Walt Disney World has rolled out a new AI-powered checkout system at Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort this morning. This is the first public use of an AI-powered self-checkout at Walt Disney World, and it’s currently in testing for a more widespread adaptation around the resorts and theme parks. The AI-powered self-checkout runs on the AutoCanteen platform, but contains UI changes to make it feel more Disney. We made it out to Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort to try out the new system!
AI-Powered Self-Checkout at Walt Disney World
Utilizing vision-based AI, the self-checkout process aims to reduce waiting and increase efficiency at point-of-sale locations. The stated goal of AutoCanteen is to create transactions that are 10 seconds or less, reducing the amount of time standing in line to pay for food. Of course, another benefit of the system will be a reduction in staff, with only one Cast Member required to monitor a bank of self-checkout systems. This frees up the rest of the Cast Members to help guests or clean the dining area.
Currently, there are only two stations set up with a single Cast Member monitoring both stations. Of course, this is day one of testing, so there are other back-office Cast Members and managers around to monitor the process and assist if needed.
How Does the AI-Powered Self-Checkout Work?
The process is dead simple, when it works. The system is still in training, which means that while the team has tried to account for many guest behaviors, they haven’t accounted for all of them. I even decided to try and throw the system for a loop, but more on that later.
After you have collected your food and drink items, simply place them on the scanning table and let the system work its magic. And it is magic. The AutoCanteen system uses visual 3D scanning to make a best determination which object(s) are on the table. The image below represents an example of what the system is looking for. It combines a traditional color image with the 3D capture and then utilizes AI to determine which object(s) are on the table.
AI-Powered Self-Checkout Test at Walt Disney World
Ok, it’s time to head out to the End Zone Food Court to check out the new system and give it a try!
Before I gave the system a try myself, I decided to watch the process first. The first thing to note is that during this initial phase of testing, only credit cards are accepted. No MagicBands, no Disney gift cards, and no cash. In short, the system doesn’t “talk” with Disney payment systems just yet, but that is something that the team wants to roll out in the future, and it will be critical for widespread adoption. Another thing to note is that because the system doesn’t talk to Disney payment systems, discounts are not able to be applied right now. There are no Annual Pass or DVC discounts offered here at the moment anyway, but its something that the team will work on should this system make it into more locations.
Beyond that, there is clearly a learning curve with the system. Every transaction continues to teach the system beyond the initial training that it went through before being rolled out for a public test. Right now, there are probably more checkouts that require some amount of Cast Member intervention than not. That said, it seemed to be pretty close to 50/50 when we were watching, and the Cast Member intervention to correct an item or two was quicker than a typical transaction where the Cast Member would need to observe and manually enter an item or scan an item.
There didn’t seem to be a particular item that was giving the system trouble, and it’s worth noting that I never saw a transaction where the entire order was wrong. It seemed that some amount of guest modification to menu items may have also played a part in the success of an interaction. For example, I saw one person who wanted a second plate for the bacon that comes on a platter and the system read it as a separate side of bacon. The Cast Member was able to intervene, clear the incorrect item, and the transaction was able to continue.
After watching for 10-15 minutes, it was time to try it out myself. First, here’s a look at the three-step on-screen instructions that play continuously when there is not an ongoing transaction. As you may notice, the system is currently multi-lingual too, with English, French, and Spanish currently supported. This should make checkout easier for guests visiting from different countries – a common thing at Walt Disney World.
After a short wait for my breakfast, I decided on items that and good success, poor success, and unknown success to see how the system would handle the transaction. I opted for the Totcho Bowl, a side of bacon, and a side of Mickey Waffles. I had seen the Totchos do well during my quick observation and the bacon struggle a bit, but I actually went off-menu a bit for the side of Mickey Waffles. Because the End Zone Food Court works a bit like a Subway or Chipotle where you can interact with a Cast Member who is building your meal, you can deviate from the strict menu a bit.
The system was very snappy, reading my tray in about three seconds, but failing to get all of the items correct. I tried the same plate twice, and struggled both times. The first time, it read the following items:
- Totcho Bowl (correct)
- Mickey Brownie Sundae (incorrect, side Mickey Waffles)
- Side Broccolini (incorrect, side bacon)
The second time (pictured below), we can see that the system read my Totcho Bowl as an Avocado Bowl, which was newly incorrect, but it did correctly read the side of bacon. It was consistent in struggling to read the side of Mickey Waffles, but to be completely fair, the side of Mickey Waffles is not listed on the regular menu and requires special Cast Member coding regardless of if you use the AI-powered self-checkout or a regular self checkout.
Because there are only two stations, it makes it easy for a Cast Member to monitor the checkout process and my order was quickly remedied. As you can see, the system slightly changes the color of any items that were manually corrected or entered. From there, the process of checking out is as quick as any other tap-to-pay transaction.
Overall, I like that Walt Disney World is not afraid to try new things. This sort of reminds me of the face recognition pilot for park entry. Ultimately, that system was not implemented, but I think that this system will be much easier for Disney to get working and rolled out to more locations.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!