NEWS: Disney reveals details on Walt Disney World MyMagic+

[COASTER FREAK 11]

I dont think those cards will ever go away. Unless they start reading bands as they enter the queue and then again in the station. Those cards tell the Cast Members how long the current wait is.

 

They could totally start using the magic bands for this though, if they aren't already.

[gisco]

I carried a red card a few weeks ago when I was at AK. I can't see them using Magicbands for this. Take too much time and need more scanners and the biggest reason would be that you would still need it for non-FP rides.

[robbalvey]

I dont think those cards will ever go away. Unless they start reading bands as they enter the queue and then again in the station.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what will eventually happen. You don't always have to tap the band for it to get read. Remember, you are tracked as you exit a park, and there isn't anything you need to tap, so I would imagine that they could easily track as you walked through a ride entrance, and then tracked you again as you boarded a vehicle or something.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Finally got my admissions for my May trip all squared away and linked up. In looking through the FP+ options for the first time, I'm noticing opportunities to reserve FP+ for Fantasmic!, IllumiNations, Finding Nemo musical and various other shows. How does that work exactly?

 

Is there a special viewing area at Illuminations for FP+? Is there now a FP+ entrance to the Hollywood Hills Theatre for Fantasmic! or even a FP+ seating area for it as well?

[bbomser]

Not sure about Fantasmic FP+, but there is in fact a special area reserved for Illuminations FP+. It's the area between the two tower gift shops at the entrance to the World Showcase. It's some of the best viewing I've ever had for Illuminations.

 

I will also point out that there can be some confusion in the area, as people think that they are to sit down in the area. The first time I got FP+ for the show, there was a couple that was standing near the front rail, and people sitting behind them were literally yelling at them because they couldn't see. It was one of the saddest, yet funniest exchanges I have seen at WDW. There was one section sitting, everyone else was standing like is normally done.

 

For the Nemo Musical, you do enter a few minutes before stand-by guests, so you have a chance to get a better seat, Lights, Motors, Action works the same, and as stated I've yet to do Fantasmic FP+. Feel free to let us know how that goes!

 

Hope this helps!

[COASTER FREAK 11]

And here come even MORE new things for MyMagic+, I really cant wait to try this system!

 

Disney Parks Blog

 

MyMagic+ Now Available to Walt Disney World Resort Hotel and Day Guests

posted on April 2nd, 2014 by Tom Staggs, Chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

 

When we first shared a glimpse into our plans to take the Disney guest experience to the next level, we had just begun to unveil MyMagic+ at the Walt Disney World Resort. Our goal from the beginning has been to enhance the guest experience and make it even more immersive, seamless and personal than ever before.

 

Now, nearly 3.5 million guests have participated in testing, and the vast majority are telling us that MyMagic+ has made their trip even better. This is a big step forward in the evolution of our guest experience, and what we’re seeing in early returns is fantastic.

 

Guests are telling us that they really like being able to arrange the day the way they want to, with the flexibility to make changes on the go. They also are particularly excited about their experience with the MagicBand. They love the convenience, and we have received a lot of photos from guests showing the fun ways they are wearing them even before they arrive on property or after they return home.

 

This week marks an exciting milestone for us in that we are now providing guests who might only be visiting for the day with the ability to fully engage in MyMagic+ before their visit. Guests can register on My Disney Experience online, reserve access to some of their favorite experiences with FastPass+ and also purchase MagicBands on-site, if they choose.

 

FastPass+ has been a crucial part of our testing, and we knew it would be popular, which is why from the beginning we more than doubled the experiences people could reserve in advance. We enabled FastPass+ access for a number of attractions and included other guest favorites like fireworks, parades and character meet-and-greets for the first time.

 

As expected, most of our guests think that securing times to ride our attractions is one of the best ways to maximize the fun of a Walt Disney World Resort vacation. We’ve heard from a number of guests that they would like the opportunity to add additional FastPass+ entitlements during their visit, in addition to the three they can plan in advance. So, we’re working on providing them with the ability to add and enjoy additional entitlements on the day of their visit. Once they’ve used the three they’ve booked, we’ll enable them to select another at kiosks in the parks. And once they’ve used the fourth, they can select another, and so on. We also heard that other guests liked the fact that with the FastPass+ service they could use FASTPASS when they park hopped. So we’re working on a service enhancement to add that feature to FastPass+ as well.

 

One of the best aspects of MyMagic+ has always been that our guests can relax and better enjoy their time with us, all the while knowing that the attraction they want to ride, or the moment they want to experience, will be there, waiting for them.

 

And isn’t that what a vacation is all about? The more we can have everyone that goes to our parks feel like a VIP, the happier we’ll be with the experience we’re giving them. And that’s exactly what we’re striving for with MyMagic+.

 

We’ll continue to share more details and updates on as we continue our roll-out, so stay tuned to the Disney Parks Blog for more!"

Edited April 3, 2014 by robbalvey

[Blue Turbo]

^I really like the sound of that. I love that they are actually listening to the people that have experienced the new system and working on ways to improve it. This is what make Disney so amazing, they actually want to make their customers happy by offering an amazing experience and are constantly working to make it better.

[disneyfreak1986]

This is the news I've been waiting to hear! I hope that by the time my family and I head to WDW the 2nd week of June that these new upgrades are all in effect especially the park hopping!

[azza29]

Once they’ve used the three they’ve booked, we’ll enable them to select another at kiosks in the parks. And once they’ve used the fourth, they can select another, and so on. We also heard that other guests liked the fact that with the FastPass+ service they could use FASTPASS when they park hopped. So we’re working on a service enhancement to add that feature to FastPass+ as well.

 

Excellent news. I had always assumed they were going to add the park hopping option at some point, but the allowance to keep making additional FP+ selections is a great bonus.

[robbalvey]

Once they’ve used the three they’ve booked, we’ll enable them to select another at kiosks in the parks. And once they’ve used the fourth, they can select another, and so on. We also heard that other guests liked the fact that with the FastPass+ service they could use FASTPASS when they park hopped. So we’re working on a service enhancement to add that feature to FastPass+ as well.

I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!! I TOLD YOU SO!!!

 

Seriously, though, I don't understand why people don't A. listen to us more often, or B. understand that if they had rolled out EVERYTHING all at once, it would have been a HUGE HUGE HUGE mess, and with a system like this you HAVE to roll it out in phases.

[robbalvey]

Once they’ve used the three they’ve booked, we’ll enable them to select another at kiosks in the parks. And once they’ve used the fourth, they can select another, and so on. We also heard that other guests liked the fact that with the FastPass+ service they could use FASTPASS when they park hopped. So we’re working on a service enhancement to add that feature to FastPass+ as well.

 

Excellent news. I had always assumed they were going to add the park hopping option at some point, but the allowance to keep making additional FP+ selections is a great bonus.

And seeing that they chose to roll out the additional FastPass+ selections before park hopping really speaks volumes about how many people actually do park hop. I know that Disney is doing things in phases that make the most sense for what their audience wants. And I would have personally thought that park hopping would have taken priority because they want to sell those park-hopper tickets, but maybe the reality is that park hopping doesn't appeal that much to first time, or "first time in forever" visitors because each park offers so much that it really is a full day experience.

 

What I will miss about everyone being able to now purchase a MagicBand is that it was really easy to get an idea of just how many people were staying on property at Disney (and it was an impressive number), just by looking around and seeing who had bands. I'm just sort of into statistics and crap like that!

[rtpb]

Sounds awesome - will make my days their in June much easier to organise - once I work what I am doing of course

[A.J.]

I would totally agree that park hopping caters to a super-specific audience. When I was a CM I was part of that audience because I knew the resort well and had the freedom to do so.

 

I had the "let's go to the park and have fun doing whatever" mentality as opposed to thinking, "I have to savor this experience because it's the only trip to Walt Disney World that I'll get". There were days that I would lap Space Mountain almost ten times in a day with my buddy just because, and other days where I would choose to wait through all the standby lines because I wanted the full experience of an attraction.

 

I think that annual passholders might be part of this audience too.

[robbalvey]

I think that annual passholders might be part of this audience too.

Agreed. Which is why I can see that they have put that option lower on the priority list now. They cater to their resort-stay guests, and I feel they should, as they are the ones spending the most amount of money on property. People with annual passes, let's be honest, most of the time they don't even NEED FP+ because you're smart enough to go when it's not crowded, or you don't end up using all of them.

 

I can only think of one or two times, aside when we've done actual resort stays, where we've gone in the park for a few hours and actually used all three FP selections.

[traincrossin]

Here's what I don't get and i'm hoping someone can explain it to me. Disney is still saying MyMagic+ is in a testing phase. From what i've heard, there are still a couple kinks to work out so that's understandable, but now everyone can use MyMagic+. Wouldn't you want your billion dollar project to be nearly perfect before you release it to the masses? When MyMagic+ works flawlessly it's great, but if something goes wrong i'm not sure a normal park guest would accept the excuse that it's still in testing. Also, don't you basically have to pay to get a Fastpass now instead of having it built in to your normal ticket price? For day guests, they now have to pay to "skip" the line.

Edited April 3, 2014 by traincrossin

[robbalvey]

Here's what I don't get and i'm hoping someone can explain it to me. Disney is still saying MyMagic+ is in a testing phase. From what i've heard, there are still a couple kinks to work out so that's understandable, but now everyone can use MyMagic+. Wouldn't you want your billion dollar project to be nearly perfect before you release it to the masses? When MyMagic+ works flawlessly it's great, but if something goes wrong i'm not sure a normal park guest would accept the excuse that it's still in testing. Also, don't you basically have to pay to get a Flashpass now instead of having it built in to your normal ticket price? For day guests, they now have to pay to "skip" the line.

There's a couple of things you don't have right here...

 

First off, no one has to pay for the system. You can "choose" to buy a MagicBand if you want to, but your park ticket also has an RFID chip in it and you can use it just like a MagicBand, totally for free.

 

I get what you are saying about the "testing" phase, but that's just a harsh reality of what it takes to get a system like this implemented. Yes, it's now available to everyone, but many features, like park hopping, are not available yet. So you can choose what you want to call it "still in testing", "future expansion", "features that aren't available yet", etc.

 

I think saying the system is in "test" is just an easily digestible way to explain it to park guests.

 

The other reality is, you don't hear that many complaints about it, nor are there many times when the system isn't working. In fact, the most complaints I've heard are from locals or annual passholders that are just more upset with the system because they can't abuse it like they did the old FP system, or are being impatient because some features haven't been rolled out yet. The people who it's really more targeted for, don't seem to be having many issues with it.

 

So while it's an "excuse" to say it's in test, I don't think it's an excuse that really comes up that often. But it's there in case they have to explain it.

Edited April 3, 2014 by robbalvey

[traincrossin]

First off, no one has to pay for the system. You can "choose" to buy a MagicBand if you want to, but your park ticket also has an RFID chip in it and you can use it just like a MagicBand, totally for free.

Ahh, didn't know that.

 

When I say still in testing and working out the kinks though, i'm not considering future features, i'm more talking about problems that occasionally happen like groups not being properly linked to get the same reservation, reservations not showing up in MDX, reservations changing without any alerts, and the wrong credit card being linked to your Magicband. While these issues rarely happen which is why I guess Disney has rolled out MyMagic+ to everyone, they're pretty big issues when they do arise and cause complications for both guests and CMs. Disney strives to provide a perfect guest experience for everyone, so with those issues still existing I don't see how they're able to accomplish that, at least as far as Fastpass goes.

 

Really not trying to hate for no reason because I think it's a cool new system, just trying to figure out Disney's thinking behind letting everyone use it.

[traincrossin]

The New York Times wrote a nice article today about MyMagic+. Found this bit to be really interesting.

 

The dearth of information has allowed rumors to flourish. Coursing through the many blogs that track Disney’s parks are reports that the new system is overbudget. Some armchair analysts have speculated that Jack Dorsey, a Twitter co-founder and chief executive of Square, the mobile payments company, recently joined the Disney board to offer MagicBand help.

 

Seated in his office at Disney headquarters in Burbank, Calif., a smiling Mr. Staggs dismissed such chatter. He said that the initiative had stayed within budget. He also said that a faster-than-expected consumer shift to mobile devices had actually saved Disney money; most guests are using their smartphones to gain access to the system while inside the parks, reducing the need for Disney to install costly kiosks.

Here's a link to the whole article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/business/billion-dollar-bracelet-is-key-to-magical-kingdom.html

[robbalvey]

^ The Disney bloggers have been idiots about this whole thing. I'm *SURE* that Staggs and the rest of them are LAUGHING THEIR ASSESS OFF at some of the crazy "Kevin Yee" kind of stuff written online about the system.

Edited April 3, 2014 by robbalvey

[PeoplemoverMatt]

^ The Disney bloggers have been idiots about this whole thing.

 

Is it any surprise? I mean, for the longest time these same people were complete idiots about ticketed FastPass too. How many horror stories did we read about FP being a "zero sum game" and how it was making midways overcrowded and increasing wait times by a factor of 400, etc etc when none of that was actually true? Through it all, FastPass was almost constantly changing. From rides going on FP, to off, to back on, to having all these different networks, to the button trick, to having Pirates and Mansion not knowing what FP you held for other rides, to the window closing time being enforced, then not, then back to being enforced etc...it was almost never constant. Disney was always tweaking the system trying to make it the best for everyone. Meanwhile these people were bemoaning every change every time, and all the while saying how they were using it because it benefitted their day. Clearly logic and reason were quite foreign to them then, and they still are now.

 

So now of course these same people say FP+ is only 100 times worse for all sorts of crazy reasons, and guess what? They're using this evil system too! I just...I don't even know what the point is. I'm just glad those people are not who Disney is primarily listening to or catering towards with this system.

[A.J.]

I'm pretty sure that this has been said before, but I think that the Disney bloggers aren't in the target audience concerning MyMagic+ either. They fall under the same umbrella as annual passholders - in fact, I'd bet that the majority of them are passholders themselves. Or am I just crazy?

[Skramp]

The other reality is, you don't hear that many complaints about it, nor are there many times when the system isn't working. In fact, the most complaints I've heard are from locals or annual passholders that are just more upset with the system because they can't abuse it like they did the old FP system, or are being impatient because some features haven't been rolled out yet. The people who it's really more targeted for, don't seem to be having many issues with it.

 

So while it's an "excuse" to say it's in test, I don't think it's an excuse that really comes up that often. But it's there in case they have to explain it.

 

 

Robb, after staying on Disney property a few weeks ago and having the Magic Bands and FP+, my only complaint is the following.....that you can only reserve 3 things per person. The only reason I say that is that there were 7 of us using the system (2-60+, 2-30+, 1-14, 2-6 ages) It just makes it hard to plan things for everyone and give everyone what they want. The 5 younger ones wanted to do all things together, but the 14 and wifey, wanted to do some other things. It just would have been nice to have maybe 5 selections or so. But, it seems the new system where you can add a 4th, 5th and so on will make it right. The easiest part was changing things around. We had a FP+ for the Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor, but it was a 5 minute wait, so we just GP'd it, then went and changed our FP+ reservation to something else. And, if you download the Android/iPhone app for My Disney you can change it on the fly as you are going. By day 3, we ended just changing tons of stuff on the fly, it was cool.

[cal1br3tto]

Although it's not at all surprising to level-headed folks, I'm glad for confirmation of the improvements we've been expecting and hoping for. This is helping further address any worries I had due to the newness of the program.

[Woodie Warrior]

Just glad the rumors weren't correct that people at more expensive on-site resorts would get more Fast Passes than day visitors. I mean, I wasn't expecting that to happen since I'm sure Disney knows that would be mass chaos.

[Jew]

^I could see that coming as part of future changes to the program. You SHOULD get perks besides a nicer note & location for the price of a premium resort.