Verizon Wireless and Walt Disney Co. have joined forces to help mobile-phone-wielding park visitors navigate through the Magic Kingdom, track down their favorite Princess and check wait times for popular rides.
By downloading a special mobile application, visitors to the Florida and California parks will receive welcome messages from their favorite characters, check for restaurant and ride wait times, even GPS track how far away they are from certain attractions. While not all the details have been fleshed out (it might cost to use the application) and some more features might be possible (Speedpass on your phone?) it seems to be something Disney feels will enhance the park experience.
“This is not an advertising channel. This is not a marketing channel,” said Scott Trowbridge, vice president of creative development for Walt Disney Imagineering, Research and Development, “That is absolutely not what we want to do. People get enough spam of all shape, sizes and varieties.”
While it might not be spam, it DEFINITELY is marketing! But how effective will it be?
The possibilities for this new technology are very promising, and buzz on the web has been positive. However, when I go to Disneyland, I want to be immersed in the fun and magic of the environment, not stuck staring at my phone all day. Long line for Splash Mountain? Duh! Paying for a phone application won’t change that. And I find waiting in line with friends and family encourages, um, human conversation and bonding…? Call me old fashioned. While I’m all for integrating new technology (especially social media) I guess I feel like some things are sacred. If when my parents took me to Disneyland for the first time and ran me around the park looking for the shortest lines, constantly clicking through their cell phones…well, let’s just say I don’t remember Prince Charming needing a mobile app to find Cinderella.
Thoughts, feelings? Leave a comment and explain how you would like/dislike the use of this application.
Christy at 9:47am on November 17th, 2008
I agree - trouping around Disneyland with your kids while staring at your cellphone the entire time kind of ruins the experience! It is supposed to be a place where you in some ways enter a different world.
I think this could have some fun and practical applications - especially for the adult visitors. My (childless) friend is a Disney fanatic - got married there, goes twice a year, collects the tree ornaments - you get the picture. Once in a while she convinces me to come with. She may know the park like the back of her hand, but I feel lost without a map - I would love to pull up the park on my phone (there is only so much room in my pockets for that map and my husband usually looses it when asked to hold it), to see where the rides I am looking for are, where the nearest churro stand is, maybe even where the rest of our group (who wandered off when we stopped at the princess show) is.
Like a lot of new technology, it could be negative or positive. I personally wouldn’t pay for something like this though.