Disney to offer exclusive in-park features to Verizon customers
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts and Verizon are teaming up for a multi-year relationship designed to enhance the guest experience – before, during and after guests arrive at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This alignment allows guests to have a “personal tour guide” right in their wireless phones along with new services at the parks. Early next year guests will also use Verizon Wireless’ technology when experiencing Disney’s Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, an interactive attraction coming to Epcot.
Beginning next year, guests will be able to access an array of features on their Verizon Wireless phones while at the Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort. Planned services include an exclusive mobile application that will give guests with Verizon Wireless service the ability to easily locate shows, restaurants and the Disney characters anywhere inside the parks; get real-time attraction availability information; access mobile games; receive messages from characters and more.
While Verizon Wireless customers will have exclusive access to an array of enhanced features, Disney and Verizon are also working to ensure that some mobile information such as dining locations, show times and locations will be available to all parks visitors, regardless of their wireless company.
“With more than 90 percent of families bringing a mobile phone into our parks, our objective was to enhance the magical Disney experience through innovative wireless technology,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “Imagine receiving up to the minute tips on special park activities with just the touch of a button or receiving a call from Buzz Lightyear welcoming you to the Magic Kingdom.”
In addition, guests visiting Epcot in early 2009 will be among the first to experience Disney’s Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. The interactive attraction invites guests of all ages to team up with members of Team Possible to save the world from various comical villains and their mad inventions. Armed with an official Verizon Wireless “Kimmunicator,” guests will use these handheld devices to help maneuver through the mission.
The agreement between Disney and Verizon is another step in a series of new initiatives that highlight the latest technologies from Disney Parks and Resorts with a continued focus on improving guest experience and providing immersive entertainment. From the time guests begin planning their vacation using Walt Disney World Resort in 3D on Google Earth or tuning into Disney Travel on Demand, the experience is designed to make their lives easier. Guests can take their vacation experience to a new level with Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure and by personalizing and sharing their Disney experiences when they return home, using DisneyLink, a desktop application.
