NEWS: Disney reveals details on Walt Disney World MyMagic+

[DougMJr]

I'm pretty sure that Disney's goal is to improve operations and the guest experience for everyone. Yes, people who stay at a Disney Resort will have certain perks, they are paying for it. But I don't see how switching to RFID is a bad thing. I am sure it will save more time than it will waste. You might miss out on a fast-pass or two, but having your ticket and payment on your wrist has the potential to save you time.

 

Down the road if Disney could go completely cashless think of how much time that could save in the park. No cashiers making change, no fumbling through purses or wallets. Tap-n-go! Totally cool idea!

 

I love technology.

[Rastuso]

In my dozens of visits over decades, no, I've never seen someone with a planner at WDW.

 

And this works against those folks too. Families can no longer all get FPs, and then maybe split up with thrill seekers using extra FPs while some sit out a few rides. Unless they allow someone to walk up to the scanner, get a green light, and let someone else enter. Which, honestly, they may do, but if they don't, it will impact lots of families, especially ones with little kids. A sleeping kids FPs can be split up amoungst the parents, taking turns. I don't see many parents rolling a stroller with a zonked out kid up to a scanner, raising their limp hand up for the green, and one of them entering for a quick FP ride.

 

It's a money grab, Disney is a company. That's understandable. But even FP, the Holy Grail of Disney crowd management inventions, was only loved by enthusiasts because they could a) exploit it via no return times, getting tons in teh morning, while idiots went to POTC or Jungle Cruise and b) idiots who just thought it was too complicated to use, thus freeing up FPs.

 

Tokyo Disneyland is the perfect example of a park NOT full of idiots. Your first line of the day is 30 minutes for a FP. And odds are you will only get 2, maybe 3 if you are lucky all day. I can truly see that becoming WDW during Spring Break and Summer. And that will be a HUGE shock to many returning families.

 

I don't know if Disney has released how the resort FPs will be allocated. I'd have to assume they are being added on top of the current FP allottments, so standby lines will get worse, and they are basically already too bad for most enthusiasts to use.

 

If you are going at a regular time, not even peak, do people on this board really wait in 90 minute standbys for something like Splash? We did at DL for Star Tours, because it was new to us, and Mummy Mountain. But this was also on a Halloween event Friday night that was way more crowded than we expected, and we basically had to make do. But I now know to never hit Halloween on a Friday night at DL.

 

This is a clear move by Disney to give resort guests a much better experience than non-resort guests. We've been waiting for this to happen for many years, and here it is. However, it's coming at a time when Universal is hitting grand slam after grand slam, and Disney is taking 2 and a half years to build a family coaster with a small indoor section (that is really just replacing an indoor section that they recently destroyed). The research on this move started well before Mr. Potter came to town, and Disney, as all companies, can't stop something once it's started, so they are doing this.

 

Maybe I'll be wrong. I haven't been to WDW since the FP enforcement. We were thinking of going over Spring Break this year, but I don't know. At this point I wouldn't go unless I knew I was going to be getting the resort FP addon. If I was paying big bucks for a moderate, and did NOT get the trial FPs while others did, I'd be livid, and probably end up being kicked out of the resort before it was said and done.

 

And sadly, now that the boy is in High School, we simply can't pull him out for an off-season week anymore, which really sucks.

 

--R

[Rastuso]

RFID wristbands arent' anywhere near new. Great Wolf Lodge has had them for at least 5 years. The water parks in Dubai have them.

 

They are very nice, but Disney is not innovating that.

 

-R

[Swimace]

At this point I wouldn't go unless I knew I was going to be getting the resort FP addon. If I was paying big bucks for a moderate, and did NOT get the trial FPs while others did, I'd be livid, and probably end up being kicked out of the resort before it was said and done.

 

Wow, what a great attitude.

[Rastuso]

How so? They are rolling out a major change in guest experience. Since I am aware of that, I would not want to go if I didn't get it. It would be like showing up at IOA, and being told only folks in odd numbered Universal hotel rooms got to ride Forbidden Journey.

 

-R

[BeemerBoy]

I'd be livid, and probably end up being kicked out of the resort before it was said and done.

You mean you don't see how this is a bad attitude?

 

Trust me, I get wanting to maximize my dollar at Disney, but with quotes like that, sometimes I wonder how you manage to find any joy at all at the parks. I mean, this is the kind of suggested behavior that knowledgeable enthusiasts criticize the completely mental AP holder asshats about.

 

To each his own, I guess?

[Swimace]

Here's my rant on your attitude, and largely of the enthusiast community in general... particularly many of the older generation, ACE members, etc...

 

There always is this expectation that we all want to see parks expand, put in new products, add new attractions, and offer us more options. However, as enthusiasts, we expect to pay these parks as little as possible.

 

And I'm not even just talking about Disney or MyMagic+ here, I'm talking about the enthusiast community in general. Look at how a typical enthusiast wants to plan their visit to Cedar Point: stay off property in a terrible Sandusky motel, find discounted tickets, or buy an AP and abuse it to no end. These are the same people that screamed bloody murder when FastLane was introduced and allowed higher paying guests better access to the park. Guess what: it's those premium guests that allow that park to expand, not some cheap ACEr who is hellbent on giving the park as little money as possible.

 

The same attitude applies to the people who are all up in arms over MyMagic+. You think that by Disney standards you are a big spender by staying in a moderate hotel? That is hilarious to me. You clearly know nothing about the spending habits of WDW guests.

 

And to say that, if you weren't included in a FREE TRIAL, that you would create such a scene that you would have to be kicked out of WDW? That's just embarrassing.

[Hilltopper39]

No system is perfect, every system will have it's flaws, but I have confidence in Disney finding a way to make this work for everyone so that it maximizes their profits and improves the overall guest experience at the same time.

[Rastuso]

Really, Dude?

 

I know a thing or two about who's a big spender. Moderate resorts are the cut off right now.

 

I think if current resort guests found out that just some of them are getting 3 or 4 bonus FPs everyday, there would be plenty of livid ones.

 

A trip to WDW is big bucks for almost everyone there. It's just that you are segregated by hotel on what big bucks means to you. Disney is essentially making multi-tier entrance ticket pricing. That's fine, tons of parks have been doing it for years, including Disney with VIPs.

 

But, there is a line where too many perks starts hurting the average guest experience. Universal doesnt' meet that with their free FOL for hotel guests because they don't have enough hotel guests. But, they apparently think they are at the limit, since the new hotel won't have that perk.

 

FP added rides for many people due to ignorance of others, so most enthusiasts embraced it. Magic+ starts redistributing rides amoungst guests, based on money. It is a HUGE change.

 

It fundamentally changes what is necessary to visit Disney and have the same experience you have had in the past. There are about 16000 moderate and up rooms, assume an average of 3 people per room, almost 100% occupancy, or about 45,000 guests. If just 10% (4500) of them are in each park every day, whcih is probably a HUGE underestimate, that is 15-20 THOUSAND Ride opportunities that are now out of play for all the other guests. That's a massive shift away from non-resort guests, and it could easily be 2-3 times that in reality, especially for the Magic Kingdom.

 

I really don't see how that can even happen.

 

-R

[Swimace]

Really, Dude?

Really, Bro.

 

I'm not arguing with your assertion that FP+ is going to change the way we are going to visit the parks as enthusiasts. I was ranting about your whole attitude that, as an enthusiast, you are admitting that you would behave in a manner that is so terrible you would have to be evicted.... over a free system that is currently in a testing phase.

 

You would presumably stand there and scream and yell and make a scene... to the point of eviction...over a theme park system that is still in a test and adjust phase. You would (by your own admission), take time off work, spend time and money traveling to Florida, spend money staying in a moderate hotel... and then instead of enjoying your vacation (that already includes a huge potential for free Fast Passes), you would rather get evicted.

 

That is just terrible to me.

[Rastuso]

Do you really take everything you read on the internet in a 100% literal sense?

 

Again,

 

Really, dude?

 

-R

[Wes]

This whole argument is predicated on the notion that they are going to tier FP+ for resort guests, something that hasn't been announced or discussed besides fans fearmongering.

[cfc]

Do you really take everything you read on the internet in a 100% literal sense?

 

Again,

 

Really, dude?

 

-R

 

That's all the more reason for you to be as clear as possible about what you actually meant.

[Swimace]

At this point I wouldn't go unless I knew I was going to be getting the resort FP addon. If I was paying big bucks for a moderate, and did NOT get the trial FPs while others did, I'd be livid, and probably end up being kicked out of the resort before it was said and done.

 

I'm sorry, but this STILL sounds terrible to me. Unfortunately, this sort of attitude is common among enthusiasts. WDW fanboys, Cedar Fair fanboys, DL fanboys... you name it.

 

If you're now going to say you were jk or not serious or whatever, that's fine. The sad part is, even if you weren't being serious, there are still a LOT of people out there that think this way. It's sad.

[buckaroo234]

This whole argument is predicated on the notion that they are going to tier FP+ for resort guests, something that hasn't been announced or discussed besides fans fearmongering.

 

this argument is almost as bad as MiceChat when it was announced the DLR would be re-evaluating the Guest Assistance Passes to stop abuse. The changes made were really quite needed and made the system a better balance for everyone. If the past has been any indication people staying in resort or out of resort should be treated the same, other than early entry perks that onsite people already have. And really if the resorts are feeling strong enough on up time (such as if your FP+ time happens when an attraction is broken down) i really don't think they are going to screw everyone into a tiered system with onsite people getting treated better than others. Onsite guests already get a magic hour and the parks do magic moments randomly, i don't see how someone with an RFID is going to be singled out for those really awesome things more than they already are. Its a cash grab, not a quality destroyer.

[robbalvey]

This whole argument is predicated on the notion that they are going to tier FP+ for resort guests, something that hasn't been announced or discussed besides fans fearmongering.

Yup. People are just "making crap up" now to further pointless discussion.

 

--Robb "Thinking about locking this thread until more REAL information is available for people to bitch about." Alvey

[SLUSHIE]

While I do think something similar will eventually take place of all paper fast passes, I don't think the fact that people staying off property don't get this really means that much.

 

People staying on property probably spend much more time at Disney World, if not all their time. Also I think the people that decide to stay on property also have a bit more disposable income and are probably less restrictive with their cash than people that go the cheaper route and look for cheap hotels off property. So I don't think it's a matter of they don't get these things, it's probably more that they don't need them. They won't need Disney transportation, they wont need to get things they bought with their wristband sent to their hotel room because they won't be buying much stuff, they don't need a easy means of getting reservations at the restaurants because they wont be eating out as much, etc. It's giving the people that have the cash to take advantage of it more reason to do it and spend more cash.

 

I honestly don't think this will effect rides negatively at all. As far as shows though, it's pretty rare that you won't get into a show or be able to watch a parade or fireworks if you want to. The fastpass+ people just get to fight among each other for a better spot.

[Aaronupsidasium]

Yup. People are just "making crap up" now to further pointless discussion.

 

--Robb "Thinking about locking this thread until more REAL information is available for people to bitch about." Alvey

 

 

What real information are you talking about? Anything officially released by Disney is logically spinned in their favor. Unless anybody knows how Fast Pass actually works and can reveal it on the internet, I think there should be a dichotomy between the Disney company and the theme park fans

 

I think they should include the fanatics into the fast pass plus since they've already spent the time to learn how to manipulate the system.

[robbalvey]

What real information are you talking about?

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1264296#p1264296

 

Oh, goody. Glad to see the cycle can start all over again...

[Meteornotes]

I'm really looking forward to this, and hope that resort guests are given extra FP+ tickets. This will only encourage people to stay on property, and bring in more income for the parks. I know I'd stay on property next time if I got more of these passes.

 

dt

[Moose]

Even if I don't stay on property, I am fine with people staying on property getting a few extra fast passes, if that is even the case.

[Wes]

This will only encourage people to stay on property, and bring in more income for the parks.

 

How dare Disney try to make money. It's like they are a business or something.

[Meteornotes]

^I know. It's terrible that they just won't close the parks to eveyone except passholders, as they are the only ones that matter. In their minds, anyway.

 

I also hope for extra resort passes because the whining of self-entitled assholders will be amazing internet reading.

 

dt

[BeemerBoy]

The pain and heartache of having to actually plan my vacation, possibly missing out on several Fast Passes, and worst of all - having to wear a wristband, is just too much to endure. Why is Disney doing this to me?!?!? I'm never going there ever again....until October, and maybe May as well.

 

This place sucks!I deserve a medal.

[cfc]

^Take your pick, Scott!