Originally Posted By LadyandtheTramp "it doesn't seem unreasonable to wonder about the potential for some "real world" applications outside of Disney's theme parks". I would really like to hear where these real world application might be. Other than Universal or Sea World, who has the types of lines that this concept is supposed to minimize? Cruise lines? No. Theaters? No. I just don't see where the potential licensees reside.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 What makes you think that this is about shorter lines? It's about information collecting
Originally Posted By sjhym333 What makes you think that this is about shorter lines? It's about information collecting
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "What makes you think that this is about shorter lines? It's about information collecting." This.
Originally Posted By LadyandtheTramp "What makes you think that this is about shorter lines? It's about information collecting" So who hasn't been information collecting for years now. It's only because Disney has such a lousy IT organization that they haven't been collecting and analyzing the available data for years. As far as I can tell, they haven't been correlating merchandise purchases with dining with ticket purchases with anything, even though basically all of these things are being charged probably on the same credit card. I always wondered why Disney never sent me any kind of messages based on my activities, and couldn't even get me onto a mailing list for Tables events even though we made that request half a dozen times.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 So you answered your own question. Disney wont be selling this to other companies. But you may see other companies model similar things like they did FP. I am curious. A company spends a ton of money on this technology. I dont think anyone thinks its for better customer service. So what is Disney really doing here?
Originally Posted By leemac <<I am curious. A company spends a ton of money on this technology. I dont think anyone thinks its for better customer service. So what is Disney really doing here?>> The hope is that a tailored personalized guest experience will lead to a better overall vacation for guests using the system. Therefore there is a potential uplift to guest satisfaction. However this is all about milking more revenue from the same guests. WDW Co. is stuck with aging infrastructure in a mature market - it is proving very difficult to continually increase overall guest numbers in Central Florida and therefore WDW Co. needs to get more revenue from the same guest pool. Convenience will unquestionably lead to higher revenue - Starbucks proved long ago that a cashless system yields a higher revenue per guest - but it is also about upselling an experience. It isn't a level playing field any more - it is all about providing new experiences at a charge beyond the gate admission.
Originally Posted By leemac << It's only because Disney has such a lousy IT organization that they haven't been collecting and analyzing the available data for years.>> Very true - the problem has always been that each system has been entirely independent of each other. They can't talk to each other to provide any meaningful analysis. <<As far as I can tell, they haven't been correlating merchandise purchases with dining with ticket purchases with anything, even though basically all of these things are being charged probably on the same credit card.>> Actually it is very difficult to trace credit card purchases as most people will use multiple cards during their visit - and with joint accounts etc. it makes it even harder. WDW Co. cannot process credit card payments and therefore uses a third party who cannot legally provide any information about the guest in question. WDW Co. could tie all the information about an individual card if the card was used at check-in but that information only yields results on check-out - it can't do it real time.
Originally Posted By leemac << I always wondered why Disney never sent me any kind of messages based on my activities, and couldn't even get me onto a mailing list for Tables events even though we made that request half a dozen times.>> The inability to handle even basic requests like email opt-in never ceases to amaze me. It has been the same for years.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros ^^This is what worries me the most about NextGen. They've never had good IT. The WDW website is quite possibly the slowest website I've ever loaded on my computer (which makes it a blast to try and compare various options for my trip). They routinely lose dining reservations. And yet we're supposed to truse that having an entirely pre-scheduled vacation loaded onto a bracelet is actually going to work? Sure it is. Right after WDW becomes a good value for the price they charge.
Originally Posted By leemac <<And yet we're supposed to truse that having an entirely pre-scheduled vacation loaded onto a bracelet is actually going to work? Sure it is.>> To be fair Accenture have built a reliable and scalable IT system to back up the NGE. I don't think reliability of data will be a problem - there are a lot of other issues that are far more likely to metasize out of control.
Originally Posted By leemac <<there are a lot of other issues that are far more likely to metasize out of control.>> Ugh. Metastasize.
Originally Posted By leemac ^^ The current sked I have has a selection of DVC resorts coming up next - Bay Lake Tower is on the list. Attendance has been pretty soft for June and July so far so the thinking is that the rollout can be cranked a notch higher in the short term.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros It's funny that, while preparing for my January 2012 and January 2013 trips, I was afraid that I would get there right as they implemented a full roll-out of the system, and would end up being one of the guinea pigs for the full-scale testing. As it turns out, neither of those trips were impacted (though there was turnstyle construction this year that caused some noteworthy delays), but it's looking like the perfect storm might hit for my January 2014 trip. Deja vu, much? While I respect that Disney is taking the time to do it the right way, it would be nice if they were a little more forthcoming with the information, as it will greatly impact how we spend our vacation (and apparently how much money we'll be spending in the process). Since WDW is pushing for people to book vacations very long ragne, it's pretty unnerving to have this elephant lurking in the room
