In an attempt to create a more “seamless and personalized” experience, Disney plans to introduce systems that will allow guests to reserve ride times from home and bypass check-in counters entirely, a Disney executive told investors at a conference in Anaheim today.
From the Orlando Sentinel:
The advances are among of a series of technological initiatives Disney is developing in hopes of making visits to its increasingly crowded theme parks easier to plan and less intimidating to navigate, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs said.
Including:
(A) glimpse at a secretive initiative dubbed “Next Generation Experience,” or “NextGen,” that Walt Disney Parks and Resorts has been working on for more than a year. Former company executives have said the budget for the project is nearly $1.5 billion — nearly as much as Disney is spending to build a pair of 4,000-passenger cruise ships.
Part of the initiative will allow guests to essentially FastPass their entire vacation – from ride times to character meet-and-greets to restaurant ADRs before they even leave their homes.
The move serves to shore up Disney’s famed guest-satisfaction rates, according to the Orlando Sentinel report.
Staggs said Disney is well into the development of the NextGen experience, but it will still be “some time” before it’s rolled out.
What are your thoughts on this?
On one hand, if it’s intent is to make the parks less “intimidating to navigate,” then that’s probably great.
On the other hand, I’m not sure I want to feel like I have to schedule every moment of every trip. My initial thought – which is admittedly usually off-base – is if I don’t want to be left behind the more schedule-happy, tech-savvy guests, then I better be ready to adhere to a strict schedule of pre-vacation appointments.
But let’s face it – this is the first anyone’s heard of it, and it’s still a ways off. I’m sure they’re thinking it through. FastPass didn’t exactly lead to rigid park schedules.
What do you think?
Discussion
That sounds cool! I hope it makes a trip to WDW even better! I’m excited to hear more! :0)
I have known about this for a bit now. I am surprised it is being discussed as it is not slated for testing until some time from now. We should talk about it sometime!
I think the idea is cool but it really locks you in to a strict schedule. You’d have to plan which park to go to on which days of your trip. For myself, I’d like a bit more flexability. I appreciate the FastPasses, but I rather schedule them when I arrive at each park in the morning. I do have a basic plan in place for our trip, but there have been times that we change things up a bit depending on weather issues.
I’m just not a fan of this. I feel as though it directly helps the vacationers who are first timers or haven’t been in a really long time as it let’s them try all the popular attractions. While Walt Disney World is a place that we all love, it’s still a company who wants to make money. By using this NewGen stuff it brings in more people because they might have to wait in such long lines. It doesn’t leave much time for wondering around and seeing all the great stuff WDW has to offer. Sure I have a basic idea as to where to go on vacation but nothing is absolutely set. Maybe it will make shorter lines in certain parks or at certain attractions during the day. Only time will tell.
Dislike
”I’m sorry but we are not taking walk-in’s today for Space Mountain, and no you can not get a reservation because we are booked solid for the next 6 months. You can ride Figment at Epcot, they have openings and are accepting walk-in’s. Have a Magical Day!” The idea is nice, but as often as we go I would hate it. We stroll through the parks with out a plan and ride what we want. Not having a reservation to ride Soarin and not being able to get into a stand by line might just push some folks away from the whole Disney Experience all together. I also read something about the Shows and Spectaculars…so you mean I just might have to book my normal seat on the back of Main St. Station for the 3 o’clock parade?
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