Preface: DW and I celebrating our 15th this past week and we were asked to test. I was not interested in it but the DW was so we said ok. Here are our thoughts:
Customizing the bands: no big deal here just log in pick a color and name for each of us and 3 days later we have our fancy bands in their fancy box. Getting excited.
Setting up FP+ reservations ahead of time: Since our APs expired the day before check in we couldn't reserve any until we showed up. (Big "Why?" here for Disney. I called (twice incase the first CM was wrong) and attempted to renew our APs over the phone so we would have valid passes and reserve our FP selections. We were told, twice, that they can ONLY renew our passes IN PERSON! I explained our FP+ issue only to be told they would have vouchers waiting for us if we liked but they could not renew over the phone. Big disappointment)
Checking in: what should have been a quick process drug on for over 20 minutes. We were told our bands had been deactivated, the bands we have had for only a week and never used had been deactivated. We were told there was no way or reactivate them so they went to the back and got new bands. Ok, so this was really annoying and frustrating but I would expect this type of issue to be resolved by full roll out.
Setting up FP+ while you're there: This was surprisingly easy and weirdly fun! After you make your initial selections you can go back in and modify individual attractions and/or times, THIS was a big +. We were no longer bound by a hard paper FP time. If our lunch took a little to long or we just didn't want to leave Tomorrow Land we could adjust our BTM time accordingly! I found myself massaging our FP times throughout the day so we wouldn't be rushed if we wanted more time elsewhere, again BIG +.
Wearing the bands: I wear only two "jewelry" items, my wedding band and a watch, so I wasn't to excited about wearing something new. About day 2 the band really relaxes and you hardly know it is there.
Redeeming a FP+: easy as can be. Tap, hold and when the light is green you're good to go!
Final thoughts about it: IMO, Disney needs to up the entitlements to about 5, then loosing the paper FP is more palatable to me. Disney MUST improve their wireless! The park levels were about 3.5 all week and I had to keep my phone on 3G the whole time since the Dnetwork was so poor. I can't imagine what would happen during Christmas week. Disney needs to better educate folks as they approach the entrance on how to use the band, or even the RFID card, while entering the park. They could greatly reduce the bottleneck and long lines to enter if folks would just touch the band AND press their finger at the same time rather than doing one then the other. To many times you see the CMs telling folks "ok now do this, ok now do this". If they just posted some signage and told folks to do BOTH they could move us through faster
Overall: pretty happy with the concept and hope they shake out the bugs before our December trip as I'd be happy to try it again.
Customizing the bands: no big deal here just log in pick a color and name for each of us and 3 days later we have our fancy bands in their fancy box. Getting excited.
Setting up FP+ reservations ahead of time: Since our APs expired the day before check in we couldn't reserve any until we showed up. (Big "Why?" here for Disney. I called (twice incase the first CM was wrong) and attempted to renew our APs over the phone so we would have valid passes and reserve our FP selections. We were told, twice, that they can ONLY renew our passes IN PERSON! I explained our FP+ issue only to be told they would have vouchers waiting for us if we liked but they could not renew over the phone. Big disappointment)
Checking in: what should have been a quick process drug on for over 20 minutes. We were told our bands had been deactivated, the bands we have had for only a week and never used had been deactivated. We were told there was no way or reactivate them so they went to the back and got new bands. Ok, so this was really annoying and frustrating but I would expect this type of issue to be resolved by full roll out.
Setting up FP+ while you're there: This was surprisingly easy and weirdly fun! After you make your initial selections you can go back in and modify individual attractions and/or times, THIS was a big +. We were no longer bound by a hard paper FP time. If our lunch took a little to long or we just didn't want to leave Tomorrow Land we could adjust our BTM time accordingly! I found myself massaging our FP times throughout the day so we wouldn't be rushed if we wanted more time elsewhere, again BIG +.
Wearing the bands: I wear only two "jewelry" items, my wedding band and a watch, so I wasn't to excited about wearing something new. About day 2 the band really relaxes and you hardly know it is there.
Redeeming a FP+: easy as can be. Tap, hold and when the light is green you're good to go!
Final thoughts about it: IMO, Disney needs to up the entitlements to about 5, then loosing the paper FP is more palatable to me. Disney MUST improve their wireless! The park levels were about 3.5 all week and I had to keep my phone on 3G the whole time since the Dnetwork was so poor. I can't imagine what would happen during Christmas week. Disney needs to better educate folks as they approach the entrance on how to use the band, or even the RFID card, while entering the park. They could greatly reduce the bottleneck and long lines to enter if folks would just touch the band AND press their finger at the same time rather than doing one then the other. To many times you see the CMs telling folks "ok now do this, ok now do this". If they just posted some signage and told folks to do BOTH they could move us through faster
Overall: pretty happy with the concept and hope they shake out the bugs before our December trip as I'd be happy to try it again.
