EMH wristbands to be discontinued September 7th

[DivineMadness7]

I'm going to wait until this is implemented to form an opinion. :shrug:

 

[the-reason14]

I think this idea is stupid. In what ways will this be easier for guests and cms, I cant see it, and think its dumb. I sure dont want to have to whip out my room key at every ride, or every section when I could just show my wrist. And then possibly lose it, or you'll have some people who may lose it.

Disney has been doing somethings Im not to fond of lately, srl tsm, gone. The new fps. Alot of this stuff is starting to diminish my taste in being so eager to get back down there.

 

[the-reason14]

*edit- accidental repost- edit*

 

[Rob562]

Great move. I've waited 20 minutes + on too many occasions to get wristbands. We find ourselves just hanging around the parks many times because the wristband line is so dang long.

I think what some people are saying is that yes, it'll eliminate the line to get the wristband, but now you'll have to wait in line at the entrance to every EMH attraction as the CM checks each and every Resort ID's dates. Before, you just had to hold up your wrist as you walked past the CM.

My question is, what happens to the inevitable Guests who lose their Resort ID *during* EMH? I know that they can't replace the actual key card at the park, but will the Guest Relations people be able to confirm that you're a resort GUest and give you something that will be accepted by the Attractions CMs?

Under the wristband way of doing it, as long as you have it at the start of EMH to get a wristband, you're OK if you lose your room key after you get it. You can take care of getting a key card replacement when you get back to the resort (unless you have dining or charging features on the card, in which case the resort should be contacted right away to deactivate them).
But under this new system, if you're at an Evening EMH and you lose your card key, your evening will come to a screeching halt. (Especially if Guest Relations doesn't have anything in place to give out to those who lose their cards)

-Rob

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Don't worry folks - Disney has introduced / changed the wrist bands for a reason - its just that nobody knows about it yet. All will become clear in a couple of weeks (then we can knock it) :animwink:

 

[cptwife80]

I'm amazed that they think the card will be a better idea. Haven't they thought of the people who have had enough of the parks for the night and give a room key to their friends who are not on property guests. I liked the bracelets. My problem was the CM that didn't check them and would let non-resort people on the rides. I can remember one night a CM never checked my wrist because I had a sweater on and it wasn't visible. But if they have truely thought of everything and will have the bugs worked out before my trip in October than I have no problem showing my card. Just keep out the riff raff of the cheating non-resort guests from getting on. And I think if they try to get on a ride with no card they should escort them to the hub and not let back to the rides.

 

[hokielutz]

It appears to me that this new information was added to the top of the old page that describes how the EMH work.

Correct, the old information needs to be notated as such and separated from the new information that appears in BOLD.

 

[hokielutz]

I love this idea. I just hope they also force all non-guests out of the parks too as they tend to clog up the shops and eateries.

Won't happen.

They are not going to prevent someone from possibly spending more $$ in the parks. Its just good business for them. Disney makes more $$ and the guest gets to enjoy the park with after hours shopping.

 

[hokielutz]

Like always, I won't read through the pages, so feel free to ignore this post like I ignored everybody elses.

Great move. I've waited 20 minutes + on too many occasions to get wristbands. We find ourselves just hanging around the parks many times because the wristband line is so dang long.

You just may have to wait 10+ minutes for each E-ticket on a busy night, to get INTO the official Queue of the ride.

 

[jt04]

As long as they can check your pass faster than the rides load it won't be a problem. In other words, it won't increase wait time at the attractions.

 

[DisneyJoe]

Haven't they thought of the people who have had enough of the parks for the night and give a room key to their friends who are not on property guests.

Theoretically, all adults at least should have signed the back of their cards - and Disney reserves the right to check this against a photo ID.

Unless it is the last night of their vacation, I don't see many people giving away their room key to off-property guests.....

 

[sknydave]

It isn't going to increase the wait times. If you end up having to wait 5 minutes due to the CM checking cards, those 5 minutes would have been spent waiting in the ride queue. No wait time is added.

 

[markjohns1]

They've just traded one system for another. I can't see that this will change evening EMH any, and all the abuses will continue until they choose to waste an absurd amount of time and SCAN those ID's on the way into the attraction.

And before you say it can't be done, keep in mind thousands of subway travelers do it every day in NYC with metrocards, and those have a 14-minute time lock-out on them from when they were scanned to when they could be used again. I don't think we are very far from this system being implemented.

Certainly a scanning system can be implemented. That's what they use at the park entrance. The bottleneck comes from the fact that an attraction has one entrance and one CM checking IDs. Park entrances, or the NYC subways, have many turnstiles for guests to go through. Just look at how long the lines are when getting wristbands, and there are often 2-3 CMs checking IDs and it still gets backed up. Why do you think clubs use wristbands after they've checked your ID? Because it's easier and faster to check than having guests pull out their IDs all the time.

All EMH abuse is a result of negligence by a CM, whether it is intentional or unintentional. Until they come up with an automated system of distributing wristbands, or swiping to allow guests to enter, or something that takes the human element out of it there will continue to be day guests enjoying attractions during EMH.

But if you asked me, the long waits and crowds during EMH have more to do with increased numbers of resort guests and EMH awareness, and less to do with the abusers.

 

[slappy magoo]

If they're checking IDs at the tail end of the line, it's no big deal. Say there's 200 people ahead of you at the tail end of the line, before you get into the official queue. Those same 200 people would've still been in front of you INSIDE the official queue. If it takes a long amount of time to shift those 200 people in front of you from the EMH checkpoint to the "official queue," then there will be less of a wait inside the official queue.

In other words, it all balances out time-wise. The only exception would be if dillholes get to the checkpoint and then not have their IDs.

 

[markjohns1]

If they're checking IDs at the tail end of the line, it's no big deal. Say there's 200 people ahead of you at the tail end of the line, before you get into the official queue. Those same 200 people would've still been in front of you INSIDE the official queue. If it takes a long amount of time to shift those 200 people in front of you from the EMH checkpoint to the "official queue," then there will be less of a wait inside the official queue.

In other words, it all balances out time-wise. The only exception would be if dillholes get to the checkpoint and then not have their IDs.

I guarantee guests who don't have their IDs out will be commonplace.

Also, any kind of bottlenecks increase the possibility that empty or partially filled rides/cars/etc. will be launched. This reduces the actual HRC, which does increase wait times. Basically if the queue is long, a bottleneck at the entrance will not do anything to wait times. If the queue is short or empty, the wait time will likely be increased for any guests held up at the entrance.

 

[v_misses_epcot]

Well I really don't know what to think of this whole new procedure so I'll wait untill I see this for myself. I have a feeling, cards or wristbands, someone will always find a way to abuse this. If it isn't buying colored wristbands from ebay, it's from having cards from last time they visited.

I was part of the Innoventions EMH night and we had fights from "I can't believe you're not going to let us in just because we're not staying at a hotel to "I lost my card", and many others. Just imagine if it was bad enough scanning the cards, getting the cards from each family member(some in which weren't even in line,) then putting the wristbands plus added complaints, I can only imagine how long this will take.

I still don't know what to think of it and hope all goes well. It does bite though, besides all the fights and what not, I really enjoyed being out there handing them out. I met a lot of other cms that way from other parks and we'd just have a good time for 5 hours. Sometimes I'd be scanning the cards and I'd get shocked on seeing guest from my hometown and I'd chat a bit with them. It was also an extra 5 hours for me and my coworkers to just stand and chill and help people who needed directions etc.

 

[Gooch]

Eh. I don't like this idea so much. Let's see what happens.

 

[hokielutz]

I guarantee guests who don't have their IDs out will be commonplace.

Also, any kind of bottlenecks increase the possibility that empty or partially filled rides/cars/etc. will be launched. This reduces the actual HRC, which does increase wait times. Basically if the queue is long, a bottleneck at the entrance will not do anything to wait times. If the queue is short or empty, the wait time will likely be increased for any guests held up at the entrance.

Yep... this scenario is part of my fear.

 

[elisatonks]

they dont really save on CMs... they go from distributing wristbands to checking IDs in different areas of the park...

if they work it like they did during the trial the room keys are checked at the entrance of each attraction, therefore the EMH wristband cast members are not needed, as the greeters become both the attraction greeter and resort ID checker - therefore they don't need the CM's to give out the wristbands, therefore hourly CM's are losing these hours, as they are not redeployed, and this is were disney is saving alot of money.

Also from the point of view of a CM who has worked EMH i personally prefered this method, as a large number of guests don't realise they need wristbands and can get real angry.

 

[Dwarful]

Well, we were at WDW 07-26 to 08-09 and did several of the emhs..morning and evening. We were there with thousands of Brazillians and amazingly we never waited more than a few minutes to get our wristbands. Now mind you we never waited til the last minute, nor did we go to the first distribution center. For example in MK we got our bands by Pinochio's Village Haus.

My problem with this change is the sheer number of times I have ended up being behind the wrong person trying to get into the parks. Mom has the backpack, dad has the camera bag, both are digging for their park tickets, holding up two turnstiles while they dig through every pocket, zippered pouch and compartment..only to discover little Bobby is holding the tickets. Ok, so maybe I embellished a little bit, but seriously I am sure we have all seen these people. Now, think of those same people 12 hours later, looking for their tickets at every single attraction. UGH!