MiceAge on the latest news regarding MyMagic+ : Read it and weep.

[GoofGoof]

I'll throw this out as an example for the Magic Kingdom as a hybrid of what I'm thinking and what @Cesar R M suggested. It is wildly impractical, the question is more "is it possible".

It would rely on Fastpass distribution being made at a much higher rate than the current distribution rates (which let's say for the sake of this are at 60% of hourly capacity). If you increase the distribution to 80-90% of an attraction's capacity, enforce tighter return windows and prioritize Fastpass over Standby (or eliminate standby entirely) it's conceivable to schedule every attraction at the park with minimal waits.

Say every guest at MK gets 20 attractions, but return times are reduced to 20 minute windows. In a 12 hour day, that would create 36 possible return windows. I would assume @lentesta's optimizing tool could be modified to test this, it's essentially what they're already doing. Comparatively, Disney could request the attractions that you want to prioritize, take the expected arrival time and send people around the parks accordingly.

In theory Disney could "guarantee" spots on attractions provided that you make your arrival time at the park. If you show up late, you run the risk of missing the first few attractions you scheduled.

Do I get an adult diaper with this plan. Otherwise we might have a mess on our hands because I'm not missing Splash Mountain no matter how much I need to go.

 

[John]

You have things all mixed up. There are two RFID chips (one HF, and one UHF), and then the 2.4GHz radio.. which is spoken of as if it's Bluetooth, but no one has confirmed that. The 2.4GHz radio would be the one used for detection at range since it's the active radio and is published as communicating with the wireless infrastructure. The RFID tags are for the contact systems or short/area detection (they are passive tags that require radiating to detect). The only thing posted in that dump is just the information from the HF radio tag. The UHF tag would be encoded with data as well... as well as the 2.4GHz radio broadcasting something unique (else.. both are pointless).

There is no specific reason for personal info to be on any of these (and makes life difficult in manufacturing and provisioning them) - but the dump from above is not a complete picture at all.

Hey I have no idea what he says....but I am telling you Judge Flynni knows his e!

 

[Cesar R M]

Do I get an adult diaper with this plan. Otherwise we might have a mess on our hands because I'm not missing Splash Mountain no matter how much I need to go.

hardcore fan of the splash mountain, hu?

 

[lentesta]

That's a P vs NP situation... it is nearly impossible to optimize the park Fastpass system to that level.

Optimizing touring plans is NP-Hard. There are heuristics that work really well.

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

You have things all mixed up. There are two RFID chips (one HF, and one UHF), and then the 2.4GHz radio.. which is spoken of as if it's Bluetooth, but no one has confirmed that. The 2.4GHz radio would be the one used for detection at range since it's the active radio and is published as communicating with the wireless infrastructure. The RFID tags are for the contact systems or short/area detection (they are passive tags that require radiating to detect). The only thing posted in that dump is just the information from the HF radio tag. The UHF tag would be encoded with data as well... as well as the 2.4GHz radio broadcasting something unique (else.. both are pointless).

There is no specific reason for personal info to be on any of these (and makes life difficult in manufacturing and provisioning them) - but the dump from above is not a complete picture at all.

My apologies if this has already been discussed, but would you care to expand on these technical aspects of TragicBand and extrapolate to possibly explain why resort guests cannot recycle their previous hardware and must use new ones every time they book a new trip?

Is there something in the band that's hard coded and can't be reset by the resort?

That to me is troubling, especially if it's any kind of personal information relating to permanent address and phone number, children and their ages, Disney account numbers, etc. I don't mind having that info on my hotel room key, because I destroy the sucker once I return home. But I doubt my TragicBand is going to fit in the home office document shredder. And my Cuisinart simply isn't powerful enough.

 

[flynnibus]

My apologies if this has already been discussed, but would you care to expand on these technical aspects of TragicBand and extrapolate to possibly explain why resort guests cannot recycle their previous hardware and must use new ones every time they book a new trip?

Is there something in the band that's hard coded and can't be reset by the resort?

This is educated speculation - because none of us know the exact details of what Disney is provisioning - but in the general sense there should be no reason guests would not be able to recycle the band from trip to trip. The HF chip for the room entry should be reprogrammable to different hotels, etc. There should be stuff that can't be reset by the resort - but that isn't what matters. You would update the software side to match what is fixed in the band. AKA... if each band has a hardcoded 'ID', you don't change the band to match the ID previously stored in the user profile in software.. you update the user profile to include the new band 'ID'. As for the resort key.. if it follows convention on that, they can be reprogrammed at the resort as needed.

Speculating why they are taking this path..?
- It could simply be the shortest path right now in the rollout. Adding all the variations of allowing people to request a replacement, deciding if they need a new one, etc is system complexity that could have simply been kicked down the road for later implementation to save time right now
- It is the simplest path for the guests today in that there is no decision tree regarding 'is my band current enough', 'what if I want a different color', 'what if mine is damaged', etc. Simply giving them out every time streamlines things for people. (at the expense of later people trying to figure out which band is the 'right one')
- Any reuse scenario requires lots of alternate paths for when the personal CAN'T reuse.. for whatever reason. Staffing and building those out cost money. Maybe Disney did some number crunching and finds it cheaper to just send them unilaterally? (given the cost of shipping.. I doubt this one)

If I had to wager on it... my guess would be the first one. This is simply the version 1.0 implementation that doesn't have all the bells and whistles and so blanket 'issue a new band' is the quickest way to operational right now.

That to me is troubling, especially if it's any kind of personal information relating to permanent address and phone number, children and their ages, Disney account numbers, etc

You shouldn't have to worry about that - there is little technical reason to have any of that info on the band itself. The simplest way to think about this is imagine each band has a unique serial number... and it's Disney's backend that knows when that serial number comes up.. pull up this particular user profile. Just like a barcode, etc.

 

[PhotoDave219]

That's a weird question considering it's my experience that everything is linked to your MDE account.

In theory, you should be able to reuse it. One would think.

 

[WDWDad13]

seems like a no brainer doesn't it? My GUESS is because it's so new and they are still in testing they just haven't enabled or developed that part yet. Seems like it would save them money down the road though... surely that will happen eventually

 

[BlueSkyDriveBy]

Speculating why they are taking this path..?
- It could simply be the shortest path right now in the rollout. Adding all the variations of allowing people to request a replacement, deciding if they need a new one, etc is system complexity that could have simply been kicked down the road for later implementation to save time right now
- It is the simplest path for the guests today in that there is no decision tree regarding 'is my band current enough', 'what if I want a different color', 'what if mine is damaged', etc. Simply giving them out every time streamlines things for people. (at the expense of later people trying to figure out which band is the 'right one')
- Any reuse scenario requires lots of alternate paths for when the personal CAN'T reuse.. for whatever reason. Staffing and building those out cost money. Maybe Disney did some number crunching and finds it cheaper to just send them unilaterally? (given the cost of shipping.. I doubt this one)

Good ideas. And while reading them, I actually thought of one possibility that hadn't occurred to me before.

Perhaps there are subtle tweaks going on with the bands internally as the system itself continues to be tweaked. So the earlier versions of the bands won't necessarily be fully functional down the road as modifications continue to be made.

Kind of like my iPhone 3GS not being able to update beyond iOS 6.1.3 (which is why I now have a 5s because I could no longer tolerate the continuing lack of features). But unlike the phone, the band changes are all invisible to the resort guests.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Good ideas. And while reading them, I actually thought of one possibility that hadn't occurred to me before.

Perhaps there are subtle tweaks going on with the bands internally as the system itself continues to be tweaked. So the earlier versions of the bands won't necessarily be fully functional down the road as modifications continue to be made.

Kind of like my iPhone 3GS not being able to update beyond iOS 6.1.3 (which is why I now have a 5s because I could no longer tolerate the continuing lack of features). But unlike the phone, the band changes are all invisible to the resort guests.

I think changes would result in new filings with the FCC.

 

[flynnibus]

Good ideas. And while reading them, I actually thought of one possibility that hadn't occurred to me before.

Perhaps there are subtle tweaks going on with the bands internally as the system itself continues to be tweaked. So the earlier versions of the bands won't necessarily be fully functional down the road as modifications continue to be made.

That is possible - but is pretty disruptive to manage interop during such transitions.

The other one I was thinking of, but forgot to type was simply the battery life isn't as good as initially trialed, and their lifespan is shorter than expected.

But I'm still putting money on 'development time/schedule' and this will change over time.

 

[flynnibus]

I think changes would result in new filings with the FCC.

And are you watching the FCC website? There are levels of which you can change without new notices/etc.. but a valid point still

 

[lazyboy97o]

And are you watching the FCC website? There are levels of which you can change without new notices/etc.. but a valid point still

I also don't check for new building permits. There has to be a Disney fan who does like reading through FCC filings.

 

[ABQ]

I also don't check for new building permits. There has to be a Disney fan who does like reading through FCC filings.

We'll have to find the bizarro world @danlb_2000 to start tracking the FCC filings.

 

[Figments Friend]

Any day now i expect to see photos up online showing a 'razor bladed' MagicBand 'gutted' showing the exact inner workings....if not already done.

I am also sure there are peeps out there in fan-land trying to already reverse-engineer this bad boy...for curiosity sake, and maybe even for naughty means.

 

[danlb_2000]

Any day now i expect to see photos up online showing a 'razor bladed' MagicBand 'gutted' showing the exact inner workings....if not already done.

I am also sure there are peeps out there in fan-land trying to already reverse-engineer this bad boy...for curiosity sake, and maybe even for naughty means.

From Micechat:

 

[englanddg]

From Micechat:

Why Kevin Yee is writing about it like it's a mindblowing revolation...confuses me.

It IS in the FCC filing. Staggs flat out said they would have two, a short range RFID and long range bluetooth.

 

[Figments Friend]

From Micechat:

Ah hah !
Thanks for that....had a feeling someone had already done the deed by this point.



Looking at this ....why am i suddenly reminded of futuristic 'brain implants'...?

 

[danlb_2000]

Ah hah !
Thanks for that....had a feeling someone had already done the deed by this point.



Looking at this ....why am i suddenly reminded of futuristic 'brain implants'...?

Just wait....

 

[C.FERNIE]

Its insides do not look that pretty! looks pretty basic to me!