Major changes, upgrades and new features will soon be rolled out onto the official Disneyland Paris app in the coming months, with the recent relaunch being the first part of a larger project.
The official application saw an update earlier this month which entirely redesigned it from the ground up. This included a new look and badge icon. Although garnering negative feedback at first with its lack of content the long term goal is to make the app a true DLP travel companion for before, during and after your stay at the resort.
“The goal is to eventually make it a personal concierge for our guests, gathering all the information useful to their stay, and making it accessible from the fingertip.” said product manager for the official Disneyland Paris app, Guillaume Bendiyan.
“We want the best application possible, which will become one of the benchmarks in terms of digital customer experience beyond the tourism sector.”
Currently, the app enables guests access to essential Disneyland Paris information such as operating hours, queue times, restaurant menus and an interactive map. In time, major updates will be released to not only enhance the existing criteria but add features to bring the guests’ park experience into the digital age.
The first of these updates, coming this summer, will see the inclusion of a ‘Favourites’ feature. This means that certain tastes and preferences can be highlighted to easily find at a glance when going onto the app.
Also coming this summer will be an improved route function to make navigating the parks easier. This will included a downloaded park map to use even when disconnected from WiFi and/or Cellular.
In the Autumn however a much larger scale update will come to the official Disneyland Paris app with the introduction of an Annual Pass section. This new tab is set to include all necessary information for current and hopeful passholders including blockout dates and eligible discounts.
Also part of the Autumn update will be the ability to purchase park tickets right from within the app itself. At the time of writing tickets can be found on the official app but users are then pushed onto the Disneyland Paris website to make purchases.
This inconvenience will soon become a thing of the past according to Bendiyan.
“The goal is ultimately to integrate everything into the application, such as booking restaurants or buying tickets directly from the app, the latest function being available in the Fall as well. The feature will also allow access to the parks with the smartphone that can be scanned at the turnstiles!”
Looking onwards to the further future of the app, features will eventually be added for users to register and log into their own unique account. The focus of this will be to add a level of personalisation to the Disneyland Paris app experience that can be improved upon through usage.
Also hinted at for the future will be the possibility of a full digitized check-in and room entry, much like that of Magic Bands in Walt Disney World.
“We are already working on the future possibility of registering online from the app, which will even prevent check in at the hotel. In the future, the phone will even serve as a key for your hotel room!”
The official Disneyland Paris app is available for download on the App Store and Google Play store.
This is all very exciting news if you ask me! As someone with a background in IT and software design as well as jealous view of the capabilities on other Disney Parks’ app, the Disneyland Paris app project is something I already cannot wait to see grow and develop in the coming months.
For me specifically, the ability to use the app as my main point of call for everything from park entry to Fast Passes and dining reservations is exactly what I want to see come from this. With so many other major companies and brands already including the likes of in-app purchases, Apple Wallet and Watch support and other ways to give the best possible end user experience, Disneyland Paris has plenty of inspiration to look towards in creating and perfecting the ultimate Disney theme park application.
What features are you most excited to see in the Disneyland Paris app? What would be your dream features and improvements made in a future update? Please do give me your opinions and ideas over on Twitter as I would love to hear them!