I plan to go -- or where in WDW I am right now. I should be able to say we will be in MGM today and will follow roughly this route, and it would suggest things like maybe you want to set up priority seating at this restaurant since you will be in that area about lunch time -- or you can get a 10% Disney Club discount in this shop through the end of this month (which would require that Disney provide Club members with downloadable modules that would work with the software) -- or you are planning to go to MGM but since you are a resort guest you could go an hour early if you went to Animal Kingdom on that day.
The thing should be proactive and extremely well organized. The problem with the overwhelming mass of information now out on websites and in books and in Disney mailings is that it is just too much for most people to assimilate in a way that they will be able to use more than about 5% of it. So just repeating this inaccessible mass on a pocket PC is NOT the answer. The key is in the accessibility and the proactive nature that it would give you.
So there's the idea. Please let me know when you are ready to go to market with it.
(And yes, I think that Disney themselves might do this better than any travel publihser would.)
