From presenting an advertisement for an add-on purchase to requiring the guest to take multiple steps to access a key task; the viewing of wait times and the resort map. A mobile app should be smarter and be a guest experience lead, whilst still aiming to ensure business value is kept high.

The MyDisneyExperience app is also feature-rich, resulting in the drowning out of powerful features by other less fundamental features to the guest experience.

The MyDisneyExperience mobile app is a complex mobile app that helps guests throughout their Walt Disney World visit, from unlocking their room to making souvenir purchases and booking lightning lane skip-the-line passes on their favourite attractions.

A new mobile digital experience should aim to accommodate these same guest and business functions, whilst incorporating new technology and experience refinements.

The Universal Orlando Resort helpfully presents guests with a control panel to quickly jump to key tasks; wait times, maps, order food and more. The app also presents a carousel of rides with the current shortest waits and another with new features or up-sell adverts.

Similar to the Universal Orlando Resort app, the Disneyland Paris app presents guests with a control panel of 3 options to quickly jump to key tasks and up-sells. Another panel is displayed for guests to quickly find park hours and their operating calendar.

Interestingly the Alton Towers app presents guests with a feed of quick links to find answers to frequently asked questions, such as directions and opening times. But also uses a tab bar to let guests explore queues, shops and more.

Tokyo Disneyland Resort’s app features the map primarily when a guest first logs in, if the guest then taps the tab bar at the bottom of the screen, it pulls up a feed of primary task items such as restaurant bookings and park information as well as a carousel presenting new or popular upsells.

The Knott’s Berry Farm’s app landing screen features many common elements of the other apps analysed as part of this project. The top half is given to the park map and a control panel of key information whilst the bottom half is given over to promoting upcoming events and popular activities.

The Six Flags app once again presents users with a map and an attached control panel for quick access to popular elements of the park map such as food, rides, shows, and more. They also helpfully connect customers to the schedule, their park tickets and the ability to search.

To help guide the prioritisation of features and to help with storytelling, I built a set of personas/cohorts.

These personas/cohorts can help me to define and understand guest needs, wants and actions and help design screens to help tell the story of these guests.

I’ve documented these personas/cohorts and the process of arriving at them in the article below.

Starting at $399 per person, Disney World’s Annual Pass offerings allow guests access to the parks and other benefits at select times of the year. Annual Passholders tend to be locals or travel to Florida multiple times throughout the year.

As they generally visit frequently, Annual Passholders tend to have a lower wait time balking point (want to wait less) and tend to spend more days at the parks on average. These guests will also spend less time planning their trip in advance but use their gained knowledge both from their trips and their online communities to guide their days.

Multi-generational families tend to feature young children, teenagers, parents, and grandparents. These families tend to be 5 members or larger and will move around in a group.

These families tend to focus on attractions, entertainment, and food that the entire family can enjoy. Often skipping over intense attractions in favour of the classic attractions. These families tend to be somewhat prepared, but hope for some spontaneous moments of magic.

Young Families, besides parents, will often include one or more younger children who may be on their first trip to the Walt Disney World resort. These families will often spend less time at the parks each day, preferring to spend more time relaxing at their resort and give kids time at the pool or a nap.

These families often arrive at the parks with little planning and will tend to determine the activity and adventures of their day based on the feelings and state of the children.

Adult Fans will research every part of their trip, follow the latest news and updates from the parks even when they’re not there, and will tend to wait longer in lines for their favourite or new attractions. Fans will also look to find the best snacks, souvenirs, or places to watch fireworks.

Adult Fans will plan their trip extensively and will also use their gained knowledge to ensure they’re riding the correct rides at the right time and making the best use of their time.

A social outing for friend groups aged teen through to middle-aged adults. These groups of guests often visit to find the most thrilling or best rides Disney World has to offer. These groups will also spend more time socialising in the park than trying to ride every ride they can.

These groups will also tend to show up un-planned and ride what they can, with little to no aim to ride any certain rides or see any certain entertainment offerings.

International guests tend to be also one of the above family or friend types but will be on their first or once in a lifetime visit to the Walt Disney World Resort. These guests will have done a range of research levels, often planning their trip well in advance.

These guests are looking to make the most of their trip and try to do as many rides, entertainment, and food options as they can before they leave. These guests will also often be prepared to spend more on their trip per day than other cohorts.

The following wireframes and their evolution helped to inform the design style, feature layout and structure of the app. These wireframes were among many sketches and variations upon wireframes until I arrived at the IA structure and design style for the app.