How Disney Tracks Theme Park Visitors

And why you shouldn’t worry they see everything you do

Disney makes use of plastic bracelets called Magic Bands in both their California and Florida resorts and theme parks. The band contains a small RF chip and the supporting components like antennas and batteries. This band is the key to the wealth of data that they can use to streamline operations and improve your experience as a guest.

Since their introduction in 2013, they have been instrumental in the growth and design of Disney’s theme park division. The data these bands have generated for Disney over the past 6 years has affected areas like staffing, crowd control and wait times.

The current band design used is the second-generation MagicBand 2, launched in November 2016. It is like the original design, but the electronics are in a sealed puck that can be removed from the band and placed into other accessories like a keychain.

Inside, the puck contains two separate devices, an RFID tag and an antenna for longer range sensors, as well as the battery. These two parts serve very different purposes.

RFID has a very short range, it’s utilized for situations where you can touch your band to a sensor. For example, you no longer hand a paper ticket to someone to get into the park, you tap your band (or a plastic card, which also has an RFID tag inside) to a sensor. Other examples are resort hotel room doors, stations where you can have your picture taken by a staff photographer and when purchasing food and merchandise. Using an account linked to your band, Disney can cut the need for paper tickets, room keys and streamline the process to sell you more goods and services.

The other part of the band is a long-range beacon. This projects a signal picked up by sensors tucked out of view or inside unassuming objects. It’s safe to say that you are always within range of at least one of these sensors when you are in one of their parks. These are the sensors that partner up with the photography systems on some rides to take your picture and pair it to your account. These systems can be so precise that it can pick out the exact row of a ride vehicle you’re sitting in.

My favorite use of this technology is the personalization of your experience during a ride. For example, in the queue for Rock n’ Roller Coaster in Disney World’s Hollywood Studios, you might catch a digital rock concert poster with your name on it. In the Magic Kingdom, “it’s a small world” might even say good-bye to you by name.

I would argue that the long-range beacon is the core of their data gathering system and what gives them the most useful data points to work with.

Let’s operate under the assumption that Disney has enough sensors installed that as long as you’re within the confines of one of their theme parks, at least one sensor has a rough idea of where you’re standing. Given that they spent an estimated 1 billion dollars on the project, I’d be surprised if there were any dead zones. Also, we’ll assume they record your location every few minutes. What would they be able to figure out?

If it took longer than normal, it might correlate with a costumed character building a crowd, or people staking out spots for an upcoming parade.

It used to be that an employee would hand you a little card or bracelet when you first got in line, which you would pass off to another employee shortly before getting on the ride. They would take the time difference between the two events and determine what wait time to advertise. Now it’s completely automated as Disney can see when you got in line and when you got into a ride vehicle.

Food, beverage, and merchandise is a core part of Disney’s theme park business, accounting for $6.9 billion in revenue for 2018. Compared to admission ticket revenue for the same year at $7.2 billion, you can see that they have the incentive to keep the experience of purchasing these products as smooth as possible. And with over 20,000 employees dedicated to this segment, they have an army of staff they can shuffle around as demand ebbs and flows with external factors such as parades or the weather.

In short, no you shouldn’t. Unlike Google or Facebook, Disney isn’t in the business of generating ad revenue off of you when you’re in their parks. It’s counter-intuitive to their purpose, to immerse you in the fictional worlds they created.

Data about how long you wait in line for a ride is meaningless to anyone but Disney’s theme park competition. And I’m fairly certain they don’t have any intentions of selling data to Universal that might let them better compete with Disney.

The most prominent display of how far Disney wants to push this technology is the new Star Wars-themed Galaxy’s Edge areas opening this year. Using your Magic Band and their Play Disney Parks smartphone app, you will be able to interact with scenic elements and trigger easter eggs most guests won’t even know about. Also, your performance on the attractions within the land will affect how in-character cast members interact with you.

Of course, there will always be a focus on streamlining your experience. Disney has already been able to link their efforts in this area to increased revenue from merchandise and consumables. After all, if you’re waiting in line, you’re not spending money.

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