Mouse Extra

Thanks to the great folks at Broke Hoedown for giving us this story from Nintendo World Report that offers some details into the “Disney Magic Connection”.  This is the handheld device, used on a Nintendo DS, which we talked about late last week.  It gives real-time information about the parks, and is apparently under testing right now at the Magic Kingdom.

Thanks to this report, we now have some confirmation about what is on the current system under testing…

The foremost feature of Disney’s Magic Connection is a fully interactive park map. The system can tell precisely where you are in the park and offer routes to various attractions, restaurants, character greeting areas, and other facilities. The park is constantly communicating with the DS, and can relay attraction wait times to the DS. It can also alert guests when they are nearby attractions they have placed on their “wish list”. Selecting a specific attraction will bring up a short description of it, including height restrictions (if applicable), operating status, and the current Fast Pass distribution time (for rides using Disney’s Fast Pass system).

We also discussed the possibility of this system being used to pass the time while waiting on line for attractions by offering games to play.  It seems that is exactly the case.  Check out this fascinating concept…

These games, which are connected to various attractions and areas of the park, are locked initially. Guests can unlock the games by visiting the specific attractions. When first setting the system up, the DS asks for the names and approximate ages of everybody in your party. This information is used to tailor the games to the specific person playing them, hopefully making sure they are easy enough for children and challenging enough for adults. Currently there are five games for Fantasyland, Jungle Cruise, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

This certainly does seem to be an interesting possibility.  But I just can’t say for sure that this would interest me.  For one thing, I can’t imagine wanting to carry around the system when I am someone always looking to lug the least amount of stuff possible.  I also tend to avoid big lines as often as I can, so the game function would mean very little to me.  However, I do understand that folks touring during the peak times may truly benefit from this.

But as I have said before, this is all about the money.  It is a great idea, but it is going to come at a cost.  What that cost is will define whether or not this will be in wide use when made available.  Until that price is released, I just can not get excited about it.