Gowalla goes to Disneyland with location-tracking service

Nov. 18, 2010 2:09 PM PT

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Going to Disneyland? Gowalla wants to come with.

The social networking service, which broadcasts users’ locations much like Foursquare or Facebook’s Places feature, announced a partnership with Walt Disney Co. on Thursday.

Even before the deal, visitors to Disney World in Florida created as much traffic on Gowalla as a medium-size city, Gowalla said in a blog post.

Now, users at Disney theme parks in the U.S. can use the service to keep a running log of their experience on their smart phones. Each time they hop on a ride -- the Matterhorn bobsleds or the Haunted Mansion, for example -- they can check in to get a virtual stamp.

The parks currently have about 100 different stamp styles, designed by Gowalla and the Disney creative team, and will have an additional 100 by the end of the year.

No word on what the fanatic collectors of traditional, physical Disney pins think of the new gambit.

Users can also design their own tours using Gowalla, including only rides for small children, for example. And they can share photos and recommendations with other Gowalla users.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

Technology Blog

Tiffany Hsu

Tiffany Hsu is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she wrote about the California economy, fast food, restaurants, retail and alternative energy for the Business section. A Bay Area native, UC Berkeley graduate and eternal Nor-Cal fan, she once worked for the San Francisco Bay Guardian. She also did a stint at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where she developed a passion for sweet tea. She still has faith that someday she’ll find two economists who agree.