iPhone owners don’t have to wait in long lines

I just returned from a wonderful weekend vacation at Disney World with my family. It was great to get away from it all for a while but I have to admit, I wasn't exactly able to turn off my technology brain 100%.

So please bear with me as I dedicate the next few blog posts to some very cool technology-related experiences I had on my vacation.

First up, an iPhone app. I know, I know, I love to talk about the iPhone but experiences like this one just make it too easy to do!

Using my iPhone at Disney

You might think the part I loved about having my iPhone with me at Disney World was being able to call or text my wife if we had to separate in one of the parks for any reason and needed to reconnect. Nope, I could do that with almost any cell phone.

But how many cell phones can tell you the wait times, in near real-time, for all of the Disney World rides and attractions? Well, thanks to the Disney Wait Times app, my iPhone can!

How does it work?

The Disney Wait Times application for the iPhone relies on human input. In other words, if the current wait time for It's a Small World reads 10 minutes on my iPhone but when I get to the ride I realize the wait is now 15 minutes, it is my responsibility (duty?) to update the wait time for the application to 15 minutes. This is why I call it near real-time.

This may sounds like a major drawback to the application but it isn't. My wait times were dead-on or within 5-10 minutes every time! It's fun to think there were probably hundreds of people walking around the park all doing our part to make sure the wait times were accurate.

Not just wait times

The Disney Wait Times app was just one of three applications I used during my trip. The second gave me the complete menu listings of every restaurant in the Disney parks and helped me find them in relation to where I was standing. The third gave me step by step instructions on how to find all of the Hidden Mickeys.

Ironically, the biggest drawback to these applications was the cost. Two of them cost $1.99 each. I say ironically, because I actually debated whether or not $1.99 was worth it for an app I would only use for a few days. Then I finished my $10 hamburger and $3 drink and came to my senses.