My Magic + details ...

[jheltz27]

It's my understanding that "tickets & passes" and "admission cards and bands" are two separate things (or will be when everything has transitioned).

Tickets and APs will be more of an e-ticket type thing, linked to your account.
The MagicBands and RFID Cards are used to point to your account and access the tickets you have on there.

Presumably, over the years as you goon multiple trips and get a new MagicBand each trip, you could get one of each color and they'd *all* point to your account and its ticket(s) so that you could color-coordinate the band with what you're wearing that day. (As one example)

-Rob

That's what puzzles me though. Why is an admission ticket I've purchased already and linked not showing as linked to the MagicBands I don't have yet but the separate MVMCP tickets are? They're both admission tickets right? Just one being a special event for a hard ticketed event. Of course it's possible (or probable even) it's just a bug showing up as they add new features to MDE.

 

[RSoxNo1]

That's what puzzles me though. Why is an admission ticket I've purchased already and linked not showing as linked to the MagicBands I don't have yet but the separate MVMCP tickets are? They're both admission tickets right? Just one being a special event for a hard ticketed event. Of course it's possible (or probable even) it's just a bug showing up as they add new features to MDE.

It's because they're not ready to roll this out yet. I asked similar questions and I suspect that there will be a point where all new tickets will be automatically linked.

 

[dreamfinder]

That piece is pretty misleading. Do people think counters laid across your highway, or walking through a turnstile equates to 'tracking' you?

The technology in play here regarding the smartphone example is simply counting patrons and comparing what you see 'over there' vs 'over here'

Every Ethernet device has a MAC address that is intended to be unique for that device. This is just slick sales people trying to milk that for analytics.

Not terribly familiar with company mentioned in that article, but having seem demos from similar products, the ability to locate someone simply by your device is pretty astounding. There are firms that do "indoor GPS" simply by using the wifi on your smartphone. There are positive aspects to this. For instance, Boston Children's Hospital has the "indoor GPS" function on their app. So you select the doctor you need to locate, and the app will navigate you from wherever you are on property, directly to their office. As long as the WiFi on your device is turned on, it is constantly searching for networks it knows about, and announcing itself for all to see. Kind of like going on a blind date, and walking into the bar and saying "Are you Sally? I'm Tom." And if they don't answer you, or it isn't Sally, you move on to the next person and repeat. And the bartender overhearing you say this to everyone, so they know you came in, and walked around the room in a counter clock wise fashion. Thats basically what your wireless device does anytime the WiFi is on. Some companies have just figured out how to get their APs to interpret that to tell them where you are. So if they notice that 50% of the patrons at a store paused by an endcap, but that sales of that product didn't go up, the store knows they need to rethink their endcap. WDW could in theory do the same with the APs they have in place, with our without any RFID tracking. I doubt the rumored "pop up parade" will come to fruition that Jim Hill? talked about a year or so back to help move crowds in another direction, but they can use the extra data to do more scheduling of such entertainment. And you know those 20% off merchandise before noon coupons that appear on the bottom on receipts at some busy times? They can refine this even more, and send a message to your device when you walk by the Emporium telling you that you can get 20% off right now! Yes its a bit creepy, and I turn my WiFi off in the parks anyway, but it's an extension of someone sitting there with a clipboard and a clicker tracking how many people walked by.

 

[dadddio]

Presumably, over the years as you goon multiple trips and get a new MagicBand each trip, you could get one of each color and they'd *all* point to your account and its ticket(s) so that you could color-coordinate the band with what you're wearing that day. (As one example)

I'm willing to bet that you can only have one magicband linked to your profile at one time.

 

[dadddio]

That's what puzzles me though. Why is an admission ticket I've purchased already and linked not showing as linked to the MagicBands I don't have yet but the separate MVMCP tickets are? They're both admission tickets right? Just one being a special event for a hard ticketed event. Of course it's possible (or probable even) it's just a bug showing up as they add new features to MDE.

I suspect that while you would be able to add multiple valid tickets to your profile, you wouldn't be able to have more than one linked to a magicband at a time. That way, you would know exactly what ticket that you were using to enter at any particular time. This is important as you may which to pick and choose the ticket that you use for any park entry based on expiration date, park hoppiness, etc.

Taht being said, if you are able to link other tickets to MBs, but you are not able to link tickets for someone who has a linked hard-ticket-event ticket, that sounds like a bug either in your ability to link the other [people's tickets or not link that person's tickets. Either way, I suspect that it is something that will be cleared up before the system goes live (but I'm a glass half full guy).

 

[Rob562]

I'm willing to bet that you can only have one magicband linked to your profile at one time.

At any one time, probably not.
But from what I can see in the MDE app, it looks like a quick selection to switch Bands. There are separate selections to "Deactivate Band" and "Report Band Lost". It also mentions that if you deactivate it, it can be reactivated at any time.

-Rob

 

[luv]

When I switched from paper ap to plastic ap, the guy at the Odyssey center or whatever it is called said that I'd be able to get several, to match my outfits. He said it very enthusiastically, as if I'll be wearing bright orange and would want one to match it.

He might have been wrong, but that's what he said. He talked a lot about the online system, too and how it would synch up with the bands.

He smiled a lot, too.

I think they really want people to like this. I LOVE the new APs. They don't stop working!! But I'm not a fan of wristbands or the whole My Magic thing.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Have the Magic Band testers established if all "linked" Magic Bands act the same way as Dining Plan entitlements. To clarify, I mean if you have 4 people in your party and only 2 want to ride Space Mountain, do you need to find the two Magic Bands that actually have the Space Mountain FP+ reservation or does it just know that your party is entitled to two rides on Space Mountain for such and such a time?

 

[flynnibus]

Have the Magic Band testers established if all "linked" Magic Bands act the same way as Dining Plan entitlements. To clarify, I mean if you have 4 people in your party and only 2 want to ride Space Mountain, do you need to find the two Magic Bands that actually have the Space Mountain FP+ reservation or does it just know that your party is entitled to two rides on Space Mountain for such and such a time?

reservations are made per person - so there wouldn't be 'pooling' of FP+ usage like this. Linking is just to simplify being able to make multiple reservations at once and so you can do it from one user.

 

[RSoxNo1]

reservations are made per person - so there wouldn't be 'pooling' of FP+ usage like this. Linking is just to simplify being able to make multiple reservations at once and so you can do it from one user.

How often do larger groups take advantage of not every person wanting to go on an attraction? It sounds like this is just another one of the many down sides to this change.

 

[flynnibus]

How often do larger groups take advantage of not every person wanting to go on an attraction? It sounds like this is just another one of the many down sides to this change.

It already makes it easy to book the FP+ for the entire group.. that's basically the default action. That doesn't make it more difficult.. that makes it easier for the 80/20 rule.

You mention 'finding the band with the FP+ reservation...' - why are your bands mixed up to start with? Each person has their own, and they are going to have their names on them, or likely other distinguishing aspects like colors or add-ons. When each person keeps their band.. this is never an issue.

I think you're making up a scenario that is 'possible' - but not all that probable. Not very realistic.

Most people will book their FPs as a group.. and when they don't want that, they simply modify it before or after making the reservation. 'Which band has the reservation' isn't going to be a problem for the average user.

For the band horders.. its no different than 'which ticket is the right one to use?' - except this is easier because you'll be able to look stuff up online yourself.

 

[Mr. CPA]

I was just reading through this thread and I thunk of a horrible side effect of all this MyMagic + stuff.

Occasionally, my 3 year old son has been known to get a fastpass for a large attraction with a height restriction (say Space Mountain or RRC). But, dang it, he just wasn't tall enough... so I was forced to use his fastpass.

I wonder if I will be able to "borrow" his band to use his fastpasses in the future.

This is horribly unethical... but I paid a bunch of money for a ticket for my 3 year old... the least I can get is an extra ride or two out of it.

 

[TP2000]

How often do larger groups take advantage of not every person wanting to go on an attraction? It sounds like this is just another one of the many down sides to this change.

I hadn't thought of that. I do that all the time when family visits. I'm in charge of getting the Fastpasses, and we use the little kids tickets to get an extra set of Fastpasses so the adults can go ride Indiana Jones while the kids and grandma wander through Tarzan's Treehouse next door. Then we all regroup and go do something together, but the children's park tickets come in handy to get an extra set or two of Fastpasses each day for rides the children won't be going on.

That has to be standard practice for most Disney regulars. Will MyMagic+ prevent that from happening? Can you not load up some thrill rides on the kids bracelets and then take their bracelets and go do a thrill ride or two while they wait?

 

[CaptainShortty]

I'm willing to bet that you can only have one magicband linked to your profile at one time.

You can have multiple magic bands you will have the ability to activate and deactivate them from any front desk, guest relation or your smart phone device.

 

[KingStefan]

This is something I've wondered since the rumors started leaking out. Someone who spends a commando day starting at Studios in the morning, heading to EPCOT from noon to 6 and doing night at MK is royally screwed. You visit three parks, but you can only use FP+ in one ... and that might be first thing in the morning to ride TSMM and you don't even need or use anything else at that park. There is absolutely nothing in this scheme that remotely has changed my opinion from 2009 when I first heard about the existence of this NGE initiative.

You have hit the nail on the head squarely. We are generally one of two types of guests: commando style making good use of FP (screwed) or seat-of-pants go where the wind blows park hoppers (also screwed). Love the idea of being able to do it before going to the park, but why 60 days? Does that mean that if I change my mind and decide to do Epcot instead of AK today, because it's incredibly hot (or whatever) that all the good E ticket FPs will be gone, bc I had to book two months ago?

This is really NOT a good implementation. e-mechanization, yes. The way they've done it, incredibly lame.

 

[KingStefan]

Yes, I took it to mean food pre-order is a FP+ only activity. But I'll check. Entertainment is parades and pyro, yes.

No start date.

I still believe it will be well into 2014 before this goes live for all.

from your mouth to mickey's (or whoever's) ears.

 

[stevehousse]

Yes it seems the park hoppers get screwed with FP+ and the bigger question I ask is (as it was mentioned in another thread); does Disney see fear in losing money on those park hopper tickets when people stop buying them because its now a hinder to utilize it?

I know a lot of people are park hopper types, I am not and will not be affected by this but it seems a lot of others will be...

 

[KingStefan]

Yes it seems the park hoppers get screwed with FP+ and the bigger question I ask is (as it was mentioned in another thread); does Disney see fear in losing money on those park hopper tickets when people stop buying them because its now a hinder to utilize it?

I know a lot of people are park hopper types, I am not and will not be affected by this but it seems a lot of others will be...

Yeah, I wonder that as well.
Also, does Disney really care what the uber-fans think, as we are only (3% by some estimates I've heard - fill in your own number) of the clients?
Is it more important to them that people are stuck in one park, can't get more FP, don't want to standby for 1-2 hours (or whatever), and instead spend money in shops and restaurants (and wherever)?
Also, it would cut ridership way down, which means fewer CMs to run the rides, less maintenance, etc.
Lots of incentive to some non-uber-fan MBA efficiency/business case analysyst that may work for Disney. Have they thought about what that might do to their biggest cheerleaders, us?
Word of mouth has been proven over and over again to be the best advertising anywhere. Have they poo-poo'd that concept in favor of some spreadsheets that show how much they can save by cheaping out in this way?
Or maybe they just hired some idiot consultants who took the easy way out as far as IT implementation is concerned, and marketed it to Disney as this wonderful new concept, when really the driving factor was ease of implementation.
I have a lot of questions for a guy from NJ. I can't imagine what the heck they are thinking.

 

[fosse76]

Yeah, I wonder that as well.
Also, does Disney really care what the uber-fans think, as we are only (3% by some estimates I've heard - fill in your own number) of the clients?
Is it more important to them that people are stuck in one park, can't get more FP, don't want to standby for 1-2 hours (or whatever), and instead spend money in shops and restaurants (and wherever)?
Also, it would cut ridership way down, which means fewer CMs to run the rides, less maintenance, etc.
Lots of incentive to some non-uber-fan MBA efficiency/business case analysyst that may work for Disney. Have they thought about what that might do to their biggest cheerleaders, us?
Word of mouth has been proven over and over again to be the best advertising anywhere. Have they poo-poo'd that concept in favor of some spreadsheets that show how much they can save by cheaping out in this way?
Or maybe they just hired some idiot consultants who took the easy way out as far as IT implementation is concerned, and marketed it to Disney as this wonderful new concept, when really the driving factor was ease of implementation.
I have a lot of questions for a guy from NJ. I can't imagine what the heck they are thinking.

I don't either. Even on days where I manage multiple rides on everything at DAK (including watching Finding Nemo, Festival of the Lion King and Flights of Wonderand eating a TS meal), I'm still finished by 3pm. I can be finished with DHS even earlier. If they eliminate the ability to park hop (or guests who won't park hop since they have no more FPs), the best case scenario is that those guests will go to Downtown Disney (but much of that money spent will go to third parties and not Disney), or maybe go to one of the water parks. Maybe they decide to go back to the hotel, where the only money they spend at that point is on dinner. But now these guests will have a whole afternoon. Maybe they'll decide to check out SeaWorld or Aquatica. Maybe they'll go to one of the outlets, Maybe they'll go to an off-property restaurant. Returning guests, knowing this, will be even more likely to do this, in reverse. Make an afternoon visit to DHS or DAK and visit SeaWorld or even Universal during the day. Disney is betting a lot that people will spend money. But what's really going to happen is these people will simply just spend more time in line, and NOT shopping.

 

[KingStefan]

I'm going in December, and I'm hoping that none of this has been implemented yet. I'm actually thinking of rushing back asap so I can experience the things we've been missing since the last trip (4 years - hard financial times) before they do this. And if it's implemented and gets bad reviews here, my next FL trip will be to Universal, no doubt about it. It makes that much of a difference to me.