My Magic + details ...

[KingStefan]

Anything can be spun in favor of the company, no lawsuit will happen. Apple employees in cupertino were told to not address steve jobs if they saw him..

My guess is that they did leave their post to say hello or may have neglected a guest doing so. I wasn't there but I have no doubt that it could have happened.

Speculation is find, but I think we should let @InsiderImagine tell us exactly what happened.

He or she hasn't been on since this morning, but I'd suggest we give him/her a chance to respond. I'd be interested in hearing more details from the horses mouth (no offence to II).

 

[flynnibus]

another anonymous post that is sure to take on mythical status and be repeated for years to come.

I call bunkus

 

[ASilmser]

Believe it or not but I saw it unfold.

I think the local news media might like to get this person's (and your) name. If it went down as you say, there is most certainly a story here. I'd expect to see it on TV soon.

I'm not saying that stuff like this doesn't happen, but I am somewhat aware of Disney's employee/managment expectations and standards. I know enough to know that based on Disney's own policies, it shouldn't have happened.

Either someone else needs to be fired and this person needs to be re-hired, or there's more to this story and it's a nothingburger. The Devil is in the details.

 

[ginnymack]

Well, not quite in theory, and not quite without "check-in". But, close to that.

You do not need to stop by the front desk, as they have CMs with iPads to process you outside. So, think of it more like a "mobile" front desk. But the bands to not alleviate the need to "check-in"...

And no, you won't ever get your room number by text anytime soon, and that is not how the system works now...

It's a bad idea, which locks Disney into some sort of commitment. That would be a very bad idea on Disney's part, however, having someone meet you with an ambiguous iPad and "check you in" works fine.

You can, however, ease your ME check in experience, hotel check in experience, and overall experience with them now.

How do I know? I just did it Friday.

I,too, had the super expedient iPad check in recently. However, we are being told that the whole font desk-ish check in will be totally optional at some point in the not so distant future. I have already gotten my room number by text on occasion, when my room was not ready. Do it is the same principle. The guests will be able to do check in online, will have tix and room key on wrist. All that will be needed is the room number at some point during the day.

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

I have a question: what do you think is the likely hood of TWDC including guests in a value resort (like the All-Stars) in an upcoming test phase?
I would think not very good since value resorts aren't teeming with people willing to dole-out buckets of money.

 

[stevehousse]

I have a question: what do you think is the likely hood of TWDC including guests in a value resort (like the All-Stars) in an upcoming test phase?
I would think not very good since value resorts aren't teeming with people willing to dole-out buckets of money.

Pop is involved with the testing so anything is possible. At first I wanted nothing to do with it, but now I really do want to test it out! Staying at all star movies in November and have my fingers crossed!

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

Pop is involved with the testing so anything is possible. At first I wanted nothing to do with it, but now I really do want to test it out! Staying at all star movies in November and have my fingers crossed!

I've got mine crossed, too. Our trip is the first week of october and we'll be at the AS Music.
I just wanna try out the MagicBand!

 

[G8rchamps]

I have a question: what do you think is the likely hood of TWDC including guests in a value resort (like the All-Stars) in an upcoming test phase?
I would think not very good since value resorts aren't teeming with people willing to dole-out buckets of money.

We are checking onto the POP on Aug 30th and were included in the test(AP holder). I haven't seen any posts about testing or locations for Sept. I agree on the Value guests (like me) not spending as much freely as someone staying at a monorail resort or even DVC.

 

[G8rchamps]

I've got mine crossed, too. Our trip is the first week of october and we'll be at the AS Music.
I just wanna try out the MagicBand!

Got in the mail Tuesday, can't wait!!

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

Got in the mail Tuesday, can't wait!!

I'm so jealous! I mean, yeah, its a wrist band with an RFID chip...but its shiny.
(There are still some things I don't like about the NextGen roll out, like Fastpass+, but I love these bands!)

 

[LostPrincessKarleigh]

To clarify on my FastPass+ comment,
Things I like:
-cut down on paper waste
-fastpass for parades, shows, and fireworks
-limit of 3 "reservations" at a time
-some control over what time your fastpasses are for

Things I don't like:
-Including rides and attractions in the 60 day out planning.
-unable to return fastpasses should you deign not to use them
-limit of 3 ALL DAY PER PARK

Personally, I think this would work a lot better if they left the parades and such for 60 days out but you could ONLY get fast passes for rides IN the park. With the way smart phones and such work today, they can tell when and where you are in the park. And for people who don't have smart phones, there could be kiosks available through out the parks (at guest services, town hall in MK, etc). Not having them at the actual attraction would be beneficial because you won't have to split up your party and have a "runner" go get passes before they "sell out."

I both like and hate the limit of 3. 3 at one time, awesome. All day for only one park? Not so much. After you use, say 2, you can reserve more OR you can sign up for an additional three at another park that day.

This method kind of seems like a "best of both worlds" scenario, IMHO.

Thoughts? What would you add or change?

 

[dadddio]

But unless the RFID system is a secure one (there are non-secure RFID's much cheaper to produce and in many applications security of the RFID is not required) they can easily be 'cloned' with an equipment set the size of a paperback novel

To what end?

 

[dadddio]

And by not going out into the call center and LIVING it you have no idea how well it functions, Or even if it functions at all.

I know how well it functions because I regularly meet with call center leadership and can read production reports. I don't need to sit down and make calls to know how well it functions.

 

[dadddio]

Will we still be able, in advance, choose our fastpasses if we're not staying AT a Disney resort? Or will I get screwed out of this (going in December). How will they know when I'm going if I'm not AT a disney resort?

It isn't about resort reservations. If you have a valid ticket linked to your profile, you will be able to make FP reservations for however many of days that you have remaining on the ticket.

 

[dadddio]

Believe it or not but I saw it unfold.

If the only thing that the employee did is say hello and they were not in any way negligent in their actual job (and didn't become a pest), I simply don't believe that it happened.

 

[RandomPrincess]

To clarify on my FastPass+ comment,
Things I like:
-cut down on paper waste
-fastpass for parades, shows, and fireworks
-limit of 3 "reservations" at a time
-some control over what time your fastpasses are for

Things I don't like:
-Including rides and attractions in the 60 day out planning.
-unable to return fastpasses should you deign not to use them
-limit of 3 ALL DAY PER PARK

Personally, I think this would work a lot better if they left the parades and such for 60 days out but you could ONLY get fast passes for rides IN the park. With the way smart phones and such work today, they can tell when and where you are in the park. And for people who don't have smart phones, there could be kiosks available through out the parks (at guest services, town hall in MK, etc). Not having them at the actual attraction would be beneficial because you won't have to split up your party and have a "runner" go get passes before they "sell out."

I both like and hate the limit of 3. 3 at one time, awesome. All day for only one park? Not so much. After you use, say 2, you can reserve more OR you can sign up for an additional three at another park that day.

My thoughts almost exactly. They have been making changes during testing . Current test has 4 FPs at MK and 3 at the other parks. Which is better. The other thing which is weird is the one park rule.

This method kind of seems like a "best of both worlds" scenario, IMHO.

Thoughts? What would you add or change?

 

[KingStefan]

But unless the RFID system is a secure one (there are non-secure RFID's much cheaper to produce and in many applications security of the RFID is not required) they can easily be 'cloned' with an equipment set the size of a paperback novel

To what end?

I don't know much about this particular implementation. However, with my rudimentary understanding of the funcionality, the RFID unit will have a ticket number reference on it, or perhaps (the way I would implement it) an indirect index to a ticket number reference. So the ability to read your RFID will get you a number that has no Personally Identifiable Information value.

As far as cloning it, someone with the ability to make a clone of your RFID could gain park entrance, and, if you've enabled it, enter your room, charge to your room account, use your dining credits, etc. But *not* to steal your identity (in a more general way outside of the resort context - such as bank accounts or get credit in your name, etc.) because the PII necessary to do that will not be on the RFID. He would have to have separate intelligence to enter your room (such as watching to see what room you access) since cloning would not reveal your room number. Also, it would not reveal your PIN, so anything requiring your PIN (such as dining plan, etc.) will not be accessible, unless he stole your PIN separately (by observing you entering it, for example). Also, once you use it the first time for park entry, the system will record your biometric information, so anything requiring that would not be possible.

Other illegal activities (I can't think of any, but there might be) would be quickly detected because there would be conflicting activities taking place at multiple locations, or other easily observable anomolies.

But encryption would make cloning very difficult and even if you can defeat that, cloning really doesn't give you much benefit (for the reasons described above) and so I'm not sure what the concern is.

 

[stevehousse]

The 3 FP is limited to only Epcot, DHS, and AK. MK you get 4 now. You choose 3, and then a "special" 4 appears. Tht extra pass u get, can be changed to whatever ride you want to change it to a well.

I really hope magic bands are rolled out or available to use on our November trip! With 2 little kids its nice not to have to split up and run wildly throughout te parks to get FP.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Some premier annual passes do not work right now with MM+. I have the RFID card but I cannot add it to my online account. I called and they can't help me. They told me they are working on the issue. So this means I have no annual passholder benefits linked to my account so I can't book online if there is a passholder promotion and I could not participate in a test MM+ if I was going during a testing period at a participating resort.

Sorry you had a problem with that. I had no problem adding our RFID PAPs to our MDE accounts. I was even able to add our MNSSHP tickets to it!

 

[Jeffxz]

The 3 FP is limited to only Epcot, DHS, and AK. MK you get 4 now. You choose 3, and then a "special" 4 appears. Tht extra pass u get, can be changed to whatever ride you want to change it to a well.

I really hope magic bands are rolled out or available to use on our November trip! With 2 little kids its nice not to have to split up and run wildly throughout te parks to get FP.

The bonus fastpass only applies to the test in August. It may or may not make it into the final product. Right now, if you are booking FP+ for Sept 1st or later, there is not a bonus FP+.