My Magic + details ...

[bugsbunny]

Probably. He loved technology and wouldn't have been too keen on people stealing from him.

In fact, it's not too hard to imagine the citizens of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow paying for their groceries with a wristband or having their morning coffee prepared just the way they like it with a simple "tap."

And we can do that already. I can do it with my Google Wallet through my phone and my debit card and some of my credit cards. I don't see how a billion plus capital investment into RFID at WDW to stop soda thieves or so I can wave my wrist rather than scan a ticket is a "Walt" type idea.

Stealing soda is PETTY when compared to how WDW is spending money. Its a crime, I'm not debating that. But to use that as a talking point? Like Iger and Co were pounding their fists on the table saying "We have to stop this!! Soda will break the company! Never mind our two "half day" parks...this out of control mug travesty HAS to stop on my watch, so help me my all important shareholders!"

Seriously, its laughable. Soda was a game changer and top of the list of things that needed fixing at WDW.

 

[cmybliss]

Indeed. If every WDW true blood would make a trip out to DL, they would open their eyes and see the "difference". Especially when you can stay across the street in a equally comparable hotel for 60% of the cost. Plus for me, my last trip out to DL is was cheaper to fly there than it was to go to MCO from PHL.

It's funny, because as a Ca native, who's been to DL more times than I can count, I have the opposite view when it comes to pricing. It's costing our party of 4 less to fly out to Orlando and stay on property than it would to make the 1 hour flight to Orange County and stay at a comparable Good Neighbor Hotel. It's all a matter of perspective. By heading to DW instead of DL, we don't have to worry about transportation costs or food costs (we're going during free DP time), and we still come out ahead in the $$ count. Also, the food at DW is light years ahead of the food at DL. More choices and better quality. DL food is on par with Six Flags, which is to say, not good.

Don't get me wrong, I love DL. I always will, and am looking forward to heading down again sometime soon. Maybe as an RV road trip so we don't have to pay the ridiculous Harbor Blvd. lodging prices. But for the last two trips, DW has won out on cost alone. I'm looking forward to our upcoming trip and our chance to play with the MB system. If it doesn't work out, I'll just deactivate them and use our KTTWC instead.

 

[The Mom]

This thread has a topic - could everyone please stay on track?

 

[Clancy Wiggum]

With the ever expanding scope of the test/limited rollout, I think some people are in a window where MK is having MSSHP. Is FP+ available for those nights at the MK?

 

[RSoxNo1]

The fact that FPs for popular rides get spread around among more people makes FP+ a net GAIN for customers. It is a loss for the few of us who now get multiple FPs for these rides each day, but that doesn't make it a net loss for all guests.

How do you figure that they'll get spread around among more people? Knowledgeable guests will know which Fastpasses to prioritize, just as they do now.

 

[RSoxNo1]

You seem to forget that this "overhead" helps pay for perks that most people forget about. Disney transpiration does not generate revenue and this helps pay for all the cost of bus drivers to fuel to monorail or boats maintenance. Also extra magic hours which is a current perk. The labor to staff these extra hours is helped by this cost. Not to mention things like lifeguards and special activities at the resorts. DDP is a perk that if is utilized correctly can save money if you plan on not leaving property.

We were told that this was complimentary. Are you trying to tell me that Disney builds in transportation costs to the price of your ticket and resort room? I refuse to believe that.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Probably. He loved technology and wouldn't have been too keen on people stealing from him.

In fact, it's not too hard to imagine the citizens of the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow paying for their groceries with a wristband or having their morning coffee prepared just the way they like it with a simple "tap."

Getting your coffee order right very well may be worth $2 billion. Add this as a selling point and you're going to get a lot more people on board.

 

[flynnibus]

We were told that this was complimentary. Are you trying to tell me that Disney builds in transportation costs to the price of your ticket and resort room? I refuse to believe that.

Is this supposed to be sarcasm?

 

[RSoxNo1]

Is this supposed to be sarcasm?

Yes...

 

[flynnibus]

Yes...

Don't quit the day job

 

[Tim_4]

Getting your coffee order right very well may be worth $2 billion. Add this as a selling point and you're going to get a lot more people on board.

I posted this in another thread but I don't know who reads what threads and it seems like you're still misunderstanding what NextGen even is in the first place.

I hope people will take the time to read this because (at least in my opinion), it answers the question of why the heck Disney would be shelling out over a billion dollars on the NextGen project. The logic is all here, in a Harvard Business School case called "Hilton Hotels: Brand Differentiation through Customer Relationship Management." Some highlights follow.

http://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1361962401.026customer relationship95.pdf

Tim Harvey, EVP of Shared Services and CIO captured the role of information technology at Hilton: “At Hilton we have a belief that information technology is so intertwined with our brands and their culture that you need a consistent infrastructure to enable the brand promise."

The nervous system of the Hilton Hotels Corporation was a comprehensive, integrated infrastructure known as OnQ.

OnQ embodied both the one-stop shopping nature of an integrated solution and a readiness to serve customers “on cue.” Built on the premise that technology was an enabler for employees to deliver great customer service, OnQ was an ambitious custom-built enterprise system designed to support the property-level operations of each hotel in the Hilton family, regardless of size and segment, and to enable the firm’s Customers Really Matter initiative at each customer touch point.

Hilton estimated the cost of OnQ to be about $93 million, with approximately $40 million for application development and $53 million for hardware and infrastructure implementation. By 2007, the investment in OnQ had grown by another $102 million,

Over double its original budget. Hmm.

“CRM is a way to use technology to give you the power to solidify relationships with our best customers.” The technology enabler was OnQ CRM, an application built on the OnQ infrastructure that consolidated far-flung customer data and produced comprehensive arrival reports.

At every one of our customer touch points there were barriers to good service because information was not integrated and easily available. If there is no holistic view, talk times [time taken per call] are longer at the call centers, we can’t provide continuity to guests that stay with multiple brands, we can’t recognize them properly, if they had a bad experience in their last stay we don’t know. With CRM we set out to fix all that.

Fostering a closer relationship with best guests throughout their lifecycle of interaction with the Hilton family of brands was indeed a critical objective of the CRM initiative. As Subramanian put it: “We want to ensure that our best guests don’t sleep around with the competition.”

Our success is going to come down to execution. That’s the reality. We know what the opportunity is, we have the infrastructure and the data, what it comes down to is how effectively to harness the promise of CRM, the potential of OnQ, and execute it consistently and flawlessly across the network.

 

[dadddio]

How do you figure that they'll get spread around among more people? Knowledgeable guests will know which Fastpasses to prioritize, just as they do now.

Under the current system, I ride TSMM three or four times with FPs. Under the new system, I'll only be able to get one FP for it. Two or three people who didn't previously get FPs for that ride now will be able to.

 

[dadddio]

I posted this in another thread but I don't know who reads what threads and it seems like you're still misunderstanding what NextGen even is in the first place.

I hope people will take the time to read this because (at least in my opinion), it answers the question of why the heck Disney would be shelling out over a billion dollars on the NextGen project. The logic is all here, in a Harvard Business School case called "Hilton Hotels: Brand Differentiation through Customer Relationship Management." Some highlights follow.

http://...

I'm thinking that you didn't read the copyright notice on the bottom of page one.

 

[nytimez]

I'm thinking that you didn't read the copyright notice on the bottom of page one.

I'm thinking you've never heard of fair use.

 

[Tim_4]

I'm thinking that you didn't read the copyright notice on the bottom of page one.

Talk to Majmaah University for making that link public.

 

[stevebwv]

Is there ever any discussion on the benefits to Disney after NextGen is operational? These bands being active RFIDs will allow Disney to track exactly how people tour the parks and the resort as a whole. Not only will they know what FP+ a guest finds valuable they could know what restroom they used, what stores they browsed through, what bus they took after leaving the park, how a group of four split up during the day and what time the guests leave the park. Basically they will know how every MagicBand user interacts with the resort.

While this data gathering is of no immediate benefit to the guest the information generated will pay dividends for decades of future development. Disney covets information and this will provide the mother-load. The immediate benefit to the guest is Disney needs to make the features in NextGen attractive enough to generate a statistically significant sample size.

 

[-em]

So started thinking about the % of WDW park attendees that stay in a disney resort (so full MM- available) vs total park guests and if my rudimentary #s are right (Total # of WDW rooms x most recent posted avg occ % x 3 (Avg # of guests in room)/posted 2012 park attendance) came out to between 35-40% (depending on if you played with the occ% and avg # of guests)

Which means over 60% of guests going though a turnstile every year will not be able to use or be eligible for most of MM-...

-em

 

[RSoxNo1]

Under the current system, I ride TSMM three or four times with FPs. Under the new system, I'll only be able to get one FP for it. Two or three people who didn't previously get FPs for that ride now will be able to.

The number of people that ride attractions multiple times per day with Fastpass is minimal. I know it's there, but I think that's minimal.

 

[dadddio]

The number of people that ride attractions multiple times per day with Fastpass is minimal. I know it's there, but I think that's minimal.

I agree that it's not a huge number.

 

[dadddio]

So started thinking about the % of WDW park attendees that stay in a disney resort (so full MM- available) vs total park guests and if my rudimentary #s are right (Total # of WDW rooms x most recent posted avg occ % x 3 (Avg # of guests in room)/posted 2012 park attendance) came out to between 35-40% (depending on if you played with the occ% and avg # of guests)

Which means over 60% of guests going though a turnstile every year will not be able to use or be eligible for most of MM-...

-em

Other than not using the bands to unlock their resort rooms, off-site guests are not excluded from any of MM+