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My Magic + details ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
WDWDad13
Well-Known Member
maybe...but if you include those in the fastpass line in the standby line... wouldn't it be...well...the same or close to the same wait time then?
flynnibus
Premium Member
Sure - but its also doesn't tell the whole story. Less standby people will be taken per hour if you have FP... that's simple math. But that fact alone is only one piece of the puzzle.
Not really. Since FPs are spread out over the entire day, the effect that the FP has on wait times is that it slightly decreases wait times at the busiest times of the day and slightly increases wait times during less busy periods. Of course, the company has the ability to increase or decrease the number of FPs issued during any period, so they can use FP distribution to push demand more and more to less busy times, resulting in even shorter waits during the busiest times and longer (than otherwise) waits during less busy times.
Simba's Mom
Well-Known Member
Imagine what those of us who don't like planning are saying-let's just say it's not for mixed company! We're ones who just go out and get on whatever bus comes along. We always find a TS to eat at without ADRs (a wide variety of them, too).
My ubderstanding is that you still have to use the paper ticket for entry, is that still true? Or is the admission automatically activated on the paper pass if you use the MB to enter the park?
ThemeParkJunkee
Well-Known Member
Thank you Bairstow for your report. It sounds the Magic Bands are working exactly as Staggs and Rusulo intended. They are capturing more of the guests' wallet.
Clamman73
Well-Known Member
I'm wondering that myself...I have my paper ticket linked to me, I just got my magic band, so do I still have to exchange the paper ticket before I go into the Park for the first time??? Wondering...
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
No.
We always and only used the magic bands for park entry.
This is probably because their system is only looking for the serial # on the ticket ID and makes no distinction what method was used to check that ticket at the gates.
Once getting into the park with the bands, both the MagicBand/MyDisneyExperience/FP+ and paper ticket fastpass methods could be used, simultaneously if you so choose; we even got their return times to overlap a couple times. I would guess that this will be "fixed" as soon as FP+ is reliable enough that Disney doesn't think guests need the old system as a backup.
No problem.
Anyone saying that TDO wasted their money on this new infrastructure isn't seeing the big picture here.
I would bet that between merch, drink, and snack sales a lot of this new tech is going to pay for itself in 2 years.
willtravel
Well-Known Member
So I guess a child wears a band and can pick up a product, walk to the register and make a purchase?Just got back from a 5-day trip. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and and participated in the MagicBand test.
My opinion: The things are pretty great. We did a lot of work before the trip installing the apps and scheduling various Fast Pass Plus times and dining reservations and the bands were sent to us about 2 weeks before the trip. The bands starting working fine from the second we used them to check in to the Magical Express point at Orlando International. The desk staff at Animal Kingdom Lodge seemed very knowledgeable about how to pair them with the tickets we had bought from Undercover Tourist and functioned perfectly as our room keys from the get-go. In fact, the bands seemed to work easier and more reliably than any hotel keycard I've used in the past.
In-park the bands continued to work very well. All our Fast Pass Plus reservations were recognized and the bands were useful for playing the neat interactive pirates game at Adventureland. We had tried the Kim Possible, Phineas and Ferb Cellphone Adventure, and Sorcerors of the Magic: The Gathering Kingdom before, and this one was by far the best of such "games" implemented in the park so far. The one rankle we had was in trying to change our FP+ reservations halfway through the trip when we decided to go to a different park the next day. The app server for My Disney Experience was down for a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday, but eventually it came back online in the evening and caused us no delay.
I read here beforehand that even if you're using FP+ you can still use paper tickets (If you've kept them with you) to get "normal" fast passes to in-effect "double dip" and beat the queues more often. This is still true, at least as of last weekend's test. Hopefully this "feature" will be disabled during the full rollout of FP+, because anyone in the know can abuse the system pretty well with a little planning.
A lot has been said on this board about the "big brother" aspect of the bands and to be honest I think this has been pretty overblown. A few times I had a CM address me by name as I checked in for a park entry or a FP+ return, but I think the real "point" of the Magic Bands is that they make it dangerously easy for a guest to spend more money. You don't even have to pull out your wallet to get your credit card any more if you want to buy a souvenir or snack- just hold up your band, which makes a nice little chime and glows pleasantly (positive reinforcement) and you've given another $13.95 to the Walt Disney Company. This is all very, very convenient, too convenient really, and I can easily see people with little self control spending a lot more money on their vacation because of the way they've built their system.
Bairstow
Well-Known Member
Unsure.
Not sure what the company policy is for minors using the bands to buy things, or any credit card for that matter.
One thing about the bands is that when you pair them with a credit card you have to assign them a 4-digit pin number which must be correctly entered when making a purchase. If you told your child your pin number presumably Disney would assume that they have your permission to use the band to buy things, though I bet they would use a bit of discretion if little Timmy tried to buy several hundred dollars in merch without an adult present. It didn't come up with our party, but I assume you can chose which bands you want to have charging permission, and/or set individual limits on purchases.
Finally, when you set up your band to cover your resort stay and expenses, Disney asks that you link it with a credit card for the duration of your stay.
They then ask you for what you want your credit limit to be. The default is supposed to be $1,500, but on ours they accidentally set this limit to zero, so when we tried to pay at Boma it came back as over the credit limit, even though we had just paired the card and bands 5 hours previously. Our server figured out what was going on and the manager was able to sort this out fairly quickly.
Lord_Vader
Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
Parents can allow/deny any guest in the room charging privileges and PIN code just like the KTTW card with limits set based on resort level. AS are $500, MOD are $1000 and DEL are $2000 in most cases.
Captain Chaos
Well-Known Member
Just logged onto my MDE account and was able to book my FP+ selections and customize my magic bands... I was told Sept 30 for Bay Lake and Oct 21 for Saratoga... Guess I am lucky LOL... Oh, and no email to let me know I can now make my selections... Just logged on and found it..
I went with the pre-planned times, didn't choose my own times.. Only 3 FP+ options for MK, not 4 like some people were lucky enough to get, but no bother to me.... Also I was able to select all three mountains in MK for my FP+ selections... No Peter Pan since they list it as closed for refurb...
I went with the pre-planned times, didn't choose my own times.. Only 3 FP+ options for MK, not 4 like some people were lucky enough to get, but no bother to me.... Also I was able to select all three mountains in MK for my FP+ selections... No Peter Pan since they list it as closed for refurb...
marialexus
Member
Glad to hear the Magic Bands worked so well. We will be using ours on 6 days. Did you have them on when you arrived at Orlando Airport or just put them on at the Magical Express area?Just got back from a 5-day trip. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and and participated in the MagicBand test.
My opinion: The things are pretty great. We did a lot of work before the trip installing the apps and scheduling various Fast Pass Plus times and dining reservations and the bands were sent to us about 2 weeks before the trip. The bands starting working fine from the second we used them to check in to the Magical Express point at Orlando International. The desk staff at Animal Kingdom Lodge seemed very knowledgeable about how to pair them with the tickets we had bought from Undercover Tourist and functioned perfectly as our room keys from the get-go. In fact, the bands seemed to work easier and more reliably than any hotel keycard I've used in the past.
In-park the bands continued to work very well. All our Fast Pass Plus reservations were recognized and the bands were useful for playing the neat interactive pirates game at Adventureland. We had tried the Kim Possible, Phineas and Ferb Cellphone Adventure, and Sorcerors of the Magic: The Gathering Kingdom before, and this one was by far the best of such "games" implemented in the park so far. The one rankle we had was in trying to change our FP+ reservations halfway through the trip when we decided to go to a different park the next day. The app server for My Disney Experience was down for a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday, but eventually it came back online in the evening and caused us no delay.
I read here beforehand that even if you're using FP+ you can still use paper tickets (If you've kept them with you) to get "normal" fast passes to in-effect "double dip" and beat the queues more often. This is still true, at least as of last weekend's test. Hopefully this "feature" will be disabled during the full rollout of FP+, because anyone in the know can abuse the system pretty well with a little planning.
A lot has been said on this board about the "big brother" aspect of the bands and to be honest I think this has been pretty overblown. A few times I had a CM address me by name as I checked in for a park entry or a FP+ return, but I think the real "point" of the Magic Bands is that they make it dangerously easy for a guest to spend more money. You don't even have to pull out your wallet to get your credit card any more if you want to buy a souvenir or snack- just hold up your band, which makes a nice little chime and glows pleasantly (positive reinforcement) and you've given another $13.95 to the Walt Disney Company. This is all very, very convenient, too convenient really, and I can easily see people with little self control spending a lot more money on their vacation because of the way they've built their system.
The Visionary Soul
Well-Known Member
The credit limit problem is widespread and they are working to fix it. No one set it to zero, the system just is currently flawed.
As far as little Timmy goes, if he used his magic band or a room key to buy hundreds of dollars worth of monorail toys and entered the pin correctly, he'd be able to purchase it entirely and not be questioned one bit. There is nothing that prevents a child from using the system to its full power. (As long as Timmy keeps his receipt, Mom and Dad can still return the products within 30 days though) In this case, it would have been Mom and Dad's fault though, since they didn't set up Timmy's band properly with a charging limit (or no charging at all)... or didn't tell Timmy not to buy anything he wanted. And PINs can be assigned individually for each member of your party. Mom shouldn't have used the same PIN for everyone.
gonnichi
Well-Known Member
I am planning a trip to Orlando in Jan and I was just wondering if My Magic + is going to be at the Swan and Dolphin Hotels as well as at the 7 official Downtown Disney Resort Hotels or are they only at WDW owned hotels? I don't want to have to deal with preplanning everything and want to be spontaneous since I will be spending more time at Universal Orlando this time. I still want to stay close to WDW but not have to deal with My Magic + this trip. So I am hoping that the Swan and Dolphin or one of the official 7 Hotels will not have My Magic +. Does anyone know if they will have it or not in Jan?
Lord_Vader
Join me, together we can rule the galaxy.
It is widely exptected that all Disney resorts will be live MM+ by October 1 as that is the first day of TWDC Q1 financial quarter.
MM+ is not a requirement, if you choose to you can elect to keep the KTTW card and not utilize the MB/FP+/PP+ options.
EDIT: I have no clue when/if S&D may be included as they are not a Disney resort and don't always have the same options.
gonnichi
Well-Known Member
Thanks. So I was just wondering since you seem to understand MM+ will I still be able to use Extra Magic Hours if I opt out off MM+ or will I lose that?
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