Supplement II to Guide to Disney’s MyMagic+
Disney Patent Excerpt
The Patent and Trademark Office recently published a patents application for a “Guest Experience Management System and Method,” which looks to be a principal management utility for MyMagic+. You can read the application in it’s entirety here. For your convenience, the excerpts below give a brief outline and possibly additional insight into how Disney plans to use MyMagic+. The patents application was filed in July 2011, and may or may not give an accurate representation of all or any of the ways Disney plans to use MyMagic+ now or in the future.
Abstract
An exemplary computer implemented method comprises receiving information from a guest, determining a guest strategy based on the information received from the guest, and generating a schedule for the guest visit based on the guest strategy. The schedule for the guest visit may include attendance at one or more experience areas. An exemplary computer system comprises a guest experience manager. The guest experience manager includes a guest interface capable of receiving a communication from a guest computer, where the communication from the guest computer provides guest information. The exemplary guest experience manager also includes at least one business rule for determining a guest strategy based at least in part on the guest information. The computer system also comprises a scheduling element in communication with the guest experience manager. The exemplary scheduling element is capable of scheduling at least on experience based on the guest strategy.
Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to managing the guest experience at experience areas that could include theme parks, resorts, spas, recreation, cruise line, airport arrival and departure, transportation systems, sporting events, domestic and international guided tours and waterparks in an exemplary embodiment. Exemplary embodiments relate to systems, processes, and methods for applying guest-based business rules to optimize the guest’s visit to the experience areas and/or route through a particular experience area based on a guest’s pre-selected experiences.
Background
One disadvantage at many theme parks and amusement parks is the long lines that guests face to enter the park, at the attractions within the park, and when purchasing food at mealtimes. Long wait times for attractions in particular detract from the guests experience, not just from the time spent standing in lines, but also by causing the guest to rush from attraction to attraction to maximize the number of popular attractions, without taking time to notice or enjoy the other offerings of the theme park such as music, live entertainment, restaurants, shops, etc.
Additionally, guests that rarely frequent the park are typically unfamiliar with the layout of the park as well as with the peak times for more popular rides. This can further decrease those guests enjoyment, as they may take circuitous routes in order to try and visit as many attractions as possible, and may cause them to experience even longer lines by failing to visit the most popular attractions at off-peak hours.
Different methods have been used to try and minimize wait times in theme parks and amusement parks, including limiting ticket sales on a given day to prevent overcrowding and allowing guests to purchase more expensive express tickets that allow the guest to use shorter express lines for popular attractions. These methods are limited and more prevent overcrowding in the theme park itself, but do not guarantee guests that they will have shorter wait times.
Similarly, other methods to try and minimize wait times in theme parks include allowing guests to appear at the attraction and reserve a specific time in the future when the guest can return to the attraction and enter through an express line. This method is also limited in that it does not allow guests planning their trips to know ahead of time what attractions they will be able to visit on a given day, and what is the best route through the theme park for those desired attractions. Moreover, such systems will typically not allow the guest to make multiple appointments (manifested as flexible return windows)s at the same time. Thus, if the only available appointment times for a popular attraction are late in the day, the guest must either make the appointment and forgo the opportunity to make appointments at other attractions, or risk missing the popular attraction entirely.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system that better manages the guest experience and the wait times at theme parts, amusement parks and resorts.
Summary of the Disclosure
Methods and systems for managing a guest visit are disclosed. An exemplary computer-implemented method comprises receiving information from a guest, determining a guest strategy based on the information received from the guest, and generating a schedule for the guest visit based on the guest strategy. The schedule for the guest visit may include attendance at one or more experience areas.
The guest experience manager includes a guest interface capable of receiving a communication from a guest computer, where the communication from the guest computer provides guest information. The exemplary guest experience manager also includes at least one business rule for determining a guest strategy based at least in part on the guest information. The computer system also comprises a scheduling element in communication with the guest experience manager. The exemplary scheduling element is capable of scheduling at least on experience based on the guest strategy.