Magic Band Accessories

[Mr Bill]

The current average FP use per day isn't close to three. It's less than half that amount, which is why FP+ is being added to so many attractions.

 

[jed012788]

One more thing: Tim's 100% right about something else. The argument that it's impossible to get last-minute dining reservations is so wildly absurd that I have to believe that most of the posters here have never actually tried to get them. My family doesn't plan far in advance. We've been known to book Memorial Day or President's Day weekend in the parks sometimes a day or two before we leave home. We've never had a problem getting good dining reservations at normal meal hours.

Do we always get into 'Ohana or Le Cellier or now Be Our Guest? No, of course. Those are desirable tables that do get booked far in advance. But for 95% of restaurants on property, it's really not as difficult as some of the posts here would lead you to believe. Over the busy MLK weekend, for instance, which we booked about 10 days in advance, we got great reservations at fairly popular places like Via Napoli, San Angel Inn and Whispering Canyon Cafe with no issue.

 

[jed012788]

I've said since the beginning that the cross crossing issue would easily be handled by a central FP location at the front of each park, and a bank of FP machines in each land for the attractions in that land.

And that would be a hell of a lot less $$ than $2billion.

And there's a good chance the TSMM FP problem won't go away... It'll just happen at 60 days instead of at rope drop. No one knows... Including Tim.

Fine, so it'll happen 60 days out. I don't doubt that. I'd rather get shut out before I leave home then waste time in the park hauling over there.

 

[pheneix]

If you end up being right and I'm wrong, and FP+ turns out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread and the majority here changes their tune and is pleased with it, you have my word that I'll admit you we're right.

I just don't believe there's virtually any chance of that.

That's because there is not a chance. At all.

At least Microsoft had the good common sense to do a 180 on their business model for Xbox One and ease into emerging technologies and digital content distribution over time.

Disney is implementing NextGen because just like Microsoft they want more control over when and how they deliver their content to guests. Just like Microsoft, they are rolling a lot of changes that are not going to be easy for guests to abide by and will likely a lot of people off, but they are implementing them anyway.

However, UNLIKE Microsoft, WDPR actually believes that they have invented the "next generation of theme park operations" and that this is simply an evolution of the theme park experience that was inevitably going to happen (like digital downloads and strict DRM for video games). This is absolutely, 110%, not the case. This "evolution" where everyone in the park will mutually agree upon planning their day in advance on Disney's time table when Disney wants them to is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. Not among a group of 4000 or 40000.

 

[NoChesterHester]

I've been reading these Fastpass+ threads for months, and I'm still shocked by most of the responses. From the moment Disney announced the project, the entire Internet simultaneously shouted that it will kill spontaneity. When I heard it, it sounded it would increase spontaneity. Tim totally nailed it, and I can't believe it took this long for somebody else to echo what sounded so obvious to me from the beginning.

The current Fastpass system is horrible for spontaneity. It requires two trips to the same attraction within the span of several hours, and it allows for no flexibility. The machine gives you a time to return, which essentially tethers you to one section of the park until your time comes up -- or forces you to waste a ton of time walking.

The idea of pre-booking a ride time on, say, Toy Story Mania sounds incredible. Think about all the free time you aren't spending walking to that corner of the park, waiting in line at the Fastpass queue, and then later walking all the way back. It's even worse in Epcot. Now, many people rush to Soarin' at 9 a.m. to grab a Fastpass. They then walk all the way across Future World to ride Test Track, only to walk all the way back to The Land. I hated doing that, but there wasn't really any other way to experience both attractions

Do I want my day micromanaged? Of course not . Would I like to not have to rush to Soarin' at 9 a.m. just to walk out of the building and come back a few hours later? Heck yes.

(EDIT: For the record, I'm not at all saying Fastpass + was a smart investment -- or even a smart idea. Most of it sounds useless, and I wish that money was spent on infrastructure or maintenance. That said, I just don't see this as some sort of apocalyptic event that's going to run everything. I sort of wonder how these boards would have reacted when Disney went away from the "pay-per-attraction" ticket system to what we have now. There would have been mutiny.)

I hate Fast Pass in its current incarnation. Hate.

I really do. I hate what it does for my day in the park, being a father of small children, and having to criss cross the park every couple of hours to get more little pieces of paper. I hate what fastpasses does to stand by queues like Toy Story Mania and Winnie the Pooh. I dislike the rope drop Fast Pass collection mentality and what it has done to park touring.

AND as a father of small children I LOVE the idea of a couple tent pole reservations already done. We know we will miss some, we do now. I also love the idea of pre-ordering lunch for a queue line only just to go pick it up when we arrive in 30 minutes. Something like that really will make my day easier.

 

[Tim_4]

If you end up being right and I'm wrong, and FP+ turns out to be the greatest thing since sliced bread and the majority here changes their tune and is pleased with it, you have my word that I'll admit you we're right.

I just don't believe there's virtually any chance of that.

Don't get me wrong. There are problems with Fastpass+. It's just not the whole litany of issues that have been laid out in this and other threads. For a family of four from Philadelphia, a honeymoon couple from Chicago, or a big family reuinion from Atlanta, MyMagic+ should be a net positive, quite possibly a significant one.

The people who have significant room for concern are locals/passholders and Cast-as-Guests. We shall see.

 

[Tim_4]

That's because there is not a chance. At all.

At least Microsoft had the good common sense to do a 180 on their business model for Xbox One and ease into emerging technologies and digital content distribution over time.

Disney is implementing NextGen because just like Microsoft they want more control over when and how they deliver their content to guests. Just like Microsoft, they are rolling a lot of changes that are not going to be easy for guests to abide by and will likely a lot of people off, but they are implementing them anyway.

However, UNLIKE Microsoft, WDPR actually believes that they have invented the "next generation of theme park operations" and that this is simply an evolution of the theme park experience that was inevitably going to happen (like digital downloads and strict DRM for video games). This is absolutely, 110%, not the case. This "evolution" where everyone in the park will mutually agree upon planning their day in advance on Disney's time table when Disney wants them to is NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. Not among a group of 4000 or 40000.

You know Apple basically invented NextGen, right?

Your argument boils down to "Microsoft is a more reliable source of innovation and predicting the future than Apple."

Believe me, I hate the Apple mystique. But I'll put my "wave of the future" eggs with Apple and Disney. You sit tight with Microsoft. Let me know how the Xbox One works out (worst name ever, BTW).

 

[Tim_4]

I also love the idea of pre-ordering lunch for a queue line only just to go pick it up when we arrive in 30 minutes. Something like that really will make my day easier.

And somehow that makes these folks angry. They'd rather wait in line while a Chinese International College Programmer tries to explain the Dining Plan to a group of eleven Brazilian teenagers. And that wonderful option is still available to them!

 

[pheneix]

You know Apple basically invented NextGen, right?

Your argument boils down to "Microsoft is a more reliable source of innovation and predicting the future than Apple."

Believe me, I hate the Apple mystique. But I'll put my "wave of the future" eggs with Apple and Disney. You sit tight with Microsoft. Let me know how the Xbox One works out (worst name ever, BTW).

Ah I don't think I explained myself clearly there. I was stating that Microsoft was staring down the barrel of a lot of changes that were not popular and decided to pull a 180 and hold off on force feeding changes to the way video games are distributed until the future when the audience is ready for it. It's not unlike the position Disney is sitting in right now with NextGen where a mountain of data they already have collected in live testing has flashed all kinds of warning sirens about how unpopular and impractical this system is going to be in the real world. Yet Disney charges forward anyway.

For what its worth, I don't think Microsoft is going to win, in fact, I think Sony is going to kick their with better hardware at a lower price point (not unlike comparing Universal to WDW presently).

With respect to Apple, the firm stopped being innovative the day Steve Jobs died and left nary a word of his vision of Apple's future to his subordinates. This has painfully been on display for over a year now as Crapple haplessly re-releases new updates of iPhone and iPad hoping that their brand name will carry them to another quarter of 15%+ growth.

As far as where to put my "wave of the future eggs", I'm putting my hard earned money into shares of Comcast. Because the more things change in the themed entertainment business, the more they stay the same.

 

[DsnyFevr]

I was so against the bands from the beginning, but with or without a band I have to have the haunted mansion wallpaper cover. Huge haunted mansion fan!

 

[RSoxNo1]

At this point, I feel they're spending $1 billion + to create the next Vinylmation. Wake me up when they've announced the Studios makeover.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I will never buy as long as it does not say MADE IN USA!

Where was the device made that you used to post this?

 

[bubbles1812]

I think you visit WDW different than the average guest if that's your position. VERY FEW people are "spontaneous" when they get in the park. They know it's Fastpass for Splash, ride Thunder, get to Tomorrowland to Fastpass Space, return to Frontierland to use the Splash Fastpass, wait 45-minutes for a taco bowl at Pecos Bill's, then sprint back to Tomorrowland because your Fastpass is in seven minutes

I think you underestimate the amount of people who kind of just show up to the parks and ride what they ride. The amount of people who are rushing from Fastpass to Fastpass is certainly there, I'm not denying it, but what you seem to be implying is that everyone does it, which just isn't true. And more to the point, your scenarios are more what repeat experienced guests would do as opposed to first time people or those who go every few years to a decade.

But as per your usual lack of reading comprehension, you completely missed my point. I was not really speaking to what happens the day I am actually inside a park. I am talking about what comes weeks to months before. Disney is going to force guests to hyper plan what rides they want to visit months in advance, even the food they order months in advance. Now you can drone on and on as you like to about how it can be changed in the parks the day off ect, but someone had a good point... How exactly flexible is that system going to be if thousands of other people are going to do the same thing? But more to the point, how many people are just going to say to hell with it when they have micro manage literally every portion of their vacation. And it's not like the website isn't always going to have problems... Yes get are working out the kinks, in theory, but even their well established website before they added all this new stuff crashed all the time. To think people wont have difficulty with all the different things Disney now wants you to do, especially new guests, is simply naive.

And you say this is what is going to make people happy? Come on man. It's attractions that make people happy. In theory some are finally coming, but for the time being (Not exactly like those new things will be opening tomorrow. You've got to wait to nearer the end of the decade for those), this is what Disney is riding on to make people happy. I haven't exactly seen the demand for it as you've insinuated. But then Disney is practically perfect in every way to you, judging by your "Disney does no wrong" posts so I guess it shouldn't surprise me.

 

[RSoxNo1]

I think you visit WDW different than the average guest if that's your position. VERY FEW people are "spontaneous" when they get in the park. They know it's Fastpass for Splash, ride Thunder, get to Tomorrowland to Fastpass Space, return to Frontierland to use the Splash Fastpass, wait 45-minutes for a taco bowl at Pecos Bill's, then sprint back to Tomorrowland because your Fastpass is in seven minutes.

What allows more time for spontaneity?
A. I know I need to be at Buzz Lightyear at 2:00.
B. I need to leave Adventureland at 11:00 to get to Buzz Lightyear to pick up a Fastpass, then go back to find my family in Adventureland, then return to Buzz at whatever time they tell me, which might be during a parade or show or meal that I was hoping to do?

The Fastpass window already says "you need to be in this place at this time to skip the line." By adding the band and the ability to pre-plan, you're eliminating the first trip to the attraction to pick up the Fastpass ticket. Without crisscrossing the park, you're going to save a lot more time to be "spontaneous." Yes, three or so attractions will be planned, but you'll have much more free time if you don't need to drop what you're doing and walk to a different section of the park just to PICK UP the Fastpasses in the first place.

Here's a hypothetical. Let's say you want to "do" Magic Kingdom "counterclockwise" and your favorite attractions are Space, Peter Pan, and Big Thunder.

With the band:
1. Space Fastpass at 10:00.
2. Peter Pan Fastpass at 2:00.
3. Big Thunder Fastpass at 7:00.

There's plenty of room in there to take your time in each land and "be spontaneous". No need to sprint around the park or panic.

Let's say you wanted to do the same schedule without the band. This is what people's trips look like right now.
1. Ride Space immediately.
2. Go to Fantasyland to get a Fastpass for Peter Pan.
3. Crap, the Peter Pan Fastpass window is earlier than you liked, 11:00- 12:00.
4. Return to Tomorrowland to join up with your family. Tell them the Fastpass time.
5. Get in line for Buzz because you don't want to miss it.
6. 11:15, gotta make that Fastpass. I guess we have to skip CoP for now. We'll return (you never do.)
7. Fastpass for Peter pan.

And it continues like that for the rest of the day. Having tent poles in your day actually ALLOWS for spontaneity because you don't have to worry about physically retreiving those Fastpasses throughout the day. Plus, YOU pick the Fastpass return time before hand, rather than be told what time you must be back.
I love how @englanddg has problems with the band because he thinks his small children might be irresponsible with it (resonable), while other grown adults on this board cry about it louder than @englanddg's eight year old.
You don't NEED to do those things. If you want to order ahead so your food's ready when you get there, then you have that option. If you prefer waiting in line to order and then waiting again for your food in the name of spontaneity, you have that choice as well.

Prior to the enforcement of the end time for Fastpass spontaneity was greater. That can return if Fastpass+ changes to day of reservations that can be made at the in park kiosks or on your phone. I hope that's ultimately where this ends up. That's a huge convenience and something I would welcome. Where it's wasteful is the addition of all the unnecessary Fastpass+ attractions. It's silly, and the only purpose that infrastructure should serve is for Fastpass usage on maybe 10% of the days of the year.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Do we always get into 'Ohana or Le Cellier or now Be Our Guest? No, of course. Those are desirable tables that do get booked far in advance. But for 95% of restaurants on property, it's really not as difficult as some of the posts here would lead you to believe. Over the busy MLK weekend, for instance, which we booked about 10 days in advance, we got great reservations at fairly popular places like Via Napoli, San Angel Inn and Whispering Canyon Cafe with no issue.

Go to Disneyland, there is no true dining plan and you can walk up to their best restaurants without issue.

 

[bubbles1812]

The idea of pre-booking a ride time on, say, Toy Story Mania sounds incredible. Think about all the free time you aren't spending walking to that corner of the park, waiting in line at the Fastpass queue, and then later walking all the way back. It's even worse in Epcot. Now, many people rush to Soarin' at 9 a.m. to grab a Fastpass. They then walk all the way across Future World to ride Test Track, only to walk all the way back to The Land. I hated doing that, but there wasn't really any other way to experience both attractions

Do I want my day micromanaged? Of course not . Would I like to not have to rush to Soarin' at 9 a.m. just to walk out of the building and come back a few hours later? Heck yes!

"All the way across Future World" ... That makes it sound like you are walking from one end of the Serengeti to the other. It's like a 5 minute walk tops. Not to mention you can easily do both in a day... It's called waiting til later. You don't have to do those attractions 1,2 in a row. The FP don't go that quickly. There is also the novel concept of doing things within the area of your FP attraction to avoid that "far" walk.

The same goes for TSMM. If you don't like the walk, get your FP in the morning (or just ride the ride" and do stuff in the general vicinity. And RnRC and ToT are again, at most a 5 minute walk away. It's simply not that far.

I really don't get this complaint from people. It's not that hard to avoid going from one end of the parks to the other, and even if you have to, the walks are never as long as people make them out to be.

 

[jed012788]

Go to Disneyland, there is no true dining plan and you can walk up to their best restaurants without issue.

You don't need to convince me! I was last there over Christmas in 2010 and will be back in January 2014. Living in New Jersey, it's just significantly easier to hop down to Florida for a long weekend than it is to fly out to California.

And just to clarify, I'm not suggesting that the Walt Disney World dining reservation is perfect. It clearly isn't, and Disneyland, to an extent, shows how much better it could be. I'm just pointing out that it isn't as cutthroat as some on the Internet try to argue, that's all.

 

[djlaosc]

The idea of pre-booking a ride time on, say, Toy Story Mania sounds incredible. Think about all the free time you aren't spending walking to that corner of the park, waiting in line at the Fastpass queue, and then later walking all the way back. It's even worse in Epcot. Now, many people rush to Soarin' at 9 a.m. to grab a Fastpass. They then walk all the way across Future World to ride Test Track, only to walk all the way back to The Land. I hated doing that, but there wasn't really any other way to experience both attractions

If you can't get a TSMM reservation 60 days out, then you're going to have to rush at 9am anyway.
If you want to ride TSMM more than once in the day, then you're going to have to rush at 9am anyway.
If you want to be able to ride Soarin' and Test Track, then you're going to have to rush to one of them at 9am anyway.
If you want to be able to ride Soarin' and Test Track more than once in the day, then you're going to have to rush at 9am anyway.

If you don't want to rush there at 9am, are people in certain countries where the time difference will be at a certain point going to have to set their alarms for the middle of the night to be able to reserve their TSMM Fastpass? Are people going to have to take days off work in order to do this? Mind you, I guess people will already be doing this for their ADRs...

What happens to all that free time? You aren't getting any extra free time, you're just moving the inconvenience...

I am (was?) the Fastpass runner for my party, I didn't mind doing it. Would I mind it if I would have to get up at 3am in order to get one?

 

[jed012788]

AND as a father of small children I LOVE the idea of a couple tent pole reservations already done. We know we will miss some, we do now. I also love the idea of pre-ordering lunch for a queue line only just to go pick it up when we arrive in 30 minutes. Something like that really will make my day easier.

Yeah, people talk about "pre-ordering" lunch so negatively. If utilized correctly, I don't see how this is different than, say, the Chipotle iPhone app. There have been times where I know I'm having lunch at the Chipotle across from my office in an hour. The line is often out the door. So I pop onto the app, order my burrito bowl and pick it up with no line.

Now, if Disney expects us to choose between chicken tenders or a cheeseburger at Cosmic Ray's six months in advance, then we have a problem. But to order lunch at Cosmic Ray's while waiting in line as Buzz Lightyear? That sounds wonderful.

 

[Tim_4]

I think you underestimate the amount of people who kind of just show up to the parks and ride what they ride. The amount of people who are rushing from Fastpass to Fastpass is certainly there, I'm not denying it, but what you seem to be implying is that everyone does it, which just isn't true.

The people who just show up and "wing it" in the standby lines will still be able to show up and "wing it" in the standby lines. You're referring to those who are NOT current Fastpass users. Those people can continue to be NON Fastpass+ users.

But as per your usual lack of reading comprehension...

Cute. I love you too.

Disney is going to force guests to hyper plan what rides they want to visit months in advance...

Maybe your family is different than mine (and most others). Flipping through the "Unofficial Guide" and watching vacation planning DVDs built a tremendous amount of anticipation for the trip. We loved that part. A Disney vacation has the potential to create "family time" months in advance.

And again, no one is being "forced" to do anything. They have a new option. Decline that option if you wish.

...even the food they order months in advance.

...if they want to. If they don't, they can show up and order in line JUST LIKE THEY DO NOW.

And it's not like the website isn't always going to have problems... Yes get are working out the kinks, in theory, but even their well established website before they added all this new stuff crashed all the time.

See THAT'S a legitimate complaint. The implementation and beta testing has been buggy at best. But that legitimate complaint is lost in the bellyaching and personal insults. (Lack of reading comprehension... really?)

But then Disney is practically perfect in every way to you, judging by your "Disney does no wrong" posts so I guess it shouldn't surprise me.

I guess my "lack of reading comprehension" is starting to rub off on you. I'll quote myself from, what, three posts ago?

Don't get me wrong. There are problems with Fastpass+. It's just not the whole litany of issues that have been laid out in this and other threads. For a family of four from Philadelphia, a honeymoon couple from Chicago, or a big family reuinion from Atlanta, MyMagic+ should be a net positive, quite possibly a significant one.

The people who have significant room for concern are locals/passholders and Cast-as-Guests. We shall see.