When most people hear the word “Disney”, they immediately think of entertainment and theme-park vacations – not “innovation”. But in fact, “innovation” is a good word to associate with Disney. The company constantly researches new ideas to improve guest-experience at their parks.
Disney Enterprises, Inc. was granted a patent (US 9,393,697) for a System and Method Using Foot Recognition to Create a Customized Guest Experience. The patent discloses a system to track (acquire and reacquire) guests in different locations of a venue, such as an amusement park. It allows for data collection which could be used to show the amusement park owner the most popular rides or attractions and common traffic patterns between them. The park could then send extra theme-park characters to a busy attraction. The invention gives the amusement park the ability to create a customized experience for a particular guest, such as to have theme-park characters greet a guest by name and to create photos for guests on rides or as they travel through the park. The same data could be used by marketing to tailor marketing efforts based on preferences.
The advantage of using a foot tracking method over the current tracking methods is that it is less invasive. Current methods that are available, such as facial recognition and fingerprints can be deemed “obtrusive” and may be looked upon unfavorably by theme-park guests. Furthermore, these are unreliable methods because guests often wear sunglasses and other accessories that block detection. Less invasive methods, namely, comparing clothing, are unreliable for similar reasons.
The invention includes a foot detecting system that uses foot sensors to capture foot shape and a camera to capture images of a foot, shoe, or the bottom portion of a person’s legs. The system creates a foot descriptor stored in a database with additional information about the guest (e.g., name, interests, and hometown). Acquisition stations containing foot sensors and cameras, connected to the same database, would be located around the amusement park in either fixed structures or in robots that roam around an area.
It was reported that Disney stated it has no plans in the near future to use such a system. This is one of a number of ongoing innovative research projects. One innovation currently implemented by Disney is the MagicBand. MagicBands are brightly colored bracelets fitted with an RFID chip and function as park tickets, hotel keys, a method of payment for food and merchandise, and can be connected to FastPasses.