The article raises a lot of good points based on the trends that we have seen, but it does fail to point out all the guest frustrations that are occurring daily which is also leading it to be a failure. It is also unfair to say that MyMagic+ is a complete failure. There have been many good things to have come out of it, but the largest aspect and by far the biggest failure has been Fastpass+.
MyMagic+ overall has brought touch to pay technology into the parks & resorts. It has brought RFID entry to resort hotels. It has brought free wifi and beefed up mobile bandwidth with multiple carriers. It has brought a very useful official app with lots of great information and functionality. It has brought a different way to carrier your park ticket around. It is also more environmentally friendly with all the paper Fastpasses gone. It has even allowed us a little bit more customization with our Fastpasses and have allowed us the ability to change a Fastpass if we wanted to. We also can't forget that it all started with a cast member test to put RFIDs in all the cast costumes for easy check out without having to scan a barcode. While not all of these were needed, there are very important steps in staying ahead of the game, keeping with the times, and using technology to our advantage. Some people may not even take advantage of all of these things, but they are nice additions regardless.
The problem is that some thinking and planning has been short sighted namely with Fastpass+. The majority of the guests that I talk to hate how it has changed. There are pros and plenty of good marketing selling points, but the cons, confusion, complexity, and change have lost a lot of people.
Yes, it was a good idea for Fastpass to go digital, however, it was not a good idea to implement so many other changes all at once. I'm with a lot of other people who think that existing FP machines should have been modified with an RFID touch point to literally touch and go. That concept alone would have digitized everything, but sadly things are more confusing. There are 3 sets of guests: those who start their day with the kiosks, those who go to a ride first then to a kiosk, and those who are clueless about the kiosks and system all together. Those who start their day at a kiosk are finding that what used to be a quick sprint for dad to run over to Space Mountain for FP while the family heads to Fantasyland has turned into dad or the family waiting in a 20 minute line to visit a kiosk to make selections. Guests' reactions are all the same... "So, you're telling me I have to wait in line to avoid the line?" Those second set of guests head to Space Mountain and find that it is a 55 minute wait. "Where do I get the Fastpass", they ask. "Just visit the nearest kiosk located on the other side of Tomorrowland", the cast reply. These guests end up wasting time backtracking. There the last group of guests are clueless. They find out almost a little too late about Fastpass and by the time they visit, the availability especially at Epcot & Hollywood Studios is limited.
So now you have people waiting in line to make their selections. Those that choose to do it on their phone have their own tech issues. How do I link my tickets? How do I make my selections? Do I get service? Which wifi do I connect to? My phone is too slow. The app is too slow. The app crashed. I saved everything, but it isn't showing up. My ticket is linked to the wrong person or account. All I want to do it get a Fastpass. Those back at the kiosks are trying to plan their entire day. What are these rides? What will the wait times be like? What times are going to be good? Then they find out they only get 3. Those used to Legacy Fastpass are upset that their limited or their are tier systems. Those who are brand new to it think 3 is fine at first until they are all gone. So many guests are asking how to get more.
Thank goodness there are so many attractions...I"m sorry... "experiences" to choose from. Those that know the parks obviously have an unfair advantage. We know that half of the experiences don't need Fastpass on the average day. Even on the busiest days, while you might actually need a Fastpass for Living with the Land or Journey into Imagination, it's still a joke compared to the other headliners that are clearly more valuable. Guests are finding some of their choices as a waste. They wasted 33% of their FP entitlements on something that didn't need it. Disney research does show that guests are happier when they have a FP for an attraction regardless if it saves them time, however, I am willing to bet that this does change when there is a limit to how many you can get. Meanwhile, those attractions that didn't need Fastpass have experienced a whole new set of issues. Longer standby waits in some cases, or just extra space to create a FP line.
Fastpass+ also has it's efficiency issues. Cards and MagicBands take longer to scan. The convenience of a MagicBand has become complicated with guests twisting their wrists in all sorts of directions to ensure Mickey lines up with Mickey. Families with children make things even more difficult the younger they are as they are insistent on doing it themselves, but struggling at the same time. Families that were used to having one member hold all the Fastpasses upon arrival, now hold up the lines as they scan each card in their party. The result can be seen everywhere. Major attractions now have "pre-queues" for the FP queue lines... a line to get in a line to avoid lines if you will. Add on the fact that while guests picked their times, they still try to show up early or late bogging down the system even more with flashing blue lights. Oh and remember that third group of people, before they realize they have to visit a kiosk. They assume that they just have to walk up to use their FP selections, not make a selection to come back later. Yet another slow down full of flashing blue.
Downtimes & delays are everywhere in the parks with attractions. It something that can't always be prevented even with lots of maintenance. FP+ has a harder time dealing with these than before. Before with the Legacy system, if an attraction goes down, the next available FP return windows would get bumped later or reduce the number they are giving out. With everyone picking times throughout the day and even days in advance, it is harder to come back from these downtimes without their being a backup resulting in more lines. Even the recovery system has had some issues. You might get an email saying the attraction you picked is down... that's if you have a MyDisneyExpereince account. Even then, cast have to try to explain they can use their Fastpass elsewhere, but only in certain cases. At Magic Kingdom, there are categories. Big Thunder Mountain goes down which allows you to visit almost anything in Frontierland or Tomorrowland, but not Fantasyland. Oh and you still want to do Big Thunder, well, better not show up too early or late to use another Fastpass at one of those recovery attractions, because then it will use your free Fastpass for it instead. Then there is always the case where it doesn't work the way it's supposed to.
Already from a guest perspective there is a learning curve, longer lines, and more stress trying to plan something out that was supposed to be so stress free. Even on the cast side, there are points where you can clearly see how it has become a challenge for operations. On top of all these common issues, you also are finding people trying to cheat the system using technical bugs as the reason. You also have FP inventory availability especially on busier days. This past week, there were days where guests at Disney's Hollywood Studios were limited to two FP picks after all of the Group A (Toy Story, Coaster, Fant, and B&tB) were gone. On top of that, Tower was also apparently gone as well leaving guests to pick between attractions like Star Tours, Muppets, LMA, GMR, and American Idol. It will really be interesting to see what happens when anyone with a ticket can pick their FP 30 days in advance. What happens if they don't end up going? What prevents people from making selections just to make them leaving less inventory for those actually in the park? Could we start to see ticket sellers on 192 selling tickets with top selection already made for top dollar?
All the while, this is advertised as a test. The paying public is being used in a live test. These are people paying hundreds of dollars. We all know it is here to stay and isn't a test, but it sure sounds like it hasn't been fully fleshed out as the cost continues to climb to provide beefed up wifi, more security, and more devices. Not to mention that cast members are far behind the average guests abilities. Even with day guests being able to use the app to link tickets and preselect. Most cast members don't have MagicBands, still have to visit kiosks, and can't connect their tickets with their MyDisneyExperience accounts, yet they are supposed to help guests with it.
My last rant with MyMagic+ and Fastpass+ is that they are introducing it at the largest property with the most first time visitors and the most international visitors. These are people who don't speak English as a first language. They don't have SmartPhones. The first timers are already overwelmed with everything there is to see and do. This may even be the first and last trip in a decade for some. With such a large scale roll out to a clientele that is almost sure to have difficulties, you'd think they would have started in California first or even at Disneyland Paris or Hong Kong.
I really wish Disney good luck. I keep trying to look at the bright side, but I really have given up with FP+ for now. Surely there weren't this much push back and this many issues when Fastpass originally debuted in the 90s.
