Theme Park Mobile Phone Applications

With the surge in popularity of smart phone applications (apps) and web enabled phones, it is natural that companies should start producing apps and web sites that will give you information on the theme parks and in particular real time queue lengths for all your favourite attractions. Quite a few of the apps, especially those officially released by the theme parks themselves are free and are generally available for both the iPhone and Android devices. Over the past 12 months, there have been literally hundreds of apps released for the Apple iPhones relating to Florida's theme parks.

If you are visiting Walt Disney World then there are several ways that you can get real time updates on wait times and Fast Pass availability without having to physically go to the attractions or in-park information boards.

To start with these applications relied purely on other guests using the same app to provide the latest information but now some of the major players have thrown their weight behind the whole idea.

Walt Disney World

Disney themselves announced their own "Mobile Magic App" which could be purchased for $1.99 (message and data rates applied). However, to start with it only worked on Verizon Wireless mid-range phones and excluded some of the latest generation smart phones like the Apple iPhone. In 2012 they rectified this when they introduced the Disney Parks Mobile Magic app which runs on Verizon plus iphone and Android smart phones.

Read more... [Disney Parks Mobile Magic Mobile Application]

TouringPlans.com Lines

A rival to Disney is TouringPlans.com (publishers of the Unofficial Guides) and they have released an app called "Lines" which will give you estimated wait times, single rider wait times if applicable and Fast Pass availability for the four main parks as well as opening/closing times and Extra Magic Hours.

Using their vast historical database and statistical models, Lines is said to predict more accurate wait times (both at the current time and later in the day) and it will also predict when all the Fast Passes will be gone.

It also gives you general crowd estimations so you can better plan which parks to visit on a particular day and equally important, which parks to avoid.

The app is free to download for all members of TouringPlans (basic free subscription or paid premium subscription) and it will work on some smart phones such as the iPhone, Android, Palm Pre and Blackberry. To access wait time information and the crowd calendar requires a Premium Subscription which costs $10.95 for one year.

Universal Orlando

Universal Orlando has also released a mobile application for both the iPhone and Android devices. A Blackberry version will be released shortly.

The app is free to download and using GPS it can provide information relevant to your current location whilst you spend time in either Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure or Universal CityWalk.

So for example, it can give you details of nearby attractions, restaurants and guest services but one thing it cannot do in the current version is highlight wait times or give you show times. Hopefully this will be resolved in a future release.

Other services include the ability to update to Facebook or Twitter, make a dining reservation and show you exactly where you are on the map.

SeaWorld

SeaWorld also has a free mobile app which has similar functionality to the Universal app and it does give wait times and covers all three SeaWorld parks. It even has a feature whereby you can "mark" where you park, and it will help you navigate back to your car at the end of the day - a brilliant idea.

Read more... [SeaWorld Mobile Application]

Busch Gardens

As you would expect, the Busch Gardens mobile app follows the same format as that for SeaWorld.

Read more... [Busch Gardens Mobile Application]

Legoland Florida

The latest mobile app is appropriately enough released for the latest theme park; namely Legoland Florida. Like the other apps it offers maps, attraction details and even the ability to purchase tickets.

Read more... [Legoland Florida Mobile Application]

Other Mobile Applications

If you have an iPhone, then check out the Apple App Store for other applications (some free and some paid) that give you general information and wait times for Central Florida's theme parks.