Pokemon GO In the Parks?

[Disney Khaleesi]

I'm obsessed with this game! There's a few Pokestops by my home. Unfortunately, there's also a grave in a nearby cemetery that's also a Pokestop. I'm super excited to play this in the parks though!

The downtown area of where I live has been crazy. There's tons of Pokestops out there so these hoards of teenagers are just wandering around trying to catch Pokemon at like 1 in the morning.

 

[SureAsLiz]

Are the gyms and Pokemon generated by the cell phone or the game makers? I'm not completely understanding this. DGD finds Pokemon all around our house. Are the gyms and such in places like WDW generated by individual phones or are there for everybody?

Gyms and stops are stationary landmarks which are tied to a specific set of coordinates. In the parks, gyms are at locations such as Cinderella Castle, Main Street Station, Tower of Terror - all things that cannot move. In neighborhoods, they may be located at stores, museums, or other landmarks. Because they are landmarks, anyone can see and interact with them.

But one persons interaction doesn't affect another's. Pokestops are use limited by time (if you visit one, you must wait 10ish minute before visiting it again), and that is individual. So you can visit one, and I can visit it 5 minutes later without any issues.

 

[Jobie]

So Pokemon GO is now here and it has caught the attention of almost everyone I know. I was downtown in my small town last night (Apex, NC), and was playing with 40-50+ people. It was a great experience.

I am curious if anyone has been playing at the parks and what kind of Pokemon they are finding? Also, I am curious about the Pokespots that would be in the parks. It seems like there would be a lot of them.

Any one played at the parks yet? How many Pokemon spots have you found?

I am anxious to try it out the next trip I am down the World.

Oh yeah, Team Valor for life.

 

[erionm]

See this thread: Pokemon GO In the Parks?

 

[ojeight]

I think this is awful for the parks. I have the game but don't understand why anyone would want to play in the parks. It is not like it would be a different experience from playing anywhere else. I do think it would be cool if Disney had their own GPS enabled game like Agent P's World Showcase Adventure but not one that required staring at your phone while walking and possibly walking into people.

 

[hiroMYhero]

We were in DL on Sunday, from park open through closing, and saw lots of individuals, couples, and groups hunting for Pokemon. Everyone was having fun and even with the more narrow walkways in DL and DTD, we didn't see any accidents nor any guests who were upset with the players.

I was thinking the more spacious walkways in the WDW parks would make for easier maneuvering for the Pokemon hunters. Hopefully the hunters will designate a navigator/lookout and be respectful of others' personal space.

 

[SureAsLiz]

It is not like it would be a different experience from playing anywhere else.

It's actually a very different experience than playing elsewhere due to the number of stops/gyms/pokemon in a relatively confined space.

Looking though the people who have reported (with the knowledge that this game has only been out a few days), it's locals who are playing most in the parks/making an effort to visit the parks to play.

In the many hours that I've spent playing on property over several days, I have seen 0 issues of people walking into others or hurting themselves while playing this game

 

[SgtTibbs]

I have felt a disturbance in the force, as if thousands of Disney suites cried out in unison: "People are having fun!!! But in the wrong way. We must do something"

 

[yulilin3]

It's actually a very different experience than playing elsewhere due to the number of stops/gyms/pokemon in a relatively confined space.

Looking though the people who have reported (with the knowledge that this game has only been out a few days), it's locals who are playing most in the parks/making an effort to visit the parks to play.

In the many hours that I've spent playing on property over several days, I have seen 0 issues of people walking into others or hurting themselves while playing this game

I agree. It seems mostly locals are playing at the parks and I have not seen any collision or rudeness.

 

[SgtTibbs]

we didn't see any accidents nor any guests who were upset with the players.

Heck yeah! If you are out chasing cartoon things you won't be in front of me in the queue for Soarin. Win-win. Go catch them all!

 

[Karin1984]

It won't take long till certain places will be blocked from playing. Like above mentioned, seriously a cemetery? Also the Holocaust museum reported they want to do something against the spots within the museum. That is just bad taste.

Im sure Disney will protest against it in some way. There must be some rule against this, mixing of brands.

And isn't Disney private property? Must be something against that. Before you know it they will put a spot in your own bed room and all your neighbours come by to find it.

 

[SgtTibbs]

It won't take long till certain places will be blocked from playing. Like above mentioned, seriously a cemetery? Also the Holocaust museum reported they want to do something against the spots within the museum. That is just bad taste.

Im sure Disney will protest against it in some way. There must be some rule against this, mixing of brands.

And isn't Disney private property? Must be something against that. Before you know it they will put a spot in your own bed room and all your neighbours come by to find it.

It's going to be, interesting.
Can a private company dictate what app you run on your phone while on their property? Can Safeway say you can't look at Costco prices while in their store? Can the local mall ban you from checking Amazon?

 

[inevitablyaustin]

I doubt Disney would do anything. If anything, this might be bringing more people into the parks. It's not like people playing in the parks are causing any trouble.

Also, PokeStops are based on locations from the original game, Ingress. Users in that game submitted locations for portals and those are the stops that we see in Pokemon GO. They aren't going to add any more stops any time soon, but people need to mindful that these stops are put on important landmarks/buildings/places so instead of just grabbing the stop, people should actually take time to appreciate the history behind each place they're going to.

 

[Delirium]

I can see the following in the future.
- Character meet & greet lines where designated people can show off the Pokemon's they have found.
- Early Magic Hours (with a fee of course) so you can find your Pokemon's before the crowds build
- People dropping their cell phones in Space Mountain, RNR, TOT, Everest, Astro Orbiter, etc. trying to fine Pokemon's while on the ride.

 

[Karin1984]

It's not exactly the same as looking up prices or looking for information. It's planting their brand and trademarks within a different brand. Strong brands can be very protective of their name and goods.

There will no doubt be people thinking Pokémon belongs to Disney and / or will start asking CMs questions about the app and where to find each stop.

Disney could say: "love it! More people will have to buy park tickets to get them all!"

Or: "hey! They are taking away the time people have to shop and spend."

 

[compshu]

The spots are based on landmarks linked into the GPS system that is used by every mapping GPS program. The idea to make the stops landmarks was intended to draw people to these landmarks. Same thing with the high concentration of characters found in public parks. The whole idea is that people get out of the house and explore their towns a bit more. For some of the landmarks, the game even shows some info about the stop. For example, here on Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, one of the stops is a memorial aircraft for the EA-6B. I had driven by this 'plane on a stick' as we call it for years without knowing exactly was it was dedicated to. My daughter is playing the game, and we stopped at it. The game told us what it was dedicated to, and we saw there was a small plaque as well that we were able to read. I don't think there is anything that Disney or any other place can do about the stops and the game itself because it gets its data from the GPS database. I think right now it is a fad because it is brand new, but eventually it will die down and not as many people will be glued to it.

 

[yulilin3]

The spots are based on landmarks linked into the GPS system that is used by every mapping GPS program. The idea to make the stops landmarks was intended to draw people to these landmarks. Same thing with the high concentration of characters found in public parks. The whole idea is that people get out of the house and explore their towns a bit more. For some of the landmarks, the game even shows some info about the stop. For example, here on Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, one of the stops is a memorial aircraft for the EA-6B. I had driven by this 'plane on a stick' as we call it for years without knowing exactly was it was dedicated to. My daughter is playing the game, and we stopped at it. The game told us what it was dedicated to, and we saw there was a small plaque as well that we were able to read. I don't think there is anything that Disney or any other place can do about the stops and the game itself because it gets its data from the GPS database. I think right now it is a fad because it is brand new, but eventually it will die down and not as many people will be glued to it.

Just to add, they don't seem to know what has closed, talking specifically inside Disney. All of Streets of America has pokestops, they still show the Hyperion Theater as American Idol Experience, The DHS "Hat" is a gym, they show a pokestop at the hand prints of 5 of the 9 old men inside "Disney Animation building"

 

[CookieGVB]

I must be the only grump out there thinking - "Oh, great - another reason for people to stare at their phones and not watch where they're going!!!"

 

[compshu]

Just to add, they don't seem to know what has closed, talking specifically inside Disney. All of Streets of America has pokestops, they still show the Hyperion Theater as American Idol Experience, The DHS "Hat" is a gym, they show a pokestop at the hand prints of 5 of the 9 old men inside "Disney Animation building"

That's probably a direct result of the GPS database. If I've read correctly, they only update about every two years or so, that way people can't use Google Maps or something to stalk people.

 

[Oswin]

There are TONS of pokestops in the world. So so so many pokestops and gyms and pokemon. I was on my trip when the game launched and I caught 100 different kinds of pokemon with no effort over the course of 4-5 days. A lot of the CMs play too and get really into talking to you about where they've found different pokemon. You'll also find a lot of people setting up lures at the more popular pokestops so you can easily just hang out in one of the lure areas and have pokemon come to you.