I'm in my first semester of getting my Masters. My group has decided to do our project on Disney Theme Parks. If you have ever gone to any Disney Theme Park before, please fill out the survey below.
Thanks in advance.
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Did it.
Ironically sitting in the car after driving back from airport from the Disney weekend with the family.
Excellent. We are pitching an Augmented Reality marketing idea to try to increase repeat visitors, since most people just go once a lifetime.
had annual passes for many years as the kids grew up. professionally, have also coordinated with their environmental/conservation staff numerous times. outstanding organization to partner with.
We were there Friday -Sunday did "not so spooky Halloween" Friday night.
It was a fun time but since it was close to 20 years ago it was not easy to provide good answers. I hope it helps.
Done.
I wouldn't worry so much about creating repeat visitors for Disney after the fact. The biggest issue IMO for any amusement park is user experience in lines. There are so many things that can be designed into the line to make the wait time more reasonable, even enjoyable. If you do that you will mostly solve the problem of creating repeat visitors as well, as in my professional experience the number 1 turn off is the wait time in lines. When you spend half your day or more in lines where you are only smelling the stranger in front of you many people start questioning why they spent all that money to go.
as long as children keep getting made... Disney will continue to print money.
and done.
Survey done.
Line experience is a problem/project for all amusement parks. Amen.
I was just recently at Disney, and my biggest criticisms would be -
1) Magic Kingdom - Ride updates/Redos. I know Mickey & Co. have to walk a fine line between nostalgia and new fangled, but it's time for a few things to go. Chief among those are Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, and the Swiss Family Treehouse.
2) Hollywood Studios - I know they're working on a Star Wars World, but right now, there's really nothing to do there besides the big three - Tower, Rockin', and Toy Story. We breezed through and rode the roller coaster, TOT, Slinky Coaster, Toy Story Mania, and the Alien Saucers between 9am and noon. By 1 or so we were done. Fare to the Studios should be discounted a bit during their construction phase.
3) Disney might want to evaluated predictive/preventative maintenance methods for their rides. For the first time ever, and I've been regularly since the '90s, there were multiple ride closures due to breakdown at all of the parks.
The AR we are pitching would be used in the rides, to make them become more alive. So there will be augmented reality parts of the ride along with the normal one. Should take care of issue #1
I have to respectfully disagree. I love to ride the Jungle Cruise every time and always stop by the tiki room and Swiss Family Treehouse.
I get it. There is a fine line between nostalgia and new and improved. I used to love Jungle Cruise; it was cute when they went to the parade of puns, but in my opinion it is starting to tire out.
If they change anything about Peter Pan or Splash Mountain, I will burn down the world, but many people might not feel that way. Again... fine line.
Our AR experience is going to allow you to log into an App, plan out the rides, and attractions you would like to see in the same day, and the AI will put together a schedule for you logistically after you put in what you want to do all while having your favorite character be your tour guide through the park.
For the older more mature crowd, they will have the option to play a Pokemon Go/Live Action Role Play version that utilizes the niche market of Kingdom Hearts fans (A top 4 selling video game of all time). You still get the logistical benefits, but you also get to go through the park, unlocking characters through completion of certain accomplishments. It's going to be like playing a video game that you can only play at a Disney theme park.
Let me know your thoughts.
OK, now you're getting my interest.
Is this a real project you are implementing? or is this a school project?
One of the companies I am a partner in is one of the top companies in the world in this field and we are about to launch a series of large scale entertainment venues throughout China, starting next year, using AR, VR, Holograms, Apps and more.
Interested in your predictive AI that handles the logistics. Are you integrating transportation modelling that can predict crowd surges or are you creating a mesh that grabs localized data from other phones in the park (not sure if that is legal in the States though) and running your own algorithm? Or something else?
Let me know what your plans are with this. If your team is building this for reals (even if not for Disney) would be interested in having a conversation about it. Happy to sign NDA.
This is just a group project for my Masters that is theoretical. I would love to pick your brain on the transportation modeling/mesh from localized data.
The people who use the app would have to do everything the day before, so in my theoretical AI, would map out the best route to take by taking into account whoever has already uploaded their information.
Taking suggestions from this thread, I think we might add a "priority fast pass" to the premium level of the app.
I like the idea.
Have an option where you can pick your "must ride" attractions, and then fill in the rest of the day with other possibilities to maximize attraction time. Get me a good lunch reservation.
I want that app.
I always thought it'd be cool if the "lines" were attractions in and of themselves. Instead of 50 people standing in line, you have a 50 person game or interactive activity while the people before you do the ride. Time the activity to sync up with the ride and you have 50 people who had to wait for the ride, but were engaged the whole time doing it without having to resort to staring at their phones/wrangling their children.
6 flags theme parks have done this by partnering with Pokemon Go. We are going to pitch a free version on your cell phone, and a premium version that would include an AR Sunglass Headset (probably with Mickey's ears). Let's say 2000 available, and you would have to pay to use the headset for the day and get the advantage of the "Priority Fast Pass"
Disney has started doing this. For the Dumbo ride, the wait line is a big indoor (read: air-conditioned) playground for the kids. You get a pager that goes off when you are up next. I think their challenge is figuring out how to retro-fit all their rides to do something similar.
My kids are 16, 18 and we took them like 4 times mebbe more to disney. NEVER MADE IT ON THE FUCKING DUMBO RIDE. They always fell asleep. Once we didn't have strollers had to carry them dead ass asleep back to the hotel room. Fuck Dumbo that stupid elephant.
You didn't miss anything. The ride is really lame and the same concept can be found at pretty much any amusement park (Disney included). The indoor playground is nice though.
A Disney travel planner does all that already (and they are free). We get an itinerary down to the minute for every day we are there. On top of that we've gone enough now that she knows what are trying to get done and prioritizes. She does all our fast passes, meals, hotel, everything. I just show up and rock.
Also, if you stay on Disney property your fast pass and food reservation window opens something like a month before those that don't.
In theory, the app I am proposing will eliminate that job and more than likely decrease wait times across the board. Humans are terrible at interpreting data. AI should do a better job of putting the right people in the right locations.
That's the app I want.
Not the one where I have to plot my Disney day months in advance and remember to sign up on the right day or I'm screwed.
It may be that I just always end up in Disney as a result of a conference, and it's the wrong time of year. And I know there is a planner for that as well.
In theory that might work but its dependent on the human to follow your apps output without straying which isn't likely. The other problem is that your app is also dependent on "knowing" what everyone else is doing to optimize the output which means most people would need to be using it and following it. Additionally, how will the app deal with the randomness? Rides will get shutdown with some regularity due to any number of issues. That could last 5 mins or the whole day. Would the app be smart enough to re-route everything on an optimal course instantaneously? The third issue I can see with it is what if you've never gone before? Can you talk to the app to get an idea of what kinds of things are "must do" for my family given their specific ages/interests? Now that we've gone a few times we know what we want to do so there isn't much of a conversation to be had, but the first time we went we (well really my wife) spend a lot of time talking to the planner to get her input on everything to make sure we maximized the trip based on our preferences. I think that's a tall task for an AI app right now.
So far she's planned 3 trips for us and the only issues we've had have been when we went off-script. I actually think the lines are more predictable than you think. Outside of the big ones (which we strategically get fast passes for) she's been spot on with the wait times.
Edit: The concept sounds neat, I'm just trying to think through some of the challenges
Since they know how bad the backups are, seems to me that it could offer to dynamically reroute you if it changed significantly.
Like traffic apps do.
ah, ok. No worries.
transportation modelling is used to run predictive traffic patterns in cities. There are many types of these. The Mesh would be to create a mesh network between the phone's in a specified geographic area using a radius from a landmark, for example the castle, and since the mesh network doesn't require wifi or signal connection all phones could be pinging each other giving you the data you need. Again not sure how legal that is in USA.
Your idea has a lot more application than amusement parks though, which would potentially be much more lucrative. ;)
As far as Disney goes, I love the ideas you stated. I have a lot of ideas about how to make lines more bearable but I don't think those all need to be digital based actually. I really like your idea of getting hosted around the park by your favorite characters though.
Not sure what you are thinking about in terms of AR during the rides. AR is still not good enough yet to be so amazing as to add to the ride experience. Nobody has the frame rate necessary for it yet. Don't believe magic leap, they lie.
A couple of theme parks in Europe are being opened that are mixed reality, AR and VR.
Universal actually patented AR in rides.
I think Disney would benefit most from it. Their rides are slow and have a ton of storytelling to them. I don't think to overlap some AR would be that hard for the majority of their rides.
You won't be able to do it on a ride like space mountain though.
Here are a couple of examples I found during my research on the topic:
AR/VR Theme Park
6 Flags
Well, these are mostly VR dependent. I'm not saying they won't be amazing but AR in true form is me looking through my glasses and watching the characters of Harry Potter interact with me, the environment I'm in and all the other people in real time all while I am monitoring my stock portfolio and browsing TKP on my way to work.
Universal's AR patents are in controlled scripted environments that rely heavily on VR and are primarily about the headsets interaction with signal cues along the ride that give the rider the "illusion" of AR. Again not saying it won't be amazing because it is, just not true AR.
The only ones close to what I am talking about is Magic Leap and they still have a ways to go.
but all of that is overly pedantic.
you have a good idea. again, I think more lucrative in other venues but I certainly like making amusement parks more enjoyable.
I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on this part:
I had no idea about Kingdom Hearts before starting this project, but the following the game has is absolutely incredible. I think marketing to them will really get fans to the park.
Didn't enjoy DW at all. The rides sucked, the lines were long, and getting to and leaving the park were a pain in the dick.
Universal >>>> Disney
Why are people waiting in any lines but for food and maybe the carousel. Fast pass the park.
I fibbed a bit on the last question. Since my wife and I are in Peace Corps at the moment our true household income is below the lowest option so I just selected what our household income was at the time we went to Disney World.
Damn that puppy in the add afterwards was cute, I want one
Done.
Have a "fastest pass" that shortens the wait times for everything.
It's been a few years since I've been but IIRC quite a few people had the fast pass and maybe only shortened our wait times by 15-20 minutes, in the grand scheme that adds up, but I cant remember what the price of those things even were.
That's why I want one that's faster.
I like Disney, but I hate waiting more.
That would work for (x) amount of time until everyone transitioned to buying that pass, you could make it ungodly expensive which I'm fine with too. Either way you look at it Disney has you by the balls once you step foot on their property.
Universal does that actually. They have a front of the line pass that is very pricey indeed.
The "fastest pass" that I'm advocating has a limited number, so it stays fast.
Yes, it's going to cost more and won't always be available, but I'll adjust my schedule to go when it's available.
In theory, you want everyone in the park to be able to do fast pass because if it works the way you want, it improves the customer experience altogether.
It would make sense to add a premium tier to pricing, to allow fast access to all rides, like in a 5-minute window. People would pay for that.
I agree with both of those statements.
The fast pass from your first statement is more of a reservation, so you don't have to stand in line in the Florida heat for 90 minutes waiting for a short ride.
Fast pass is free. It has changed in the past few years though. You used to be able to get as many Fast Passes as you wanted, so long as you weren't holding two for the same time frame. Also, you used to be able to hold your Fast Pass after your allotted time - (If you had a Fast Space for Space Mtn that was scheduled for 9-10 am, you could show up anytime that day after 9am and they would honor it.)
The new Fast Pass model - you can choose 3 per park, and you have to be there during the time allotment. Under the new rules, you have to show up to Space Mtn by 10 am for the scenario above, or your pass expires. If you download the Disney App, you get to choose your fast passes up to 30 days in advance. It creates a lot of competition. However, having to show up on time actually does cut down the wait time. Unless your park is at peak cap and you're trying to get on a SuperMax ride, you usually walk right on your ride with Fast Pass now.
Yeah I was gonna say, we went a few years ago and spent more time trying to sign up for the fast passes we wanted than waiting in line once we got to the rides we signed up for.
It's a pretty slick system, but if you don't really know about it you kinda get screwed over by it. We had the benefit of having a really good friend who is a Disney nut and knows practically everything about the parks.
That's a good friend to have if you're planning a Disney trip.
We have been to world 3 times, and land once, but filled out the questionnaire based on the latest. Wife's cousin and his wife both worked there, and got us free VIP passes when the kids were young. The experience got better as the kids got older, until they were old enough to prefer Universal Studios. The lines are so much longer for the younger kid things, as many parents takes kids that cannot do many of the rides. Magic Kingdom was the worst part of the park because of crowding. I saw several dads get in hour long lines while the family fast passed another ride and then join him at he front. The biggest problem we had with the pricing was the first time we went when the youngest had an accident and we had to buy him new clothes at the park. $50+ for the cheapest shorts, socks and underwear.
Locked & dropped. The mrs & I went for our 3rd yr wedding anniversary during non peak season (end of Jan/begin Feb). Main issue with the park is that I feel there's a detract in quality during offseason & I wish they did just as well as they do during peak season (plus it was my wife's very 1st time). The issue I had with the survey is that the last question did not provide a prefer not to answer selection, so I just chose to omit answering it.
Done
As someone who enjoy the Hokies and WDW as my two great entertainment joys in life, this was a fun survey.
I would take it, but I've never been, and I honestly don't feel like I'm missing out on anything Β―\_(γ)_/Β―
...thanks for commenting?
Someone take this girl to Disney.
BTW, they have a marathon there, so that might be a cool weekend to go.
RunDisney no longer has runs in Anaheim. It's sad. The City of Anaheim has been picking various fights with Disney (some of it warranted), but often at the expense of the fans of the park. One of those fights was on the costs to close streets for their runs.
No. I hate crowds. I don't particularly like kids. I'm not a Disney nut. So I'm fine with not going, even for the marathon, which to hear my running friends that have participated, sounds like my personal version of hell.
dressing up as a super hero and running around the park and taking pictures is hell? sigh.
I've actually done the Disney marathon. You don't run around in the parks as much as you think. The majority of the race is through desolate stretches of park-ING LOTS.
Also, they start it way too early, or they did back in 2009, I had to check in at 4:30 am. By the time the race started, I felt like I had done a whole day at Disney, and I struggled to finish in under 5 hrs.
DO NOT SEEK THE TREASURE.
I'm guessing that, like with all destination marathons, the fun part is enjoying the location before or after the event, not so much during the event itself. I'm just trying to survive the running part.
If you're from around here, the Kiawah Marathon is a great destination marathon. You do Charleston, SC at the perfect time of year, and the race is super duper flat and fast, and very scenic.
Here's the website. https://kiawahresort.com/recreation/kiawah-island-marathon
hmm..., the runs go through multiple parks these days. You can even catch a ride on some runs. 5K is almost all in park. 10K is mostly in park. 1/2 marathon and marathon is less in park.
I share your first three traits, but still have managed to enjoy Disney.
Epcot even more. It's like you can duck into France or Italy for lunch.
Done.
Disney World is for the birds IMO. Now given it markets to a younger generation (I'm 28) but I'd rather go to Universal Studios/Island's of Adventures and that still offers younger kids rides/attractions for families.
Nostalgia, Star Wars, Marvel, and increases in adult beverage consumption throughout the parks and DT Disney disagree with this. Disney no longer markets to just kids and families with kids.
I get it but I doubt anybody is going there without kids but I could be wrong. Just saying I'm probably not going back unless I have kids.
As one without kids and an annual member to Disneyland, I know that there is a very high number of annual members that go without kids. World may be different, since it's more of a vacation destination as opposed to a local park here in SoCal.
I only went 1 time in 2003 when I was in middle school, but done!
We have annual passes since we moved to Florida. Just got back Sunday night. We love Disney. Did Mickey not so Spooky Halloween and the kids could have walked away with multiple pounds of candy if we had let them. The shows are great, using fast pass we hardly wait in any lines. Disney lets you bring in any food and drink (non alcoholic) you want. Also they have a new interactive cell phone "game" my kids and wife play when we get to each rode and are waiting those few fast pass line minutes.
Done. Last went to Disneyland years ago. Grew up on the West Coast, so I hope to never visit any theme parks ever again, but I am also now a father and I fear my wish will not come true.
KD is better than them all. LOLJK
But seriously you gotta hit that Cedar Point.
I went to Cedar Point during Halloween, it was awesome.
I went to Cedar Point something like 10 years ago. Still my favorite park to visit. Never been to Disney, but we are planning on hitting Euro Disney before we PCS back to the states next year.
KD from back in the day! The monorail safari, the condala ride over Main Street, the dolphin show, The time travel ride under smurf mountain.
That mountain is super close to not being there anymore, including the steel coaster inside it.
My wife is a fanatic, I've been 8 times this year alone and just got back from a week there. There's certainly a lot they do right. Disney is the best at theming the park, down to sounds and smells. The festivals at Epcot have some really amazing variety of food and drink. The fastpass system is easy to use and really I don't wait any any line longer than 30 mins anymore.
However, they do not seem to have a grasp of their own scale or location. The new toy story area has almost no shade, and has seats and tables for like 20% of what they needed at the one food spot there. I really hope they put more time into things like that in the Star Wars area.