Congress Questions Next Gen

[RSoxNo1]

Wow, so that's that. You're writing all of this off before even seeing it or using it?

Disney won't even spend money to keep SpectroMagic floats up to par... they have to have a BIG reason to spend this much on RFID. I personally believe it will open up a TON of doors (not just at the resorts haha) with this RFID technology... I work in IT, there are a lot of things that could happen here and I think that's what they are looking at

This can certainly make the guest experience better, but there are aspects of it that seem to be doing the exact opposite. I think many guests will love the wrist band component, the swipe to pay and swipe to enter their room aspect of it. Disney will also love the swipe to pay aspect because the psychology of waiving your wrist at something is far less cumbersome than pulling out your wallet.

The concerns people have are that what you're doing in the parks is being sold to outside companies and that included in this program is a system called Fastpass+ that has the potential to make a day at the parks more stressful than it already is.

 

[RSoxNo1]

noted... in fact I COMPLETELY agree with you on the upkeep of the parks... they are letting things slide and a lot ... but I do not think linking all of this to dining reservations is a fair assessment. Disney is only going to allow so many FP+'s per day in 1 park, plus they are going to limit how many of those they give our per ride per time slot (like they do today with FP).

Right, but the current system doesn't have these restrictions. They very well may eliminate park hopping as a result of this which is just a bad business decision.

 

[dcibrando]

Right, but the current system doesn't have these restrictions. They very well may eliminate park hopping as a result of this which is just a bad business decision.

park hopping will NEVER be eliminated - do you honestly think they would do something like this? wow

 

[dcibrando]

The concerns people have are that what you're doing in the parks is being sold to outside companies and that included in this program is a system called Fastpass+ that has the potential to make a day at the parks more stressful than it already is.

first...this isn't going to happen
second... why would disney sell what you are doing in the parks to OUTSIDE companies? Leave this to people like google which we can't opt out of unless we get rid of our internet access lol

 

[Mawg]

I'm not the biggest fan of FastPass Plus but the way I see it is there are many rides at WDW that have a capacity that does not allow every guest that wants to experience it. You can get rid of fastpasses altogether and argue that the standby lines will move faster. But if 20000 people want to experience an attraction that has a daily capacity of 10000 then it really does not matter if you have fast passes or not, 10000 people are not going to get to experience it. And of the 10000 people that are going to experience it, during high peak times of the day they are going to be waiting in line for over an hour.

Pre-planning and making reservations is a part of life when demand for something is greater than it's supply. Has anyone tried to make reservations for dinner at the last minute on Valentine's day or New Year’s Eve only to find all of their favorite restaurants are booked and they need to make reservations somewhere else. You could just show up and wait two hours and find out you are never going to get seated and have a terrible holiday or you could be glad you know it's booked and book somewhere else to try and salvage and make the best of it.

I see FastPass Plus as an attempt from Disney to say, hey that ride is booked. We are letting you know this so that you can still try to enjoy other things we have to offer. I also see it as Disney saying if you are standing in line for 2 hours or more then you aren't really having a good time and you may not come back anyways. Yes, you did not get to do what you wanted to do but at least you did not waste your whole day and still had fun.

For me to have a good time on vacation I don't want to spend my whole day waiting in hour long lines only to experience a 5 minute attraction. I'm ok with reservations if it allows me to experience it or know that I'm not going to.

The real solution to the problem is to increase the capacity or raise the price so the supply matches demand.

 

[xdan0920]

I see the malcontents have teamed up with the tin-foil hat brigade. Some of the posts around here belong at the Onion. But of course, then it would be humor and not agenda. Some here have their reputations tied to trashing NextGen and pushing their exaggerations so they are repeated through other fan sites.

I hope several who have said if NextGen is released it would be the last straw and they won't return to WDW will follow through. I just hope it also extends to the forums. Of course, NextGen will be released, everyone will figure out the concerns were for nothing, so they'll invent another crisis to rally the troops. Never let a good crisis go to waste! Drive the agenda.

Are concerns about the Disney Dining Experience nothing?

 

[RSoxNo1]

honest question... do you think anything Disney has done in the past oh say 5 years has been "right" by your standards?

They have definitely done some things correctly. Going back to 2007 I would say the following changes have been positive:

• Toy Story Mania replacing Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I liked the WWtbaM show, but I like Toy Story Mania better
• Haunted Mansion hitchhiking ghost changes
• Spaceship Earth refurbishment - not entirely positive but the improvement to the animatronics and show scenes prior to the descent were positive
• Mermaid added to the beach at Pirates looks great
• Star Tours 2.0 is a huge improvement
• Test Track 2.0 is a nice change as well. However the RFID integration isn't working correctly on that... should we be concerned?
• Visually, the Fantasyland Expansion looks great. Enchanted Tales with Belle is an E-ticket setup for an A-ticket experience, Mermaid is an E-ticket setup for a D-ticket experience. Be Our Guest is a very cool dining establishment as well.

I'm probably missing some things, but those were all things I appreciated.

 

[RSoxNo1]

park hopping will NEVER be eliminated - do you honestly think they would do something like this? wow

What I mean is that be making Fastpass+ only available at one park per day they will eliminate usage of Park Hopper.

 

[muteki]

first...this isn't going to happen
second... why would disney sell what you are doing in the parks to OUTSIDE companies? Leave this to people like google which we can't opt out of unless we get rid of our internet access lol

Because there are plenty of companies out there willing to pay $texas for it? Why wouldn't Disney sell that info?

 

[RSoxNo1]

first...this isn't going to happen
second... why would disney sell what you are doing in the parks to OUTSIDE companies? Leave this to people like google which we can't opt out of unless we get rid of our internet access lol

There is money to be made here, that's why. Guest spending patterns and behavior tells a lot of information. I've said this someone in either this thread or the "Spirited Observations" thread: Before, the joke was that if there was that every swatch of pavement was it's own profit center. Now it looks like the guests themselves are being regarded as the profit centers. They are finding ways to not only separate us from our money but to also get paid for other "assets" we are willing to give them. That comes in the form of MyMagic+ tracking around the parks.

 

[dcibrando]

Because there are plenty of companies out there willing to pay $texas for it? Why wouldn't Disney sell that info?

why would company ABC care that I entered MK at 9am, bought a dole whip at 10am, and rode the TTA at 2pm?

 

[dcibrando]

correct me if I"m wrong... but hasn't Disney already said they aren't going to be "selling" information tracked in the parks?

 

[Disneyhead'71]

correct me if I"m wrong... but hasn't Disney already said they aren't going to be "selling" information tracked in the parks?

No, they said "Disney never shares children's personal information with any third parties for their marketing purposes". They never said ANYTHING about selling adults personal information. Also there is that "for their marketing purposes" qualifier. I have to wonder why they would even include that instead of just saying, "Disney never shares children's personal information with third parties."

 

[RandomPrincess]

correct me if I"m wrong... but hasn't Disney already said they aren't going to be "selling" information tracked in the parks?

Not 100% clear. Part two of the letter says they never sell kids information. It also says that you can choose to have your information shared within the Walt Disney Company or not. I would assume if they need my permission to share my info with in Disney they would also need my permission to sell my information.

Link to second part of the letter. It spells out the answers to some people's concerns.

 

[flynnibus]

You've got nothing to back up your feelings other than "feelings".

ADR's and the dining plan are a direct precursor to look at for trends as to how this will go. You say there's only a certain number of FP's. Well, there's also only a certain number of seats in a restaurant.

It's no different. It's seats at a table vs. seats on a roller coaster or (unnecessarily) a doombuggy or boat on PotC.

It's very different for a few reasons...

1 - An empty/unused FP isn't money out of Disney's pocket.. or even additional staffing costs. No one was paying to be in that seat. Unused seats at the restaurant reflect a direct loss of revenue.
2 - Disney maintains a ready list of people willing to fill that unused seat in the ride - no so much at dining
3 - The shear scale of the number of seats available for attractions makes it radically different than dining
4 - The labor involved per seat is radically different for rides vs dining
5 - The idea of perishables applies to dining, and not to rides
6 - Attractions are the primary reason people visit the parks - dining is secondary to that


And I can go on - there is a lot of differences in terms of what is at stake, what is disposable, and what you can afford to oversubscribe or not.

There is a lot more differences between the systems than you are seeing.

 

[flynnibus]

No, they said "Disney never shares children's personal information with any third parties for their marketing purposes". They never said ANYTHING about selling adults personal information. Also there is that "for their marketing purposes" qualifier. I have to wonder why they would even include that instead of just saying, "Disney never shares children's personal information with third parties."

They did answer that Adults can opt-out of having their info shared - read the stupid letter already.

 

[GrumpyFan]

In the scenarios you mentioned, the possibility exists for me to book a coach ticket, or a compact car, for lesser cost.
With MyMagic+ and FP+, there is no lesser cost option. I'm paying the same price whether I opt-in or not.

True, but I was speaking in reference to an earlier post where they mentioned being "punished" for not select to use the MagicBand.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Ok let's take this scenario - one I'm making up but stay with me here

Let's say Toy Story Mania has 5,000 people that get a FastPass for that ride per day (which usually sells out)
With FP going away, and people having to book online in advance, or in person, etc. for FP+, my guess is this is going to actually REDUCE how many people get a fastpass (at least for a few years until people "get it")

Wouldn't this free up lines?

Toy Story Mania is a bad example because the demand is substantially higher than other attractions. If they were to allocate all available Fastpasses to Fastpass+, I would suspect that they would sell all of them out. However, perhaps something like Thunder Mountain may not have the same demand. Having said that, the expectation is that Fastpasses will still be available day of, it's just what the split will be.

 

[RSoxNo1]

correct me if I"m wrong... but hasn't Disney already said they aren't going to be "selling" information tracked in the parks?

They have said that publicly, while privately it has been reported they are passing along a different message.

 

[Buried20KLeague]

It's very different for a few reasons...

1 - An empty/unused FP isn't money out of Disney's pocket.. or even additional staffing costs. No one was paying to be in that seat. Unused seats at the restaurant reflect a direct loss of revenue. An empty seat on a ride absolutely could be considered lost revenue. It's unused capacity in the park, which is exactly what this system is designed to manipulate down to the last detail. There are any number of ways they can fill that capacity now at the drop of a hat... Nearly all of which won't be to your benefit.
2 - Disney maintains a ready list of people willing to fill that unused seat in the ride - no so much at dining I don't see your point. The ADR system and the dining plan are both designed to fill the seats. NextGen and FP+ is designed to fill the seats with those they want to fill them with. Both increase revenue (one directly, one more indirectly).
3 - The shear scale of the number of seats available for attractions makes it radically different than dining How so? It's all scalable, clearly... Because that's what they're doing.
4 - The labor involved per seat is radically different for rides vs dining So is the revenue per seat per hour... What's your point? Cost is higher, but so is the return.
5 - The idea of perishables applies to dining, and not to rides Really? Come now, Flynn. You're better than this. I can't think of what WDW has done with ADR's and the dining plan as corrollary to what they're doing with NextGen because they have to worry about when the spaghetti sauce will spoil? You, sir, are silly.
6 - Attractions are the primary reason people visit the parks - dining is secondary to that Again, I don't see your point. Whether dining or attractions are the primary cause for you to visit a park, they're both about to be managed the same way. ??


And I can go on - there is a lot of differences in terms of what is at stake, what is disposable, and what you can afford to oversubscribe or not.

There is a lot more differences between the systems than you are seeing.

I disagree on virtually every point, above in red.

I believe I have a very good handle on the two systems, and I don't believe there are as many differences as you think. One is (in Disney's eyes) a highly improved version of the other. NextGen is ADR's and the DDP on steroids, with a short list of other things wrapped into it. In fact, to back my theory up, I point to clear indications that ADR's will go away completely to be replaced by FP+ at dining as well.

The ADR system did what it was intended to do... But not as well as they wanted it to. They'll fix all that with NextGen.