Apple's iPad being used for Disney World's new Fastpass ride ticketing
The Walt Disney World Resort in Florida began using Apple's iPad this week to enhance its FastPass ride ticketing system at the Magic Kingdom theme park.
"Cast Members" who work at the Magic Kingdom have been assigned iPads, and are using Apple's touchscreen tablet to track data from new wireless radio-frequency identification (RFID) posts. The new RFID system scans select park-goers' FastPass cards, if they have been selected to test the new system, as first reported by Inside the Magic.
When guests scan their RFID FastPass card, the data is sent to a Disney employee who is carrying an iPad, according to Fox News. The iPads not only allow employees to track data with the test-run of the new system, but also to assist customers who may experience quirks with the RFID cards.
The test is currently restricted to a select group of Magic Kingdom guests. Disney has not offered a way for customers to sign up for the test.
The temporary RFID scanners can currently be seen around the park in the form of blue posts with the iconic Mickey Mouse logo design on top. The posts are expected to be removed once the test run is completed, as they do not match the themed areas of the park.
Disney's new RFID FastPass system provides Cast Members with data on their iPads. Photo via Inside the Magic.
The use of iPads and RFID cards are part of Disney's new ticketing system, dubbed "NextGen," which aims to make it faster and easier for park-goers to gain faster access to rides and other attractions. The new RFID cards will also serve as room keys for park goers, and will be used to trigger interactive features when exploring the parks in Central Florida.
In its current form, the FastPass system simply issues a paper receipt to a customer, giving them a window of time in which they can come back and skip the lengthy lines to access an attraction.
The relationship between Disney and Apple remains close, as the company's chief executive, Bob Iger, joined Apple's board of directors last November. Iger was also responsible for the $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2006 in 2006. That deal made Jobs Disney's single-largest shareholder.
"Cast Members" who work at the Magic Kingdom have been assigned iPads, and are using Apple's touchscreen tablet to track data from new wireless radio-frequency identification (RFID) posts. The new RFID system scans select park-goers' FastPass cards, if they have been selected to test the new system, as first reported by Inside the Magic.
When guests scan their RFID FastPass card, the data is sent to a Disney employee who is carrying an iPad, according to Fox News. The iPads not only allow employees to track data with the test-run of the new system, but also to assist customers who may experience quirks with the RFID cards.
The test is currently restricted to a select group of Magic Kingdom guests. Disney has not offered a way for customers to sign up for the test.
The temporary RFID scanners can currently be seen around the park in the form of blue posts with the iconic Mickey Mouse logo design on top. The posts are expected to be removed once the test run is completed, as they do not match the themed areas of the park.
Disney's new RFID FastPass system provides Cast Members with data on their iPads. Photo via Inside the Magic.
The use of iPads and RFID cards are part of Disney's new ticketing system, dubbed "NextGen," which aims to make it faster and easier for park-goers to gain faster access to rides and other attractions. The new RFID cards will also serve as room keys for park goers, and will be used to trigger interactive features when exploring the parks in Central Florida.
In its current form, the FastPass system simply issues a paper receipt to a customer, giving them a window of time in which they can come back and skip the lengthy lines to access an attraction.
The relationship between Disney and Apple remains close, as the company's chief executive, Bob Iger, joined Apple's board of directors last November. Iger was also responsible for the $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2006 in 2006. That deal made Jobs Disney's single-largest shareholder.
Comments
I hope this goes well. As it is Disney's FastPass is great.
I just had lunch at Specialty's - a west coast US gourmet sandwich chain - and they just installed iPads as the ordering stations with a little card reader strapped to the bottom of each. Very efficient and the only extra step was inputting the number of one of those buzz-box notification coasters, but it overwhelmed the manufacturing in the back since they were getting iPad, online and regular POS-based orders at the same time.
iPads seem to be a total POS (as the haters always imagined
Quote:
Originally Posted by ltcompuser
I hope this goes well. As it is Disney's FastPass is great.
Agreed 100%. FastPass is one of the reasons why Disney can get away with charging so much more for their admission compared to the competition. FastPass makes the day much more enjoyable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capnbob
I just had lunch at Specialty's [...]
Agreed again... Specialty's has got this thing down to an art. You can customize your sandwich right on the iPad, even seeing the running nutrition information as you add/remove ingredients, change bread, etc. All without saying, "um, lemme see..." to an impatient clerk.
Who's the leader of the club?
That's made for you and me?
Fucking iPad, that's who.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTR
Who's the leader of the club?
That's made for you and me?
Fucking iPad, that's who.
S-T-E! V-E-N! P.-J-O-B-S!
Steven Jobs! (Phil Schiller!)
Steven Jobs! (Phil Schiller!)
Forever let us hold the iPad high! (Boom! Boom Boom!)…
So, you have to take the "mark of the Beast" before you can go on the rides? Clever.
So the critics were right. The iPad truly is a Mickey Mouse device. Apple is doomed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ltcompuser
I hope this goes well. As it is Disney's FastPass is great.
Why doesn't Apple adopt a "FastPass" system for people waiting in line at the Apple Store?
It'd be another retail first.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich
So, you have to take the "mark of the Beast" before you can go on the rides? Clever.
No, that's only when gubermint does it. Corporations are our friends. The bigger they are, the friendlier they are.
//why is