MM+ Why we can't have nice things.

[The Visionary Soul]

Disney needs to shift the focus away from advanced bookings to creating a more personalized experience for each guest. Finding ways to add this personalization where it's not super intrusive to the day guests would also be great as well.

Oh, it's coming. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's almost ALL video screen based.

 

[wdisney9000]

They should use advertising time to try to get people to want to come to Disney World.

I love the old shows that Walt himself used to host. They were simple, no special effects or interviews of people exclaiming how great it was. Just Walt in a room with a pointer stick and some models. Watching them still makes me want to book a trip. It was Walt Disney himself doing the work! Not some paid shill vomitting scripted politically correct advertising. It made you feel like you knew Walt and wanted to go spend time with him.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

You're right. If you weren't already considering a "DISNEY PARKS" vacation, then there is no way a wristband makes you start.

Now now, I buy wristbands by the case... these are Magic Bands. Completely different because they have MAGIC inside. (I'd rather have intel inside, but that's just me.)

 

[luv]

You're right. If you weren't already considering a "DISNEY PARKS" vacation, then there is no way a wristband makes you start.

Even regular people who are kind of thinking maybe they should take their kids to Orlando wouldn't be pushed over the edge by a wristband.

Only people who had already decided to go or were already fans would even care about the wristband...and only a few of those, really.

People just don't spend thousands of dollars for a wristband.

They need to show people things that will make them want to come to Orlando. Skip the wristband and REALLY skip the part where they talk about pre-planning, which sounds like work and not fun.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Oh, it's coming. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's almost ALL video screen based.

I'm not sure what you were expecting. I mean, I suppose if they wanted to incentivize staying on property with animatronics made of all guests as presidents inside Hall of Presidents it might work but it probably wouldn't be a good use of resources.

The problem with this is that many rides really don't lend themselves to this level of personalization. Many theme park experiences were meant to be passive experiences and forcing interactivity as a means to an end for another bad idea could be further damaging.

I know many have complained about the interactive queues and changes to signage and things like that but thankfully for the most part these things haven't been too intrusive. I'm hopefully that Imagineers will continue to add these components to things that aren't invasive.

 

[ParentsOf4]

They really don't lose on free dining or room discounts...some existing reservations get converted to the discount yes but they book a ton more rooms by offering those discounts too

You need to think like someone running a company. Folks like Iger don't look at it the way that normal people do.

Discounts equals lost profits.

To them, they don't think of discounts and free anything as a way to improve sales. They view discounts as hurting margins.

Within the halls of Burbank, any discount is viewed very negatively under Iger.

Leadership wants to find ways to improve sales while also improving margins.

That's what MyMagic+ is supposed to do: figure out how to get you to increase your "per guest spending". If they can stop giving you (and others like you) "Free Dining", then they've greatly increased your per guest spending.

 

[WDWDad13]

You need to think like someone running a company. Folks like Iger don't look at it the way that normal people do.

Discounts equals lost profits.

To them, they don't think of discounts and free anything as a way to improve sales. They view discounts as hurting margins.

Within the halls of Burbank, any discount is viewed very negatively under Iger.

Leadership wants to find ways to improve sales while also improving margins.

That's what MyMagic+ is supposed to do: figure out how to get you to increase your "per guest spending". If they can stop giving you (and others like you) "Free Dining", then they've greatly increased your per guest spending.

I wish they'd think like they need to spend some to make more then we'd all be one happy Disney forum singing it's a small world in harmony haha





.... Except for a few

 

[GoofGoof]

Even regular people who are kind of thinking maybe they should take their kids to Orlando wouldn't be pushed over the edge by a wristband.

Only people who had already decided to go or were already fans would even care about the wristband...and only a few of those, really.

People just don't spend thousands of dollars for a wristband.

They need to show people things that will make them want to come to Orlando. Skip the wristband and REALLY skip the part where they talk about pre-planning, which sounds like work and not fun.

I'm not saying there are droves of people booking trips just to use the bands. People who may have been thinking about a Disney vacation see it and think its cool and it factors into their decision. People probably didn't buy a $50,000 Lexus just because it parallel parks for you, but they still ran a whole ad campaign around that feature. Similar concept. You can't possibly claim that nobody could be pushed over the edge by these wristbands. It's not possible to know what millions of viewers are thinking. I'm not looking to argue so we can just agree to disagree on this one.

 

[Prince-1]

I don't believe you.

There is no way anyone saw that parade and heard some woman say she got a polka dot wristband and said, "OMG! We can get a wristband?, LET'S GO!!"

...much less jumped on a plane already and arrived, lol.

I am 100% with ya luv. No sane person or family that has heard about the MagicBand decided to take a trip SPECIFICALLY to try them out. No way, no sir, no how!! (Man, I sound like my dad saying that) Families may have been planning their trip and decided to use it but no one has decided to take a vacation and spend possibly thousands (or at least multiple hundreds) of dollars on a vacation to try some new technology that basically existed already but with a room key.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

You want verification? Go to the parks. Seriously, most of the list I've compiled here can be gathered from just visiting the parks and talking to the cast members who use the technology everyday. Now, if you want me to elaborate on the actual problems with everything that I've posted, well, I'll be more than happy to show you...

• No localized servers? Check.

This is well known, because when the servers go down in Florida in the middle of the night, they go down at midnight in California and 9 or 10pm in Hawaii... and I don't know the time difference in Tokyo. Bottom line is localized servers would have fixed this problem. (Yes, many of Disney's servers do need to go down nightly for required maintenance, if you want proof, just try and check-in in the middle of the night at any Disney hotel.)

• Incomplete functions of My Disney Experience Website? Check.

Ever try to renew your annual pass on the site? It directs you to an omni-ticket website and then tells you to print off a paper voucher to bring to a Disney ticket window to exchange. Not the seamless experience we were hoping for. Already have a magic band from a previous resort stay? The system will send you a new one anyway. The mobile version of the site is usually far too slow to use in the parks, and the way the entire site was built, it reloads the entire page if you make any change to the page at all. It's very strange, ask a web design coding expert if you want verification.

• Purchase of badly designed (custom designed for Disney mind you) devices for Magic Band Terminals at all hotels, guest relations, and merch and food locations? Check.

Credit cards have to be swiped upside down. The devices fall off their bases, which aren't heavy enough anyway. Just pure bad design of these devices. Ask anyone who works with them on a daily basis and I assure you that you're not going to hear good things.

• Continual printing of extra unnecessary RFID enabled cards for guests? Check.

The system was designed for everyone to have 1 magic band and 1 card. Disney World decided to start printing things on the RFID cards (Like Annual Passholder and the like) for no apparent reason, since nothing can be verified anyway without scanning them. The extra cards and magic bands are overloading the system.

• No way to actually read magic bands at toll plazas? Check... though eventually fixed.

Yeah, there are countless threads on this... you know this one to be true just by reading WDWmagic.

• No way to book DVC Open House times into myDisney Experience? Check.

This isn't so much a guest issue as it is for DVC. Because everything is planned ahead of time with FastPass+ and Dining reservations that have a cancellation fee, getting a guest to a DVC open house is a pain in the next to schedule now, and the amount of no-shows at these things has almost doubled since the launch of MyMagic+. (This is all coming from a friend who works in DVC who shall not be named, but I'm sure you could ask anyone at the booths in the parks how the open house reservations are going and you'll get a pretty dismal answer.)

• No way to verify anything about status of a guest at any register on property? Check.

Yeah, you have to have a system that can show that information to the cast member. Every time I use my Annual Pass for a discount they want to physically see the AP card (which is pointless to carry, because I could just use my magic band) and my photo ID to compare the name I scribbled on the back of the card (which can easily be erased and re-written, btw) to the name on my Govt. ID. If they had a way to verify anything on the register, they wouldn't need to do that.

• Mixing the names of FastPass and FastPass+? Check. (I was issued paper FastPass+ to ride the mermaid ride a week ago.)

I guess you should just go get a paper FastPass for the Mermaid ride? You'll see it's printed on FastPass+ paper.

• Telling the guys in Burbank that things were going well and hiding the fact that the rollout has been iffy at best? Check.

This is happening, and I have no way for you to verify that it is, so you're just going to have to take my word for it. Maybe you could call Tom Staggs and ask him how the project is going, and talk to him about the construction of the DVC at the Grand while you're at it.

• Activation of Magic Bands in resorts not working properly from the get go? Check.

Try to use your Magic Band to enter the resort that you're staying at for the first time you get there. It won't work. Try to buy something at the gift shop with the pin you created online ahead of time. It won't work. Then, try to use it to get into the building at Art of Animation where your room is located. It still won't work. Only after you touch every single magic band in your family to the door lock of your actual room will the magic bands work properly. Why? Not a clue. The only way around this is for them to manually activate them at the front desk. (Which they were trying to avoid, the entire point of the system in the hotels is to allow you to skip the front desk entirely.)

• Iffy wifi coverage in the parks because wrongfully trained Cast Members are checking the signal strength with lackluster tools? Check.

I saw a cast member with the MyMagic+ team walking around the park. But she walked 5 feet, then stopped, looked at her phone, then moved another 5 feet, stopped, looked at her phone, then kept doing this. Curious, I asked her what she was doing. She said she was checking wifi signal. I asked how. She said they were just recording how many bands they got at various points in the park. I couldn't believe it. They weren't looking at speeds, ping time, or anything that would actually give you real data. They were looking at the wifi bands on an iPhone. (For those of you not in IT, this is NOT a good indicator to use when rolling out a network)


Anyway, I think I've more than satisfied your request, so get to the park and start verifying what I'm saying.

So basically nothing of substance except hearsay? Coulda woulda shoulda? Got it.

The parks are different things to different people, the majority of which, oh I would say 99.9% don't have an issue with everything you have diligently pointed out.

People with issues with MM+, the small but vocal minority.

Jimmy Thick- But the minority without a voice in the eyes of Disney. Fact!!!

 

[danlb_2000]

So basically nothing of substance except hearsay? Coulda woulda shoulda? Got it.

The parks are different things to different people, the majority of which, oh I would say 99.9% don't have an issue with everything you have diligently pointed out.

People with issues with MM+, the small but vocal minority.

Jimmy Thick- But the minority without a voice in the eyes of Disney. Fact!!!

I am still waiting to hear about your personal experiences with MM+.

 

[marni1971]

That would be cool ....you're hired!

It's been planned for a few years now.

Its cheaper to add DVC to existing resorts.

 

[danlb_2000]

Fad audience, once the fad wears off...

With the exception of Potter, its the same Universal/IoA parks people only visited some of the time.


Jimmy Thick- Fad, like a pet rock. Fact!!!

Disney doesn't have a monopoly on creating classic IPs, at this point there is good reason to believe that HP will stand the test of time, and even if it does start to fade Uni has built and is building high quality attractions around it that will continue to attract people.

You are right there hasn't been anything since Potter....

except Transformers...
and Despicable Me...
and the new Simpsons area...
and the new parade...
and the new nighttime show...
and the new highly themed miniature golf course...
and the new on-property budget hotel...
and the 8 new restaurants coming to Citywalk...
not to mention the HP expansion with two new cutting edge rides and the very strong rumors of a number of other new rides over the next few years.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Would you say that the potential of something being a fad would be an argument against using ips in giant theme parks? I think that if something is very well done, like, WWoHP or Splash Mountain, the ip is only important for the first 5 years or so of the things existence (to get people to experience the new thing initially). After that, repeat business is largely driven by the quality of the theme park experience. I should note, that time of Harry Potter's peak popularity has passed. However, I would think that it will be part of our cultural lexicon for the rest of our lives.

Horizons, World of Motion are rides people still talk about how great they were, how well done they were. They no longer exist. But they were located in Epcot, which draws people in no matter what.

Potter is a decently themed land with one nice ride and a recycled coaster that is not better than what it replaced since its the exact same thing. Potter is located in a theme park that never drew 7 million people a year ever. The park could be considered a disappointment strictly compared to the worst Disney park, and because of Potter, Iam supposed to think it can play with the big boys?

A fad is a fad is a fad, no matter how well the rides are.

Jimmy Thick- IoA, like 4 million people a few years ago?

 

[asianway]

I am 100% with ya luv. No sane person or family that has heard about the MagicBand decided to take a trip SPECIFICALLY to try them out. No way, no sir, no how!! (Man, I sound like my dad saying that) Families may have been planning their trip and decided to use it but no one has decided to take a vacation and spend possibly thousands (or at least multiple hundreds) of dollars on a vacation to try some new technology that basically existed already but with a room key.

No sane person, but the Disney fan community is a few eggs short of an omelette

 

[Prince-1]

No sane person, but the Disney fan community is a few eggs short of an omelette

MMMM, I love eggs!! And I agree.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

Time will tell, Jimbo. Till then, we'd all appreciate it if you'd stop trying to dictate reality.
Either way, a strong attraction doesn't require a strong IP. Just look at HM or Pirates.

Dictating reality like people who never used MM+ yet make comments about it?

Fact, Potter will be gone long before MM+.

Jimmy Thick- Live with it.

 

[danlb_2000]

Horizons, World of Motion are rides people still talk about how great they were, how well done they were. They no longer exist. But they were located in Epcot, which draws people in no matter what.

Potter is a decently themed land with one nice ride and a recycled coaster that is not better than what it replaced since its the exact same thing. Potter is located in a theme park that never drew 7 million people a year ever. The park could be considered a disappointment strictly compared to the worst Disney park, and because of Potter, Iam supposed to think it can play with the big boys?

A fad is a fad is a fad, no matter how well the rides are.

Jimmy Thick- IoA, like 4 million people a few years ago?

Mc Donalds serves 69 Million people a day which is millions of time more then the best resturants in WDW, this this must mean that Disney can't play with the big boys when it comes to dining. So it must be concoluded that McDonalds is a superior dining experience then even Victoria and Alberts.

 

[Jimmy Thick]

I am still waiting to hear about your personal experiences with MM+.

Why? To be told even thought I had a good vacation with it I actually didn't because it cost 2 billion that could have been used to make more rides?

Nah, not playing that game, just rest assured I used it, unlike 99% of others posting in this thread.

Jimmy Thick- Won't be roped in.

 

[xdan0920]

It's been planned for a few years now.

Its cheaper to add DVC to existing resorts.

Especially considering the contract purchasers are the ones financing the builds.