AI Comes to Disney Dining: All-Star Sports Food Court Hosts New Self-Checkout Trial

6 days ago in "End Zone Food Court"

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AI Self-Checkout System at All-Star Sports Resort Food Court

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Posted: Thursday December 5, 2024 9:30am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney is testing a new AI-powered self-checkout system at the food court of Disney's All-Star Sports Resort. The trial aims to streamline the ordering and payment process, offering guests a faster and more convenient way to grab their meals.

AI Self-Checkout System at All-Star Sports Resort Food Court

The system uses artificial intelligence to recognize and process food and beverage selections. Guests place their items on a designated checkout counter where the system automatically identifies each item and calculates the total. The identified contents of the tray are then displayed on the screen prior to payment.

AI Self-Checkout System at All-Star Sports Resort Food Court

Payment options include MagicBands, credit cards, or mobile payment systems, but no cash option.

AI Self-Checkout System at All-Star Sports Resort Food Court

Benefits of the AI Self-Checkout System

Automatic Item Recognition: The system identifies multiple food items simultaneously, including prepackaged snacks and plated meals.
Faster Service: Guests no longer need to wait in long lines for cashiers, reducing congestion during peak dining hours.
Easy Checkout: A screen displays the order, allowing guests to confirm their selections before paying.
Multiple Payment Options: Guests can pay with their MagicBand, credit card, or mobile payment apps like Apple Pay or Google Pay.

From our observations of today's test, the system shows great promise in streamlining the food court checkout process. The system required intervention on several occasions but managed to identify the contents of most trays very quickly and accurately.

AI Self-Checkout System at All-Star Sports Resort Food Court

If successful, the food court self-checkout system may join Disney's other new dining and retail technologies, which include Mobile Order at many Walt Disney World quick service restaurants and Mobile Check Out in Disney gift shops.

AI Self-Checkout System at All-Star Sports Resort Food Court

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flynnibus2 days ago

Reality is most theme parks are too damn cheap to invest in this stuff. That example is more of a subsidized trial thing where Amazon can get more RW trials. They are in airports in limited numbers too. The real concern would be is if Six Flags/etc get desperate enough to just outsource the retail entirely to a giant like Amazon, etc.

TheMaxRebo2 days ago

Personally I am totally fine with that for things like drinks and just prepackaged/set items I think just too many variables with the food courts at Disney for it to work properly and efficiently

Andrew252 days ago

Depends on how/where it'll be used. A place like the Emporium is asking for disaster with a similar system. Too many foreign visitors that don't know how to use the app or language. Epic Universe (and the entire UOR resort) might have this ability with facial rec being required to enter, so we'll see if it happens. I use mobile checkout when possible, and it's a seamless experience. The only reason why they haven't added self-checkout at the Emporium, for example, is because they don't have much space available to use for it.

Cmdr_Crimson2 days ago

I feel this is where it's going to get ugly in the theme park industry.. https://www.iaapa.org/news/funworld/six-flags-introduces-amazons-cashless-technology

TheMaxRebo2 days ago

The only place near us i can think of that has the option to pay via table side machine is Chilis - and a lot of time they don't work and have to go the old way anyway I'd say my experience is 99% of restaurants still give you a bill, you put your card in it, they take it away and run it and come back with receipt for you to sign Most grocery stores/Walmart/targets, etc have self check out as an option and usually shorter lines than waiting for a cashier

TheMaxRebo2 days ago

I love the self check place at our grocery store - actually have scan guns (or your phone) you use to scan things while you shop and put them right in your bags and then just pay at the register and head out - so much more efficient Big difference though is that all involves scanning bar codes vs this AI system that has to be able to tell what things are - including any modifications - just by looking at it and just think there will be so many inaccuracies it won't save time or resources in the end. If this was for grab and go places where you can scan a barcode, that would be one thing, but just doesn't seem like the potential upside is worth it in this application

flynnibus2 days ago

Blogmickey’s reporting is they aren’t integrated at all in the test… hence only taking credit. Which makes sense for such a test. Standalone only needing the pci compliant internet.

wdwmagic3 days ago

Thats really just software adjustments. I'm sure if this gets deployed all of that functionality will be available.

flynnibus3 days ago

Yes - almost wvery major chain uses self serve kiosks… be it grocery, big box retail, etc

flynnibus3 days ago

It’s not the norm in the US… tho finally becoming more common as NFC and tap payment upgrades make their way down the food chain. In europe it was the norm decades ago… along with chip+pin while the US was stuck using swipe

flynnibus3 days ago

Many visual recognition systems use ai for their training and refinement. Including this one… So AI is appropriate here

Lilofan3 days ago

One Target I went to had one cashier and 10 self service kiosks. Then a few months later there were more cashiers and less self service kiosks. One staff member said a number of guests using self service were shoplifting and not scanning all the Items to buy themselves before leaving the store.