Ride wait times exagerated

Ya know how Disney gives out those lanyard things to monitor their queue times? Wouldn't it be cool if they embedded RFID tags into their park tickets? That way they could have real-time wait times. They could also track where ALL of their guests go. Which rides, in what order, what retail shops, for how long, what restaurants, etc... Since you have to carry your park pass with you, guests wouldn't even know they were being tracked.

I'd suggest the same thing at CP, but we all know how they view technology. Plus, the only people they could do that with was season pass holders since "regular" people don't have to carry tickets with them.

If a park started putting RFID tags in tickets, I would probably stop going.

Maybe I'd just put the tickets (assuming they're hoppers, if not then I'll trash them) in a locker and pick them up when I left, but RFID is just too much, imo.

You're gonna stop shopping at stores too, eh? Have you missed the fact that most clothing has RFID tags in them now? As so lots of items at big box stores like Wal-Mart?

Exactly. If I wanted to go to an amusement park that was like Wal- Mart, there's plenty of them out there I could go to already.

There's a pretty stark difference between tagging merchandise to prevent theft and tagging guests to track their whereabouts.

Regardless, I agree with exit. If there were RFID tags in the tickets, I'd be willing to bet a lot of people would share that opinion. Who wants to be monitored when they go to have fun at an amusement park?

halltd - Disney is already able to track most guests purchases. One of the nice features of our honeymoon was being able to attach a credit card to our park pass/resort id/dining voucher.

We put a limit on it and used it everywhere including the quick stop carts. I doubt we are the only ones to do this and it gave them a nice easy way to track anything.

You also scan that same card at each FastPass location (when getting an FP).

They can track enough as it is without having to embed RFID chips into them.

Last year I linked my room key to my credit card, and boy did I go over the limit :).

Granted, there were 2 of us on it, and we both spent a lot of time at the Rose & Crown, but still. My bad.

We kinda watched what we spent it on (almost completely souvenirs). Of course, we got the free dining promotion, so we had just about every meal (not including alcohol) paid for. This included a really nice one at the Coral Reef. I think the total bill was around 135, and only about 30 of that was the alcohol that we had to pay for.

The last time we stayed on property I started and ended the week with the same twenty-dollar bill in my pocket.

I'm not surprised. Disney gives you plenty of ways to spend money, and many more ways to do it without taking a single piece of paper out of your pocket.

The other bonus was that we never had to carry souvenirs. We had everything sent back to our resort.

^And that is awesome. Takes the whole "but I don't feel like carrying it around all day" excuse out of the equation.

Wal-Mart doesn't just have RFID tags in their merchandise to track it for theft. There are MANY articles on the web describing how they use it to track what's in your cart, and then once its in your cart, where in the store you go, what shelves you pause at, what other items are in your cart, etc... So, its the same thing Disney could do to track guests throughout the park. I don't really think its a privacy thing. I'd actually rather have Disney tracking my movement through a park than what I buy. But, that's just me. If it makes the lines shorter or more accurate, I'm all for it. Then again, I love technology and everything it can do too!

The problem when you start overanalyzing lines and how accurate and short they are, it kind of takes the fun out of being at Disney.

Sure, they already have a ton of your personal information, but RFID is just too much. I love technology as much as the next guy, hell, it's my job, but I think that's un-necessary and just overdoing it.

Then, you have the geniouses that have written viruses that are specifically targeted at RFID. There's no available antivirus software to stop them, so if somebody decides to bring it to Disney, it can spread like wildfire, and mess with a lot of stuff. It's just not a good idea.

^^See, I don't really have a problem with doing what Walmart does. If they want to track what I'm doing before I've paid for the product, so be it. However, once I have paid for said product, its a different story. And that's how I relate it to being used at CP. Once I've paid for admission, don't you dare track what I'm doing, unless I've explicitly authorized it.

I haven't been to Disney in a few years, but being able to use your room key for purchases is so convenient.

Just think how much per cap spending would go up if it was actually easier to make the purchases. If I can buy merchandise without having to carry it around all day (have it sent to my room), or buy food without having to worry about cash, I'm more than likely going to spend a good deal more money during my stay.

^ Agreed 100%.

2 Years ago I was on one of my (multiple) yearly Disney adventures, and I was on my way out of MGM to head to the airport. I decided I really wanted to have something embroidered for someone's gift, but they were really backed up on it and there was a couple hour wait. I didn't have the time, but they offered to UPS it to my door, and guaranteed it would be there the very next day if I couldn't wait for it.

Unfortunately, I didn't take advantage of their services and wound up buying other gifts that I liked better, but how awesome is that?

They also have offered UPS shipping to me on items that had the possibility of being broken in checked baggage, etc... It really is great, and it doesn't cost that much more.

Of course, they'll also send purchases to the front gate, or to your resort room, which rocks too.

They used to put them IN your room on the bed, but I guess a bunch of dumb a$$es kept saying it was never delivered and they wanted it replaced, so they stopped doing that. Leave it to the bad seeds to ruin it for everyone else. Now you have to go to the front desk and sign for it. We normally stay in the cabins at Ft. Wilderness, so that's not convenient at all. But, its still more convenient than lugging something around the park. YAY Disney.