Disney possibly testing RFID wristbands - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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I love this idea--one step closer to completely bag free! The only question I have is how well Disney will be able to integrate the tech. I've got a lot of cards that I carry on a Disney trip: Room key, AP, TiW card, DVC member card and photopass card. Can Disney put it all on my bracelet? I'd really like to see them move to an integrated guest information system like the one used by Ritz Carlton. Ritz stores all kind of info on their travelers and it pops up every time they check in, eat in a restaurant, order room service etc. It lists guest preferences and habbits. For example my file would say that I like a King bed, corner room, drink diet coke and like my steaks rare. I sleep late, so housekeeping should be pushed back to the afternoon. Every time an employee learns something about a guest it is entered into the system.
I love this idea--one step closer to completely bag free! The only question I have is how well Disney will be able to integrate the tech. I've got a lot of cards that I carry on a Disney trip: Room key, AP, TiW card, DVC member card and photopass card. Can Disney put it all on my bracelet? I'd really like to see them move to an integrated guest information system like the one used by Ritz Carlton. Ritz stores all kind of info on their travelers and it pops up every time they check in, eat in a restaurant, order room service etc. It lists guest preferences and habbits. For example my file would say that I like a King bed, corner room, drink diet coke and like my steaks rare. I sleep late, so housekeeping should be pushed back to the afternoon. Every time an employee learns something about a guest it is entered into the system.
I'd really like to see them combine all of my "priveleges" onto the bracelet, otherwise it's pointless for me. If I've got to carry my AP, DVC member card and TIW card, adding a KTTW card and PhotoPass card to my "deck" isn't that much difference. If they can combine my AP, DVC and TIW priveleges to the wristband along with adding room-access, charging and Photopass, I'm all for it.
That was a great "blue sky" presentation! If I were pitching a concept (switching from KTTW cards to wristbands), I'd probably roll all those other goodies in, just to get the coattails or halo effect (the value of association with something else). Essentially, this presentation says, "Wristbands will work with all these other projects we have in the works."
The switch from cards to wristbands is the crux of the presentation. Everything else is window dressing.
Item: RFID chips can be (and are) embedded in standard plastic credit cards. The Disney Dream has the "touch" door locks, so Disney is already using (and field testing) RFID technology as part of KTTW.
Item: Disney Cruise Line is already using RFID bracelets for the kids clubs (Oceaneer Club and Oceaneer Lab).
Item: Technology transitions of this sort are very complex and expensive. For fundamental services (room key, charge card, park admission/FASTPASS) there will be a need to have both new and old technologies in service at the same time (you think they can swap out more than 32,000 hotel room door locks in one night?).
During the transition period it makes far more sense to issue guests a single KTTW card with conventional magnetic stripe plus embedded RFID chip (like the Disney Dream's KTTW cards) than to issue guests both a wristband and a conventional card. After the change-over is complete? Then we might see wristbands, a lapel pin, lanyards (it could be embedded inside the neckstrap), Mouse Ear hats... those chips can be tucked into just about anything and everything. it'll come down to whatever "carrier" tests bests with the guests, and is the most secure from loss/fraud.
And there's one other technology that hasn't been mentioned - bar codes, both conventional bar codes, which are used for DLR's park admission, and QR codes (the square codes), which are being used on the Disney Dream for Mickey's Midship Detective Agency. RFID technology does have the edge, though, because the guest can be identified and scanned without taking out a card at all.
Now, some of the stuff in the presentation goes back to the days of Pal Mickey (remember him?) - a customized guest experience based on radio technologies. Some of this is simply a peek at things that can be implemented in the parks regardless of what technology is used for guest ID. Some do take advantage of the unique properties of the RFID chip.
The real deal, though, is what's not mentioned. The entire presentation focuses on the guest experience, not the impact on park operations. When every guest has an RFID chip, every turnstile can not only count heads, but identify the individuals. They can then use this data to further refine their operations - how many guests ride an attraction once per visit, how many ride several times, how many ride every time they visit the resort, how many ride once and never ride again? With enough RFID scanners in place, they can track the movements of every guest and learn far more about how guests utilize the parks. Do D-23 and DVC members have different tastes than first-time visitors from Georgia? You can spin similar scenarios for many areas of Parks and Resorts operations. Anywhere Disney hides an RFID scanner, they can gather guest-specific information.
Yeah, it can be incredibly "Big Brother," but we can also look on the bright side... If every child has a wristband, it's almost impossible to have a lost child. The scanners around the park will simply zero in on his/her location. Mom and Dad go to any cash register, report their lost child, have their card/wristband scanned, and the system will find the child(ren) that belong to those parents. Lost child is found first? Mom and Dad can be located the very same way.
And one thing not mentioned in the article... The RFID chips that are currently being tested for the refillable mug program.
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Oh, as to the question of integrating all those different systems? They're nearly all integrated today. Anything that uses a KTTW is already part of it. And every system is based on the notion of a unique identifying number. All they have to do is use the same unique identifier for every transaction involving that guest. That number connects Disney's many systems to a master database record that knows all.
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When every guest has an RFID chip, every turnstile can not only count heads, but identify the individuals. They can then use this data to further refine their operations - how many guests ride an attraction once per visit, how many ride several times, how many ride every time they visit the resort, how many ride once and never ride again? With enough RFID scanners in place, they can track the movements of every guest and learn far more about how guests utilize the parks.
Totally spot on, Dave. I thinkTHIS is why Disney would implement this -- it would give them SO much more data!
The switch from cards to wristbands is the crux of the presentation. Everything else is window dressing.
As always, great insights (I look for Dave's posts...they're usually incredibly informative)
But it is a really cool dream. The idea of having technology directly tied to guest accounts trackable and integrated across the parks and resorts is amazing. As Dave pointed out, it's really "Big Brother," but honestly, in the age of FaceBook and Twitter, I'm not that worried about Disney being able to track my activities. Heck, Google probably knows how many times I push the backspace key and whether I'm at work or at the grocery store. And, as pointed out, wearable RFIDs would virtually eliminate lost child problems.
Would I be interested in seeing Disney pursue that kind of technological integration, whether it's with wristbands or a card? Heck yes. As an annual passholder, I would love to have an RFID in a pass that could include my TiW, track my park visits, or even be linked to a credit card that I authorize so that I don't have to take a wallet to the parks.
My curiosity is how far Disney would have to go to implement this across the board. Perhaps it's a false perception, but chatting with folks on the reservation line and in retail stores, it often seems that the front line technology may not always match up with ride standards.
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I had not considered the "lost child/parent" scenerio or the fact that Disney could track a guests activities through the day. The fact that Disney could track me throughout my vacation doesn't bother me, afterall the more data Disney can get the more they can help streamline the customer experience. Besides, they can probably already track me somewhat through my KTTW card and AP.
There are an incredible amount of ways that this tech can be used, I can already come up with a few dozen ideas that haven't been mentioned yet. For example, let's say you "opt in" to let Disney send you texts during your vacation. They could then text you some neat historical facts about attractions you are waiting in line for. They could even text a discount code for the store you are in but that code must be used within the hour, making that impulse buy swing more to the "Ok, I'll buy it" side.
Or, assuming that each chip has that persons cell phone number conected to it, how about calling everyone in a theater 30 seconds after the "Please turn off your cell phone" message call the cell phones attached to the number listed for each chip and have another "I told you to turn off that phone" message for those phones that still went off. (Sorry, that's the stage technician in me....phones going off in theaters are a big pet peeve for us).
I'm looking forward to seeing what Disney might do with this tech. I'll now pay more attention to the ones Dave pointed out that are currently on the Dream when we board in January.
And I failed to note that, because this presentation was entirely focused on benefits to the guest experience... the whole thing could be an intentional leak, to see how we all out here respond.
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I can't wait to find out how much this is going to cost guests.
I would think the cost would be at or near the current (and future expected) cost of Keys to the World cards. In the volume Disney buys things like this per year, the per item cost would be a small percentage of a cent each.
While the cost of living goes up everywhere -- and we can expect our vacation costs to go up accordingly -- this is not a huge investment for Disney, especially not as they seem to have a talent for partnering with people who do most of the development/legwork for them (all for the benefit of getting to say "we worked with Disney on this successful launch."
With enough RFID scanners in place, they can track the movements of every guest and learn far more about how guests utilize the parks.
They can also possibly identify traffic issues - places where people almost never use a particular walkway, or places where "too many" people are getting bottlenecked. Places where there are too few options to disperse traffic into a large open area, and places where there are too many options, causing a much more chaotic traffic flow.
They can then look at the possibility of moving benches and planters around, maybe even just by a little bit. Changing what sorts of plants are growing where, to increase or decrease visibility. Add signage to point out lesser-used pathways to otherwise popular attractions. Lots of things.
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Lost child is found first? Mom and Dad can be located the very same way.
Or heck, the parents' contact information could pop up on the CM's screen, at a store or at guest services, too. Information specifically attached to that child's RFID chip during check-in.
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