MyMagic+ article from Fast Company magazine

Rteetz

Rteetz

Well-Known Member
I thought the article was great. I loved the Joe Rohde quote where he said "If I'm supposed to be living with fairies, fairies don't have iPhones or magicbands." I also liked how he said that avatar won't have a lot of MyMagic+ in it but they are excited about what their new animatronics could bring. It seems that maybe Joe doesn't like the system all that much and wants guests to experience the details of the park rather than be on their phone. I've always been a joe fan and AK is a favorite of mine because of the details so it makes sense. I also would have liked to have seen what imagineering would've done with the touch points instead of Frog.
 
AustinC

AustinC

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
RSoxNo1 said:
  • Photo Pass existed previously, although I certainly agree the advancements there have been among the best things with My Magic+.
  • As for the 5000 additional guests, was the question asked, "How much of that can be attributed to New Fantasyland which has an added capacity in excess of 5000 guests per hour?"
  • Spending $100 million on Expedition Everest resulted in an additional million guests in the Animal Kingdom. 2739 per day of additional guests. Disney only added capacity to the Magic Kingdom, but haven't seen the same results as that of a single E-ticket attraction despite a $400 million investment in New Fantasyland and Next Gen. MK has seen an attendance boost, but not to the tune of 5000 guests per day, and I would definitely argue that the boost has more to do with the new rides that were added than anything Next Gen related.
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Yes, sir, the question was indeed asked to Tom, regarding your second point. When he mentioned the 5,000 figure, I asked wasn't that just New Fantasyland tho. He responded, "No, that’s MyMagic+. Fantasyland was about 5000 too. So Fantasyland was about 5,000 simultaneous in park capacity increase; MyMagic+ is actually more, its north of 5000."
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
RSoxNo1 said:
  • Photo Pass existed previously, although I certainly agree the advancements there have been among the best things with My Magic+.
  • As for the 5000 additional guests, was the question asked, "How much of that can be attributed to New Fantasyland which has an added capacity in excess of 5000 guests per hour?"
  • Spending $100 million on Expedition Everest resulted in an additional million guests in the Animal Kingdom. 2739 per day of additional guests. Disney only added capacity to the Magic Kingdom, but haven't seen the same results as that of a single E-ticket attraction despite a $400 million investment in New Fantasyland and Next Gen. MK has seen an attendance boost, but not to the tune of 5000 guests per day, and I would definitely argue that the boost has more to do with the new rides that were added than anything Next Gen related.
  • Was the question asked about maintenance and upgrade costs as well? Rasulo has stated publicly that they are depreciating many of the Next Gen assets quicker than most because it is fueled by every changing technology. Were questions asked and answered about that?
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Fact checking and verification of numbers seems a little lacking on FC's side, Perhaps they should have reached out to some of the insiders here who tell a quite different tale than does Celebration Place.
 
AustinC

AustinC

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
mikeh said:
@AustinC based on your discussions with anonymous cast members and execs, does Staggs claim of coming in under the $1B budget hold up? I've seen the $2B number thrown around a lot and found it interesting he claimed the total cost was under the $1B mark.
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Yes. Based on my reporting and sources, these rumored figures are wrong. The figure was under $1 billion, most sources tell me. And the fact is, one thing that became increasingly stressful for teams as the program continued on is that they were running out of resources to complete NGE.
 
hokielutz

hokielutz

Well-Known Member
This was an excellent read. A lot of information that shows the process of the project and the conflicts that arise.

I really geek out over this kind of information. Thanks again for posting this article to WDWmagic!!
 
DisDan

DisDan

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
  • Photo Pass existed previously, although I certainly agree the advancements there have been among the best things with My Magic+.
  • As for the 5000 additional guests, was the question asked, "How much of that can be attributed to New Fantasyland which has an added capacity in excess of 5000 guests per hour?"
  • Spending $100 million on Expedition Everest resulted in an additional million guests in the Animal Kingdom. 2739 per day of additional guests. Disney only added capacity to the Magic Kingdom, but haven't seen the same results as that of a single E-ticket attraction despite a $400 million investment in New Fantasyland and Next Gen. MK has seen an attendance boost, but not to the tune of 5000 guests per day, and I would definitely argue that the boost has more to do with the new rides that were added than anything Next Gen related.
  • Was the question asked about maintenance and upgrade costs as well? Rasulo has stated publicly that they are depreciating many of the Next Gen assets quicker than most because it is fueled by every changing technology. Were questions asked and answered about that?
Click to expand...


Are you trying to imply that families are not deciding on WDW trips just so they can get their MagicBand fix? Think of the experience, you go online and plan out a Magical week-long vacation at WDW! (for only a few thousand dollars). Then in a few short days you receive your Vacation package with those wonderfully Magical Magic bands. I still think they should make them usable outside of Disney, I mean heck, I want to wear mine everywhere I go. I sure wish it told time or tracked my heart rate or counted my steps. Then in only a few short months you and your Magic bands embark on your fully pre-planned vacation where you no longer have the hassle of deciding where to eat or what rides to ride since it has all been layed out ahead of time!. If that isn't reason alone to love MyMagic+ I don't know what is.
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
AustinC said:
Yes, sir, the question was indeed asked to Tom, regarding your second point. When he mentioned the 5,000 figure, I asked wasn't that just New Fantasyland tho. He responded, "No, that’s MyMagic+. Fantasyland was about 5000 too. So Fantasyland was about 5,000 simultaneous in park capacity increase; MyMagic+ is actually more, its north of 5000."
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Thank you for clarifying.
 
ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
AustinC said:
Ha, I did not expect this response. I appreciate your perspective.
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You will find at least on this site, people (not me) who are high level insiders at Disney who are very critical of TWDC's current trajectory, I'm very surprised you did not cover MM+'s very high profile failures - the last one being over the President's Day holiday where MM+ and Disney's other online systems were unavailable for multiple days and that's not the first time for that.

In today's online world multiple day outages of customer facing systems is no longer acceptable.
 
AustinC

AustinC

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DDLand said:
@AustinC Awesome piece! I'm curious about Disneyland in particular. Do you have anymore specifics on MyMagic+ there? You mentioned briefly that infrastructe costs may be too high.
Thanks!
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Thanks for your question. A lot of what this comes down to is what Tom Staggs described as "variations" on MyMagic+, which will depend on what the demographics/behaviors are at each park, versus WDW. So, for example -- I'm paraphrasing here -- at Disneyland, repeat visitors are higher, and there's a higher proportion of annual pass holders, a high proportion of guests who come for just part of the day, and a higher proportion of people who spontaneously come to the park. So to Disney Parks and Resorts, the planning cycle and way they serve guests is different than at WDW, and it was made clear that MyMagic+ will likely come there, but not necessarily the MagicBand, in part, as I said in the piece, because the infrastructure costs might be too high to add DAPs/etc. throughout Disneyland.

But it'll be interesting to see how the company takes this forward.
 
AustinC

AustinC

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ford91exploder said:
Fact checking and verification of numbers seems a little lacking on FC's side, Perhaps they should have reached out to some of the insiders here who tell a quite different tale than does Celebration Place.
Click to expand...

That's a blanket statement...with the exception of the quote I included there, which I think you're referencing, everything in our story has been fact checked and/or confirmed with multiple sources. That's the difference between journalism and opinion/punditry : )
 
AustinC

AustinC

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
ford91exploder said:
You will find at least on this site, people (not me) who are high level insiders at Disney who are very critical of TWDC's current trajectory, I'm very surprised you did not cover MM+'s very high profile failures - the last one being over the President's Day holiday where MM+ and Disney's other online systems were unavailable for multiple days and that's not the first time for that.

In today's online world multiple day outages of customer facing systems is no longer acceptable.
Click to expand...

The story was already 9,000+ words! But I'm sincerely sorry I didn't get around to covering this President's Day outage you're referring too, if that helps you see the story for what it is, rather than for what it's not.
 
Todd H

Todd H

Well-Known Member
DisDan said:
Are you trying to imply that families are not deciding on WDW trips just so they can get their MagicBand fix? Think of the experience, you go online and plan out a Magical week-long vacation at WDW! (for only a few thousand dollars). Then in a few short days you receive your Vacation package with those wonderfully Magical Magic bands. I still think they should make them usable outside of Disney, I mean heck, I want to wear mine everywhere I go. I sure wish it told time or tracked my heart rate or counted my steps. Then in only a few short months you and your Magic bands embark on your fully pre-planned vacation where you no longer have the hassle of deciding where to eat or what rides to ride since it has all been layed out ahead of time!. If that isn't reason alone to love MyMagic+ I don't know what is.
Click to expand...

That kind of insane planning is why many of us DESPISE this MM+ nonsense. I spend so much time at work designing and planning things that it's the last thing I want to do while on vacation. For me it's as far from relaxation as I can get. You're the type of consumer Disney is after now. My type is made to feel less and less welcome in the parks. Which is why our June trip is our last.

As for the article, I agree with the puff piece comment. While there is some good technical and historical information, in the end it still felt like a puff piece. Some of the numbers supplies by Disney are dubious at best and a lot of the language is straight out of the Disney PR playbook. Would like to have seen some more time spent on the failings of the system, especially in light of the recent park-wide system crashes.
 
cspencer96

cspencer96

Well-Known Member
AustinC said:
That's the difference between journalism and opinion/punditry : )
Click to expand...
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DDLand

DDLand

Well-Known Member
AustinC said:
Thanks for your question. A lot of what this comes down to is what Tom Staggs described as "variations" on MyMagic+, which will depend on what the demographics/behaviors are at each park, versus WDW. So, for example -- I'm paraphrasing here -- at Disneyland, repeat visitors are higher, and there's a higher proportion of annual pass holders, a high proportion of guests who come for just part of the day, and a higher proportion of people who spontaneously come to the park. So to Disney Parks and Resorts, the planning cycle and way they serve guests is different than at WDW, and it was made clear that MyMagic+ will likely come there, but not necessarily the MagicBand, in part, as I said in the piece, because the infrastructure costs might be too high to add DAPs/etc. throughout Disneyland.

But it'll be interesting to see how the company takes this forward.
Click to expand...
That's big news. Thanks.

You've shared a lot of new information in this story. Writing aside (which is excellent), just the information you've broken here is big. You've cleared up a plethora of misconceptions. Good reporting.

Updated for clarity.
 
KLinder7

KLinder7

Well-Known Member
Who else would have liked a chance to tour that lab in Hollywood Studios? Any guess which one it was? Same as 3rd track for TSM?
 

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