PAL Mickey

Post by **subsonic** » Jun Wed 15, 2005 10:38 am

I'm sure some smart person will eventually figure out how to get the messages into their phone. That smart person is not me.

Club33Hopeful · Post by **Club33Hopeful** » Jun Thu 16, 2005 12:57 am

If it was at Disneyland, that would be me. Here's hoping they add it at DL soon.

Manncab · Post by **Manncab** » Jun Fri 17, 2005 11:21 am

they are soppose to become available to all parks in the next year
and availale in 4 langs not just english and spanish but jap and german

Club33Hopeful · Post by **Club33Hopeful** » Jun Wed 29, 2005 5:37 pm

Manncab wrote:they are soppose to become available to all parks in the next year
and availale in 4 langs not just english and spanish but jap and german

Sweet! Do you have a link to the source of this information? That is great news.

Manncab · Post by **Manncab** » Jun Wed 29, 2005 5:41 pm

this is the offical webpage for disney world

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/sp ... age&bhcp=1

still looking for the press release for the other parks

Nonnie · Post by **Nonnie** » Jul Mon 02, 2007 1:11 pm

I have a Pal Mickey with the tux. Does anyone know if he needs to be updated?

Cazza and Livvie's Mum · Post by **Cazza and Livvie's Mum** » May Wed 28, 2008 5:37 am

I love my PAL Mickey and was glad to hear that you can update his software in the Parks (don't know where yet but will certainly find out) ! YAY!!!!

My kids play with him at home too! We have both old and new and they are slightly different in that the new ones have more games and jokes. The old ones are nice to keep as they mention attractions that are gone forever in the 'That Isn't Here' game.

They are part of our entourage and come with us every trip!

Post by **YZFDonor** » Jun Mon 02, 2008 8:26 pm

I think the new ones "take a download" at the entrances... The Version one needs an upgrade.

HakuOni · Post by **HakuOni** » Jun Tue 03, 2008 2:38 am

i think its cute and is a soul part of disney because it all started with a mouse.

metsofny · Post by **metsofny** » Jun Sat 14, 2008 7:58 pm

I like the PAL mickey tracks a lot and request them in between other songs when I need to pop in a track that's less than 30 seconds.

Post by **rdeacon** » Jun Mon 16, 2008 8:23 am

They are also great when you are limited on points and need a touch of mickey.

Rich

elizabethswann · Post by **elizabethswann** » Jun Mon 16, 2008 3:04 pm

I wish I had one now. He sounds really cute.

Jacca5660 · Post by **Jacca5660** » Jun Mon 16, 2008 3:21 pm

subsonic wrote:I'm sure some smart person will eventually figure out how to get the messages into their phone. That smart person is not me.

Never thought about that one. I'll talk to some of my computer geek friends and see what we can come up with.

jcodirewolf · Post by **jcodirewolf** » Jun Thu 19, 2008 7:46 am

So there have been a few attempts to hack Pal Mickey. None of them seem to have gone very far. People posting in this thread are right mostly. Pal Mickey has BOTH an RF receiver AND a IR. IR is used because it's directional, as you enter an attraction he knows where he is going. RF is used (I'm not clear if it's 802.11b/WiFi or some other RF signal) for high data rate stuff (IR data is very low band width, if anyone wants me to explain that I can try but lets take it as given the bandwidth of RF is higher than IR) AND broadcast messages. RF under some power (few milliwatts is unrestricted in the US. So Disney can use repeaters and low power for everything and use any frequency they like.

So how is this all pulled together? Well when you enter the park you hit an RF beacon that tells mickey which park he is in, it also updates his "schedule" and sets his clock, and passes firmware updates to him. All this has to happen pretty fast, so he can't update his recorded messages.

Then as you carry him around the park he needs to be seeing where he is headed (nose forward) to pick up the IR that is in front of him. He doesn't work at all in a backpack, and facing backwards means he is telling you about Peter Pan's Flight when you get on IASW.

When you are walking around the park like heading from the castle forecourt area to tomorrowland or in tomorrowland this is when Mickey says things like "I hear the wait for Buzz lightyear is short." (Which I often found means it's having mechanical problems.) As far as I can tell Mickey uses a combination of broadcast and time to tell you about Fireworks and Parades. Since there have been times when he was going to Gainesville but still on in the backseat, and he started telling my wife that the fireworks where about to start (even though we where near Ocala.) On the other hand he kept talking about events at Epcot one night he was at OKW at about 3am (my guess is they where testing/working on the broadcast messages OKW is close enough to Epcot that he heard the broadcasts.)

The jokes in the park. Mickey is programed to only tell you about an attraction once per day/visit. So if you go into the HM he says his things about the HM, the next time when he sees the HM again, he'll telling a joke/fact that is related to the HM.

johno

Figment of Imagination · Post by **Figment of Imagination** » Jul Fri 11, 2008 1:32 am

Pal mickey is cute for little kids. He really doesn't say enough different things for the park. Hearing him on this site can be annoying but if its well timed it can also be a little funny.