Disney reaps benefits from US$1 billion project to track guest behaviour

Walt Disney Parks and Resorts have invested US$1 billion into MyMagic+, a crowd management and data collection project designed to make the most of guest visits to Walt Disney theme parks and Disney World resorts around the world.

Combining a website, smartphone app and RFID wristbands called MagicBands, the system tracks a guests every movement within Disney attractions with guests able to book trips and even plan out their rides months in advance. The MagicBands store tickets, hotel keys, debit and credit card information and can be used anywhere just by tapping a sensor.

Expanding on the way in which the similar MyBand system works at Wet'n'Wild Sydney, the MyMagic+ system allows guests to log into the 'MyDisney Experience' website and app, then book their top three attractions, character meet-and greets and VIP seatings for parades and fireworks ahead of time.

The system also includes three 'FastPass+' virtual reservations, each giving guests an hour time frame in which to arrive at their chosen rides and attractions.

With guest voluntarily provide information, the more they share within the MyMagic+ system, the more personalised their experience can be.

For Disney management, the tracking power of the MyMagic+ system is what makes it so attractive to their US$14.1 billion theme park and resort business. Intelligence collected using the bands coupled with what visitors input into the related My Disney Experience app and website help Disney determine when to add more staff at rides, what restaurants should serve, which souvenirs should be stocked, and how many employees in costume should roam around at any given time.

Data about customer preferences can also be used to craft alerts about to restaurant menu changes or sudden openings for reservations in an expedited queue at a specific ride.

According to Disney's Parks and Resorts head Tom Staggs, the goal is to give guests "a more immersive, more seamless, and more personal experience", allowing Disney employees to address a child by name, for example, or wish someone a happy birthday.

Moreover, last month, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chief Executive Robert Iger explained that the new system helped the Magic Kingdom theme park in Florida accommodate 3,000 additional daily guests during the Christmas holiday season by reducing congestion around the most popular attractions.

Iger stated "I'd say the biggest impact is, one, being able to accommodate more people because it's just more efficient, and second, enabling guests to have a substantially better experience than they've had before because they're doing more."