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A Billion-Dollar Bracelet Is the Key to a Disney Park
Yahoo Finance ^ | April 2, 2014 | Brooks Barnes

Posted on 04/03/2014 7:05:25 AM PDT by C19fan

Walt Disney World has spent more than a year rolling out a $1 billion system that changes how visitors do everything from enter their hotel rooms to ride Space Mountain. But a few weeks ago a front desk agent at one of Disney’s marquee hotels was still wrestling with the technology.

“Behave, you naughty thing,” a Wilderness Lodge reservations clerk muttered at the malfunctioning management system. Scolding didn’t work, but a computer reboot finally did.

So it has gone with MyMagic+, an ambitious effort to make Disney World more profitable by making its 30 million annual visitors happier. The multifaceted system has taken longer to introduce than expected as Disney has confronted an array of daunting complexities: training 70,000 employees, equipping 28,000 hotel room doors with radio frequency readers, prompting guests to wear data-collecting electronic wristbands.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Travel
KEYWORDS: amusement; disney; orlando
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To: TNoldman

Correction: Preliminary = Prototype


21 posted on 04/03/2014 8:07:29 AM PDT by TNoldman (AN AMERICAN FOR A MUSLIM/BHO FREE AMERICA.)
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To: C19fan
“Behave, you naughty thing,” a Wilderness Lodge reservations clerk muttered"

22 posted on 04/03/2014 8:15:42 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Obamacare: You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.)
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To: Resolute Conservative

I agree completely. Overpriced, staffed by glib carnival hucksters, overcrowded, and commercialized beyond belief, Disney X is possibly the most miserable place on earth.

Don’t waste your money.


23 posted on 04/03/2014 8:33:25 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: coon2000

Her interest was completing a project, so she had little care as to their reasons. I’d certainly spend a good amount of time at a shareholder meeting asking specifically that question. The remote ride reservations (the MagicPass+ ride queues) could have certainly been done using the cards as well.

I suppose in the end, they assumed they could save money by having the ‘security’ of having the band physically connected to the user, rather than perhaps someone handing over a card for someone to use. And of course, impulse buying by children, whom parents might not want to hand a card to.

In any case, the band users are spending less than the card users are spending per visitor which has Disney World on the ropes trying to justify the expense.


24 posted on 04/03/2014 8:36:10 AM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
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25 posted on 04/03/2014 8:47:20 AM PDT by Rio (Proud resident of the State of Jefferson)
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To: kingu
The main idea - just like their Magical Express and all the different price points for on-site lodging - is to keep people on-site spending money on Disney and not on other Orlando attractions. With the new system, people can pick FastPass rides, reservations, park tickets, etc. for every day of their trip BEFORE leaving home. This sets up the “Well we can't leave Disney TODAY because we are already scheduled to ride It's a Small World at 10:30am” situation.

Disney is expert at getting money from people once they are on-site; now they are just working on keeping people there.

26 posted on 04/03/2014 8:59:04 AM PDT by DoctorTomorrow (Quietly reading and learning here on FR)
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To: Resolute Conservative

“Disney parks have been a fools’ errand since the 80’s why anyone still goes is beyond me?”

Why do you say since the 80’s? What changed?


27 posted on 04/03/2014 9:04:54 AM PDT by ifinnegan
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To: ifinnegan

That is far back as my old mind can remember. I recall people going in the 70’s and it was not to bad then.


28 posted on 04/03/2014 9:16:40 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Resolute Conservative

I was just curious why you thought it got worse. What happened?


29 posted on 04/03/2014 9:42:56 AM PDT by ifinnegan
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To: rktman

I never took my kids and I never will. Do you know they have a Disney University. LOL sounds like a career in basket weaving.


30 posted on 04/03/2014 9:44:45 AM PDT by angcat
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To: DoctorTomorrow

Yeah, last couple times we were there I was particularly impressed with the Lunch in Cinderellas Castle setup.

Amazing the impact one or two little girls showing up in Princess garb can have on the other little girls who don’t. Convieniently enough, Princess dresses can be bought at a shop within the rope line, and since Disney makes you show up 15-20 minutes early to check in, there’s plent of time to go rack up another $40-60 charge per kid in order to make them happy.


31 posted on 04/03/2014 9:51:57 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: C19fan

who said this was not one of Disney’s government contracts?


32 posted on 04/03/2014 9:57:55 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: TNoldman

documentation?

given his hatred of unions and the move to florida to leave the union infested state, that does not seem correct. (there are documentaries online that show this. The unions bested him once and then he left for FL where land was easier and the company had its own municipality)


33 posted on 04/03/2014 10:02:23 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: angcat
Disney University is just a "university" in name only. It's the training center where 'cast members' (Disney employees) learn how to do what they do.

Disney College Program does appear to be a college-type course for employees who are already enrolled in an accredited college or university. It trains them in things like park management or are Disney-job related.

Disney Institute, however, does appear to be a full-on training center teaching organizations and businesses how to do things "the Disney way".

Probably more information than you wanted, but it does appear to be a bit more than "basket-weaving".

34 posted on 04/03/2014 10:04:41 AM PDT by hoagy62 ("Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered..."-Thomas Paine. 1776)
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To: GailA

There is a homosexual in charge of the Disney Channel at least there was for the DisneyXD channel. Oddly Disney Cable channels do not seem to understand normal children. (too much LA and NYC not enough mainstreet. oh the irony)


35 posted on 04/03/2014 10:07:18 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: ifinnegan

They started pandering to diversity. You can see it in their movies and their parks. Somewhere along the lines American companies decided making a lot more money was better than just more money and went global and PC.


36 posted on 04/03/2014 10:14:16 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: longtermmemmory

I suggest you checkout www.examiner.com/article/disney-101-what-is-the-history-of-epcot

Be sure to read the part that includes “Do away with Property and Voting Rights” right out of UN Adgenda 21!


37 posted on 04/03/2014 10:22:46 AM PDT by TNoldman (AN AMERICAN FOR A MUSLIM/BHO FREE AMERICA.)
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To: Rio

That’s absolutely creepy.


38 posted on 04/03/2014 10:25:08 AM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: angcat

Several years ago I was playing in a classic rock band and we did a special event at Disneyworld and had to go “backstage” to get to where we needed to unload our gear. Their security was tighter than my day job at KSC. Pop up barricades in the roadway that raised and lowered for each vehicle and you HAD to be on “the” list to gain access. We talked to a few folks who were still there from the day shift and some of the night shift folks that worked “backstage”. They said they had to be careful of what they said because there were “ears” (ref to Mickey?) everywhere. Kind of spooky at the time but now it seems that the NSA is/has been doing the same thing for a while. But, I’m sure they’ve stopped now that they’ve been caught. NOT! :>}


39 posted on 04/03/2014 10:31:42 AM PDT by rktman (Ethnicity: Redneck. Race: Daytona 500)
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To: angcat

McDonalds has Hamburger University, it’s management training. Quite worthwhile for anybody that’s going to be running any kind of food oriented business actually.


40 posted on 04/03/2014 10:34:40 AM PDT by discostu (Call it collect, call it direct, call it TODAY!)
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