MyMagic+ article from Fast Company magazine

[PhotoDave219]

Sure it does... it's just expected now from modern customer service and offers... yet it doesn't always exist, and certainly didn't exist in WDW. From seperate FP systems, ADRs, hotel reservations, Disney websites, etc.

Like the idea ADRs had to be tracked by phone numbers.. travel was seperate... in-park stuff was completely isolated.

Now Disney has one identity, you don't have to keep repeating your core stuff, and you can leverage data across these seemlessly for the enduser. Like having a single Disney App on your phone, that knows your FPs, knows the park schedule, knows your ADRs, and more.

Things like the MyDisneyExperience app did NOT exist, nor did the integration of functionality from all these different places exist anywhere for the customer.

Don't forget large portions of Disney's infrastructure were probably still running on mainframe applications.

There are many things people simply EXPECT now because 'its like that everywhere else'... and while Disney did have many of these things in isolation, they were not unified, and yes that DOES matter to the customer.

Think of the alternative... separate identities for each, separate apps for each, a FP+ system that doesn't know your ticket info, etc.

My bigger question is "Why wasnt this integrated from the start?"

 

[GoofGoof]

I would think that crowds are above average based on park hours. MGM is open until 9:30 tomorrow night. MK was open until midnight tonight.

Like I said, there really isn't a true down time anymore. In the past once Spring Break and Easter were past, it was pretty dead until June outside of special events. Not really true anymore.

Touring plans has those 2 parks projected as a 5 and a 4 for tomorrow. I'd call that a moderate crowd level. But my point really was that availability really doesn't seem to be as bad as some of us feared except during really busy times.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

And to me that's a step backwards. When the system was in it's infancy we kept asking, "will they hold back FP+ reservations for day guests?" It's the same issue that @Lee has articulated so many times about dining. Not everyone is an uber type A planner. The disparity between what someone that plans a Disney vacation gets vs. someone that doesn't plan a Disney vacation is significant to the extent that those people that don't plan properly aren't getting sufficient value. I can't imagine that does much for their "intent to return" metrics.

You nailed in such few words. In the pre-MM+/FP+ world, probably even further back before the 180 day ADR and FP, type A über planners were able to get the most return on the objectives they wanted to achieve. Whether that be hitting every major attraction in the MK by 2PM or getting a table for dinner at Tony's during the nighttime parade, you would be able to achieve those goals because your über planning behavior would put you in the minority of guests thus giving you a significant advantage. At the same time, guests who chose not to plan out their day weren't necessarily receiving a diminished experience, they just weren't necessarily getting the most out of their day if you consider hitting x number of attractions as a measure of success. However, as Disney has introduced the 180 day ADR the original FP and now FP+, the uber planning behaviors that once rewarded a tiny minority of guests a "maximized" experience has become a requirement for the baseline WDW experience. In forcing the behavior of a minority of guests onto all guests, you take the pleasure and reward out of it. I'll follow up this sentiment in my questions for @AustinC.

 

[SMPTE MOUSE]

As a person who works daily to develop creative uses for RFID tech, this was one of the best articles I've read in a long time. WELL DONE! great to see how the MOUSE works from the inside. It shows how the idea came to a reality and some of the real world challenges that can become obstacles within a global brand. Nice work!

 

[GoofGoof]

You nailed in such few words. In the pre-MM+/FP+ world, probably even further back before the 180 day ADR and FP, type A über planners were able to get the most return on the objectives they wanted to achieve. Whether that be hitting every major attraction in the MK by 2PM or getting a table for dinner at Tony's during the nighttime parade, you would be able to achieve those goals because your über planning behavior would put you in the minority of guests thus giving you a significant advantage. At the same time, guests who chose not to plan out their day weren't necessarily receiving a diminished experience, they just weren't necessarily getting the most out of their day if you consider hitting x number of attractions as a measure of success. However, as Disney has introduced the 180 day ADR the original FP and now FP+, the uber planning behaviors that once rewarded a tiny minority of guests a "maximized" experience has become a requirement for the baseline WDW experience. In forcing the behavior of a minority of guests onto all guests, you take the pleasure and reward out of it. I'll follow up this sentiment in my questions for @AustinC.

In my opinion the spontaneous ship sailed with the ADRs/DDP and original FP. Half my days I am usually locked into a park because of a dinner reservation so reserving 3 rides doesn't seem as restrictive.

If you didn't pull FPs under the old system you definitely waited in much longer lines resulting in a diminished experience. That's still true if you don't use FP+. Now the only difference is you reserve in advance. This is a perceived negative because you have to either plan in advance or potentially miss out. It's also a perceived positive because you don't need to get to the parks at rope drop. Under the old system if you didn't get to TSMM early you got shut out from FP for the day anyway. Under the old system you still got a FP return time (which you couldn't choose) so you still had to be back to the ride at a scheduled time. You just got assigned a time on the day of your visit instead of picking one in advance. You are basically trading in some spontaneity for not having to rush to a machine at rope drop. It depends on which aspect is more important to you.

Where I think the biggest impact of FP+ comes in are for the FP commandos who ran around pulling FPs to maximize the number of rides per day. Limiting them to 3 advance reservations is a big change. I know I rarely used more than 3 or 4 FPs a day and usually less everywhere but MK so it doesn't phase me.

 

[flynnibus]

My bigger question is "Why wasnt this integrated from the start?"

Sorry, that's pure hindsight. Reasons are everything from timing, legacy, different needs, different locations, etc. We're talking about topics that even predate the common deployment of IP LANs... its simply not a reasonable expectation that technology rolled out across such disparate circumstances and times should have been integrated all along.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Sorry, that's pure hindsight. Reasons are everything from timing, legacy, different needs, different locations, etc. We're talking about topics that even predate the common deployment of IP LANs... its simply not a reasonable expectation that technology rolled out across such disparate circumstances and times should have been integrated all along.

Yes, they integrated a bunch of things that already existed.... and promised a lot of things that never happened.

 

[jakeman]

Why would they do that? The old version isn't coming back.

If people don't want to schedule 60 days out then don't. If I had the ability to head to MK right now I would have FPs available for anything but Mine Train, Peter Pan, Monsters, and Philharmagic. Tomorrow everything is available except Mine Train or parades.

I'm not processing...I just showed that FPs are available for a majority of the attractions at MK in the two hours that are left in the day. Meaning if someone were to pick up right now and head to MK they would be able to get a fastpass for any ride but 4 of them.

Also regarding dinner, for a party of 4 all restaurants are showing availability tomorrow except for 8 at dinner time.

If I wanted a late night snack, I could actually go to Cinderella's Table at 11:00 p.m. tonight if I wanted.

EDIT: Combined post

Fastpasses are available for Soarin and Toy Story Mania tomorrow.

You nailed in such few words. In the pre-MM+/FP+ world, probably even further back before the 180 day ADR and FP, type A über planners were able to get the most return on the objectives they wanted to achieve. Whether that be hitting every major attraction in the MK by 2PM or getting a table for dinner at Tony's during the nighttime parade, you would be able to achieve those goals because your über planning behavior would put you in the minority of guests thus giving you a significant advantage. At the same time, guests who chose not to plan out their day weren't necessarily receiving a diminished experience, they just weren't necessarily getting the most out of their day if you consider hitting x number of attractions as a measure of success. However, as Disney has introduced the 180 day ADR the original FP and now FP+, the uber planning behaviors that once rewarded a tiny minority of guests a "maximized" experience has become a requirement for the baseline WDW experience. In forcing the behavior of a minority of guests onto all guests, you take the pleasure and reward out of it. I'll follow up this sentiment in my questions for @AustinC.

That's not what my quotes above are showing though.

Every time I've done the above at any time point since FP+ has been introduced a majority of the attractions are available same day or next day. Same is true for dining.

I'm either continually extremely lucky or this massive amount of planning just simply isn't required.

 

[sshindel]

Sorry, that's pure hindsight. Reasons are everything from timing, legacy, different needs, different locations, etc. We're talking about topics that even predate the common deployment of IP LANs... its simply not a reasonable expectation that technology rolled out across such disparate circumstances and times should have been integrated all along.

Exactly!

That, plus it's nearly impossible to get a strictly IT project funded, so any shot at integrating systems earlier were likely turned down quickly and soundly.
And back when a lot of Disney's IT solutions were made, it wasn't typically even a thought to try and integrate the systems. I do hotel reservations, why would I care about retail? I'll just make my system for a lot "cheaper" than it would take to deal with that team over there, who have their own project goals and likely won't help me achieve my goals of building an integrated system.

Heck, a lot of companies I've worked for still operate like that.

Not saying that this is absolutely why the integration was not done earlier, but based on experience, there is likely a lot of truth to it.

Edit: man autocorrect is weird sometimes

 

[flynnibus]

Yes, they integrated a bunch of things that already existed.... and promised a lot of things that never happened.

We have Polaroids... books... records... newspapers... telephones.. all before.. they all existed. Would you not consider a smartphone that integrated all those things as something more than dismissing it as integrating things that already existed?

Searchable menus...
Location based maps...
Dynamic digital park schedules...
Wait time/closures updates...
FP booking...
ADR Booking...
etc..

All things you can do from a single app with newer capabilities than before.. and weren't simply consolidating existing things that existed prior.

 

[PhotoDave219]

We have Polaroids... books... records... newspapers... telephones.. all before.. they all existed. Would you not consider a smartphone that integrated all those things as something more than dismissing it as integrating things that already existed?

Searchable menus...
Location based maps...
Dynamic digital park schedules...
Wait time/closures updates...
FP booking...
ADR Booking...
etc..

All things you can do from a single app with newer capabilities than before.. and weren't simply consolidating existing things that existed prior.

I think this conversation is more suited over beer. But I still view this as nothing more than necessary infastructure and something that will not drive park attendance.

 

[flynnibus]

I think this conversation is more suited over beer. But I still view this as nothing more than necessary infastructure and something that will not drive park attendance.

I would agree about the beer.. but I'm on about my 55th hour of work this week.. and still working tonight.. and will be up at 5am again for the next round.. peeking over here is just a temporary brain relief

An objective of efforts like this are to redefine what 'normal' is... just like Disney redefined what it meant to wait in line.. or what it meant to be immersed in a hotel setting... in just a few short years you'll think less of anyone who doesn't have this type of integration. It will be the new baseline, and if you don't have it, you'll be a lesser. Disney is/was trying to redefine the new norm.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I would agree about the beer.. but I'm on about my 55th hour of work this week.. and still working tonight.. and will be up at 5am again for the next round.. peeking over here is just a temporary brain relief

An objective of efforts like this are to redefine what 'normal' is... just like Disney redefined what it meant to wait in line.. or what it meant to be immersed in a hotel setting... in just a few short years you'll think less of anyone who doesn't have this type of integration. It will be the new baseline, and if you don't have it, you'll be a lesser. Disney is/was trying to redefine the new norm.

I agree with that, this is the minimum basic that resorts need to offer. It sets the bar technology-wise.

... but it was sold as the Capex that would stop the bleeding and solve all the problems, meanwhile DHS is becoming a ghost town & DAK is still sparse & Future World is having more and more problems keeping people.

I guess I would have had little issue with this infrastructure wise if TWDC actually did something to upgrade the parks in addition to this.

 

[afb28]

I have that from sources outside of the article, and I won't elaborate further as I really don't want to get them in trouble….

Suffice to say what was originally pitched is nothing even remotely close to what we got. Somewhere along the line, somebody viewed this project as a way to address those pain points and I'm not really sure what they were thinking…

And how do you know that the interactive stuff isn't coming down the road?

Maybe they thought to themselves they need to get the baseline stuff of magic bands, FP+, & MDE app working near 100% before adding other things to it because of the set backs they've had throughout it's first couple of years.

Not saying they will but when you keep repeating this talking point over and over and over and over it's as if you're a scorned lover who is on the verge of getting a restraining order.

 

[PhotoDave219]

And how do you know that the interactive stuff isn't coming down the road?

Because its not.

 

[afb28]

Because its not.

Well thanks, Bob!

 

[Siren]

Wow! I am so tardy for the party, there is no way I can read this thread, lol. I feel like I just blinked and this thread blew up right before I opened my eyes!

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Fast Company magazine and it's such an honor that the author chose to engage with the WDWMAGIC community!

I totally loved the article, it is by far the best feature I have ever read on MyMagic+. This article effectively debunks all of the crazy rumors and rampant speculation surrounding this project, without bias -- and, I totally appreciate that. Not to mention, the observant and in depth insight into Disney made this a fascinating read for me.

I just *love* FP+ and Magic Bands, it's so much better than legacy fastpass, IMO. I applaud Disney and their entire team for working together to make MyMagic+ a success!

 

[Next Big Thing]

I am dying to know how they pass the information to talking Mickey.

"It's a jungle out there..."

 

[AustinC]

Fascinating article. Thank you AustinC for posting it to the site and stopping by to answer questions. It is very interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at the turbulent road of how MyMagic+ came into being.

One thing that I found interesting was the bit about re-wiring the infrastructure in the park.

My question: Was the realization that the park was not fitted for wi-fi (or in some cases, computers at all) part of what drove the decision to embark on the project in the first place? In other words, did they know they were going to have to do an infrastructure upgrade one way or another, and so wanted to find a way to pair it with something that would tie in directly to the guest experience?

Hello, thanks for the question. I think a lot of what they decided to pursue ties back to improving 'intent to return' metrics, but there's no doubt part of that process was upgrading the parks for the coming years.

 

[AustinC]

Individual quotes may be open to interpretation. But I'm curious how the end of the article is ambiguous. It seems like you're presenting MM+ as a case study of messy, successful collaboration in modern corporate America.

Which part of the ending?