PCOEN@drew.bitnet (Paul Coen) (03/18/91)
Well, myself and eight friends just came back from a spring break camping trip -- we spent four days at Walt Disney World. One of the things that we played with was the payphones, naturally. They seem to be ITT units, very similar to the "standard" Bell payphones, with the addition of a credit card slot located on the mounting plastic for the keypad (under the keys). They are clearly marked as belonging to "Vista Telephone" or something to that effect; based on the "Vista" in the name, as well as the picture of Mickey Mouse (which did NOT inspire confidence -- I was expecting to get an operator with a Mickey voice) on the information card. The 1+ and 0+ service defaults to AT&T. I never had an occasion to make a local call, so I couldn't say. 10xxx codes work (and they did with the four or so other COCOT companies whose phones I used during the trip). By the way, there are two AT&T public phones at EPCOT (one of the theme parks). They are both located in the AT&T-sponsored part of the "Communicore East" building, along with the games that allow you to pretend to be a network coordinator on AT&T's network. One phone is one of those fancy AT&T do-dads with the credit card slot, a green LCD-type screen, and the "Next call" button, which allows you to make another call on the same credit card without having to re-enter it. The other is in a booth, on the opposite side of the exit door from the "fancy" phone. It's in a large, fairly soundproof booth, and has a speakerphone that allows families to call relatives at home. I have no idea about the local calling capacity of these two beasties. I just thought it was interesting that these two phones exist in the middle of Mickey Mouse's COCOT territory. By the way, the Spaceship Earth ride sponsored by AT&T has a bunch of mistakes in it. One gave credit to Europeans for first inventing the printing press, which isn't correct. The second was spotted by an art historian friend of mine who pointed out that they show Michaelangelo painting some figures on the Sistene Chapel -- including clothes. The clothes were added by a later artist. Much more sinister was the VERY subtle propaganda thrown in by AT&T and the other corporate sponsors (GM was the worst), under the guise of education. Walt must be spinning in his grave. The preceeding may not even be my opinions, never mind Drew U.'s Paul Coen Academic Computer Center Drew University
goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) (03/19/91)
In article <telecom11.214.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, PCOEN@drew.bitnet (Paul Coen) writes: > They are clearly marked as belonging to "Vista Telephone" or something > to that effect; based on the "Vista" in the name, as well as the > picture of Mickey Mouse (which did NOT inspire confidence -- I was > expecting to get an operator with a Mickey voice) on the information > card. > The 1+ and 0+ service defaults to AT&T. ... > I just thought it was interesting that these two phones exist in the > middle of Mickey Mouse's COCOT territory. So where's the COCOT? The local telephone operating company in Lake Buena Vista, Florida is Vista-United Telephone, a joint venture of Walt Disney Co. and United Telecom, the same folks who own Sprint and a bunch of local telcos in various outbacks. The Mickey Mouse payphones are plain old local telco units, NOT COCOTS! Y'see, back when WDW was being created, the swamps west of Kissimee were unpopulated and no telco served them. So Disney created a telephone company subsidiary and got certificated to serve the area, which they named after, I think, a place in Anaheim (LBV). They sold half to United, which no doubt added some expertise. It's a fully modern operation with two COs, optical fiber, etc. And given the growth in the area, it has quite a few phones in its territory. (Smart move!) Fred R. Goldstein Digital Equipment Corp. Littleton MA goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com voice: +1 508 486 7388 Do you think anyone else on the planet would share my opinions, let alone a multi-billion dollar corporation?
oberman@ptavv.llnl.gov (03/19/91)
In article <telecom11.214.2@eecs.nwu.edu>, PCOEN@drew.bitnet (Paul Coen) writes: > Much more sinister was the VERY subtle propaganda thrown in by AT&T > and the other corporate sponsors (GM was the worst), under the guise > of education. Walt must be spinning in his grave. First, Vista Telephone is the LEC for Disney world, so the phones are NOT COCOTs. Disney World is a politically independent entity in Florida and not responsible to the county or any other political sub-division of the state. Like many communities, they have a private phone company. Second, I doubt Walt would ber too concerned. He had no problem with the idea of turning a profit and Disneyland had similar corporate sponsorship setups long before he died. I remeber the Monsanto Chemical and AT&T setups in Tomorrowland back in 1962 quite well. R. Kevin Oberman Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Internet: oberman@icdc.llnl.gov (415) 422-6955 Disclaimer: Don't take this too seriously. I just like to improve my typing and probably don't really know anything useful about anything.
linneweh@uunet.uu.net (Louis Linneweh) (03/21/91)
goldstein@delni.enet.dec.com (Fred R. Goldstein) writes: > Y'see, back when WDW was being created, the swamps west of Kissimee > were unpopulated and no telco served them. So Disney created a > telephone company subsidiary and got certificated to serve the area, > which they named after, I think, a place in Anaheim (LBV). They sold > half to United, which no doubt added some expertise. It's a fully > modern operation with two COs, optical fiber, etc. And given the > growth in the area, it has quite a few phones in its territory. > (Smart move!) It is my understanding, via some traveling telepony salesman stories from a co-worker, that a small independent telco was licensed to serve the area that was to become Walt Disney World. WDW gave them a staggering list of requirements which would have resulted in the independent growing by several orders of magnitude, and the capital required was not forthcoming. WDW was more tham happy to buy them out to insure first class telephone service, and formed the joint venture with United. I believe the former owner (a one family operation?) got a good dollar, but not a goldmine business! Does anyone out there know the whole story?
linneweh@uunet.uu.net (Louis Linneweh) (03/21/91)
In TELECOM Digest Volume 11, Issue 223, Message 1 of 9 <goldstein@delni. enet.dec.com> (Fred R. Goldstein) writes: > Y'see, back when WDW was being created, the swamps west of Kissimee > were unpopulated and no telco served them. So Disney created a > telephone company subsidiary and got certificated to serve the area, > which they named after, I think, a place in Anaheim (LBV). They sold > half to United, which no doubt added some expertise. It's a fully > modern operation with two COs, optical fiber, etc. And given the > growth in the area, it has quite a few phones in its territory. > (Smart move!) It is my understanding, via some traveling telephony salesman stories from a co-worker, that a small independent telco was licensed to serve the area that was to become Walt Disney World. WDW gave them a staggering list of requirements which would have resulted in the independent growing by several orders of magnitude, and the capital required was not forthcoming. WDW was more tham happy to buy them out to insure first class telephone service, and formed the joint venture with United. I believe the former owner (a one family operation?) got a good dollar, but not a goldmine business! Does anyone out there know the whole story?