Disney, Verizon to turn the cellphone into a theme-park visitor's tool

Walt Disney Co. has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless that will allow it to remain in wireless contact with its theme park visitors -- even when they step outside the turnstiles in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla.

Disney and Verizon bill it as a way to enhance the "theme park experience," enabling parkgoers to use their mobile phones for tasks such as saving a spot in line at a popular ride and zeroing in on where Cinderella can be found signing autographs.

But the service has broad -- and potentially controversial -- implications for marketers and consumers as each attempts to balance the need for information with privacy. The new service has echoes of the futuristic film "Minority Report," in which Tom Cruise's character is inundated with personalized ad messages as he passes interactive billboards in a mall.

On the face of it, the application appears innocuous enough: Visitors to Disneyland or Walt Disney World would be able to download an application to their mobile phones to make trip plans, including booking hotel rooms and creating a checklist of attractions and shows to see. Once they arrive, they'll be able to use their phones to check wait times at Space Mountain or find the nearest pizza.

"What we're doing is putting tools in the hands of our customers to better personalize their experience," said Scott Trowbridge, vice president of creative research and development for Walt Disney Imagineering.

Disney joins a growing number of tourist attractions that employ mobile phones as a kind of personalized tour guide. Museums across the country already offer cellphone tours in place of cumbersome rented hand-held devices. History buffs walking Boston's Freedom Trail can use their cellphones as virtual docents to accompany them on the 2.5-mile trek past 16 historic sites.

Using technology in a mobile phone that pinpoints the device's location, Disney would be able to recommend activities or restaurants to users. For example, Disney could help parkgoers avoid a long wait at Pirates of the Caribbean by alerting them to shorter lines at the Matterhorn Bobsleds, or exploit the phone's location awareness to suggest burgers at the Tomorrowland Terrace to visitors who've just exited the nearby Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters ride.