MyMagic+ article from Fast Company magazine

[DDLand]

As far as your claims of obiesiance to 74, I had no idea he was even a tech writer or had a blog until someone pointed it out yesterday, which seemed odd that the person felt the need to put out personal information.

Are you talking about the author? I'm pretty sure I was the first one to do that, and I don't understand what the problem is. I just thought it would give proper perspective. Is there an issue pointing out this is exactly what everyone has been calling for? Everyone here has been decrying the Orlando Sentinel and the vacation press for being in Disney's pocket. A tech writer owes nothing to Disney. 0 If he wants to burn bridges he can. There's no issue with going on an all out offensive. He's one of the best guys around to do a story on MyMagic+. Instead of thanking him, you immediately believe he's in Disney's pocket.

Fair?

 

[PhotoDave219]

sure now I don't have to be at rope drop to get a FP I can do it the night before for most rides and arrive at the park more or less when I choose.

But thats an existing technology that was integrated with you phone. Fastpass already existed.... you can now just make a reservation. I'm not sure how thats new or groundbreaking.

Edit: My point is that NGE didnt break any new ground. All NGE did was a massive infrastructure upgrade.

 

[sshindel]

Such as? Care to weigh in on what they did, exactly beyond taking existing Disney technologies like KTTW & FP and integrate it with your phone?

Isn't integrating all of those things together into one place doing something? Simplified my life. Also, changing the FP system was quite a change, one which I've enjoyed greatly (others do not).

They changed my park-going experience for the better by reducing stress to get the wife and kids out of bed early and race to the parks in order to get them on TSMM. I no longer have to split up from the family to go run to the back of the park and get a FP on Splash Mountain for later in the day, then meet them up back wherever they may be. I don't have to go through the fear when I lost my PhotoPass+ card, with all of my family photos on it for my trip (forever indebted to the guest who turned it in and the CM who found me to give it to me). I can change my plans on the fly if I feel like it because it's available at my fingertips. I didn't have to carry my credit card and ID with me and hope bag-check at the ToT Ten Miler didn't lose my bag, because I had everything I needed on my wrist.

So, not speaking for anyone but myself, I feel they have made a large change to the park experience with MM+, and each trip I've taken with it has become less and less stressful than any trip I've taken in my adult life.

 

[MichWolv]

Such as? Care to weigh in on what they did, exactly beyond taking existing Disney technologies like KTTW & FP and integrate it with your phone?

You said all they accomplished was alienating people. I wasn't alienated. Instead, it made me happier. I was merely pointing out that some people, in my personal experience, were the opposite of alienated. I never sought to suggest that they did anything revolutionary.

If you want to know what I liked...

I liked making FP reservations in advance.
I liked paying with and opening my room with the MB.
I liked on ride videos and pictures linking to my account without me doing anything.
I liked changing FPs with an app on my phone, picking my times, etc.
I liked managing everything for my family together, instead of needing to gather everybody's tickets for FPs.

These things made me happy. Hence, they accomplished something other than alienation.

 

[BJones82]

I've no doubt Universal will eventually follow, but they'll make it so that an NFC phone can be used for Express scanning, gate tickets and payments, no need for bands, and the crucial thing is even if they're accused of copying Disney, I bet whatever their 'next-gen' implementation is they'll deliver the whole thing for less than 100M, leaving plenty of cash for tangible expansion on the table.

As Apple pay shows NFC payments can and ARE being used in Disney right now, not in the future, now...

 

[PhotoDave219]

Isn't integrating all of those things together into one place doing something? Simplified my life. Also, changing the FP system was quite a change, one which I've enjoyed greatly (others do not).

They changed my park-going experience for the better by reducing stress to get the wife and kids out of bed early and race to the parks in order to get them on TSMM. I no longer have to split up from the family to go run to the back of the park and get a FP on Splash Mountain for later in the day, then meet them up back wherever they may be. I don't have to go through the fear when I lost my PhotoPass+ card, with all of my family photos on it for my trip (forever indebted to the guest who turned it in and the CM who found me to give it to me). I can change my plans on the fly if I feel like it because it's available at my fingertips. I didn't have to carry my credit card and ID with me and hope bag-check at the ToT Ten Miler didn't lose my bag, because I had everything I needed on my wrist.

So, not speaking for anyone but myself, I feel they have made a large change to the park experience with MM+, and each trip I've taken with it has become less and less stressful than any trip I've taken in my adult life.

Okay, you're describing the existing KTTW card & FP, only instead its been integrated with the phone. Yes, simplified to some degree.

But these were existing Disney technologies. Where is the revolutionary, groundbreaking and new things that came out of NGE?

 

[PhotoDave219]

You said all they accomplished was alienating people. I wasn't alienated. Instead, it made me happier. I was merely pointing out that some people, in my personal experience, were the opposite of alienated. I never sought to suggest that they did anything revolutionary.

If you want to know what I liked...

I liked making FP reservations in advance.
I liked paying with and opening my room with the MB.
I liked on ride videos and pictures linking to my account without me doing anything.
I liked changing FPs with an app on my phone, picking my times, etc.
I liked managing everything for my family together, instead of needing to gather everybody's tickets for FPs.

These things made me happy. Hence, they accomplished something other than alienation.

Did you even read the article?

 

[xdan0920]

Ill assume that you group me in with your created subset. Also because I asked austinC if he or his company had accepted any payment or been comped by TWDC. You describe that as "bombarding him with accusations of being a corporate shill"? @AustinC gladly answered the question without any problem and obviously did not feel "attacked". You can fabricate the reality of the situation to suit your vision but it doesnt change the truth.

As far as your claims of obiesiance to 74, I had no idea he was even a tech writer or had a blog until someone pointed it out yesterday, which seemed odd that the person felt the need to put out personal information. Either way, I dont even follow him on this board, I just agree with his views on certain subjects. I have definitely never written a post to him in a but-smooching fashion like you did to AustinC in an odd plea to gain his approval by claiming your sanity. Is it easier to type while your wearing a dress?

Yeah, I group you into that subset. You asked a patently ridiculous question. He doesn't write for DizneyRulez.net. He writes for a respected publication.

As for 74, I was referring to this blog, http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/a-spirited-perfect-ten.894588/

When it comes to me wanting the approval of an Internet stranger, you're mistaken. I just wanted him to have a better lay of the land. Crazy can be overwhelming.

 

[MichWolv]

Did you even read the article?

I've read some. But I was responding to your post, not the article. If your comment that all Disney did was alienate people was actually just restating a conclusion from the article, I apologize -- I didn't catch that. I took your comment to be your opinion of what happened.

 

[BJones82]

Anything Apple, Microsoft, or Android release in terms of payment via your device will be available world wide in all types of venues. Disney adapted magic bands to be a form of payment which seems to be an unnecessary move according to the hint you mentioned thats at the end of the article. So will Uni actually have to do anything other than what any business, including WDW will have to do to accept a different form.of payment? Whatever they will have to do, I'm sure it won't cost as much as NGE has or take as long.

But they haven't and Disney has already shown their system is able to work with NFC with Apple pay and other things that will come down the road... People are greatly under estimating the cost of infrastructure and the databases required to track and store all the information the MM+ and any system like it holds...

 

[sshindel]

Okay, you're describing the existing KTTW card & FP, only instead its been integrated with the phone. Yes, simplified to some degree.

But these were existing Disney technologies. Where is the revolutionary, groundbreaking and new things that came out of NGE?

To name a few
FP+
MemoryMaker (on-ride photos and videos without any intervention from the customer)
Be Our Guest's pre-ordering system
Daily itinerary tracking in my smartphone
(and behind the scenes, untold amounts of operational efficiencies potentially handled via data analytics)

Seeing my face on a wanted poster or having Buzz Lightyear say my name in a queue in no way interests me more than the amount of stress that has been alleviated from my park-going experience via MM+.

 

[wdisney9000]

Are you talking about the author? I'm pretty sure I was the first one to do that, and I don't understand what the problem is. I just thought it would give proper perspective. Is there an issue pointing out this is exactly what everyone has been calling for? Everyone here has been decrying the Orlando Sentinel and the vacation press for being in Disney's pocket. A tech writer owes nothing to Disney. 0 If he wants to burn bridges he can. There's no issue with going on an all out offensive. He's one of the best guys around to do a story on MyMagic+. Instead of thanking him, you immediately believe he's in Disney's pocket.

Fair?

I asked him if he received anything or was comped by Disney. Asking it is not the same as thinking it. How would I be able to know without asking? He answered the question w/o mentioning any hint of it being rude or it being an attack. Everybody EXCEPT AustinC says it was an "attack". Thats fair in your book?

Im no journalist but its sad that in this day and age you dont see journalists asking the questions that nobody wants to ask out of fear of not getting invited to the next event or being denied access to certain people (not saying thats what Austin did), but you see it in every from of media nowadays. Softball questions and prepared answers suffice as quality reporting. We will see a ton of it with Hillary Clinton running. Anybody that dares ask a negative question will be labelled sexist. The mainstream media has done a brilliant job at creating a news world that really doesnt give us news, just what they want us to hear.

Im confused if you were saying that 74 is a tech writer or the author of the article is? Apologies if I misread your post. I thought you were saying that 74 writes for a tech blog, thats what I meant about personal info. Again, my bad if I misunderstood.

 

[chiefs11]

I don't have to go through the fear when I lost my PhotoPass+ card, with all of my family photos on it for my trip (forever indebted to the guest who turned it in and the CM who found me to give it to me)

Unrelated to the discussion, but this happened to us once too. It was the last day of our trip, too, so it was quite the 'sinking feeling' to think all the photos were lost. However, we then found out the photopass people can recover it even without the card. You just have to give them a rough time and place you had a photo taken, then they'll scan through all the photos from that area/time to find one of you. It took us about 10 minutes and we had a new card with all our pictures linked to it again. I guess that's all a moot point now though.

As for the topic, I think the photopass related enhancements are the best things to come out of MM+: Not needing a second card (though this change could have easily been incorporated using the KTTW card) and the long-range scanning of your band while on rides to automatically link the photos.

 

[betty rose]

Isn't integrating all of those things together into one place doing something? Simplified my life. Also, changing the FP system was quite a change, one which I've enjoyed greatly (others do not).

They changed my park-going experience for the better by reducing stress to get the wife and kids out of bed early and race to the parks in order to get them on TSMM. I no longer have to split up from the family to go run to the back of the park and get a FP on Splash Mountain for later in the day, then meet them up back wherever they may be. I don't have to go through the fear when I lost my PhotoPass+ card, with all of my family photos on it for my trip (forever indebted to the guest who turned it in and the CM who found me to give it to me). I can change my plans on the fly if I feel like it because it's available at my fingertips. I didn't have to carry my credit card and ID with me and hope bag-check at the ToT Ten Miler didn't lose my bag, because I had everything I needed on my wrist.

So, not speaking for anyone but myself, I feel they have made a large change to the park experience with MM+, and each trip I've taken with it has become less and less stressful than any trip I've taken in my adult life.

Too each his own.

 

[BJones82]

To name a few
FP+
MemoryMaker (on-ride photos and videos without any intervention from the customer)
Be Our Guest's pre-ordering system
Daily itinerary tracking in my smartphone
(and behind the scenes, untold amounts of operational efficiencies potentially handled via data analytics)

I agree with your point 100% but Daily itinerary though part of MM+ is an easy thing with a database and app to do, the automatically adding photos or videos to your photopass because of your magic band, and the food delivery in Be Our Guests are the direct effect of MM+ which is only the beginning of what Disney has the Infrastructure to do, and they can either do it with Magic Bands, or smart phones, or both... This was absolutely not possible with KTTWs or older technologies...

 

[PhotoDave219]

To name a few
FP+
MemoryMaker (on-ride photos and videos without any intervention from the customer)
Be Our Guest's pre-ordering system
Daily itinerary tracking in my smartphone
(and behind the scenes, untold amounts of operational efficiencies potentially handled via data analytics)

Seeing my face on a wanted poster or having Buzz Lightyear say my name in a queue in no way interests me more than the amount of stress that has been alleviated from my park-going experience via MM+.

I think your definition of existing technology and mine differ drastically.....

 

[wendysmom]

Let's see...you now have a band/bracelet you have to wear, and that they obviously hope you feel the need to "accessorize" with nifty charms. Not very revolutionary. (And as for skipping a wallet if you want your annual placeholder or DVD discount you'd better have your cards with you.)

What bothers me most with it is the inability to have spontaneity now....and I am the very type of obsessive planner this is for! Change a fasspass or dinner reservation and forget about getting a comparable one.

Anyway...not seeing anything revolutionary, groundbreaking, or new.

 

[BJones82]

I think your definition of existing technology and mine differ drastically.....

The entire system is based off existing technologies, Disney didn't invent RFID, NFC, or low range or long range RFID readers... But they are choosing to use them in ways that people have not before... I definitely can see Disney in the next year or two allowing people to select to use smart phones instead of Magic Bands because their system can work with both..

I keep saying it, Infrastructure... Infrastructure... Infrastructure... Anyone who wants to implement a similar system will be forced to invest in this as well...

 

[BJones82]

And as for skipping a wallet if you want your annual placeholder or DVD discount you'd better have your cards with you.

I can use my Disney Experience app to get my Annual Pass holder discounts, just did so this past weekend/week...

 

[sshindel]

I think your definition of existing technology and mine differ drastically.....

They must. Saying that FastPass and FastPass plus are the same thing is like saying Peter Pan on PPF and The Yeti are the same kind of animatronic characters. Ok, yeti is a bad example. Mark Twain in AA? Lets go with that.

FP allowed you to reserve a time on a ride, when in the park, at the ride, and gave you a piece of paper to track it.
FP+ is an online integrated solution, pre-reserving your attraction from home, allowing you to modify your FP on the fly in the park, that is a massive change.

But that's fine. To me, all the interesting pieces of MM+ aside from simplifying my park experience is the data. I drool over the data they're collecting and starting to analyze. All of that, while not ground breaking from a technological sense, is ground breaking for a theme park.

But, all this is my personal opinion of course.