How Disney is Going Mobile for Better Guest Experiences

Theme parks are rapidly adopting mobile apps, and new technologies to enhance guest experiences, and nowhere is this trend more evident than at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Last year, Disney debuted a brand new food ordering system at Walt Disney World called Mobile One.

The mobile food ordering system allows visitors to order and pay for meals at Disney quick service restaurants before they arrive at the restaurant.

The system offers a perfect way to bypass lines, which are a significant driver of visitor frustration and lost sales.

In fact, research by Omnico has shown that 75% of US theme park visitors often or occasionally decide against buying food and beverages because of lines. There is a similar adverse effect of lines on purchases at theme park stores.

However, the study revealed that adopting mobile apps and other automated service technologies would boost visitor spending on food and merchandise by $45 to $200 per person.

Thus, it’s no surprise that Disney is turning to mobile technology strategies to help visitors avoid lines and enjoy a more convenient experience. It has since extended its food ordering service to 15 locations at Walt Disney World resort alone.

But Disney’s mobility strategy isn’t limited to food and beverage ordering or merchandising.

There’s an App for That

The company now delivers a complete array of mobile convenience services through its park apps, including its official Disneyland app.

The app allows park visitors to check wait times for all rides at Disneyland and California Adventure Park, and they can check FASTPASS return times and even make FASTPASS selections digitally.

To save further time, guests can buy park tickets on the app and simply show a barcode at the gate for admission.

They can also view restaurant menus, make dining reservations, locate their favorite characters, and even see their location and the proximity of attractions, restaurants, and shops using GPS-enabled interactive maps.

Enabling Better Guest Experiences with IoT

In addition, Disney is now leveraging IoT technologies to help parents monitor and quickly find lost children in its theme parks.

Disney’s MagicBands are customizable and beacon-enabled wristbands that function as passports for virtually everything in the park. They serve as digital entrance tickets and can even store payment card information to facilitate transactions.

Using these wristbands and a smartphone app, parents can monitor and locate missing kids via their smartphones. Sensors throughout the park determine the child’s location, securely sending the location in real time to the parent’s smartphone app.

This IoT concept has been implemented and tested successfully at Walt Disney World, and it’s part of the coming wave of IoT technologies that we’ll be seeing at many parks.

For example, the same beacon-based infrastructure can already be used to provide a more engaging experience and boost revenue by conducting proximity marketing and sending location-specific, and time-specific marketing offers to guests’ mobile apps.

At Strategic Systems, we’re helping theme parks tap into these possibilities with enterprise mobility, RFID hospitality, and IoT technologies.

Want to Learn More?

We partner with Zebra and other leading providers of mobile computing, scanning, RFID, and smart wristband technology to build a mobile-enabled park infrastructure and empower these new and profitable guest experiences.

To learn more about the possibilities and how to build the right mobile infrastructure for your park, contact us now for a free consultation.

You can also visit us at www.sstid.com or call us at 1-877-389-7255.