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Information Technology in Disneyland Introduction I grew up
watching Disney television and films as many people do. I always dreamed about
going to Disneyland as a child but my sisters were just too young and my family
just was never in the position to go. Finally on July 5th 2003 I
entered the “Happiest Place on Earth” for the first time. I have a friend that
lives in the area and his uncle is an Imagineer. He helps with the special
effects on the rides. My friend arranged for him to take us into the park and
he gave us behind the scenes information on several of the rides. At that point
I just thought it would be awesome to be involved in that. As it turned
out, waiting until I was 21 to visit Disneyland made it all that much better. I
was hooked, and have visited Disneyland every year since. In the real world I
have been involved in getting my CIS degree. Every year I have taken what I’ve
learned in my courses and I’ve tried to relate it to theme park management.
While I’m in the park I often think about what information they’re collecting
and why they’re collecting it. I’ve searched online for ways that IT is
implemented in theme parks but there isn’t a lot of information. Instead I
believe I can give you some examples from my own experiences and observations: Types of Information
Technology Being Implemented 1. Ride Counters
– Every time you exit a ride you are being counted. In the past this was
primarily done with turn-stiles. However in recent years turn-stiles have been
replaced with electric eyes. But are they just counting how many people are
riding the ride? I don’t think so. Instead they can collect how many along with
when. This allows them to do a few things. They can determine ride activity at
certain times of the day and throughout the year finding out when peak times
are. This information is used for maintenance and “cast member” (employees in
Disneyland) scheduling. 2. Entrance Surveys – When you enter the “Happiest Place on Earth” you will often times be
greeted by someone holding a digital clipboard. They conduct surveys about the
park and ask questions such as “Is this your first time in the park?” “How many
people are in your group?” “Did you experience everything you wanted today?”
This survey information can be used for marketing purposes and also can be used
as a way to measure their key progress indicators (KPI). 3. Photo Pass –
This has definitely gotten cooler in recent times. Throughout the park you will
find photo opportunity spots where a photographer is ready to take your
picture. They will always be happy to take a picture with your camera but they
always take a picture with their camera. They associate the pictures they take with
their camera with a card they give you – similar to a gift card. You can then
use this card throughout the park at these Photo Pass Stations. The difference
from the past is that now you can simply log online, enter your card number,
and access your pictures online for up to 30 days. From there you can order
prints or a CD with all of the pictures from the park (not cheap ~$130 when my
family ordered a week ago). I can’t imagine how big the data warehouse for that
many pictures is. The value to Disney is that it gives guests an easy way to
purchase photos even after they leave the park… before the online system you
had to purchase prints from the photo store inside the park. 4. Scheduling –
The last time I was at the park (in August) I asked a cast member how many
employees there were in the Disneyland Resort… I can’t remember the exact
number but I know it was over 30,000. I haven’t been able to observer how or
what they’re using to manage that many people’s schedules but I know they’re
not using paper and pencil. I’m sure it uses information such as peak times and
seasonal information. With that many cast members the scheduling system has to
be one of the most critically important information systems to the parks
operation. As you can
see the ways a theme park can use information technology can cover a lot of
different areas. I think it would be interesting to be involved with any of
these projects. For each of these areas there has to be DBA’s, interface
developers, project managers, analysts, etc. I think there is a real
opportunity to work in an IT position with Disney. Competitive Advantages Disney has
been able to create competitive advantage in several ways however IT may not be
the one that people first think about. One of the biggest challenges any theme
park faces is the amount of time visitors are spending in the queue. Disney has
created a competitive advantage by designing a “Fast Pass” system. This allows a guest to use their entrance pass
to go and get a ticket that will allow them to come back to the ride at a later
time (usually a couple hours) and get on the ride with minimal waiting time
(typically <15 minutes). The guest can get a new fast pass every 2 hours.
The information system used for fast pass is keeping track of several things.
It has to take into account how many people have already fast passed the ride to
determine a return time. It has to determine whether or not the guest is
eligible for a new pass. It also has to know that the guest is using a valid
entrance pass. If you try to use an entrance pass that was not checked in at
the front gate it won’t work. This technology has helped create a competitive
advantage by shortening the time guests are spending in lines compared to other
theme parks. I know it’s
not another company entirely but Disney World has a unique competitive
advantage that Disneyland doesn’t have. In 2006 Disney World began implementing
a biometric fingerprint scanner to
verify guests with their tickets. This is of course to detract from selling the
tickets or letting other guests use season passes. I find this interesting
because in Disneyland they simply put a photo on the back of annual passes and
essentially anyone can use a standard day pass. A multi day pass takes away
days only when you enter the park (generally within a 15 day window). Therefore
if you don’t visit the park one day it won’t count as one of your days. My
sister had a multi-day pass and used all of her days however someone else in
our group hadn’t used all of their days and my sister used that pass to enter
the park. In Disneyworld this wouldn’t be allowed because a fingerprint scan is
associated with all of the passes. This is a competitive advantage over
competitors who are losing money because guests are taking advantage of the
entrance tickets. (Harmel) What Does It Take? With graduation approaching I have been
scanning jobs for the past couple months. From everything I’ve read Disney is a
great company to work for. There reputation along with their high public
appearance allows them to be picky about their requirements. They do have a lot
of positions available in the Technology and Information Systems field. However
they often want a lot of experience in very specific roles. I think I could be happy
working for a lot of different organizations but I figure the best place to work
has to be the “Happiest Place on Earth.” (“Careers”) View the forum for this post here. Bibliography "Careers." The Walt Disney
Company - Careers. 2007. 20 Sep 2007 <http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/index.html>. Harmel, Karen. "Walt Disney World:
The Government's Tomorrowland?." News 21. 01 Sep 2006. 20 Sep 2007 <http://newsinitiative.org/story/2006/09/01/walt_disney_world_the_governments>. |
