I recently got to take a vacation at Walt Disney World and it has certainly changed a lot since my last visit (some 18 years ago). I was incredibly amazed at the shear volume of people walking around those parks and waiting in those lines. I’m very appreciative of the Fast Pass, otherwise there are probably a lot of rides I would not have gotten to go on, because I refuse to wait 100+ minutes on a 5 minute ride.
On the first day, I noticed some posters on the bus about the Mobile Magic App. I whipped out my iPhone and started looking. No Mobile Magic App. So, I look back at the sign and continue reading the small print. Apparently the official Disney mobile phone app is Verizon only, $9.95, AND only works for 180 days before you have to buy it again. Wow, just wow.
Since my phone is already out, I decide to find a iPhone friendly app for Disney that might have the same features. I search “Disney” which was a huge mistake since everything that comes up is video/entertainment related and not related to the theme parks. After refining my search some, I’m greeted with a whole slew of apps from $1.99 to 5.99, all with lackluster reviews and zero endorsed by Disney. So, here I am in with a parkhopper pass, meal plan, staying at a resort and I’m refusing to pay a few bucks on an app to make my visit better.
I finally decide the app store is getting me nowhere and decide that somewhere Disney has to have something on the iPhone. I open up my mobile browser and start googling for Disney Theme Park Apps. The fourth link, the first outside of Disney domains, contains exactly what I want. It’s a completely free Disney app for iPhone, put out by a reputable source, and it has favorable reviews. I had accurate ride times so I wasn’t sitting in the same line as everyone else. I could look up menus from almost every restaurant across all the parks and resorts. The only part I didn’t like about the app was that you can’t refresh the crowd estimator for the parks.
Now that I’m back at work, the whole situation has taught me several things about apps.
- You really need to promote your app as much as possible outside the app store, their search just doesn’t compare to google.
- Someone out there just made an app that is better than yours for free. I hope you planned for that to happen.
- Disney is very short-sighted on their mobile technology.
Good post. Went to Disney earlier this year and sure could have used an app like that. As an Android user, I agree with you that Disney is indeed very short-sighted in this regard. They must be getting some nice kickbacks from Verizon and Apple.