Disney World Meets Big Data

Disney Blogger
Aug 27, 2017 · 6 min read

Data Analytics and Disney approach to Big Data

There are many things that I enjoy doing and learning about, two of those things are going to Disney World and Data Analytics. Disney has combined these two topics into one to create a more personal and supreme magical entertainment experience for guests at Walt Disney World. Disney collects a lot of data, and all of this data mining allows Disney to understand past behavior and make personalized offers using predictive analytics. One of the main projects Disney used to gather data was the MyMagic+ initiative which combined (FastPass+ , Magic Bands, and My Disney Experience ) and helped Disney accommodate 3,000 additional daily visitors. Let’s take a look at some of the things Disney has done to combine these two fields, but before we start let’s look at some statistics ourselves.

Walt Disney World has:
27 Themed Resorts
2 Miniature Golf Courses
2 Water Parks
1 ESPN Sports Complex
9 Non-Disney Hotels
1 Shopping Mall
4 Golf Courses (not miniature)
4 Theme Parks
80,000+ Cast Members
28,000+ Hotel Rooms

The Board

Disney has some big tech players on it’s board, so it is safe to assume that this entertainment juggernaut will continue using big data and machine learning to maximize the customer experience. The board members include Jack Dorsey Executive chairman (Founder of Twitter), Sheryl Sanberg Member of the board (COO of Facebook), John Chen Member of the Board (CEO of Blackberry). Robert (Bob) Iger who said “I really believe the company should look at technology as a friend”, and “Disney’s call center analytics project paid for itself 10 times over in the first year of operation”, I think that’s incredible getting so much from investing in data analytics and gathering new insights that can help your customers and business. You can check out the board of directors: here.

“Analytics helped improve Disney’s accuracy in managing labor resources at its parks by 20%”-Bob Iger -CEO

Magic Bands (a $1 Billion Big Data System)

In 2013 Disney introduced the Magic Bands at Walt Disney World Orlando FL. These wrist bands are water proof and use short range Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology and a 2.4 GHz transmitter that tracks your location while inside the park. They are fully customizable and allow users to have a personal experience. Oh and did I mention it allows Disney to gather all of this data about the individual, of course they keep your data private. The amount of information that is able to be collected from a family that uses the bands during their vacation is priceless.

MAGIC BAND CAPABILITIES:
A) Enter the park.
B) Unlock hotel rooms
C) Priority access to experiences (Fast Pass)
D) Make payments at Disney shops and restaurants
E) Be recognized by Disney Characters
F) Link your Disney Memory Maker or PhotoPass account

Now that you know the capabilities of the Magic Band, what does this information tell Disney World ? Well, this information let’s Disney know where, when and what you eat and drink, as well as how much you spent.
This data also tells Disney which rides you go on through FastPass+ selections, what time you came to the park and left the park, what time you leave and come back to the Disney resort, if you came to the park that day or not, when and where you had your picture taken with Disney characters, and when, what, and where you bought a souvenir and for how much.

FastPass+ Innitiative

One of the biggest challenges of Disney theme parks and any amusement park for that matter, is how to reduce the times guests have to wait for a ride or an attraction. This is a problem because people waiting in line, means they are not spending money on other things at the park like shopping or food . As each guest swipes their band at a ride thanks to the new FastPass+ system, important intelligence is being transferred in real-time to the operations team which allows very important decisions to be made like adding staff or incentivizing guests to go to a different attraction or ride. This re-rerouting of guests makes more efficient use of the park and even allows for excellent customer service to be delivered.

Machine Learning with Big Data

Disney research is tracking audiences reactions while watching Disney films through a subset of machine learning called neural networks. Usually studios have an audience watch the content and then asks for their feed back, however the difference here is the amount of data that can be collected and analyzed. This type of analyzing is called sentiment-analysis, and it is expected that the cameras that do this type of analysis would make its way into many of the experiences at the Walt Disney World Theme Parks.

Conclusion

With all of this information on guests, Disney could send you personalized emails a month or two after your visit to give you more incentives to come back. If Disney collected data showing that you ate a lot at the parks, they could send you a Disney Dining Plan recommendation or at no additional charge, or maybe they saw you made many Fast Passes, so maybe they could send one additional FastPass+ selection per day, or maybe you tried making reservations at the Be Our Guest restaurant but it was closed so Disney offers a dining reservation for your next visit or maybe Disney could offer you the opportunity to purchase limited edition PinTrader pin packs for your kids since they noticed you bought that souvenir during your last visit. The possibilities are endless with all of this data being collected, and Disney’s investment of $1 billion is small compared to the possible revenue they could make once they are able to utitlize the data that’s being collected though these systems/devices.

An imagined email from Disney using Data Analytics

Extra Information:

Disney Data and Analytics Conference
This Data and Analytics conference is a summit where people go to share and exchange insights and ideas. Disney also has Disney Accelerator, which is a collaboration with academic labs and supporting startups.

My Disney Experience
A Disney Mobile App for managing the visit experience.

Technology being used
Disney uses a data management platform based on Cassandra, Hadoop and MongoDB to process, analyze and visualize all data.

My Disney Blog
DisneyThemePark.com

SOURCES:

Disney Bets on Tech:
(1) Data Analytics Conference: https://archive.disneydataconference.com/2016/

(2) Disney Accelerator:
https://disneyaccelerator.com/

How data Analytics Helps Disney:
(1)https://www.slideshare.net/vanrijmenam/walt-disneys-magical-approach-to-big-data

(2)https://theleadershipnetwork.com/article/future-manufacturing/disney-digital-magic-big-data

Disney Datasets:
(1)http://blog.minitab.com/blog/cpammer/planning-a-trip-to-disney-world%3A-using-statistics-to-keep-it-in-the-green

(2)https://data.world/kgarrett/disney-character-success-00-16

(3)https://www2.southeastern.edu/Academics/Faculty/dgurney/Math241/SemProj/Amy%20David%20Sp%2014%20Data.pdf

Disney Board Members:
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/#leadership

Disney Magic Bands: https://datafloq.com/read/walt-disneys-magical-approach-to-big-data/472

James Rathwell:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/disneys-magicband-big-data-marketing-james-rathwell

Disney Parks Attendance: http://disneynews.us/disney-parks-attendance/

Disney Data Analytics Conference: https://www.disneydataconference.com/

Fun Stats on disney: http://disneynews.us/disney-statistics-fun-facts/

News: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-bz-disney-attendance-down-20170601-story.html

http://time.com/money/4803153/disney-parks-crowds-univeral-studios-prices/

Top Theme Parks in the World:
http://www.teaconnect.org/images/files/TEA_103_49736_150603.pdf

Disney Uses Big Data, IoT And Machine Learning To Boost Customer Experience:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/08/24/disney-uses-big-data-iot-and-machine-learning-to-boost-customer-experience/#71d4c1703387

Machine Learning Research: https://www.disneyresearch.com/research-areas/machine-learning-optimization/

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