Rumor MaigcBands at DL?

[T.Will]

As with everything, a grain of salt is taken with any speculation. RFID readers have apparently been added to parts of Grand Californian, and the scanners look very familiar to WDW visitors.

Could MagicBands be coming to Disneyland, and how would you feel if they came?

Are MagicBands Coming to Disneyland Resort?

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blogmickey.com

 

[TROR]

Isn't the entire point of Magic Bands to plan out your entire day, minute by minute? Such a concept just can't work at Disneyland like it does at WDW because there's just no need to plan out your day here. Most of Disneyland can be accomplished by just winging the entire thing.

On just another note, I'd much rather have a Disney branded microchip inserted into my brain.

 

[mikenatcity1]

I sincerely hope this is only for bluetooth access like what is at WDW vs a key card. I can't imagine Magic Bands/FP+ taking off in DLR. They already have a system where they make money on FP and it's all controlled via phone/ticket. It doesn't seem like Magic Bands were that amazing.

 

[Disney Irish]

Likely this is an expansion of the Disneyland App where Bluetooth is used. The Play Disney Parks App already uses Bluetooth in different areas of the park, such as interaction with Tinkerbell Lantern in the Peter Pan queue and Fortune Teller Red in NOS.

I always suspected they would expand the Bluetooth capability at the Disney Hotels in DLR, basically mimicking MagicBands without the physical band.

 

[mickEblu]

I don’t have any interest in planning out my day but I’d rather use a magic band to scan into rides than my ticket or phone.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Hotel room keys are almost all RFID now. Bluetooth has nothing to do with it.

This is nothing.

 

[Nland316]

I just want resort wide WiFi. Is that too hard to ask?

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I think they need to rework the FP system. Again. It clearly causes a lot of confusion with guests and huge backups at ride entrances at DLR. In WDW, most people just walk right in. I'm not saying wristbands are the answer.

 

[TROR]

I think they need to rework the FP system. Again. It clearly causes a lot of confusion with guests and huge backups at ride entrances at DLR. In WDW, most people just walk right in. I'm not saying wristbands are the answer.

Let's get rid of Fastpass.

 

[Disney Irish]

Hotel room keys are almost all RFID now. Bluetooth has nothing to do with it.

This is nothing.

A lot of hotels are actually starting to switching away from RIFD in favor of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). Hilton for example has been doing it for a couple years now in a lot of their hotels:

Hilton Honors App with Contactless Check-In - Download Today

Book hotels, view & manage your reservations, check in before you arrive & unlock your door with your phone using Digital Key. All with the Hilton Honors app.

hiltonhonors3.hilton.com

 

[donsullivan]

A lot of hotels are actually starting to switching over to BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) in favor of RFID. Hilton for example has been doing it for a couple years now in a lot of their hotels:

Hilton Honors App with Contactless Check-In - Download Today

Book hotels, view & manage your reservations, check in before you arrive & unlock your door with your phone using Digital Key. All with the Hilton Honors app.

hiltonhonors3.hilton.com

Marriott hotels are doing the same so you can use your phone to enter your room.

 

[Disney Irish]

Marriott hotels are doing the same so you can use your phone to enter your room.

Yep, I suspect Disney is doing the same thing.

 

[donsullivan]

Yep, I suspect Disney is doing the same thing.

Yeah. It has become the normal, modern model for access control in the hospitality industry. It enables things like online check-in where you don’t even need to go to front desk. You just check in via the app and get a push notification with your room number when it’s ready. I’m kind of surprised DL has not made transition before this.

 

[Disney Irish]

Yeah. It has become the normal, modern model for access control in the hospitality industry. It enables things like online check-in where you don’t even need to go to front desk. You just check in via the app and get a push notification with your room number when it’s ready. I’m kind of surprised DL has not made transition before this.

Well Disney is pretty slow on the uptake of new technology such as this. So I suspect they wanted to wait a bit to make sure most bugs were flushed out before implementing it. Even then knowing Disney there will still be bugs....

 

[NormC]

A lot of hotels are actually starting to switching away from RIFD in favor of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).

WDW is doing this already. The MB have a class II permissive BLE radio in them at transmitting at 1.2 mW power. This is also how you can use the MDE app to open your room door.

 

[donsullivan]

WDW is doing this already. The MB have a class II permissive BLE radio in them at transmitting at 1.2 mW power. This is also how you can use the MDE app to open your room door.

That’s exactly why I’m so surprised they are only now starting to use the tech at DL. They already had all the work done from MDE at WDW so it seems like it would be a light lift other than access pads at entry points to deploy. I’m guessing there was some legacy interface of some sort that prevented them from moving to this approach sooner.

 

[Janir]

ust want resort wide WiFi. Is that too hard to ask?

Yeah it almost is. They need a TON of repeaters that also have a TON of capacity. Swamps even the largest commercially available WIFI equipment used in office buildings and convention center buildings.

 

[Disney Irish]

WDW is doing this already. The MB have a class II permissive BLE radio in them at transmitting at 1.2 mW power. This is also how you can use the MDE app to open your room door.

Got it, I'm not 100% up on what the latest MB tech has in it since I'm not a WDW'er.

That’s exactly why I’m so surprised they are only now starting to use the tech at DL. They already had all the work done from MDE at WDW so it seems like it would be a light lift other than access pads at entry points to deploy. I’m guessing there was some legacy interface of some sort that prevented them from moving to this approach sooner.

Well DLR is a different environment. So a lot of the infrastructure isn't in place to quickly switch to BLE, unlike WDW where RFID/BLE is already in place and just an App update was needed. Which is why a RFID/BLE reader showing up in a Grand Californian elevator becomes news.

 

[TP2000]

I would assume this is just for mobile check-in. Every Airport Sheraton and small city Hilton in the country allows mobile check-in with your phone, allowing you to skip the check-in desk and go straight to your room. I've been doing that for years and it's very handy.

It's surprising, but not surprising, how behind the times Disneyland hotels are when it comes to technology, so this is probably just them trying to advance themselves from the year 2001 all the way to the year 2015, just in time for 2020.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

A lot of hotels are actually starting to switching away from RIFD in favor of BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). Hilton for example has been doing it for a couple years now in a lot of their hotels:

Hilton Honors App with Contactless Check-In - Download Today

Book hotels, view & manage your reservations, check in before you arrive & unlock your door with your phone using Digital Key. All with the Hilton Honors app.

hiltonhonors3.hilton.com

Why is that better? Phones have RFID too.

(Not arguing, curious.)