MyMagic+ Efficiency Update

[scarr13311]

My family and I were selected to participate in a test of the MyMagic+ technology during our most recent stay at the Yacht Club. Feel free to move the thread if needed, however I am going to focus my post on the current state of the MyMagic+ testing rather than write a trip report, which is why I am posting this in the current events thread.

To begin, I have always been a supporter of Disney. I haven't agreed with everything upper management has done over the last few years, but those decisions have never jeopardized the fabric of a Walt Disney World vacation, which is spending time with family and friends. So I tend to have a positive outlook on most things.

That being said, how did the test go for us? If we could sum up our experience in one word: Failure

To give a brief overview of what we had noticed, it is apparent that Disney has thrown their front desk into the front lines of MyMagic+ with very little training or comprehension of the technology they are handling. Any issue that we encountered was facilitated by Cast Members who were looking at their computer screens as if they were written in Mandarin Chinese.

Now, we understood that we were engaging in a test, and we expected a few kinks and glitches in the system. However, we expected those glitches to be resolved with time. Here are some troubleshooting issues that the front desk, management, and even hyper care units, cannot solve.

-The system cannot distinguish between two family members of the same name. My father and I are distinguished by our middle initials, which we specifically designated in our reservation, and which the cast members neglected to put into the system. If one of us was in the park, the other could not enter. In fact, one cast member even told my father that he was already in the park, when he was standing right in front of him.

-Magic Band purchases were not able to function because the system could not link a pin code to our bands, thus inactivating our purchase option. Basically, there was no point to having a Magic Band. We used the old form of card swiping instead.

-MyDisneyExperience App could not link fastpass+ to our whole party because it thought that my father and I were the same person. This hindered us from being able to use the app throughout our entire stay, and being able to make fastpass+ reservations. We would have to go down to the front desk every morning and make our fastpasses for everyone but myself, for which they gave me the old paper fastpasses instead.

Whenever we approached the front desk, or management with our issues, their response was that these were "known" issues. If they are known issues, why are they not fixed? Only 4 resorts including the Yacht Club were participating in this test, and every cast member we talked to said that these issues were known throughout. And mostly every cast member reminded us (as if we need to be reminded) that we agreed to this test and that kinks could happen. Yes, we know that. But as a worldwide company and as the theme park "capital" of the world, why are you using excuses? Why don't you fix the issues instead of pinning the blame back on the guest. If it wasn't for the guest, there would be no Disney World.

That was probably the issue that irked us the most. Nobody could give us a straightforward answer to any problem. Everyone walks around in suits with titles, but nobody wants to take responsibility when something doesn't work. Those titles of manager, or assistant to the regional manager, or assistant to the traveling secretary, mean as little as the titles of the comedic characters I'm referencing. Because that's really what our experience with these bands was. A comedic act where nobody had a grasp on the technology and everyone was passing the buck because they were in over their heads.

Ya know, they better be able to fix these issues. We wasted our entire first day fiddling around at the front desk, only to have our bands not be open to purchases, our fastpass+ app not accessible, and not even being able to enter the park without prolonged technological assistance.

Disney better get their act together, and realize that MyMagic+ has a lot of issues. They better fix them. or else when this thing rolls out in 2014, then the comedy is really going to begin.

This was interesting to hear. Hope when we go in November and if we have a chance to use MyMagic it is working. I read that Disney is considering give out a number of fastpass+ tickets based on which resort you stay at, sound like if you are staying a deluxe resort then you get more fastpass+ tickets, moderates guests would get a certain amount and then value of course would get the least. DIsney catering to the people with money that can afford to stay at deluxe resorts??? I know they are a business and out to make money but don't treat one group better then the other because they have more money to spend. I hope that's not the case.

 

[scarr13311]

That is sad and a very good point. I feel for them and the highest level of service is what people love and expect from WDW. I have noticed that over the last 5 years are so that the level of service and professionalism has gone down some. This is not to suggest that all CM's fit that bill. In fact I would say that MOST CM's are amazing. I would just say that I feel that in the last 5 years we have come across more CM's that just don't seem to represent the "magical" nature as CM's have in the past. Further I would say that I have experienced more issues of CM's not being able to answer questions or help (even when they really want to and are trying hard). Of course this may be the source of why some of them are not feeling so "magical." I also think that some of it may be the nature of WDW becoming bigger and bigger, as well as the competing parks. This all leads to competing job markets. It use to seem that a lot of CM's were local residents (whether they were native to Cental Florida or not) and they were very invested in WDW as it was "their" community and "their" economic investiment. Now there are more and more short term employees and the "investment" just doesn't always seem there.

Ok, now that I derailed from the thread and said that back on topic. (Though someone may wish to start a thread on that topic on it's own.) I don't want to see this thread go on and on for pages of off topic issues as I believe as the OP said that it is good to have a thread on the current testing and peoples experiences without the diatribes on a myriad of other issues.

I certainly agree with you about the quality of service and professionalism the last two times we went to Disney we had some bad experiences with cast members being rude. We went to City Hall at MK and told them about our experiences and the girl at the desk just stood there like she was bothered by whole thing. So, not only did we get bad service in the park but even when we were repoting it.... I think Disney has fallen off the wagon with customer service they need to back on!!!

 

[kittybubbles]

Kitty read my comments above...out of the group that I was with at WDW last week "each" of our bands if we were lucky enough only worked on the average 20% of the time at MM scan points. Disney gate personnel would have to re-scan out bands with their handheld tablets to let us thru.

I didn't mean to sound like a supporter of MM+, for my family, we allowed our APs to expire recently and we have no plans of visiting WDW in the foreseeable future.

I was just trying to point out that the Garcia article ran in south FL with a different edit than what was posted here. The most noticeable change to me was that Disney calls a lot of us 'the vocal minority', there was no mention of an 80% approval rating and instead it was mentioned that Disney asked guest if MM+ made their stay less enjoyable, more enjoyable, or no change. Disney went on the say the 'overwhelming majority' said it made their vacation better but they did not supply any numbers to back up what that meant.

 

[danlb_2000]

What really boggles my mind is a company the size of Disney can't deploy NFC wristbands. For those of you not up to speed on the technology it is near field communications that Disney has embedded into the waterproof wristbands. What I think is really happening is their IT infrastructure I bet is the main cause for service distruption. "Beta testing" a new product or service should never amount to an 80% fail rate. The technology they are using are found in all of the recent smartphones that are out there today. Just my 2 cents.

Having worked for a company the size of Disney, this doesn't surprise me at all. Large companies often have a difficult time getting the simplest things done on time and on budget.

 

[awoogala]

I highly doubt that they are trying to uniquely identify people by their name. Even the most incompetent programmer/system designer would know better then that, especially with the number of people that come through the WDW gates. This would also require the Magic Bands to the be programmable instead of just having a pre-programmed unique ID number, and I am pretty sure Disney has said publically that the bands only contain a ID number and no personal information. The problem is more likely with having two people with the same name in the same family. This would be an assumption that I could see a programmer making since this would be a very rare occurrence if middle initials and suffixes are taken into account. Someone made the suggestion that maybe the two bands both got assigned to the same person, this seems like a much more likely cause of this sort of problem.

One of the reasons I was told to never name a kid a "junior". From mixed bills, credit reports, and even an almost arrest of the wrong "john smith" in one family, I had been scared of all the issues. Never thought "Disney vacation issues" would be one of them! LOL Seems like a major muck-up. If it is a "known" issue, all persons that might fall into this category should be removed from further testing until it has been resolved.

 

[asianway]

I certainly agree with you about the quality of service and professionalism the last two times we went to Disney we had some bad experiences with cast members being rude. We went to City Hall at MK and told them about our experiences and the girl at the desk just stood there like she was bothered by whole thing. So, not only did we get bad service in the park but even when we were repoting it.... I think Disney has fallen off the wagon with customer service they need to back on!!!

The only thing in park guest relations serves up is apathy & GACs. If you have a legit gripe, email them, & they will address it.

 

[luv]

One of the reasons I was told to never name a kid a "junior". From mixed bills, credit reports, and even an almost arrest of the wrong "john smith" in one family, I had been scared of all the issues. Never thought "Disney vacation issues" would be one of them! LOL Seems like a major muck-up. If it is a "known" issue, all persons that might fall into this category should be removed from further testing until it has been resolved.

Mixed up bills, phone calls, banking, prescriptions, dry cleaning, dentist expecting one and getting the other...

It never ends. When my brother became bigger than my father, we could no longer call him "little Johnny" and had to ask, "Do you want old John or young Johnny?" That went over so well with dad. "I'm not OLD, god BLANKET!"

My brother is currently sorting out my father's estate...and it's still happening. Someone asked him, "I thought John Smith was...the deceased?" Even the headstone people asked several times about the names. It's a common enough thing, but people get so thrown by it!

 

[lazyboy97o]

You know, with everything else? I question the term "TEST".

In a real test, one checks to see if what they have created works. And if it does not work? They are prepared to ABANDONE it. That's why good IT folks develop roll-back plans.

I am wondering if, with the mess they have and the convenience of just blaming issues of testing, if we could see a very prolonged "testing" where the system is essentially in place but still called a test to help temper some expectations and be offered as deflection when dealing with irate customers.

 

[The Mom]

One of the reasons I was told to never name a kid a "junior". From mixed bills, credit reports, and even an almost arrest of the wrong "john smith" in one family, I had been scared of all the issues. Never thought "Disney vacation issues" would be one of them! LOL Seems like a major muck-up. If it is a "known" issue, all persons that might fall into this category should be removed from further testing until it has been resolved.

I don't think two (or more) related people having the same name is so unusual that it wasn't factored in during the design stage.My niece was named after me, but once I (and she) married it wasn't an issue.

My husband is a junior, and solved the problem by using first initial and middle name professionally, and middle name socially. Makes it easy to identify telemarketers, junk mail, etc.

We did not name our son the third!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

I don't think two (or more) related people having the same name is so unusual that it wasn't factored in during the design stage.My niece was named after me, but once I (and she) married it wasn't an issue.

My husband is a junior, and solved the problem by using first initial and middle name professionally, and middle name socially. Makes it easy to identify telemarketers, junk mail, etc.

We did not name our son the third!

Well since 1736 my family have been rotating the same two first names between father and 1st born, no imagination. Cant say my daughters were too enamoured how this worked out for them.

 

[Rob562]

I read that Disney is considering give out a number of fastpass+ tickets based on which resort you stay at, sound like if you are staying a deluxe resort then you get more fastpass+ tickets, moderates guests would get a certain amount and then value of course would get the least. DIsney catering to the people with money that can afford to stay at deluxe resorts??? I know they are a business and out to make money but don't treat one group better then the other because they have more money to spend. I hope that's not the case.

That was purely speculation by fans, and has not been announced in any way by Disney. (Not saying that it'll *never* happen, just that it's never been mentioned publicly by the people who actually make those decisions)

-Rob

 

[wogwog]

Suggestion to all who see major issues with any of this Mickey Mouse minus project. If you only point out issues here in this forum you are mainly preaching to the choir. Please write or call WDW to complain as well. If you are able to visit during the test period even if you do not participate please let WDW know of your concern in writing or a personal visit to GR at the park or resort. Spend a bit of time at one of the so called service centers for this program now open in the parks and voice your opinion. Let Disney know it is not just 2% or even 20% of us who have issues as Disney seems to like to proclaim in the news. I do not believe any of those numbers based on this forum or from my friends who have been through parts of the nightmare MM minus. You should know Disney or any company can construct a survey that can only come out positive with clever wording or bribes.
I am one of the group that won't abandon a life long enjoyment with Disney but I see a change coming. Being local to WDW I have a pass and visit often. I very often go to a park and have the inflated price meals over a local restaurant to enjoy a walk in the park. I make an annual visit to Universal. My family is in discussions more often these days about when it is time to get new passes it may be for Universal and then WDW becomes the annual visit. Just to much control, effort, and problems to deal with in the future 1984 WDW. Vacations and fun should not require as much planning and effort I see coming at WDW.

 

[spacemt354]

Suggestion to all who see major issues with any of this Mickey Mouse minus project. If you only point out issues here in this forum you are mainly preaching to the choir. Please write or call WDW to complain as well. If you are able to visit during the test period even if you do not participate please let WDW know of your concern in writing or a personal visit to GR at the park or resort. Spend a bit of time at one of the so called service centers for this program now open in the parks and voice your opinion. Let Disney know it is not just 2% or even 20% of us who have issues as Disney seems to like to proclaim in the news. I do not believe any of those numbers based on this forum or from my friends who have been through parts of the nightmare MM minus. You should know Disney or any company can construct a survey that can only come out positive with clever wording or bribes.
I am one of the group that won't abandon a life long enjoyment with Disney but I see a change coming. Being local to WDW I have a pass and visit often. I very often go to a park and have the inflated price meals over a local restaurant to enjoy a walk in the park. I make an annual visit to Universal. My family is in discussions more often these days about when it is time to get new passes it may be for Universal and then WDW becomes the annual visit. Just to much control, effort, and problems to deal with in the future 1984 WDW. Vacations and fun should not require as much planning and effort I see coming at WDW.

Well said.

We are penning two letters to WDW. One regarding our experience with MM+, and another referencing the noticeable decline in maintenance, service, and overall magical experience.

With regard to the MM+ letter, we feel if MM+ continues this same trajectory, it will become WDW's "Edsel". For those who don't know what an Edsel is, I have a link http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/...-edsel-the-most-disappointing-car-of-all-time. To summarize, in the late 1950s Ford Motor Company manufactured a car known as the Edsel that was expected to be an astounding success. However, the car never gained traction in domestic America, performed poorly, and Ford ended up losing millions in what was one of the most epic failures in car manufacturing. It seems quite similar to what is happening with these Magicbands. Disney needs to get out while they can...but they won't, because WDW is untouchable. I bet everyone said that about Rome too...


The second letter indicates that a WDW vacation is not longer worth the hefty price tag. If all the magic was still there, we were still amazed and in awe at the resort around us, then it might be worth it. But prices have gone up, with no real substantial additions. And as annual visitors, we feel quite insulted that our loyalty is not taken into account whatsoever.

Compensation could very well be the response, however what does that solve for WDW? That doesn't change the fact that they are still declining in quality, that doesn't give me any sign that they are going to change, and quite frankly that's pretty pathetic to simply throw a bone to loyal guests to entice them to come back to a declining resort with increasing prices.

Nope. Not this time. We'd rather spend our money on places that actually invest in their parks, and listen to their guests. If e-boards of WDW actually listened to their guests, they would realize MM+ is a flat out disaster, and they would realize a lot of people are upset with the way management is running the parks and resorts. One quick search on these boards will give them a hint. But no, they would rather censor the complaints through surveys with hardly any possibility for negative opinion, and continue on like nothing is wrong.

It's a real shame because we love the place, but we don't love the direction it's heading in.

 

[wogwog]

Well said.

We are penning two letters to WDW. One regarding our experience with MM+, and another referencing the noticeable decline in maintenance, service, and overall magical experience.

With regard to the MM+ letter, we feel if MM+ continues this same trajectory, it will become WDW's "Edsel". For those who don't know what an Edsel is, I have a link http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/...-edsel-the-most-disappointing-car-of-all-time. To summarize, in the late 1950s Ford Motor Company manufactured a car known as the Edsel that was expected to be an astounding success. However, the car never gained traction in domestic America, performed poorly, and Ford ended up losing millions in what was one of the most epic failures in car manufacturing. It seems quite similar to what is happening with these Magicbands. Disney needs to get out while they can...but they won't, because WDW is untouchable. I bet everyone said that about Rome too...


The second letter indicates that a WDW vacation is not longer worth the hefty price tag. If all the magic was still there, we were still amazed and in awe at the resort around us, then it might be worth it. But prices have gone up, with no real substantial additions. And as annual visitors, we feel quite insulted that our loyalty is not taken into account whatsoever.

Compensation could very well be the response, however what does that solve for WDW? That doesn't change the fact that they are still declining in quality, that doesn't give me any sign that they are going to change, and quite frankly that's pretty pathetic to simply throw a bone to loyal guests to entice them to come back to a declining resort with increasing prices.

Nope. Not this time. We'd rather spend our money on places that actually invest in their parks, and listen to their guests. If e-boards of WDW actually listened to their guests, they would realize MM+ is a flat out disaster, and they would realize a lot of people are upset with the way management is running the parks and resorts. One quick search on these boards will give them a hint. But no, they would rather censor the complaints through surveys with hardly any possibility for negative opinion, and continue on like nothing is wrong.

It's a real shame because we love the place, but we don't love the direction it's heading in.

Excellent comments. My e-mails are of a similar tone. Now if more like thinking fans will chip in perhaps we will be heard as a trend not a lone complaint.

 

[Fractal514]

Perhaps i am in the minority here, but I don't know that it sounds like an unmitigated disaster.. I think part of the issue here is that people bring to the conversation a lot of baggae, either for or against the whole system. If you are one of the folks who has decided to dislike the program, for whatever reason, you might have a confirmation bias against it that you're finding all sorts of evidence to support in these early tests. Conversely, I have a bias forit, I like the idea of being able to plan for a late afternoon Soarin FP+ without having to get to the park before 3pm. In any event, the proof will be in the pudding, not out opinions. But I thik you need to keep in mind that there ARE folks who want to try the new system and we want it to work, so we're going to root for it.

 

[DisneyJoe]

I read that Disney is considering give out a number of fastpass+ tickets based on which resort you stay at, sound like if you are staying a deluxe resort then you get more fastpass+ tickets, moderates guests would get a certain amount and then value of course would get the least. DIsney catering to the people with money that can afford to stay at deluxe resorts??? I know they are a business and out to make money but don't treat one group better then the other because they have more money to spend. I hope that's not the case.

This is listed as part of the patent for Fastpass, so that it could possibly someday be implemented.

 

[spacemt354]

Perhaps i am in the minority here, but I don't know that it sounds like an unmitigated disaster.. I think part of the issue here is that people bring to the conversation a lot of baggae, either for or against the whole system. If you are one of the folks who has decided to dislike the program, for whatever reason, you might have a confirmation bias against it that you're finding all sorts of evidence to support in these early tests. Conversely, I have a bias forit, I like the idea of being able to plan for a late afternoon Soarin FP+ without having to get to the park before 3pm. In any event, the proof will be in the pudding, not out opinions. But I thik you need to keep in mind that there ARE folks who want to try the new system and we want it to work, so we're going to root for it.

I think you're misinterpreting a vast majority of the "negative" viewpoints regarding MM+

I feel that neither of the bias options, whether for it or against it, is the right approach. I think turning a blind eye to negative components or positive components because you're either rooting for or against something is wrong.

So called "baggage" that people are bringing into conversation is not founded on bias. It is founded on actual events that have occurred, the facts regarding the makeup of the system, and concerns with the direction of the company. What is interpreted as rooting against something and doom and gloom, is actually passion for a place that people enjoy and want to see facilitated at its highest potential.

If others feel that Disney is fine and the MM+ system is a step in the right direction, that's fine with me. However a lot of those "positive" posts have simply dismissed the constructive criticism posts, without providing any counter evidence. If someone has had a positive experience, I would love to hear it and I encourage people to post it here for all to read! We didn't go into our vacation and enjoy the troubles we had, and we didn't think "Yes! Keep making mistakes! We want to see you fail!" Hardly.

I could compare it to DCA. People complained about that park a lot when it first opened. If they didn't complain, you wouldn't have seen a 1.1 billion dollar project to revitalize the park. Criticism is good, and especially when there is evidence behind it (not bias), it is even necessary. And that is the case with MM+

 

[fngoofy]

I think you're misinterpreting a vast majority of the "negative" viewpoints regarding MM+

I feel that neither of the bias options, whether for it or against it, is the right approach. I think turning a blind eye to negative components or positive components because you're either rooting for or against something is wrong.

So called "baggage" that people are bringing into conversation is not founded on bias. It is founded on actual events that have occurred, the facts regarding the makeup of the system, and concerns with the direction of the company. What is interpreted as rooting against something and doom and gloom, is actually passion for a place that people enjoy and want to see facilitated at its highest potential.

If others feel that Disney is fine and the MM+ system is a step in the right direction, that's fine with me. However a lot of those "positive" posts have simply dismissed the constructive criticism posts, without providing any counter evidence. If someone has had a positive experience, I would love to hear it and I encourage people to post it here for all to read! We didn't go into our vacation and enjoy the troubles we had, and we didn't think "Yes! Keep making mistakes! We want to see you fail!" Hardly.

I could compare it to DCA. People complained about that park a lot when it first opened. If they didn't complain, you wouldn't have seen a 1.1 billion dollar project to revitalize the park. Criticism is good, and especially when there is evidence behind it (not bias), it is even necessary. And that is the case with MM+

Well said about constructive criticism. I think the main thing people overlook is the base problem that MM+ is attempting to solve.

Survey's of park guests overwhelmingly show that families (particularly families new to going to WDW) are frightened of having to send a runner to get FastPasses, check on dining, and figure out a place from which they can see a parade. The sheer size and unfamiliarity of the parks makes the act of separating, going on a quest, and reuniting seem like an unpleasant adventure.

MM+ is an attempt to smooth out this process and take the success of FastPass to a new level.
There are those that lament the invention of FastPass and long for the "Good ol'Days", but I rarely read posts that talk about the fantastic time that was had in a 90 minute queue for Splash Mountain.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

Nahh Im just a moaning whatever

 

[ford91exploder]

We were there and didn't do the magicband/fastpass test. However, everybody we talked to that was doing the band/fastpass+ "test" while we were there over the last week thought that, although it was a little hassle to get setup, it was way more than worth the trouble. They really enjoyed the magic bands themselves, the fastpass+ they had, and they could use their KTW card to get other, regular fastpasses as well. So, they loved it and said they wouldn't want to go back to the way we were doing everything. We did use the My Disney Experience to link our tickets and reservations, and the app on my android phone so all my reservation stuff was in one place and the CMs at the front desk and at Concierge desk that we were staying at commented about how easy it was to look up our info now that we were using the new stuff and they were very happy with the new system. (They looked up and printed our Spirit of Aloha tix, reset our pin #, etc.) Anyway, that's my comments for now.

The key is Disney is allowing the MM+ Guests to use regular FP during test as a way of buying a good review, Now a fair test would be MB only Methinks you would have quite a different view of system