Do you want to be sure that you can score some FASTPASSES for your favorite Disney theme park attractions the next time you visit Anaheim or Orlando? Well, if that’s really the case, then you’d best make reservations now for one of Disney’s high end hotels.
Why For? Well, according to information that’s buried down deep in a patent application that the Walt Disney Company filed on August 30th :
“Spending per guest at hotels can (be used to determine) different hierarchies (for) access to Fastpass. Thus, the more that is spent by a patron, the higher the priority (they will receive) for Fastpass.”
Copyright 1999 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Different levels and hierarchies can (then) be applicable at different hotels. Thus, (guests who stay at Disney’s) more luxurious hotels can have higher priorities (to the resort’s virtual queuing system).”
This is just one of the FASTPASS-related bombshells that you’ll discover as you read through United States Patent Application 20070203763. Which goes into great detail about an application to manage the ” … flow of persons and advertisement distribution via wireless media” that Mickey is looking to patent.
Among the ideas that the Imagineers are allegedly looking to field-test in a theme park near you very soon is a paperless, booked-24-hours-in-advance FASTPASS.
As described in Patent Application 2007020376, Disney resort guests — after they’ve checked in to their respective hotels — would be directed to turn on the digital televisions (DTVs) that they’ll find in their rooms. For these interactive units will soon be directly tied into the resort’s own master computer system. Which will then give these guests advance access to the FASTPASS system.
This DTV-based reservation system will allow Disney resort guests to book their FASTPASSES the night before and/or the day of their visit to the theme park. What’s more, all of this virtual queuing-based information can then be downloaded directly onto that guests’ cell phone.
And then … Well, Mickey plans on use all this hi-tech stuff to take all of the drudgery (Or should I say independent thought?) out of your next visit to a Disney theme park?
How so? Well, how would you like it if your cell phone rang 15 minutes prior to the time that you were due to get in line for that FASTPASS attraction that you’d booked in advance? Just as a reminder that it was now time to start making your way over to the entrance of that ride or show.
Or — better yet — what if your cell phone were to suddenly start ringing as you were walking through the park? And — as you answered that call — you got a message that told you that the attraction that you’d booked FASTPASSES for later in the day had just broken down. And — because of that — Disney’s main computer was now offering you the opportunity to put yourself in the virtual queue for another attraction in that theme park. Wouldn’t that be a cool new feature of Disney’s FASTPASS system?
Best of all, when it finally comes time to actually get in that FASTPASS line, you won’t need a really-for-real ticket any longer. You just show the cast member who’ll be watching over the entrance of this attraction the virtual FASTPASS that you’ll have on display on the screen of your cell phone and — BAM ! — you’re in.
Mind you, not all of the changes that are proposed to Disney’s FASTPASS system are going to be embraced with enthusiasm by the public. Particularly those day visitors to the parks, who are sure to be upset when they learn that …
” … those visitors staying in a (Disney) resort hotel planning a visit for the next day may be granted a higher priority than those patrons (who are just) visiting the park for the day.”
Translation: Disney really is planning on cutting back on the number of FASTPASSES that they’ll be distributing daily inside the parks. In the future, look for the Mouse to increasingly reserve this perk for those guests who are willing pay big bucks to stay in Disney’s on-property and/or partner resorts.
Another possible aspect of this new application that’s sure to be controversial will be Disney’s ability (once a guest has used their cell phone to tap into the FASTPASS system) to then track this individual’s movements around the resort through their handheld device. Quoting now from the patent application:
Other examples include the ability to have a patron’s or user’s cellular telephone or wireless device be tracked as that person moves around the facility, or defined area. For instance, this provides for locating guests or patrons and for the central facility computer to track the location of guests and patrons, and make recommendations as necessary to those persons. In an entertainment environment, when a particular attraction is non-functional for instance as a priority system or at all, the recommendations can suggest alternative attractions or activities to the patrons.
Which — admittedly — sounds like a fairly innocent application of this technology. Though I’d imagine that rabid right-to-privacy types will have a very different reaction once they learn that the Mouse may soon have technology that will then allow them to track tourists’ movements around the Magic Kingdom through their cell phones.
Copyright 2001 Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
So what do you folks think? Do these proposed changes to Disney’s FASTPASS system upset you? Or are you downright eager to use your cell phone to gain admission to your favorite theme park attraction?
Your thoughts?
Special thanks to Len Testa of the “Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World” & “WDW Today” for giving me a “head’s up” about this particular patent application