‘Mobile Magic’ parks wait times mobile app for Verizon customers

By Etan Horowitz
Sentinel staff reporter

In June I wrote about Brent Pope, an unemployed dad from Jacksonville who created an iPhone app that displays wait times for rides and attractions at Walt Disney World. Pope decided to build an app himself because Disney does not list wait times on the Internet.

In that story, I mentioned that later this year, Disney planned to launch a mobile application that will let Verizon Wireless customers see wait times, find out character locations and get restaurant information and directions from point to point in the park.

This morning, Disney released some details about the app and screenshots from it on its official Disney Parks blog.

The app will be called “Mobile Magic” and will offer information to visitors of Walt Disney World and Disneyland in California.

Some details from the blog post:

Attraction wait times on your Verizon Wireless device will be unique. There’s been an investment in the backend infrastructure to support Mobile Magic and offer actual wait times based directly on Disney Parks information.

As for FASTPASS, you’ll be able to check if it’s still available for specific attractions. And if FASTPASS is available, the app will deliver information about the next return time. So, if you can still get a FASTPASS, the application will show, for example: FP: 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Also, mobile maps are GPS-enabled. While wandering the parks, your location will be indicated by a white circle. Then it’s simple to scroll through content and find it on the map via a “getting there” option. The map zooms out and allows you to see your location and exactly where the character greeting or restaurant can be located.

Verizon customers will have to pay for the app, but Disney has not said how much it will cost, or when it will be available. I’m checking with Disney and Verizon for more details and will update this post if I find out more.

Disney says the actual wait times and character location information will only be available while you are standing inside the park. When you are not in the park, you will be able to see more general wait times information on a new mobile Web site Disney says it is launching.

The timing of this announcement coincides with a major smartphone push by Verizon, which has just announced a new phone called the Droid, which will feature Google’s Android operating system. Verizon is clearly trying to steal some of the buzz away from the iPhone, as evidenced by the “iDont” TV commercials for the new phone.

It sounds like Disney has an exclusive deal with Verizon for mobile apps at the moment, but since iPhone apps dominate the market, I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney is working on some iPhone apps as well.