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An article in this months Wired details how Disney spent $1 Billion developing, testing, and rolling out their Magicband system that started actually rolling out in 2013.
Disney's Magicband system is based on a wristband containing an RFID chip and a 2.4gHz wifi transmitter. To use the system, the guest simply aligns the Mickey head on the wristband with a Mickey head on the receiving antenna. These antenna are dispersed throughout the park; for example: rides, souvenir shops, restaurants, and on-property hotel rooms. Rather than having to pull out a wallet to pay for something, one simply uses the Magicband and, upon a good read of the RFID tag, your associated credit card gets charged accordingly. It is even used by their FastPass system which allows you to schedule getting on rides.
When everything works, the reader flashes green and emits a pleasing tone; if something goes wrong, it glows blue, never red. Red lights are forbidden at Disney, as they imply something bad happened. Nothing bad can happen at Disney World.
In early 2014, "atdisneyagain.com" did an actual dissection of a Magicband to get a look at the components, complete with FCC look ups to see exactly what was going on inside.
[Update: corrected grammar and phrasing.]
(Score: 2) by jimshatt on Monday March 23 2015, @01:27PM
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday March 23 2015, @02:02PM
this 'sentence' is not really understandable to me
It is a contactless payment card with a wristband, with a Mickey mouse logo on the card and the card reader.
The only remaining mystery is how Disney has managed to spent a billion dollars on it. I'm sure my local newsagent's shop didn't.
(Score: 4, Funny) by paulej72 on Monday March 23 2015, @03:01PM
Well, they did have to pay to use the Mickey logo.
Team Leader for SN Development
(Score: 3, Informative) by cmn32480 on Monday March 23 2015, @03:11PM
I'd guess that the $1Billion was spent on the R&D for the bands and readers, and the massive amount of equipment and infrastructure to support it.
Think about the size of the Magic Kingdom. You need 8 readers at each ride (2 pair at the head of the line, and 2 pair at the entry point from the concourses), 1 reader at every payment station, 1 pair at every entrance kiosk, 1 reader on each of the many thousands of hotel rooms, readers for all of the camera people taking photos though out the park.
Then add readers for each of the things above for all the rest of the parks world-wide [wikipedia.org]. Millions of bands, and the massive infrastructure and data mining apparatus behind it all has to be added into the cost.
Suddenly getting to that billion dollar mark doesn't seem so hard.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by Daiv on Monday March 23 2015, @04:32PM
On a roll-out like this, training hours would be calculated and added to the cost to make it seem more important as well. Look at HOW much we've spent on safety! Ignore the price increases, only look at how serious we are by how much we've spent! For the children!!!
(Score: 3, Funny) by pnkwarhall on Monday March 23 2015, @05:17PM
>>For the children!!!
It **is** for the children...
Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
(Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Monday March 23 2015, @05:06PM
Yeah, that one's a struggle. It was in the original submission, but we should have caught it.
Caveat: I've never been to a Disney property, let alone used one of these wristbands. So, I tried to restructure what was provided into a more readable form. I'm sure if I made any mistakes, they'll be pointed out in short order.
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Kilo110 on Monday March 23 2015, @01:43PM
Does that mean I can run up charges just by finding a wristband? Who is liable for that assuming I'm not caught?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by TK-421 on Monday March 23 2015, @03:30PM
If it is an adults WB, then yes. Children's WBs do not allow billing.
My family made use of the WBs recently. They have some work to do. We had numerous problems with tickets, keys, and fast passing that persisted for a few days despite visiting guest services multiple times each day. The GS visits were NEVER quick, they ranged from 40-70 minutes. They did finally get it working.
I was slightly repulsed at first by the tracking idea. My spouse was all for it. The crowd control idea is excellent in my opinion. There are times in the Magic Kingdom when you literally cannot walk through major egress/ingress points. It is a literal traffic jam which is why I swore the place off during this specific time of year (yes, right now, I would rather have my eyes gauged out). I suspect the WBs are helping this problem though.
WRT to the "nothing bad can happen here" statement. I know many cannot resist the urge to make humerous or omnious comments, but let me tie this with my above statements. While our WBs were totally jacked up our main paint point was the FastPass system, it didn't work consistently. GS immediately issued hand written paper passes for up to 10 people for any ride/attraction. These were pretty powerful as they allowed our large group to hit any ride at ANY time which FP does not allow. On future GS visits we were given drink and snack tokens. Being this was a hot and humid time of year this was yet another excellent distraction. We had a large group so the gesture was significant. Yes some very "bad" (relative to the trip it was bad, in the grand scheme of life it doesn't really register) things happened but the distractions offered were above and beyond.
(Score: 1) by skater on Monday March 23 2015, @03:42PM
Very interesting. When were you there? We used them at Disney World back in early December and had zero problems with them. It was really interesting to think that I could walk around all day at the parks without even my wallet/credit cards/keys. My parents (who are cast members) said that the last time they used it before our visit with other family members they had all kinds of problems, but from our experience it had all been straightened out. It was also very handy to be able to open the Disney World app and reschedule our FastPasses for different times as our plans changed.
To answer the original post: My wife lost hers in Orlando airport on the way home (security put her bag back through the scanner, and laid it on its side, and we think the Magic Band fell out at that point). We were able to deactivate it as soon as we realized it was missing, no fishy charges or problem at all. In other words, they thought of this issue - shocking, I know - and had a plan in place for it. Cruise lines have been doing something similar for years. For that matter so have credit card companies.
(Score: 1) by TK-421 on Monday March 23 2015, @04:56PM
I was there a few months before you.
I totally get the wallet/credit cards/keys things. There are items I ALWAYS keep on my immediate person and they include all three of these. Not having them feels wierd, except for when at a theme park. The only time I ever lost my wallet was at a theme park over two decades ago. I am happy to no longer have to carry any of those items around in that situation.
I did eventually get that wallet back, minus the cash it contained.
We also had problems with the FP app due to the size of my group. It took the app a few days to understand exactly who was in my group so we could schedule all of us for a ride. The first results were that one or two kids couldn't be scheduled. Some of the ride operators were cool about it, some went full Unikitty.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @05:45PM
> Does that mean I can run up charges just by finding a wristband?
> Who is liable for that assuming I'm not caught?
Don't worry, there are so many cameras that any disputes can be verified by checking the footage at the point of transaction.
(Score: 2) by scruffybeard on Monday March 23 2015, @07:53PM
You have to supply a PIN to use the band to purchase anything on your room account. Additionally, you can disable purchases for a child's band, and add multiple credit cards, so that grand parents traveling in the same party can charge stuff to their own account. I don't know who is liable, but I would attach the band to a credit card, rather than a debit, so that you have that buffer should something go wrong.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by opinionated_science on Monday March 23 2015, @01:46PM
a new synonym in the making...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JNCF on Monday March 23 2015, @03:09PM
How about a new portmanteau?
Creepvenient.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by zugedneb on Monday March 23 2015, @02:00PM
can anyone with insight explain this sum?
Money laundering? Tax dodging? What the hell?
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Monday March 23 2015, @02:11PM
Building out the network of scanners, software infrastructure, training, corporate bureaucracy, marketing, and the 10s of millions of these they have to go through, it all adds up.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @02:19PM
Oracle. That is the only technology that can make a budget go that high needlessly.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Monday March 23 2015, @02:42PM
That billion is pretty cheap, wikipedia claims 25e6 visitors per year so figure this will all be technologically obsolete in 10 years (if not already) so thats only $4 per visitor for the next decade, unless I dropped a decimal place in my head or something.
I've fooled around with RFID stuff and arduinos and whatever and its very easy to spend more than that on cards, so they're probably reusing cards. That'll be an interesting security attack vector. A major corporation rolling their own security would never F it all up, would they? LOL. Aside from security I guarantee if they're re-using cards that fools will screw up even well designed procedures such that tomorrows visitors will go on yesterdays bill at least occasionally.
One weird "bifurcation of culture" and 1% owning everything kind of effect, when applied, means that there's an infinite pool of minimum wage labor, so they're assuming this technology investment will save them about a half hour of minimum wage drone work per victim/visitor. I donno about that. That strikes me as rather optimistic. Or rephrased they think this tech will result in better customer sat stats than spending another half hour of labor per visitor. Ehh.... maybe not? I think I'd enjoy a half hour with princess Elsa, if you know what I mean, a lot more than making it easier to buy souvenirs.
(Score: 2, Funny) by yarp on Monday March 23 2015, @02:07PM
I'm sure they already have a very good idea of their customers' behaviour but this will allow them to catalogue and data mine practically every action made wherever a wristband is worn. This would make me uneasy but I expect many will applaud it for the convenience it offers. Will wearing one be optional, I wonder? Would tinfoil hats be offered as an alternative? :)
Oh, and this:
Is it... alive?
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Monday March 23 2015, @02:09PM
"Would tinfoil hats be offered as an alternative? "
Don't you mean tinfoil wrist guards?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @02:24PM
I bet there would be a decent sized market for a cheap product that could be used to cover the band and attenuate the signal to the barest minimum necessary to work only when the wearer intended to use it - like making direct physical contact with the reader.
Especially if you sold it as protecting your kid from being tracked by predators piggybacking on disney's system.
(Score: 1) by yarp on Monday March 23 2015, @02:25PM
Yes, wrists can have hats too!
(Score: 2) by fadrian on Monday March 23 2015, @03:23PM
I believe they're called cuffs.
That is all.
(Score: 1) by MostCynical on Monday March 23 2015, @09:40PM
Cuffs.. to go with the invisible collar (and leash).
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Monday March 23 2015, @02:37PM
It is the triangulation from the wifi transmitter that allows this to happen. If they can get within 10 feet of your location, and only 1 table doesn't have food, it does not take a genius to figure it out.
"It's a dog eat dog world, and I'm wearing Milkbone underwear" - Norm Peterson
(Score: 2) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday March 24 2015, @02:40PM
My understanding is not only are the optional, they not free. You have to rent the bands. They should be awesome for finding lost children, though.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday March 23 2015, @02:12PM
> Nothing bad can happen at Disney World.
Anyone else slightly creeped out by the above sentence? I'm not even sure why. However I can imagine the person quoted saying it with a slightly sweaty face, a mile-wide permagrin that looks like the result of electric shock conditioning and desperate, fanatical eyes that silently plead "kill me" with every glance.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @02:29PM
> Anyone else slightly creeped out by the above sentence?
That is the author's intent. The article is full of similar brave new world phrasing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @02:34PM
You're in Ba Singh Se now, everyone is safe here...
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Monday March 23 2015, @02:38PM
Then I thought of Monty Python's Happy Valley [youtube.com] (Skip to 35 seconds)
(Score: 5, Informative) by darthservo on Monday March 23 2015, @03:17PM
My wife and I went there last year, so I'll give my perspective of using them.
We used it for pretty much the whole gamut while we were there - park pass, FastPass lines for rides, room key, purchasing, food service, and the park photographers. For the most part, it was user-friendly and we found they were convenient to wear on the wrist rather than having to pull out a wallet and fumble for the right card. For those that weren't staying on the resort property, Disney provided RFID cards that worked the same way with the option of 'upgrading' to a band.
Of note, most use was some form of two-factor. When you go into the park for the first time during your visit, you scan your band but also have to 'register' a fingerprint. (Though I'm not sure what happens if you refuse to do offer your biometric data as I never did see or hear anyone raise the issue - I should have asked what alternatives they offer.) From that point forward during the rest of your visit, you have to use that same finger to two-factor your entry into the park. I'm assuming they do this in case someone loses their band and another person decides to get a free vacation, but then you think they could just disable the band ID. Would be interesting to know how long they keep your fingerprint retained as well.
Additionally, any purchases are also two-factored by a PIN that you pre-select. If it was lost, someone would need to know your PIN to buy anything. I'm also assuming that since your park pass and room key expires after your last day, then someone couldn't take it with them and start ringing up purchases. Our experience was that purchases get added on to the room bill, which then got billed back to the card we had on file. If you needed to, you could probably dispute something, but I imagine that's not an easy process with Disney.
The one area that was not two-factored was the room key. If someone was able to obtain another guest's band, they'd have a hard time figuring out which room they were staying in - Disney has somewhere around 30,000 rooms on the property, IIRC. But with some social engineering it could lessen those odds significantly. Regardless, it would be the same with a normal hotel room key.
We only ran into a few times where the band didn't register correctly on the receivers, but it was simply a matter of positioning it just so. This seemed to be more of a problem on the POS registers whenever you were buying something and especially with the park photographers' mobile setups. But we did notice instances where a very small number of people just didn't get how to do it, no matter how much help the employees were offering. These instances led to some line-clogging, be it at the park entrance or trying to get into a ride's FastPass line, but nothing major.
Overall, they actually worked very well for their intended purpose. But it would be interesting to see if they end up incorporating this with phones (or smart watches) now that more and more are NFC capable.
"Good judgment seeks balance and progress. Lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration." - Dwight D Eisenhower
(Score: 1, Disagree) by darthservo on Monday March 23 2015, @03:22PM
Sorry, it isn't really *two* factor since the bands are just an ID. (Not enough coffee, yadda yadda)
"Good judgment seeks balance and progress. Lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration." - Dwight D Eisenhower
(Score: 4, Informative) by tathra on Monday March 23 2015, @03:47PM
no, its still two factor - "something you have" (the band) and "something you are" (fingerprint)
(Score: 1) by skater on Monday March 23 2015, @03:48PM
Your experience matches ours almost perfectly - you must have been following us around!
Seriously, I had forgotten about the fingerprint/PIN step. But I'm pretty sure they were doing fingerprints before the MBs were implemented.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @05:50PM
> But I'm pretty sure they were doing fingerprints before the MBs were implemented
for about 20 years now, the one and only time i went to disney was in the mid 90s and they had just started it
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday March 23 2015, @04:00PM
With RFID and the NSA police state the world is beginning to remind me too much of Heinlein novels like Friday and Revolt in 2100 [wikipedia.org] that I read as a kid 30-35 years ago. Does Man learn nothing from SciFi?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday March 23 2015, @04:51PM
> Does Man learn nothing from SciFi?
Current powers that be seem to have learned plenty from Brave New World, 1984, Farenheit 451...
(Score: 2) by gnuman on Monday March 23 2015, @08:14PM
When everything works, the reader flashes green and emits a pleasing tone; if something goes wrong, it glows blue, never red. Red lights are forbidden at Disney, as they imply something bad happened. Nothing bad can happen at Disney World.
And how about color blind? Most commonly, they can't differentiate between red and green. Using blue addresses this problem. Maybe they don't want to cause problems for close to 9% of the population
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness#Epidemiology [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @11:46PM
I'm sure they had multiple justifications.
My guess they picked blue over other colors for the same reason MS went with blue for the screen of death - its been proven to be the most calming of colors.
(Score: 1) by No Respect on Monday March 23 2015, @09:54PM
About 10 years ago when SeaWorld was owned by Anheuiser-Busch they implemented a system at their Orlando, FL park (maybe others, too) that required guests entering through the gates place their finger on a pad which did, I assume, fingerprint scanning and matching. This was allegedly to save them money in some way that was never adequately explained.
I remember refusing, since when I bought our tickets that day there was no mention that a mandatory fingerprint scan was required. I told them it was against my religion. There was still a collective groan from those in back of me in line when I started to object. The social pressure was enormous if you dared to take exception with the system. The standoff was quickly resolved after they eyeballed my yearly pass (that had my photo on it). It wasn't a huge deal. The number of other sheep complying with the procedure was mind-boggling. Voluntarily give your fingerprints to a fucking BEER company? Are you kidding me?
Anyway I think it was some sort of experiment. No idea if they're still using that system at SeaWorld. I know AB doesn't own it anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 23 2015, @10:44PM
theme parks, casinos, once everyone is chill about it, the # of the beast will finally arrive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2015, @10:41AM
I was surprised to hear how long it took Disney to get FastPass working. It wasn't until they gave everyone access to fastpass that it was ok for anyone to skip the lines. It took a few tries to get it right but now everyone gets some access to it and few question the idea of people skipping the lines.
If you, for example stay in a Disney hotel you get more fast passes with fewer restrictions ( overlapping bookings etc.).
If you pay at the gate you get two fast passes requiring a 2 hour book-ahead and you must use it before booking the second.
A lot of people assume that the fastpass is the same for everyone and for this reason I feel it's a little bit evil despite the business problem it solves. If they truly felt that you should be able to pay to skip the line then why hide it?
Congrats to Disney for figuring out how to bring class to Disneyland!