"Disney has spent the last year outfitting an underground, nerve center to address that most low-tech of problems, the wait." (Image by Jrobertiko.)

As speedier technology makes certain aspects of life almost instantaneous. others that require patience (e.g., long lines at amusement parks) become more annoying. In order to deal with their customers not wanting to wait around, Walt Disney World in Orlando has constructed a high-tech bunker in order to preempt any inconvenience for its visitors–and also to subtly and creepily control their actions. Brooks Barnes has an interesting article on the topic in the Business section of the New York Times. An excerpt:

“To handle over 30 million annual visitors — many of them during this busiest time of year for the megaresort — Disney World long ago turned the art of crowd control into a science. But the putative Happiest Place on Earth has decided it must figure out how to quicken the pace even more. A cultural shift toward impatience — fed by video games and smartphones — is demanding it, park managers say. To stay relevant to the entertain-me-right-this-second generation, Disney must evolve.

Walt Disney: Sadly, his head wasn't actually cryogenically frozen. Just a myth. (Image by NASA.)

And so it has spent the last year outfitting an underground, nerve center to address that most low-tech of problems, the wait. Located under Cinderella Castle, the new center uses video cameras, computer programs, digital park maps and other whiz-bang tools to spot gridlock before it forms and deploy countermeasures in real time.

In one corner, employees watch flat-screen televisions that depict various attractions in green, yellow and red outlines, with the colors representing wait-time gradations.

If Pirates of the Caribbean, the ride that sends people on a spirited voyage through the Spanish Main, suddenly blinks from green to yellow, the center might respond by alerting managers to launch more boats.”