MyMagic+ getting better?

[cslafferty]

*Let me preface this by saying that I have been on MDE daily for the past several months planning this vacation, and have checked, double-checked, triple-checked . . . my reservations, check-in information, etc.

Anyway, got here Friday 12/6. We're doing a split stay: first night was a room only ressie at ASMusic; rest of the trip was a MYW package at the CR with dining. When we arrived at the ME check in at the airport, my band said I was going to ASMusic, but DH's band said CR! Then, even though she said we had a credit card on file, when we scanned our band to charge dinner to our room, it said we didn't have charging privileges. Paid cash - no biggie.

After that, we haven't had any other problems so far. Every FP+ line we've gotten in, however has had others in front of us who are having problems, which is what holds up the lines. Mostly it's with large parties where some of the bands are scanning and some aren't, then they have to figure out why. They're getting good at double checking that people are in the correct line and that they understand what a FP+ is right as they enter the line, which helps.

Don't really mind only getting 3 FPs a day - 4 would be better, and really need to be able to do them between multiple parks.

Honestly, the longest and most frustrating lines have been in the food lines! I remember there being signs up in every QS location telling people what was included with a dining plan "meal" but not that I've seen here at the Contemporary. So, people get in line at the register to use their dining credits, and then are told that they need to go back and choose a drink or dessert even if they don't really want one because it's included. You have to wait for them to explain it, then wait for them to run and grab something. And our refillable mugs didn't work at first - had to go back to the cashier 3 times for her to try to activate them. Finally worked on the 3rd try.

A couple of times I've tried to use MDE app but couldn't - said I had a full signal, but it wouldn't load. This only happened in the parks, not in our hotel - no problems there.

I really like the convenience of the band - just wear that and slip my cell phone in my pocket and I'm good to go. It's been in the mid 80's and it hasn't gotten too uncomfortable for me or my DH to wear.

I'll let you know if we run into any other glitches during the 2nd half of our stay here.

 

[stevehousse]

We liked our magic bands for park entry..Thought it was as quick as the tickets and only lost 1 band. Which we normally lose at least 2 cards...Not getting a colored band when you lose one is tough for the kiddos.

Noticed one of the kids couldn't keep the band on throughout the day so it was on an adult wrist half the time.

Liked being able to make a FP selection WITHOUT running through the park like a maniac.

Did not like the tier concept for selecting FP's.

Did not like the FP selections being limited to 3, nor did we like them being limited to one park per day.

Had a major issue getting the room charge to accept and finally the Front Desk had to completely book the reservation over and take the bands completely off the reservation so the bands were not used to open the doors of the rooms .

I still don't grasp why spend all this money and make all these changes for such "limited" magic...

Talking Mickey is a total HIT with our family!!!

May I ask where u were when u lost a band and recieved another? This happened to my son at DHS but he was able to get the same color band he had, no problem. The whole process only took 5 minutes.

 

[wdisney9000]

We have had everything works perfectly! Do not believe all of the horrors stories that you have been reading they are not true

Since it worked perfectly for you, it means everyone who has a "horror story" is lying? I witnessed several "horror stories" happening on my most recent visit when I walked past the front desk at AKL.

 

[JohnD]

It's great if you understand the technology. In April, I'm going back with my parents for my birthday. But it's also a quid pro quo to them as my being their personal WDW tour guide navigating the system. If they went alone--both are 73-- they would be completely lost and flummoxed.

WDW must have enough demographic info showing more people are savvy with tech than not. And those are probably 20s-30s with young children. I and my parents are probably in the minority percentage demographics of overall guests.

 

[chuckd3]

Since it worked perfectly for you, it means everyone who has a "horror story" is lying? I witnessed several "horror stories" happening on my most recent visit when I walked past the front desk at AKL.

I don't think they are lying, I think most of the problems are self inflicted.

 

[wdisney9000]

I don't think they are lying, I think most of the problems are self inflicted.

You may be correct, I saw a few people that didnt know what they were doing or were trying to game the system. it did seem like a few that I saw were genuine though. Honestly, glad you had a good experience with yours. Hope i do as well. A little common sense should go a long way.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

I'll include more details in my trip report (which I swear is coming soon) but... got back Saturday after a week on property and our MyMagic+ experience was fantastic and free of issue. Zero problems with our bands for anything they were used for (room key, FP+, tap to pay, park entry, parking at resorts, etc.).

 

[Jim Chandler]

Just returned home and IMHO the bands are great. Linking everything to one item is such a easy system. When we got our FP were given different times to pick from and we did it at the kiosk by the EPCOT fountain. Wife liked it since she was able to leave purse in the room. Also great because you can use over and over and just continue linking to the band via the web site. You can also go swimming while wearing them.

 

[Minnie1976]

7 of us were there the beginning of December. I only remember twice that a person came to help as we checked into a park. It was very quick they were right there and no problem. The bands worked great. I carried paper reservation numbers and never needed them at all.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

Stayed Dec 2-15 at CBR. Had great success with MB. No issues charging stuff back to room or using it for the DP. Room access sometimes iffy (same issues last year with KTTW card) but all in all nothing to write home about. Wearing on wrist made for some awkward angles on some of the machines. Almost lost mine on RnRC when it snapped off my wrist. Fortunately only landed on floor of car and was found.

I loved being able to plan out the FP+ selections. Also made changes on the fly with no issues.

Things I liked:

• Planning. I am a planner, and MM+ (and TP.com) allowed me to create touring plans for the park days that really fit my schedule and how I want to tour. We (wife and I) are not rope droppers, and will not stand in line for 80 minutes for TSMM. Using FP+, my wife was able to ride it and she LOVED it.
• Despite all the planning, I still found myself on a couple of days deciding spur of the moment to go to one of CBR's beaches and read a book. Not really a plus for MM+, just a rejection of those would say MM+ eliminates spontaneity.
• I liked the app. I would say it worked about 99% of the time. The information I was able to glean on the fly was invaluable as I made my way through the trip.

Criticisms I have of MM+:

• Most show FP+ reservations are a waste of a FP reservation. I made one for Beauty @ DHS thinking it was for preferred seating. Nope - only promised a seat. We were there first week of December - hardly wall to wall people. If this were this week, its a good idea. My bad for not understanding the system.
• I was able to get in before the tiers hit so I was able to keep my mountain FP+ ressies for MK on my final day. Can't say I am happy with tiered approach, although I understand the logic behind it. I agree with pervious poster who said they should remove park hopping restriction and allow for one HL in each park. This is version 1.0 however, it's probably in their plans.
• The complexity of the system and the overall cost combined with Joe Average tourist not knowing Bugs Bunny from Mickey Mouse without a scorecard has me puzzled why they are doing all this. Are they that much ahead of the curve as far as this 'Next Gen' technology and in a few years we will look back and say what geniuses they were? Or are they setting it up for, as others have said, 'rigging' it to entice people to stay on property more (more access to FP+, less restrictions). Time will tell.

For me, MM+ and the trip was a success. I can't say it overwhelmingly made my trip that much more enjoyable, but it did make it less stressful. I like the thrill rides, the wife doesn't. I have ridden all of them enough that if I missed one, no big deal, I will get it next year. But unknown FP return times made each park day somewhat of a crapshoot. Knowing I was riding TT at 11:10 was great. We knew what we were doing. I think my wife liked it for the same reason. We knew what we were doing during the day and her time spent alone waiting for me was known and actually reduced.

I know it still has bugs. And I know they will make changes I don't like. But the theories surrounding the idea are sound and if they can get it all worked out, it will add value to the vacation experience.

 

[graphite1326]

Just got back and didn't have any problems. However, Like above, I think some of my faspass picks were a waist. I didn't use hem because the lines were short and got in ahead of my designated time. So there was several I didn't use.

I have a question though, If I didn't pick any for a park (you have to pick a minimum of three) can you use the fastpass machine just like you did before the bands?

 

[Horizons19]

I don't think they are lying, I think most of the problems are self inflicted.

I would have to say that is not the case with all for sure. We were there for 9 park days and 10 nights - returned home Sunday the 22nd. The MB did not work for our FP+ for 7 of those 9 park days. Luckily I printed off all our FP+ to show to the CMs before we left for the trip. Most of the time they looked at it and then overrode the system to let us in. But there were times they said that they are having problems with guests printing off bogus FP+ info just to get into the FP line and acted like we were lying even telling us we did not have FPs at all until they looked further. It was very frustrating. On the other hand the MB worked for everything else just fine, with the exception of the first night trying to buy food. They did not work because the CM somehow deactivated our bands at check-in - that is what we were told. But they fixed it quickly.

The combination of the MB not working for our FP+ entry most of the time, the teiring, the limit of 3 per day and the constant noise by other guests either side of our rooms at our resort (Pop Century) causing me not to be able to sleep, we are looking into other vacation options other than Disney. And I am a die hard WDW fan who has been going to WDW on average at least once a year for 4 decades, my kids have been at least once a year as well.

 

[LucyK]

I was able to get in before the tiers hit so I was able to keep my mountain FP+ ressies for MK on my final day.

Magic Kingdom is not tiered (yet anyway).

My only criticism of this whole thing is the 3 a day limit and the tiers at EPCOT and DHS. I hope they keep it that way because tiering MK would be a horrible idea.

 

[jlsHouston]

Overall the idea of FP+ is nice because I don't have to run to the parks to get the one premium rides passes for our party...however I don't like the tiered system either and it does feel like they are removing the option of FPing onto more than one premium ride with MM+ and it always sucks when they take away in the process of "giving"...We also found that if you have a change on your hotel reservation the MB aren't accommodating and then you have no charging priviledges...which really cramps my style.
I still think overall it was a waste of alot of money....WDW and the parks are aging and need alot of dollars in capital, that's where the billions should have been spent.

 

[englanddg]

Just got back and didn't have any problems. However, Like above, I think some of my faspass picks were a waist. I didn't use hem because the lines were short and got in ahead of my designated time. So there was several I didn't use.

I have a question though, If I didn't pick any for a park (you have to pick a minimum of three) can you use the fastpass machine just like you did before the bands?

No. No you can't. Being able to use the legacy machines is a function of if you are issued a KTTW card with a magstrip on it. Something that they've stopped doing at several of the resorts already.

 

[jlsHouston]

May I ask where u were when u lost a band and recieved another? This happened to my son at DHS but he was able to get the same color band he had, no problem. The whole process only took 5 minutes.

We were at the resort. Sorry been off board since getting back, I had nothing ready for Christmas...she lost it at AK and didn't tell us till we got back to the BWI. They had no FP+ at AK that day so it didn't come up.

It also occurred the same day ( day 3 at BWV ) I realized we had no charging priviledges because I had run out of cash and gift cards and was at the store near the lobby and wanted to buy a car air freshner and the MB said over the limit. That was when we realized we still had MB issues. At first they didn't open our room door either, that was fixed by day 2. Anyways the end result was the manager and the concierge desk said they could give her a gray one to replace it but she had a pink one left over from WL ( we were there first ) and since the MB's weren't opening the doors once they fixed the charging priviledges....OMG this is so complicated!!!, anyways all the MB did was get us into the park and take our FP+ picks and store them for the rides at the parks. No issues with MB's at parks only at resort....

 

[couchpotatooo]

Yes, I'm not fond of the Tiers at Epcot and DHS. Their chose in the tiers make it difficult to plan your day there.

 

[Nubs70]

Or maybe a lightweight card, like a credit card, that I could just put on a lanyard around my neck... oh, wait...

Or one could dedicate one pocket of their shorts as a kttw only pocket. For example, if you are right handed, reserve a right side pocket for kttw cards. If you are left handed, left pocket. Ambidextrous, either side will do. No hands, MB would be useful but would need to be worn as a necklace.

 

[englanddg]

So many MM+ threads to choose from! But, I'll post here...seems the best place.

So, I am happy to report my current MM+ / MDE experience.

Yesterday, I called and booked 2 rooms at Poly for a trip in May. I called Disney Travel Company to book...

1) I was told I couldn't book both rooms in my name (that's ok, it's always been like that...but it seems a bit silly, don't you think? Considering with MM+ they had an opportunity to overhaul and redesign the reservation system pretty much from the ground up...this would be something they could / should have addressed? I can't be the only person / party that might want to have a single person paying / making the ressies? Still, not a big deal.

2) I was told by the booking agent (Disney Travel Company) that I couldn't use the same email for both reservations. Ok, name I sortof get...but email? If I give them the email associated with my MDE, according to the agent, it's supposed to automatically link...so, if I want both reservations automatically linked, or if I want all the reservation information from both ressies to be emailed to a single email account...I can't? That doesn't make much sense.

3) I was told by the booking agent that I could link the two reservations to my primary MDE account through an "invitation process", but my sister would first need to create her own MDE account and then we'd go through an invitation process.

Happy, I booked the reservations and gave it an hour or so before checking my MDE.

The reservations did not automatically link. <sigh> Well, no biggie. So, I clicked on "link an existing reservation" and entered my confirmation number and last name. That worked fine. I clicked again on link an existing reservation and entered my "sister's" confirmation number and last name, and got an error. So, I decided to do what the booking agent told me to.

I created a vanity email for my sister that I control (so I wouldn't have to bother with her account...the email I gave to the booking agent exists on a domain I control and my email is the catch all, so any mail addressed to that email (before I created it) would have come to my primary inbox). But, now I needed to have a valid email to sign up for MDE, so I logged into my control panel and set it up.

Then I went to MDE and created an account for my sister. I went to "link and existing reservation" and entered her confirmation number and last name, and it worked perfectly.

Ok...so then...I had to send out invites to set up family and friends (something that is rather confusing).

1) My kid now has 2 MDE "profiles"...one under my account, one under my sister's account, since the booking agent decided to put her on my sister's room (I didn't care). However, my daughter already has an MDE profile that I set up for her from our trip in August. Also, since she is too young, she can't be invited nor send invites.

2) My sister's fiance...I don't know his email, so I couldn't invite him on her behalf, so his account (even now) still says "invite to plan and share". Not a deal breaker, but it means that, until he is invited, I couldn't figure out how to invite him...and he can't invite me, because he hasn't been invited (I hope that didn't sound confusing...). So, to set him up, I'd either need to find out what his email is, send him an invite from my sisters MDE profile, call him to be sure he checked the email and responds to it, then go into my sisters MDE account and send an invite through his profile to me? Either that or I create ANOTHER vanity email account on my email server for him, and do the whole process myself? Pfft...

So, at this point it was after 11p, and I couldn't call for assistance, so I left things alone for the evening and figured I'd call today.

As of this point...AFTER booking, I've probably spent close to an hour getting all this set up.

So, fast forward to today. For giggles, I tried to link my sisters reservation to my MDE again, but now I get an error that it's already linked to her account (I love how they give me her full name in the error, as if they assume that I know her because I know her confirmation number and last name...it's a minor gripe, but this should be a big security no-no. All they have to say is "This reservation is already linked to another My Disney Experience account"...not give out my sister's whole name (including middle initial, because when I configured her MDE profile, I put that in there).

So, I called the 407 number they listed in the error code. I will say the phone experience was pleasant (something I've learned through today is that you can just say "My Disney Experience" to the auto voice prompt attendant and it will push you over to tech support faster...even though this option isn't mentioned by the auto attendant).

But, like I said, the phone experience was pleasant enough. The people were extremely nice, and I actually like the new way they answer the phone "How can I make your day magical?" (if I remember it correctly...but, it's something like that).

So, after a shorter than expected (yes I took the survey) wait, I was connected to a Tech Support Specialist.

Here's where I found out a few interesting things.

1) He informed me that what the booking Agent told me was incorrect, and I should have been able to link both reservations to my existing MDE. I did try this before I created the MDE account for my sister, but it gave me an error. And (silly me, I should know better), of course I didn't take a screen shot of the error...but it wasn't a system error like the famous Donald that likes to pop up from time to time, rather it was an informational message along the lines of "this reservation can not be linked to your account".

2) Once a reservation is linked to an MDE profile, it cannot be unlinked. You would think this would be a functionality that would have been designed into the system, at least at an administrative / tech support level. I can actually understand a system designer NOT allowing this feature to be readily available to an end user, as it could actually create more mess than it solves (imagine someone configuring everything, bands, FP, etc...and then unlinking the reservation!). But, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to do it at least at the tech support level...

What happens if the person who initially linked the reservation for some reason can't go? Should the rest of the party be forced to cancel the reservation and remake it to re-link it? Or should the person who originally linked it give out their MDE account information (yeah, smart security planning there guys, cause now you've created a situation where users are incented to do just that)... I can think of many situations where the ability to unlink and relink a reservation might be a good idea to at least have as a Tech Support option...

But...no.

Anyhow, the tech was very helpful and very nice. After I explained what I was trying to do (control all the profiles and reservations with respect to FP+, Magicband orders and ADRs, specifically), he said he'd take care of linking our two MDE accounts for me (basically, inviting and accepting a family / friend member.

This he did, and we ended the call. I was on my lunch break, so I didn't log in immediately to check MDE.

My total time on phone was probably around 40 minutes.

When I did...I found that he had only linked my sister. Not my daughter (who now has two profiles, each managed under different MDE accounts) or her fiance.

So, back on the phone again. Again, it was easy to get to Tech Support (kudo's for that Disney!), and it was this call where I actually decided to test if I could say "My Disney Experience" to the auto-attendant...and yep, it worked!

This tech, just like the one before, was very pleasant to speak with and quickly realized what I was trying to do. He put me on hold for a short while and then asked me to check my MDE site. I did, and viola, everyone was linked!

But, here was another issue. My daughter, as I've mentioned, now has 2 profiles. I'd hate to "link" to the wrong one by mistake for FP+ and magic band customization (specifically, since those are personalized to the band profile).

This took him a tad longer to get resolved, and I was on hold for a bit (not exorbinant), but he did get that taken care of. He had to escalate that...but, I don't mind. He got it taken care of.

So, now everything is linked properly and tonight I'll do our Magicband Customizations.

My total time on phone was around an hour.

So, AFTER reservations and down payments, I've spent nearly 3 hours of time just to get MDE to the point where I could customize the bands. While I shouldn't have created the second MDE account for my sister and linked it...that is what the booking agent told me to do. What I should have done is called Tech Support to find out why it didn't link (like I was told by both Tech Support reps I spoke to today that it should).

I am not frustrated, but I am a bit miffed. I'm a rather savvy user. I could only imagine my mother or my sister (who only recently got an iPhone...and would rather just have a flip phone) trying to navigate all this. They would have steam coming out of their ears! It wasn't a "simple" process, it wasn't automatic (which I was told it would be), and I got conflicting information.

To invite, you have to know the other persons email address...and while you can connect "through a mutual friend" the initial friend must be established first. In addition (though, since my account has been "auto-magically" fixed by Tech Support, I can't confirm this, I am not sure if you can invite children that are someone else's account, even if you are friends.

I do expect that from this point on it will be relatively hiccup free (I hope).

As a side note, I do like the new "training video"! It's very well done! Though, my gosh does it load slowly! I had to pause to allow it to cache (like the old days of youtube!)

If you want to see it, here is a link. I love Edna!

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/#planMediaPlayer2=0/0/0/0

Oh, and I still have two 1-Day Theme Park Tickets linked to my MDE that should not be there.



I am too honest just to let them stay listed, since I know we should have used them up on our last trip, so I suppose I'm gonna have to call Disney Tech Support AGAIN about that.

<sigh>

 

[englanddg]

Oh, and when checking to see how well everything linked to the MDE app on my iPhone (which it did perfectly)...I noted something odd...

I can still make FP+ reservations...even though I am not at Disneyworld (and haven't been since August).

I was intrigued it even gave me the option, and sure enough, it went all the way through and even added it to my itinerary...for TODAY...Dec 30.

Here's proof.