I just got back from a much needed vacation with my family in Florida. While we were there we visited all of the Disney theme parks and there were a number of cool technology usages that I noted.
The first was right as you came into any of the parks. Your park pass is encoded with a magnetic strip like a credit card. Any one with an adult pass had to put their card through the turnstile scanner and then insert their hand into a device at the top of the turnstile. I'm not sure what this was for as it didn't seem to be reading fingerprints or anything of the sort.
The next place we encountered more technology was getting our picture taken with Mickey. The park photographers have digital cameras with a PDA style device which is used to scan another card call PhotoPass. You can take this card from character to character and use it in any of the parks. You can then take it to the camera shop at the entrance of each park or go to a web site to view you pictures an get prints.
I also found out how they determine the wait time for a ride. My son and I were getting on Thunder Mountain and as we entered the line I was handed an ID card which the cast member passed over a read. I was then told to hand it to the last cast member before I got on the ride. No guessing! You know exactly how long it took.
The last place that I'll talk about technology showing up is in the ride lines. So you say you don't like waiting in line. Great! Take you park pass to the machine outside the ride and it will give you a Fast Pass that allows you to come back at a specified time (usually 1 to 2 hours) and go through a much shorter line and bypass the rest of the fellow riders. My only gripe with this one is that there doesn't seem to be a limit to how many of these Fast Passes they give out.
So what cool things do you see around you?