MidnTPK
06-27-2008, 03:58 PM
I posted this in another thread (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=136150&page=5), but I think it belongs here.
Imagine...
Imagine a new way to go to WDW...never wait in a line longer than 15 minutes again.
Imagine pre-scheduling your ride times the night before...or winging it the day of....go only where the lines are shortest, when they are short.
How could this miracle be possible? Let me introduce the WED-R2D2 hand-held communicator. About half the size of an iPhone - and water and shock proof. It has a touch screen interface and wifi capability, just like the iPhone. Its integrated GPS can locate where on WDW property you are.
The WED-R2D2 is standard issue in every room on WDW property. Units are also available at the kiosk at DTD and in many resorts in the WDW area. They can also be obtained at the entrance to every park for (with a $30 deposit). Get as many as you like, but you must put a deposit down for each one, and return it at the end of your trip..or mail it back when you get home if one got dropped in your luggage accidentally.
It recharges overnight in a base station, but can be swapped for a new one whenever you want at many locations in WDW parks and resorts. Lose your R2 during the day? Don't worry. Nobody else can use it because its disabled the moment you report it missing...and your family's picture is seen by the CM (on his/her control panel) each time you use it.
The R2 is your guide to WDW. In the parks, you use it to find your way around...it will even give you directions if you like! It knows when every show, parade, and character greeting is in every park.
It also is your universal fastpass ticket. Want to ride Pirates? Touch the Ride It! icon. R2 will tell you how long the standby line is, or will give you several other times during the day when you can ride it. When your ride time rolls around, just flash your R2 at the entrance CM, and be on your way.
But if you booked the prior evening via R2, your in-room TV, or R2s website (which is mobile phone enabled), just follow your previously scheduled itinerary.
But uh-oh...Space Mountain is 101 (having some technical difficulties). R2 will alert you to this and ask you if you'd like to reschedule, and adjust all of the other ride time windows for the remainder of your day. When it starts to work again, an alert will let you know and will ask you if and when you want to ride or just skip it today.
But R2 isn't just for scheduling rides, it does more.
Running late for a ADR because of something going 101? R2 will alert your restaurant and tell you whether or not you can reschedule.
Want pizza instead of burgers for lunch...find out where they have what you want and touch the Eat Here! icon and get step by step directions. Get sidetracked? don't worry, R2 knows where you are and where you want to go.
And now photopass is instantaneous. When your photographer takes a picture, it immediately get loaded to your R2 for you to enjoy for the next 14 days.
And on your way out, make sure you go to the transport screen and tell Mickey where you'll be going. He'll be sure to call a bus driver, boat capitan, or monorail pilot, and will have you vehicle ready as soon as possible.
So make sure your family picks up a WED-R2D2 the next time you visit!
Now I know this makes the civil libertarians cringe. But I guess I don't mind Mickey watching over me when I'm in his house.
But a system like this could let Disney tweak the fastpass system in millions of ways. They could let deluxe hotel guests pre-schedule their rides three hours earlier than moderates, and moderates two hours before value. Or it could be tied to if you bought a premium park pass or a 'value' ticket
And DVCs, AP holders could be classified where ever they want, depending on what category the decided when they bough their pass, as could CMs and others. Offsite guest could have similar options.
And guests could be incentiveized to go to different parks on different days, based on a scale of how much flexibility will be offered by the fastpass system in that park, for you, that day. You could be assured passes basically whenever you wanted in the AK one day, but you wouldn't be able to get any FPs in the MK that day...and you'd know this before you entered a park. And room would be left in the system for the spontaneous people....but planning would be rewarded (not just because it makes a guest experience better, buy Disney is better able to staff the parks if it knows who's coming).
Yes, the system might be extraordinarily complex and complicated behind the scenes, but very easy for a user. The user would have standby times and fastpass times, and have a limited number of choices in front of them when they actually have to make decisions.
Imagine...
Imagine a new way to go to WDW...never wait in a line longer than 15 minutes again.
Imagine pre-scheduling your ride times the night before...or winging it the day of....go only where the lines are shortest, when they are short.
How could this miracle be possible? Let me introduce the WED-R2D2 hand-held communicator. About half the size of an iPhone - and water and shock proof. It has a touch screen interface and wifi capability, just like the iPhone. Its integrated GPS can locate where on WDW property you are.
The WED-R2D2 is standard issue in every room on WDW property. Units are also available at the kiosk at DTD and in many resorts in the WDW area. They can also be obtained at the entrance to every park for (with a $30 deposit). Get as many as you like, but you must put a deposit down for each one, and return it at the end of your trip..or mail it back when you get home if one got dropped in your luggage accidentally.
It recharges overnight in a base station, but can be swapped for a new one whenever you want at many locations in WDW parks and resorts. Lose your R2 during the day? Don't worry. Nobody else can use it because its disabled the moment you report it missing...and your family's picture is seen by the CM (on his/her control panel) each time you use it.
The R2 is your guide to WDW. In the parks, you use it to find your way around...it will even give you directions if you like! It knows when every show, parade, and character greeting is in every park.
It also is your universal fastpass ticket. Want to ride Pirates? Touch the Ride It! icon. R2 will tell you how long the standby line is, or will give you several other times during the day when you can ride it. When your ride time rolls around, just flash your R2 at the entrance CM, and be on your way.
But if you booked the prior evening via R2, your in-room TV, or R2s website (which is mobile phone enabled), just follow your previously scheduled itinerary.
But uh-oh...Space Mountain is 101 (having some technical difficulties). R2 will alert you to this and ask you if you'd like to reschedule, and adjust all of the other ride time windows for the remainder of your day. When it starts to work again, an alert will let you know and will ask you if and when you want to ride or just skip it today.
But R2 isn't just for scheduling rides, it does more.
Running late for a ADR because of something going 101? R2 will alert your restaurant and tell you whether or not you can reschedule.
Want pizza instead of burgers for lunch...find out where they have what you want and touch the Eat Here! icon and get step by step directions. Get sidetracked? don't worry, R2 knows where you are and where you want to go.
And now photopass is instantaneous. When your photographer takes a picture, it immediately get loaded to your R2 for you to enjoy for the next 14 days.
And on your way out, make sure you go to the transport screen and tell Mickey where you'll be going. He'll be sure to call a bus driver, boat capitan, or monorail pilot, and will have you vehicle ready as soon as possible.
So make sure your family picks up a WED-R2D2 the next time you visit!
Now I know this makes the civil libertarians cringe. But I guess I don't mind Mickey watching over me when I'm in his house.
But a system like this could let Disney tweak the fastpass system in millions of ways. They could let deluxe hotel guests pre-schedule their rides three hours earlier than moderates, and moderates two hours before value. Or it could be tied to if you bought a premium park pass or a 'value' ticket
And DVCs, AP holders could be classified where ever they want, depending on what category the decided when they bough their pass, as could CMs and others. Offsite guest could have similar options.
And guests could be incentiveized to go to different parks on different days, based on a scale of how much flexibility will be offered by the fastpass system in that park, for you, that day. You could be assured passes basically whenever you wanted in the AK one day, but you wouldn't be able to get any FPs in the MK that day...and you'd know this before you entered a park. And room would be left in the system for the spontaneous people....but planning would be rewarded (not just because it makes a guest experience better, buy Disney is better able to staff the parks if it knows who's coming).
Yes, the system might be extraordinarily complex and complicated behind the scenes, but very easy for a user. The user would have standby times and fastpass times, and have a limited number of choices in front of them when they actually have to make decisions.