This article by Corey White was first published on Scott Klososky’s blog, Technology Story.
Disney is using technology to make The Magic Kingdom a little more magical, and this provides a glimpse into the possibilities of the Internet of Things (IoT). Earlier this year, Wired published an interesting article about a wearable device that controls the experience of every aspect of an attendee’s journey through Disney’s Magic Kingdom.
Disney, as it so often does, helps turn the fantastical into reality. The company has always expanded imaginations and helped redefine the possible. When you have the youthful imagination of a child, possibilities become limitless.
FPOV’s Rusty Nix and his family were beta-testers for this device, the Disney MagicBand, a few years ago. He told me he was immediately impressed by the devices that were created specifically for his family, when they arrived on his doorstep prior to their trip to The Magic Kingdom. He told me the packaging was ornate, and each band had the name of its new owner engraved on it.
In describing the bands, the Wired article follows the Tanner family as they prepare for dinner at a park restaurant. A host greets the family at the door, greets them immediately by name no less. The host tells the family to sit anywhere they would like without telling them how their food will find them.
The bands each feature a long-range radio that transmits more than 40 feet in every direction. The host receives a transmission that the Tanner family is on its way to the restaurant. The kitchen is alerted to the family’s order. When the group sits down the waitperson is notified as to the location of the table. All of this works in concert so that the Tanner family receives its dinner in a memorable way.
The MagicBands come in multiple colors, have a battery life of two years and feature a RFID chip and radio that connects them to a system of sensors around the park. The bands work in cohesion with an online platform called MyMagicPlus. Through the platform, Disney can create a visitor an itinerary based on his/her favorite rides to maximize time at the park. You can touchdown at the airport, take a shuttle to your hotel, and your luggage will appear in your room. The band can even open your hotel room door.
At the park there is no need to carry cash because the band is tied to your credit card. You can avoid long lines. You can schedule a meet and greet with Belle and the Beast and be sure they will show up, thus avoiding angry children and annoyed spouses. The system wasn’t cheap, costing nearly $1 billion and four years to deploy from a prototype.
Disney uses the thousands of sensors peppering the park to collect data to vastly improve customer service. The sensors allow Disney to most effectively and efficiently deploy employees and food vendors. Disney, as an organization, has always been obsessive about customer experience. Their employee, or “team member,” training practices are legendary. If you want to become a Disney “team member” you essentially have to survive their boot camp, although I’m sure Disney’s drill sergeants are a little friendlier than most. The MagicBand is an extension of this drive to maximize customer experience.
One of the most important factors of IoT will be data collection and intelligence. Think of data as experience. The more understanding you have, the better choices you can make. It’s why 40-year-olds are better drivers than 16-year-olds. Data is the same. The more data that you have, the more easily you are able to personalize an engagement to a specific person. The Internet of Things is an extension of this. Imagine if your local grocery store knew you were running low on milk because your refrigerator told it you were. What if the thermostat in your home automatically tuned to your desired temperature when you entered the room? What if your favorite boutique knew you were nearby and so sent you a personalized virtual incentive to make a special stop at their store? What if the device on your wrist alerted you when you moved a certain distance away from your phone? What if that same device also alerted you when your newborn’s breathing became erratic or its heartbeat slowed?
This isn’t witchcraft. Many of these technologies are on their way or are already here. Yet, the question remains, how will we react to all of this becoming a regular part of our lives, when devices use location technology and predictive analysis to service all of our wants and needs? Will we find it intrusive, helpful, necessary or dangerous? Will it give us goosebumps of amazement or goosebumps of creepiness?
“What people call the Internet of Things is just a technological underpinning that misses the point,” Nick Franklin, who helped oversee the project, told Wired. “This is about the experiential Internet. The guest doesn’t need to know how it happened. It’s about the magic of the food arriving.”
What Franklin is saying is that the Internet of Things is meaningless unless it has data it can use to personalize an experience, whether that be in commerce, health, comfort, or entertainment. IoT may be the car, but it’s not going anywhere without the gasoline: data.
If you can take what’s happening inside The Magic Kingdom and apply it everywhere else, you can imagine a fantastical world that is closer to reality than you might expect. So, to ask again, how will this future be welcomed?
Maybe we can look to “The Happiest Place on Earth” for the answer to that question. At least the childlike optimist in me would like to believe so. Maybe the IoT can do for the world what it is currently helping Disney do for visitors to The Magic Kingdom: making the experience a little more astonishing.
A former CEO of three successful tech startup companies and principal at consulting firm Future Point of View, Scott Klososky specializes in seeing beyond the horizon of how technology is changing the world. His unique perspectives on technology, business culture, and the future allow him to travel the globe as an international speaker, consultant, and author, working with senior execs in organizations ranging from the Fortune 500 to universities, nonprofits, and countless professional associations and coalitions.
