Disney trying out DS apps
Wired's got a piece up on Disney's latest little experiement with electronics in the parks: a modded Nintendo DS that pulls in live ride data, queue data, and other tidbits designed to make navigating (and therefore gaming) the park a lot easier.
However, two rather irritating moves from Disney: during the test, the testers had to put down a $300 deposit for the pleasure of helping Disney out with its business - !! - so Disney ended up with a very small sample base, and one that raved about the product. But anyone loony enough to hand over 300 bux for a modded DS park navigator is clearly going to be biased about Disney in the first place, surely.
Secondly, they're not considering offering the service as either software or a download for folks who already own a DS, no. If it comes to fruition, you will have to rent one of their grubby ones, with the kit preloaded. And presumably still have to put down a hefty deposit, too.
Of course, this keeps it elite: if every kid and their parent had the park-hacking tool, then it would break the system anyway: if everyone could spot that Indy had only a 20m wait at the same time, it'd be up to 90m within seconds. But still, renting grubware with big deposits, ugh: luckily, me other half has Disney radar embedded directly into his skull, and on my 40+ visits, I've never queued for more than 20m ever.
Maybe I'll rent him out at 300 bucks a day next time and just put my feet up in the Disneyland Hotel bar, why not. 300 smackers is a lot of irish coffee...
I'm going to Disney in Florida for my honeymoon in June, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for this.
Besides, you said $300 *deposit* at the beginning... You get deposits back right? That way you get use a grubby DS and drink a lot of Irish coffee!
Posted by: Mr Tom | January 31, 2008 at 20:22