Universal Parks and Resorts & Facial Technology

[Alicia]

Permit plan images show the camera/sensor thingies mounted above the entrances to the land portals… and Starfall Racers’ entrance.

 

[fryoj]

Another potential benefit for universal with this is crowd dispersal tracking. If they notice certain areas are more crowded, they can take steps to draw people to other areas of the park. Like artificially increasing or decreasing ride wait times. They could potentially do pop up shows advertised in the app or on screens throughout the park to try and move people. Or it could simply allow them to move staff around to handle crowds.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Another potential benefit for universal with this is crowd dispersal tracking. If they notice certain areas are more crowded, they can take steps to draw people to other areas of the park. Like artificially increasing or decreasing ride wait times. They could potentially do pop up shows advertised in the app or on screens throughout the park to try and move people. Or it could simply allow them to move staff around to handle crowds.

Can't they do that now?

If Potter is at 90 Mins, they know where people are at. I guess WW is the only thing they can't track as well

 

[fryoj]

Can't they do that now?

If Potter is at 90 Mins, they know where people are at. I guess WW is the only thing they can't track as well

How accurate are wait times? We know there's fudging there. But even then, that's just people in ride lines and doesn't account for people in various areas of the park, in shops, restaurants, etc.

 

[Jerroddragon]

How accurate are wait times? We know there's fudging there. But even then, that's just people in ride lines and doesn't account for people in various areas of the park, in shops, restaurants, etc.

Fair on those

I know Disney try's to push people to X places but....I also have no idea if that really works. Also, I'd love this tech to be used to make it better on guests and the cast....I guess I just doubt they can do much many times because if say Potters Restaurant is busy besdies adding most cast they can't do much and Universal at least from the Ops of HHN seems not to care about staffing properly

 

[Viator]

What Type of Facial Recognition Is Coming to Epic Universe and Universal Orlando?

What kind of facial recognition technology will Universal's Photo Validation use, and how will it be used at all of Universal Orlando in the near future?

orlandoparkstop.com

From @Alicia--a new look into how Universal is incorporating Facial Recognition/Identification tech!

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I don't think facial rec would do much to move guests around the parks to disperse crowds. We all know the best way to do it is to just exaggerate the heck out of the posted wait time, as Disney does with Flight of Passage or Universal with Hagrid.

Disney thought Fastpass+ would move guests around the park evenly, but it didn't work.
Disney thought Genie+ would move guests around the park, but it hasn't worked.

It's almost like there are real-world factors (downtime, weather, etc.) that impact the experience on a daily basis that can't be controlled by a corporate office to achieve revenue goals. I think the parks tend to overthink things a bit - people just want to ride want they want, when they want. Just build high-capacity attractions every few years like Universal has over the past few years to minimize wait times.

When will the parks realize that everyone wants to do the same "good" rides and you won't be able to convince them to experience the bad ones?!


As cool as facial rec tech is... I wish they'd spend that money on improving the queue experience by replicating what they did with Fallon.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Wonder how it will work with Babies

Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like the tech is kinda a step too far and will lead to some confusion and be like Disney reservation system just adds another layer, instead of having an easy vacation where you just buy tickets and go

 

[Alicia]

Wonder how it will work with Babies

3 and under don't need tickets to enter the parks, no?

 

[Jerroddragon]

3 and under don't need tickets to enter the parks, no?

My question is just, if the child is 3 and under and goes into an area with a parent how will they know it's a child that can go in with or without a ticket

 

[Alicia]

Looks like the turnstiles at USF are already ready already btw

 

[belloq87]

I'm not a Luddite by any means... but I don't like any of this. Seems like a solution in search of a problem.

 

[JungleSkip]

I'm not a Luddite by any means... but I don't like any of this. Seems like a solution in search of a problem.

So much of Disney/Universal thinking is this. Anything and everything they can do to just ignore the solution to every theme park problem:

Just build more rides, stupid.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Not against facial recognition for ticketing, if it speeds up the process, fine by me.

BUT, for the love of god can we fix the parking/security situation before they go all in with facial rec lol

 

[JungleSkip]

Also, the open hub stuff just sounds absolutely ludicrous. The idea that it won't be an absolute mess and require a ton of CMs to stand around as runners is crazy to me. Just a baffling set of ideas

 

[sonoma15]

Not against facial recognition for ticketing, if it speeds up the process, fine by me.

BUT, for the love of god can we fix the parking/security situation before they go all in with facial rec lol

Parking is just a problem that there isn't really a fix for besides building more toll booths. It'll probably be better at Epic because the parking lot will only service one theme park while at USF you have one parking area that services 2 theme parks, a waterpark, and CityWalk.

 

[Alicia]

Not against facial recognition for ticketing, if it speeds up the process, fine by me.

BUT, for the love of god can we fix the parking/security situation before they go all in with facial rec lol

Parking is hit or miss for me at Universal, but for the most part I prefer their security check just for the x-ray machines alone. I ALWAYS have to have my bag checked by hand at WDW, and it's so weird not only to have a person rummaging around and touching my personal belongings, but every once in awhile, they make small talk by commenting on my things. I can't really explain it, but it feels icky to have my day start by being judged by the design on my hairbrush.

Also, the open hub stuff just sounds absolutely ludicrous. The idea that it won't be an absolute mess and require a ton of CMs to stand around as runners is crazy to me. Just a baffling set of ideas

Simple solution is to just close off access to the lands at 6pm when you plan to let non-theme park guests into the hub. No need for face scanning at the portals ever now and the open hub plan stays the same for dining after 6.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Parking is just a problem that there isn't really a fix for besides building more toll booths. It'll probably be better at Epic because the parking lot will only service one theme park while at USF you have one parking area that services 2 theme parks, a waterpark, and CityWalk.

There are definitely solutions available: pre-paid parking (pretty much every regional park has it) for a quick scan-and-go, proper staffing, etc. When traffic causes a backup onto I4 during HHN consistently, that's an accident waiting to happen. Imagine in 2 years when they have double the buses running between EU hotels and the current campus.

Parking is hit or miss for me at Universal, but for the most part I prefer their security check just for the x-ray machines alone. I ALWAYS have to have my bag checked by hand at WDW, and it's so weird not only to have a person rummaging around and touching my personal belongings, but every once in awhile, they make small talk by commenting on my things. I can't really explain it, but it feels icky to have my day start by being judged by the design on my hairbrush.

For bags, I do agree they should probably figure out a different approach, but I think using the same EVOLV scanners at WDW would at least speed up the process for everyone else. (Sorry Alicia)

 

[JungleSkip]

Parking is hit or miss for me at Universal, but for the most part I prefer their security check just for the x-ray machines alone. I ALWAYS have to have my bag checked by hand at WDW, and it's so weird not only to have a person rummaging around and touching my personal belongings, but every once in awhile, they make small talk by commenting on my things. I can't really explain it, but it feels icky to have my day start by being judged by the design on my hairbrush.

Yea, I can't say I've ever had an issue with Uni security checks, and I generally stay on property so parking is a nonissue.

Simple solution is to just close off access to the lands at 6pm when you plan to let non-theme park guests into the hub. No need for face scanning at the portals ever now and the open hub plan stays the same for dining after 6.

I...do not understand how that would work.

 

[Tomfoolery]

I...do not understand how that would work

At 6pm, the facial rec scanners at main entrance get turned off, and bollards/stanchions with the cameras embedded in them get plopped into place at each of the 4 land portals and turned on.,