The New York Times has a fascinating article on how Disney is using technology to control crowds at its theme parks and keep people happy:
And so it has spent the last year outfitting an underground, nerve center to address that most low-tech of problems, the wait. Located under Cinderella Castle, the new center uses video cameras, computer programs, digital park maps and other whiz-bang tools to spot gridlock before it forms and deploy countermeasures in real time.
In one corner, employees watch flat-screen televisions that depict various attractions in green, yellow and red outlines, with the colors representing wait-time gradations.
If Pirates of the Caribbean, the ride that sends people on a spirited voyage through the Spanish Main, suddenly blinks from green to yellow, the center might respond by alerting managers to launch more boats.
It almost feels like a CIA operation with the amount of crowd manipulation techniques they have at their fingertips. Creating an impromptu mini-parade route to funnel people to a different area of a park? That’s awesome.
What if Fantasyland is swamped with people but adjacent Tomorrowland has plenty of elbow room? The operations center can route a miniparade called “Move it! Shake it! Celebrate It!” into the less-populated pocket to siphon guests in that direction.
Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/business/media/28disney.html?_r=2&ref=technology
