Ears the News with Richard

Complimentary Wi-Fi has gone gold at Downtown Disney, which now completes the roll-out of Wi-Fi to all Walt Disney World resorts and theme parks.

Image courtesy of WDWMagic.com

Disney is about to expand the new “Touch to Pay” system to a wide variety of locations this week. The system was first tested back in August at the Contemporary, and is now being added to a number of locations starting from 12/11/2012. The new system allows guests to use their RFID Key to the World card to just touch the Mickey head on the reader to make their payment. Purchases over $50 require a PIN number to be entered, which is set at check-in. Guests can also use the system to pay by credit card, but in this case it is swiped through the magnetic reader.

The new touch to pay locations are as follows:

Disney's Art of Animation Resort

Disney's BoardWalk Resort

Disney's Contemporary Resort

Disney's Polynesian Resort

Disney's Yacht & Beach Resort

It is expected that the touch-to-pay system will be fully installed in all Walt Disney World registers by early 2013.

Image courtesy Inside The Magic

Disney is installing RFID entry turnstiles at all 4 of the theme parks this week. Initially, only resort guests with park tickets on their Key to the World cards will be able to use this feature. The deployment will be a phased approach, with more turnstiles being converted to the new system over the next few months. All ticket media including Annual Passes will eventually be replaced with RFID passes once installation is complete.

The RFID reader allows guests to just touch their ticket to the RFID Mickey head reader and walk through. Along with being quicker, it is far more convenient for guests with strollers and wheelchairs, and those in larger groups.

The sponsorship agreement between Kodak and Disney will be ending on 12/31/2012. The guide maps and locations are all currently associated with Kodak will have changes made to remove the brand in early 2013. The brand removal will also take place at Disneyland.

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