The next time you and your family find yourselves in line at Space Mountain, Small World, or any number of the major rides and attractions that dot Disneyworld, you may chance across a new device that rivals the ground-breakingness of the original Magic Kingdom. It may not look like much: a small blue post sporting a Mickey Mouse icon, but in fact it will be posts like these that mark Disney’s first foray into using RFID technology. While the RFID technology will be useful in tracking the movement patterns of consumers throughout the theme-park (and will consequently prove invaluable in helping Disney identify new patterns, crowd-flows, and shopping trends in Disneyworld), but it will also prove highly useful to customers as well. By using one of the newly-issued “FastPasses” provided by Disney, amusement park visitors can choose a specific time they wish to ride on a particular ride, show up to that ride at the appointed time, and simply scan their FastPass across the blue Mickey Mouse icon. Riders will then be able to cut through the lines and be allowed more riding time, less waiting time.
It’s a win-win solution for Disneyworld and for its visitors, and we at Metalcraft couldn’t more happily approve. Not only will a major company gain valuable insight into improving its customer services to insure better experiences of its theme-park, but customers themselves will save precious amounts of time during their stay within the park’s boundaries. If and when Disney begins rolling out its RFID technology in earnest, it can only mean that other major theme parks throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia will quickly follow in pursuit. This is the beginning of a major trend in RFID technology – a pivot towards precise data collection in the pursuit of optimal consumer experience: a major coup for Mickey Mouse indeed!