Disney adds support for LG touchscreen handsets to Mobile Magic service

Disney has added support for a range of LG touchscreen handsets to its Mobile Magic service, bringing to the total number of phones supported to 55.

The service is exclusive to Verizon Wireless customers, and provides access to wait times and other information at Disneyland and Walt Disney World for a monthly fee of $9.99. The newly-supported LG models are the LG Chocolate Touch, Versa, Dare, Yoyager and enV Touch.

Unusually for a mobile application, smartphones such as the Motorola Droid are still not supported. The LG devices are of the lower-cost featurephone variety, with Disney seemingly seeking to address the mass-market first. Support for smartphones, probably including those running the Blackberry and Android operating systems, is promised in the "upcoming weeks".

In addition to up-to-date wait times for attractions at Disney's U.S. parks, Mobile Magic also offers current FASTPASS return times, locations of Disney characters and GPS-assisted navigation within the parks. In order to download the application, Verizon Wireless customers can open the Media Center on their handset, and select "Browse & Download" then "Get New Applications". Disney's Mobile Magic is located in the "Travel & Navigation" folder. Alternatively, customers can text "Magic" to 2777 to get hold of the app.

Non-Verizon customers can access a less detailed set of information, including park hours, entertainment schedules and dining information through mobile websites at http://m.disneyland.com and http://m.disneyworld.com. Alternatively, estimates of wait times and FASTPASS windows can be accessed through the Lines mobile web application on a range of smartphones, courtesy of guidebook authors TouringPlans.com.

Disney has been steadily growing the number of handsets supported by Mobile Magic since its November launch. The full list of handsets that can now access the Mobile Magic service is shown below:

New additions:

• LG VX8575 – Chocolate Touch
• LG VX 9600 – Versa
• LG VX 9700 – Dare
• LG VX 10000 – Voyager
• LG VX 11000 – enV Touch

Other devices:

• LG Glance
• LG VX Chocolate
• LG Chocolate 3
• LG Decoy
• LG VX 8700
• LG Venus
• Moto Adventure
• Nokia 7205
• Samsung Renown
• Moto 325
• Samsung 540
• Samsung 550
• LG 5500
• Nokia 6205
• Moto 755
• UT Starcom 8950
• UT Starcom GC1-c711
• GZ1 – S Boulder
• Moto K1 -M
• Moto – L7c
• LG 8350
• Samsung Trance
• Moto V3m
• Moto Barrage
• Moto VU204
• LGE VX-8360
• Motorola RIZR Z6TV
• Motorola VU30 (Rapture)
• Motorola Z6c
• Samsung SCH-A990
• Samsung SCH-U620
• Samsung SCH-U900 Flipshot
• LG VX 9100 – enV2
• LG VX 9200 – enV3
• LG VX 8300
• LG VX8370
• Motorola V9M
• Motorola W766 Harmony
• Motorola VE
• Samsung U640 Buddy
• Samsung SCH – U650 (Sway)
• Casio Hitachi Exilim C721
• Nokia 6315i
• Nokia 2705 Shade
• CDM – 8975
• LG VX 8600
• LG VX9400
• LG VX9800 V
• LG VX9900 enV
• Nokia Twist 7705

There are a number of screenshots of the Disney application over at the Disney Parks Blog.

What are your thoughts on using mobile applications within theme parks? What would you like to see added to the existing crop of apps? Let us know in the comment section below - we'll be publishing a feature on the potential of mobile applications in theme parks within the next few weeks.

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