Neither did a 30 minute standby wait for POTC in January.
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Lines at the FP+ entrances
- Thread starter djkidkaz
- Start date
Neither did a 30 minute standby wait for POTC in January.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
For the technology, 'yes'. However, the planning aspects of FP+ are completely different than an ATM.
Note that @jlsHouston wrote:
"Making multiple choice selections is easy and fast for people with strong comprehension skills...FP+ is about multiple choice too. It is no longer a linear process like legacy was. Multiple choice/multi tasking can be challenging for people."
What makes FP+ so complicated is making 3 intelligent FP+ selections all at once for the rest of the day. The possible combinations are daunting.
I walk up to an ATM and I know (for example) I want to take out $100. Simple.
Even with legacy FP, I walk up to the Space Mountain kiosk and know I'm going to get 1 FP for Space Mountain. Again, simple.
Even a WDW expert might struggle deciding what to pick at a FP+ kiosk depending on availability. It could require mapping out the entire day.
Are quick picks offered? Sure, but are the quick picks really going to be the best use of the time spent standing in a FP+ kiosk line?
The old FP system was easier. Decisions were made one at a time; the "linear process" @jlsHouston mentioned.
This is why, IMHO, making FP+ selections really is something to be done at home, not at the theme parks.
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Cubfan300
Active Member
As this thread is titled Lines at the FP+ entrance, I do think that there is an on topic comment that needs to be made. The MB readers are not very ergonomically designed. Most people wear the MB on their wrist like a bracelet. Seems to me that the MB reader portion should be face down, maybe with a slight curve to it to accommodate the general shape of the human wrist. Leave the cute Mickey logo on the front with the different colors to indicate success/failure, but awkwardly turning my wrist to get "Mickey on Mickey" is part of the reason for slowdowns in the FP+ lines.
Cubfan300
Active Member
It actually increases FP+ bookings. Legacy FP let people take a ticket for a FP and redemption was not guaranteed. I think that I have read somewhere that it was around 70%. With FP+ if you change your selections, what you get rid of goes back into the pool for someone at a kiosk to select. It literally could be the very next selection by the next person in line. Opportunity lost turns into a happy family. Still prefer to spread a little pixie dust by handing them off in person, but, in theory, this is more effective.
flynnibus
Premium Member
You can break it down into very simple pieces...
Red Ocean is to continue to compete in a crowded space - fighting for customers in a space where your competition can easily jump in and challenge you. Often you are fighting with similar tools and the argument is.. a limited opportunity. In theme parks, the 'attractions arms race' can be thought of as red ocean. You keep doing the same, fighting over the same fish, with the same tools your competition is.
Blue Ocean is to turn away from fighting with the competition over the same space and instead target a fresh, clean space that is free of competitors. Instead of fighting over diminishing returns, you reach out to fresh, untapped potential.. and aim to stay ahead of your competition rather than fighting over the same scraps.
NextGen is blue ocean in the sense of instead of doing the same old, and trying to just keep doing the same thing year after year.. which your competition can easily do as well... it aims to 'change the game'. Instead of just 'a bigger, faster, better widget', it proposes "Lets redefine how people see and use their widgets". MM+ aims to redefine the theme park vacation experience in ways the competition can not simply clone. It aims to redefine your thinking of how you visit and experience theme parks.. and through the integrated technology and systems built out, it makes it difficult for your competition to follow suit. Thus, giving you fresh, blue waters to cull... while your competition can't easily move in.
I suppose since I was an AP holder and stayed DVC they wouldnt care for my opinion. lol. I just double checked my email for the last month and my spam folder, nothing. Thanks for your response though. I figured it was an email survey.
Since you seem very knowledgeable of the subject, I have a question. I have read about other companies who collect data on customers (Target, cell phone companies) and assist police with investigations. Do you think Disney will do the same? Are companies legally obligated to assist authorities and give up the info they have?
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
Disney is working on a new design of MagicBand that functions as a reader all the way around.
It's still awkward, especially at hotel doors, but more user-friendly at theme park entrances and in FP+ lines.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Which is exactly why the system DOESN'T present all the options and instead gives the quick pick choices as the defaults.
You're advocating that the buried advance menu is too difficult for some.. which is exactly why it's buried and not the default.
This is a conditioned behavior... not intrinsic. It's simple to you now, because you're used to it.
Someone trying to ultra optimize? Sure... for average joe it's a heck of a lot simpler. 'How long do I plan on staying?' "When do I want to eat?".
Disney IS giving simplier choices to make it streamlined for people... yet people keep focusing on the 'choice for highest optimization path' and arguing the streamlined path is not that. Yes... intentionally.
Cubfan300
Active Member
When I worked for Sprint, we were routinely served with warrants from DA's regarding cell phone information (your Yellows for the Law and Order fans out there). They usually came from our legal department and although I don't know the criteria, nor do I know how many were rejected by legal, we did it....a lot!
Cubfan300
Active Member
Forgot about the doors. After the first day or two, just took off the band and held it up to the reader. Impossible for anyone with large hands.
jlsHouston
Well-Known Member
And....I personally think the feedback is more like a 60/40 thing and I think they are getting a lot of negative feedback from everyone on the 3 FP limit and the 1 park limit...I think the the positive feedback is everyone likes not zig zagging the park to pull a FP...So maybe 95% say they like the benefit of FP+ for planning their park day but I am sure many people NOT AP holders and Florida residents are complaining about the 3 a day and 1 park limit. It probably is exactly as you say...how Disney is choosing to categorize and interpret and share this feedback.
flynnibus
Premium Member
Two different things... requests for info (voluntary) and warrants (not voluntary). When they get a warrant from the judge, you must comply. The type of stuff you are talking about rejecting are the "requests".
Generally tho most companies comply (giving up surveillance video, etc) because it usually helps to be on the good side of the law and because they know the info is pursuing a specific crime. It's the 'exploratory' stuff people get defensive over.
jlsHouston
Well-Known Member
I agree I would be totally shocked if the data Disney gathers from the MB/RFID technology about guest habits and patterns ever would make it's way to vendors or competitors....
englanddg
One Little Spark...
Competitors...no. Vendors and pavilion sponsors? I can totally see them sharing the info with them.
roj2323
Well-Known Member
The survey was kinda biased. The wording of the questions was questionable at best especially the 5-6 questions that specifically mentioned fastpass+.
ParentsOf4
Well-Known Member
So then Disney is making my FP+ choices for me?
So I've abdicated my decision-making to Disney?
Maybe I should let them quick pick my hotels and restaurants as well?
I don't mean to be antagonistic but it seems a bit silly to me to suggest that guests are somehow better served by letting Disney decide, which is exactly what the quick pick option is.
Or, looking at it differently, is Disney going to do what’s best for me or for what’s best for Disney?
This simply is not true.
The legacy FP system was simpler because the decision of which attraction to select is made one at a time, and before ever arriving at the legacy FP kiosk.
FP+ complicates this because it compresses this decision-making process for an entire day into a single transaction.
So it would be even simpler if Disney decided which restaurant I ate at, what time I ate there, and, while I’m at it, let them decide what I should eat?
Again, I’m not trying to antagonize, only suggesting your line of thinking leads to some unintended consequences if brought to its full realization.
A trip to WDW is about making choices. Everyone cannot do everything. Decisions have to be made.
Again, the best place to do this is before arriving at the parks.
FP+ encourages preplanning. That’s its strength, both from Disney’s perspective and from guests’ perspective.
WDW is a big complicated place. Ultimately, guests are going to be best served if they spend some time before they arrive and figure out what they are going to do.
I don’t hop on a flight to Europe and figure out what I’m going to do after I arrive. WDW is no different.
Cubfan300
Active Member
One last IT item to share, and then it is back to planning our trip in Sept. Big data is current wave. Applications do grow a bit over time, but data is constantly being collected in every corporation. The servers that hold that data have to grow and expand and it is expensive equipment to own and maintain. One way that companies can continue to do that is to sell that data to other companies (not competitors, per se). When I worked for Sara Lee, the data that we collected in our warehousing operations was sold to other companies (not competitors), to help them more efficiently pull product off of the lines, distribute in the warehouse and load it on the trucks. Most every manufacturing company (or food service in this instance) can benefit from the economies of scale regarding data collection that a bakery company the size of Sara Lee can generate. Millions of loaves of bread coming out of the ovens and into stores every day. We took that money and bought hands free devices with voice recognition software for the warehouse employees to use that enabled them to increase throughput to the trucks by another 30%. And I bet, because I left the company shortly after that, they sold that data to other companies that do broad scale distribution as well. It literally happens every single day.
Cubfan300
Active Member
We would never voluntarily give any data to anyone without a warrant.
jlsHouston
Well-Known Member
I know what you were saying in the earlier posts and it was informative...I think @flynnibus is just annoyed thinking when we complain or conjecture we aren't seeing the forest because we have gotten hung up on a tree...
I don't have a lot of formal education, and even though I have been self employed for over 20 years so I in general understand the principles of operating a small business, I wouldn't be able to grasp this MM+/FP+ stuff if it hadn't been for this board. And honestly I think my park and resort experience was better in November because I was more prepared for some of the changes being rolled out by that time. I can enter a ticket/MB and link stuff really fast. I can manuever the FP+ selection app as fast as the software will let me tap a button. Now the RapidFill crap totally threw me, I had seen nothing on the board leaving up to my departure in November about it and I still have my panties in a twist over that change.
For me...I still have lots to see and do at WDW so I want my vacation to not be agitating. Change and things not familiar is just not exciting for me like it was 20 years ago. I can turn on a dime if I have to but damn it wears on me. SO I am happy for the discourse about the NextGen stuff whether it is good bad or ugly..
Their surveys are always more product oriented, not customer oriented.