Disney has distributed 10million MagicBands to guests

JWG

JWG

Well-Known Member
How does PhotoPass use the long range RFID? If you're on a ride, you scan the mickey head at ride's end. If it's a PhotoPass phoographer, they scan your band like the old cards.

It's crazy how accurate the long range component is. The BOG process is big brother esque.
 
Victor Kelly

Victor Kelly

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
Can we talk about the entry points and how they're not at a convenient height for adults or kids? They're at a convenient height for 12 year olds and that's about it.

We see backups at Fastpass+ scanning at high capacity attractions all the time. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Expedition Everest are issues on a daily basis. Guests don't use both sides at the entry gates of the park with regularity, nor do they use them at Fastpass+. One of the main reasons is space. My suggestion, widen the space between the two posts, and put two Mickey faces on each post, one at kid height and one at adult height. The other option is to take advantage of the long range RFID readers that would make it so you don't actually have to scan them and are only stopped if there's an issue. The latter would truly be more efficient.
Click to expand...

The other problem with entry is the biometric finger scanner. That slows things down an awful lot. They also need to expand the range of the readers at FP+ scanners and turnstiles to maybe 2 inches instead of spot on for the tiny 1/4 inch mickey head on the band.
 
tirian

tirian

Well-Known Member
JWG said:
How does PhotoPass use the long range RFID? If you're on a ride, you scan the mickey head at ride's end. If it's a PhotoPass phoographer, they scan your band like the old cards.

It's crazy how accurate the long range component is. The BOG process is big brother esque.
Click to expand...

My Disney Experience already features your video clips from Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Tower of Terror. You don't need to scan your band to get them (there isn't a place to scan it at the Mine Train, anyway).
 
Acolli18

Acolli18

Well-Known Member
How does everyone had "piles of bands"? Someone stated they have roughly 20 unopened boxes. Did they give these out for free?
 
MagicHappens1971

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
Acolli18 said:
How does everyone had "piles of bands"? Someone stated they have roughly 20 unopened boxes. Did they give these out for free?
Click to expand...
For example, I have an annual pass, so they sent me a box for that, I have stayed on property aprox, 4 times since the bands have been introduced they send you new bands every time.
 
lebeau

lebeau

Well-Known Member
tirian said:
Yeah, I have about 15.

Funny thing is, they're not really as reusable as Disney expected. My Magic Band from Spring 2014 dry-rotted after getting wet on Splash Mt.

Edit: The band took about 9 months to fade and rot; I found it in a drawer last week.
Click to expand...

Mine stopped working during a 6-day stay. First, it stopped working as admission. So a CM at the MK gate did something or other. Then it worked as park admission, but stopped working at cash registers or my hotel door. Fortunately I also carried the kids' bands so I was able to pay for meals on the meal plan and get in and out of the room using their bands.
 
MagicHappens1971

MagicHappens1971

Well-Known Member
lebeau said:
Mine stopped working during a 6-day stay. First, it stopped working as admission. So a CM at the MK gate did something or other. Then it worked as park admission, but stopped working at cash registers or my hotel door. Fortunately I also carried the kids' bands so I was able to pay for meals on the meal plan and get in and out of the room using their bands.
Click to expand...
That's very odd, was it a purchased band? Because my christmas one rarely works right with paying I have to bring the scanner to the band. But when I got the band it didn't work with the door so I went to my resorts front desk and the deactivated it and reactivated it and besides the paying it works fine.
 
lebeau

lebeau

Well-Known Member
JakeSpadaro said:
That's very odd, was it a purchased band? Because my christmas one rarely works right with paying I have to bring the scanner to the band. But when I got the band it didn't work with the door so I went to my resorts front desk and the deactivated it and reactivated it and besides the paying it works fine.
Click to expand...

Nope. Are you kidding? Me? Purchase a MB?!? Never!!

It was a plain old MB. I also found they are very easy to lose. My daughter was napping on me during Muppetvision 3-D and her foot brushed my band just so... Pop! Fortunately our next stop was dinner so I immediately noticed my lack of a MB when the waiter asked to scan it. I was able to retrieve my band at Guest Services. They told me they collected quite a few bands every day. This jibes with my personal experience. Not a day went by when I didn't find a lost MB on the bus, by a bench, by the pool. Literally every day I spotted a MB lying somewhere.

I have assumed that something happened while my band was at guest services. Because the next day is when it stopped working at the park gates. But who knows? I can tell you we all stopped wearing them on our wrists and started carrying them in our pockets instead. I later tested the bands to see if I could duplicate what caused it to come loose. If you come at them at just the right angle, both of the clasps just pop off. It took very little force.

At the end of the day, a card or paper ticket would have been much more convenient than the band.
 
ABQ

ABQ

Well-Known Member
Pretty sure one day all the wasted extra bands will find their way into a found art project like old AOL trial CDs

http://zedomax.com/blog/2011/08/07/what-you-could-do-with-65000-aol-cds/

cd-art-1.jpg
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
JWG said:
How does PhotoPass use the long range RFID? If you're on a ride, you scan the mickey head at ride's end. If it's a PhotoPass phoographer, they scan your band like the old cards.
Click to expand...

Many rides have long-range readers that automatically link the photo without you having to scan the Band at the ride exit. If you then scan the reader with the Band you get two copies of the photo linked to your account.

As for the question of finding out whether the battery is still operating, I have yet to hear of any kind of a testing procedure, though it wouldn't be that hard to set something up at Guest Services. Scan the Band to a touch-point and then the system uses a long-distance reader in the ceiling to see if it can also see the same Band.

-Rob
 
donsullivan

donsullivan

Premium Member
Rob562 said:
Many rides have long-range readers that automatically link the photo without you having to scan the Band at the ride exit. If you then scan the reader with the Band you get two copies of the photo linked to your account.

As for the question of finding out whether the battery is still operating, I have yet to hear of any kind of a testing procedure, though it wouldn't be that hard to set something up at Guest Services. Scan the Band to a touch-point and then the system uses a long-distance reader in the ceiling to see if it can also see the same Band.

-Rob
Click to expand...

There are actually 2 different technologies embedded in the MagicBand that are used for different purposes.

The RFID chip is a short range passive function that is used for park entry, Fastpass, Touch Payments, room key, etc.. The short range, passive nature of it is why you need to physically touch it to the reader for it to register. The RFID does not use a battery as it's a passive device and relies on the device it touches to provide power. This functionality of the band could theoretically be used forever as long as that band owner had appropriate entitlements on their profile and that band is linked to their profile.

There is also Bluetooth LE that is used for the longer distance active services like some of the newer on-ride photos that automatically show up in your Memory Maker account. This is also the technology that would be used for some of the future personalization experiences that have been described. In addition, it's what Disney uses to measure crowd flow through parks as you pass through sensor locations. It's how they get a more real time sense of crowd flows in the aggregate, not where you are specifically. This portion does not have to touch anything to trigger communication, only be near it (think 20-30 feet depending on sensors they use) but to do so requires a battery. This is the battery portion that would loose power over time.

If your MagicBand is not working for admission or FastPass+ it is not because a battery is dead, but more likely because of an entitlement issue on your MDE profile or other database issue. The portion of the band that authorizes admission does not use a battery. It's no different than the RFID chip in my Annual pass that allows me admission all the time and has no battery in it.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
donsullivan said:
There is also Bluetooth LE that is used for the longer distance active services like some of the newer on-ride photos that automatically show up in your Memory Maker account
Click to expand...

Just to clarify - it's not actually Bluetooth LE - but a proprietary protocol that performs like you describe. An active bidirectional radio system.
 
dstrawn9889

dstrawn9889

Well-Known Member
and before everyone here breaks out the tinfoil hats, the system is only passing the UNIQUE ID that is etched on the bottom of the band (next to your name). you would have to have DISNEY system access to see who it is, where they are staying... so a capture device would only allow a person into the park, or for scanning for payment, but you still have to enter a pin, so...
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom