WISHING STARS

Attention Disneyland fans! Soon your iPhone 3G will become an indispensable accessory while enjoying the Magic Kingdom.

My insanely talented friend Greg Maletic has been busy creating an iPhone application that promises a whole new level of interactivity within the park. It's called Wishing Stars, and I've been beta testing it for him since mid-June.

It's a sort of trivia-based "scavenger hunt", akin to geocaching -- to answer questions, you have to go to physical spots within the park where fragments of Wishing Stars are "hidden" (aka invisible GPS points). By completing different quests -- about park history, photo safaris, etc. -- you "reveal" enough of these fragments to assemble complete Wishing Stars, and there are nine complete Stars to find in the game.

It's harder than it sounds, even for a pro like me ;)

It's quite wonderful, from the sparkly sound effects when you find a star, to the beautiful interface and graphics, to the fun and diverse quests. It kind of makes you wonder why Disney didn't do something like this themselves; leave it to a true (and talented) fan to create something this unique and authentic. Greg says the app will be available for purchase on August 24th. He also told me there'd be downloadable Quests added to the app in the future -- including the possibility of other Disney parks.

For more info, check out the app's website and twitter feed.