Disneyland Is Tracking Guests and Generating Big Profits Doing It

With the recent opening of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park at California’s Disneyland, the company continues to boost its $20 billion resorts business, according to Bloomberg.

Last week, Disney announced the opening of another extension at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, a follow up to its massive Avatar annex. And next on the schedule is a slate of Marvel comics-themed attractions from Hong Kong to Paris. To keep the parks running with extreme efficiency and learn ever-more about guests, Disney monitors usage of its smartphone apps and electronic wrist-worn MagicBand. The resulting data could include the rides families frequent, the characters kids and parents are most drawn to and the television and film merchandise into which their dollars are funneled.

Unfettered access to customer data has helped Disney streamline its park logistics. The company has suggested the MagicBand enabled it to slash turnstile transaction times by 30% while increasing park capacity. At Disneyland, a new virtual reservation system, the first in the park’s history, has prevented overcrowding and reduced wait times. Even in the early weeks of its highly anticipated Star Wars-themed land, the line for the signature attraction, the Millennium Falcon ride, was a mere 25 minutes.

At a higher level, this surveillance gives Disney insight into the value of its creative capital. The enthusiasm of patrons for certain physical attractions can signal which movie franchises are rising or falling in popularity. That could inform whether the Avengers can sustain more sequels, help promote the upcoming Disney+ streaming service or is in need of a refresh. Whereas data-mining efforts have harmed the reputations of tech companies, Disney’s parks division is booming, with operating profit up 18% last year, to $4.5 billion. Perhaps this explains why Disney is reportedly investing more into its theme parks than it spent to acquire Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, combined.