We found out pretty early on after beginning the website that Social Networking was going to play a key role in everything that we did here. After all, what good is a website if noone knows about it?
With that in mind, we started up our Facebook Fan Page and our Twitter account and pursued them with gusto. It's pretty well documented all over the site about the positives we've experienced by doing that. We've met many people, contacts and made some pretty darn good friends to boot in the whole deal. But the whole Social Networking aspect of what we do hasn't been strictly relegated to what we do with our website, either. We stay in contact pretty constantly while we're in The Park as well, wholly independent of our website. We tweet from The Parks a lot; both comments we have about things we see as well as the occasional picture or two we think people might be interested in.
Enter Foursquare (and yes, we know the post is about Gowalla).
We discovered Foursquare recently, and really enjoyed being able to "check in" all over The Park and let people know where we were, what we were seeing, or what we were riding. We've always enjoyed seeing what our friends are up to when they're at The Park, so we naturally assume they want to know what we're up to, as well (please tell us if we're wrong about this). The only flaw with Foursquare that we found was its lack of "Disney" support. They had plenty of special badges and things to collect for other places, but not the place where we used the app the most, Disneyland Resort.
Enter Gowalla.
A week or so ago, a major announcement was made on the Disney Parks Blog that Disney had teamed up with Gowalla and would be bringing their own brand of magic to this particular "check in" Social Networking app, and just like that, our decision was taken out of our hands and made for us.
Goodbye Foursquare.
I should say this is by no means meant to bash Foursquare at all, or those who cling to it. We really enjoyed using it, but doggone it, this is Disney we're talking about here, and it's just too difficult to do both.
That said, the premise behind Gowalla is fairly simple. You sign up for an account with them on their website, download the app on your Smart-Phone, and virtually "check in" (like at a hotel) at whatever location you happen to be at. We started using it with gusto on our last trip to The Park this past weekend and loved it! It's a game, plain and simple, and a fun one at that!
It's really simple to figure out and work as well. It basically uses your phone's GPS location system to know where you are (and what you are near) at The Park, and you click the little "Check In" button on your app to check in. It's really that simple. You can also choose at that point to let your friends know where you are (on Gowalla, Twitter, and Facebook as well) or check in privately if you're afraid you're harassing them with incessant checking in (we use this from time to time to avoid spamming people too much). It's also a great way to keep track, or know, where you're friends currently are at The Park so you can keep up with them and meet up. And you can always go back and check and see where you've been in the past, where you've checked in and what badges and pins you've earned in the process.
Gowalla awards you for your check-ins with a stamp that goes into your passport at each one (many Disneyland Resort spots have their own special stamps) and pins for different things accomplished (such as travelling to a different state, photos taken and submitted to different locations, and number of check-ins you've done over a certain period of time).
Two of the most interesting features of Gowalla though, especially where The Park is concerned, are Trips and Items. Trips can be created by anyone (in this case Disneyland in conjunction with Gowalla) and include a list of several different stops, or check-ins, you need to complete in order to get a special pin for doing so. You can see that right now we're about halfway to accomplishing our "Season's Greeting" Trip. We're hoping to wrap that one up this weekend, though.
Items are also an interesting feature. As you check in at different locations, you might randomly receive a gift, or item for doing nothing more than checking in at that location. You can then either keep the item (for trading later at another location if you see something you like better) or vault it (so it is permanently in your collection). Disneyland has also thrown in some special items collectible only at The Parks such as a pair of Mickey Ears (of course), a Hitchhiking Ghost and The Partners Statue from in front of The Castle.
No doubt, many people might not "get" this whole thing and find it silly. That's perfectly all right. For us, though, we've discovered that staying in touch with our friends while we're at The Park is an important part (at least to us) of what we do. We enjoy knowing where you guys are when you're enjoying a Day At The Park, and we like being able to let you all know what we're up to, as well. That said, we've found that Gowalla is an excellent way to keep up, catch up, and inform others about what's going on at The Park, and what you're enjoying. And it's just plain fun being able to complete trips, collect special stamps and pins, and pick up items others have left lying around to boot (if only virtually).
We can't wait to see where Gowalla and Disney will take us in the future.
With that in mind, we started up our Facebook Fan Page and our Twitter account and pursued them with gusto. It's pretty well documented all over the site about the positives we've experienced by doing that. We've met many people, contacts and made some pretty darn good friends to boot in the whole deal. But the whole Social Networking aspect of what we do hasn't been strictly relegated to what we do with our website, either. We stay in contact pretty constantly while we're in The Park as well, wholly independent of our website. We tweet from The Parks a lot; both comments we have about things we see as well as the occasional picture or two we think people might be interested in.
Enter Foursquare (and yes, we know the post is about Gowalla).
We discovered Foursquare recently, and really enjoyed being able to "check in" all over The Park and let people know where we were, what we were seeing, or what we were riding. We've always enjoyed seeing what our friends are up to when they're at The Park, so we naturally assume they want to know what we're up to, as well (please tell us if we're wrong about this). The only flaw with Foursquare that we found was its lack of "Disney" support. They had plenty of special badges and things to collect for other places, but not the place where we used the app the most, Disneyland Resort.
Enter Gowalla.
A week or so ago, a major announcement was made on the Disney Parks Blog that Disney had teamed up with Gowalla and would be bringing their own brand of magic to this particular "check in" Social Networking app, and just like that, our decision was taken out of our hands and made for us.
Goodbye Foursquare.
I should say this is by no means meant to bash Foursquare at all, or those who cling to it. We really enjoyed using it, but doggone it, this is Disney we're talking about here, and it's just too difficult to do both.
That said, the premise behind Gowalla is fairly simple. You sign up for an account with them on their website, download the app on your Smart-Phone, and virtually "check in" (like at a hotel) at whatever location you happen to be at. We started using it with gusto on our last trip to The Park this past weekend and loved it! It's a game, plain and simple, and a fun one at that!
It's really simple to figure out and work as well. It basically uses your phone's GPS location system to know where you are (and what you are near) at The Park, and you click the little "Check In" button on your app to check in. It's really that simple. You can also choose at that point to let your friends know where you are (on Gowalla, Twitter, and Facebook as well) or check in privately if you're afraid you're harassing them with incessant checking in (we use this from time to time to avoid spamming people too much). It's also a great way to keep track, or know, where you're friends currently are at The Park so you can keep up with them and meet up. And you can always go back and check and see where you've been in the past, where you've checked in and what badges and pins you've earned in the process.
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| Some typical check-ins from a Park trip |
Gowalla awards you for your check-ins with a stamp that goes into your passport at each one (many Disneyland Resort spots have their own special stamps) and pins for different things accomplished (such as travelling to a different state, photos taken and submitted to different locations, and number of check-ins you've done over a certain period of time).
Two of the most interesting features of Gowalla though, especially where The Park is concerned, are Trips and Items. Trips can be created by anyone (in this case Disneyland in conjunction with Gowalla) and include a list of several different stops, or check-ins, you need to complete in order to get a special pin for doing so. You can see that right now we're about halfway to accomplishing our "Season's Greeting" Trip. We're hoping to wrap that one up this weekend, though.
Items are also an interesting feature. As you check in at different locations, you might randomly receive a gift, or item for doing nothing more than checking in at that location. You can then either keep the item (for trading later at another location if you see something you like better) or vault it (so it is permanently in your collection). Disneyland has also thrown in some special items collectible only at The Parks such as a pair of Mickey Ears (of course), a Hitchhiking Ghost and The Partners Statue from in front of The Castle.
No doubt, many people might not "get" this whole thing and find it silly. That's perfectly all right. For us, though, we've discovered that staying in touch with our friends while we're at The Park is an important part (at least to us) of what we do. We enjoy knowing where you guys are when you're enjoying a Day At The Park, and we like being able to let you all know what we're up to, as well. That said, we've found that Gowalla is an excellent way to keep up, catch up, and inform others about what's going on at The Park, and what you're enjoying. And it's just plain fun being able to complete trips, collect special stamps and pins, and pick up items others have left lying around to boot (if only virtually).
We can't wait to see where Gowalla and Disney will take us in the future.
2 comments:
gowalla is SO much cooler by you! hopefully I'll find the true magic of it in January!
I hope it came across well. We know that a lot of people are probably annoyed by it, or using Foursquare, or just don't see the point, but for us its really all in good fun.
There's a whole group of us who hang out together at The Park who use it, and that probably helps a lot. Sometimes we get pretty competitive about it. :)
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