Going to Disney World? There is an app

ORLANDO, Fla. – Need maps, wait times for rides and advice for restaurants Walt Disney World and other attractions of central Florida? There is an app for that.

Many of them, actually. And they could be useful for visitors heading to Orlando for Presidents Day week (beginning February 24), traditionally one of the busiest times for theme parks, with many children out of school.

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Software developers started tapping on the zeal of users of smartphones "for the theme parks a few years ago, and dozens of applications are now available for iPhones, Droids and other handheld devices that can perform park visits more efficient and more fun. Some can be downloaded for free but most cost a few dollars.

Most applications currently available are directed to Walt Disney World, including Disney's own applications for Verizon phones, but a handful are available for other attractions, too. For example, a free iPhone application called Universal latency (VersaEdge Software) did exactly what he promised in a recent essay: wait times provided accurate for rides within the two Universal Orlando parks. The application has been particularly useful during a visit to the Magical World of Harry Potter attraction at Islands of Adventure, where the waiting time for the round signature tend to be much longer than in other Universal Parks areas.

There are applications with maps of the park, some of whom work with the phone's GPS feature to view your exact location and surroundings. There are applications for the park and time to assist visitors in choosing a restaurant kitchen and the price. Others may find and compare the resort hotels, to help you plan the trip and the counting of days, finding the right shuttle routes and entertain the kids when you get there.

Disney launches new version of a "know-it-all app exclusively for wireless phones from Verizon, called Disney Mobile Magic." It uses the GPS functionality in phones Verizon to help users find character appearances, attractions, restaurants and other points of interest. It checks the waiting time and quick return-Pass provides business information and restaurant and even has an interactive quiz that allows users to play against other users in the same park. The application costs $ 1.99 and works at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.

"More and more people adopt smartphones and get used to using the applications – as we all know, they explode at the moment – it may be a good way for parks to provide information, such that changes in schedule or rides being closed unexpectedly invited to the park that day, "said Leigh Caldwell, who writes the popular blog Theme Park Mom.

Caldwell said she has experimented with several applications when they started coming and discovered that most of them needed to be truly utilitarian settings. They will be most useful to visitors for the first time in the great parks, "she said. Recently, Caldwell is an iPhone application taste 99 percent called "things to do in queues Theme Park, which offers games and other activities to keep children occupied in lines along the route.

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Park sites designed for mobile phones proved invaluable, too, Caldwell said, and some parks – Sea World and Busch Gardens Tampa them – offers new relay park visitors by text message. User text a code to a number provided when they enter the park for texts throughout the day.

Jeffrey Siebert, including Texas Schlitterbahn Water Parks & Resorts has been a pioneer in the development of an application for its guests, gave a presentation on the use of applications and other technologies at a trade show in Orlando at the last fall for theme park and attraction operators from all over the world.

Despite the explosion of applications, Siebert, Schlitterbahn communications director, predicted park sites configured for display on mobile phones will be more useful for visitors to the park and easier for fleets to upgrade. It also eliminates the need for applications to be approved by the telephone companies that sell through their online stores.

"If you start to play with (non-theme park) applications today from mobile sites, you will see that mobile sites are traditionally performed better than the applications, he said." (Parks themes) continue to invest in their applications at this point, but they focus more on their mobile sites, since everyone there with a smart phone can use it. "

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This May Not Be material published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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