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Over the past week or so the Disney online community has been buzzing about NextGen. The results of the NextGen project could fundamentally change the way guests tour the parks. Instead of limited FastPasses and waiting in lines, guests may be able to schedule most attraction experiences in advance. Imagine the current online dining system expanded to attractions and other in-park experiences. This, along with potentially an automatic scheduler for guests who don’t want to create plans on their own, is the direction I think NextGen is headed. But why?
NextGen, in my opinion, will look to integrate the dining, ticket, FastPass, and hotel systems so an itinerary for each family or group exists. If Disney knows 1,000 people are heading to attractions in the Magic Kingdom from Pop Century to visit an attraction at 9:10 AM, Disney can dispatch the number of buses needed to transport those guests to the Magic Kingdom with little wait. But this just scratches the surface.
All these itineraries could be computer modeled into the parks and resorts to give Disney a good idea of traffic patterns in each park for the entire day. To prevent overcrowding in certain areas, Disney could use its real-time center to dispatch entertainment to alleviate traffic jams. These models would have to take non-resort guests into account, but a good number of guests would be accounted for. Also, the real-time center could track guests’ progress as they move through the day and update the statistical models for the most current view of the parks.
These models could then be used to estimate how many Cast Members are needed at Cosmic Ray’s during lunch time, or how many Mickey Bars are needed on Main Street. Should Animal Kingdom run 3 or 4 trains on Expedition Everest today? When should the fourth train be added? Using these models and statistics, Disney could truly predict how the parks should be run on any given day instead of good estimates and additional reactive measures.
NextGen also seems to be a shot across the bow of the Disney guide book and vacation planning industry. Why purchase an Unofficial Guide and use Touring Plans when Disney can create an entire schedule for you?
Having a schedule to use with a FastPass equivalent also means guests will stand in line less and potentially shop more. Similar to the goals of FastPass, Disney is hoping to pull in more souvenir revenue because guests are not in line.
Of course, NextGen also includes things such as enhanced queues to reduce the boredom of waiting in line, but I think the itinerary creation is the most important part. Many believe Disney will charge for the services that will come out of NextGen but I’m not certain they will. Disney will want to be sure they have enough data to accurately run the statistical models, and services such as Magical Express and FastPass have shown that Disney is more likely to make up for these costs in other ways.
NextGen does bring up some ethical questions; is having an itinerary on file for each guest too much information on that person’s whereabouts? Is Disney becoming Big Brother? In the end, Walt Disney World is private property and to vacation there means guests must play by Disney’s rules. Those concerned about privacy can simply not use the itinerary tools, but may be at a disadvantage depending on how well NextGen catches on.
What are your thoughts on the NextGen project? Let me know below in the comments or send me a tweet!
Special thanks to Joe Penniston for the photo of the Spaceship Earth computer room.
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