New Survey Asks about Fastpass+ Changes

[Next Big Thing]

No... eliminate FP in advance, revert to the old distribution rules and get rid of the FP attractions where it doesn't belong.

This is another very legitimate gripe. The kiosks need a print option.

That is literally going back exactly to how FP was.

 

[RSoxNo1]

That is literally going back exactly to how FP was.

Right, the system wasn't broken. Until it was mentioned on these boards there wasn't a single person on here that was saying, "we need to book these two months in advance". The one thing people were saying was that a digital version would be a step up. Paper is necessary for the 39% of people in the US (I assume it's higher elsewhere) that don't have smartphones. The other option they considered was loaning out devices that could act as a smartphone for guests that need it.

 

[roj2323]

Rather than work with hearsay Here's some screen grabs of the options they were asking about. Please note: nowhere in this survey did it say anything about not sharing this information with others.

At the end of the survey they had you order the options in order of your preference. The following reflects my preferred order but it may not match yours. it's simply my opinion.

 

[Bacalou]

Did you know that the Magic Band costs WDW $5 per AND they can not reprogram or reassign the bands on site? They have to be shipped off to the 3rd party vendor for total destruction and replacement... Meanwhile, the RFID based green passed can be totally managed on site.

With RFID in every WDW ticket, it seems to me that replacing the paper FP with an RFID FP and having kiosks around the parks where you can scan and see your current FPs would have been a much better solution. The rules could have stayed the same as they were with paper tickets and with decades of very proven historic use it seems very silly to to an all out replacement. $2B later and we are having expansions and enhancements to the parks outright cancelled or postponed to many years due to it. When will a return of investment be seen? Only those within the financial management of WDW really knows that. Personally, if I were one of the four park VPs I'd be raising some holy hell about this system.

Also, the majority of the hotels already had RFID based door locks prior to MB. It is highly likely that all guests staying at a Disney hotel will be obtaining Disney RFID based park passes... A white board, a few dry erase markers and it doesn't take Wernher von Braun to connect the dots.

Keep in mind it cost just over $1B to build Animal Kingdom. Think about that when thinking of this MyMagic BS.

 

[FerretAfros]

Also, the majority of the hotels already had RFID based door locks prior to MB. It is highly likely that all guests staying at a Disney hotel will be obtaining Disney RFID based park passes... A white board, a few dry erase markers and it doesn't take Wernher von Braun to connect the dots.

I believe that the hotel conversion was one of the earliest physical changes we saw associated with the NextGen program, so that they would be ready for integration when the rest of the system went live. It happened around the same time as the Pooh queue overhaul, back when everybody had high hopes for it. Had the NextGen project never happened, I fully believe that the hotel rooms would still open via magnetic strip

 

[Bacalou]

I believe that the hotel conversion was one of the earliest physical changes we saw associated with the NextGen program, so that they would be ready for integration when the rest of the system went live. It happened around the same time as the Pooh queue overhaul, back when everybody had high hopes for it. Had the NextGen project never happened, I fully believe that the hotel rooms would still open via magnetic strip

I think that's correct. They were using magnetic "Key To The World" cards prior to the RFID versions which were prior to the MBs being rolled out. It's probably good to note that the green RFID cards also have magnetic strips. So this allows it to be used with new RFID based systems and with the older magnetic reader system.

 

[G8rchamps]

These changes also seem to bring FP+ closer to what FP was. Except, as you mentioned, with more users for at least the initial 3 choices. I agree this will probably not be as beneficial to experts as the original was, since the high demand rides will still face problems they have now.

Does anyone know if the survey mentioned being able to repeat rides? That was a complaint of the new system versus old.

I just took the survey and this was not asked. I wish I read this whole thread first- might have added a few more coments.

 

[wogwog]

My primary complaint about the FP+ system was only having 3 per park per day. Actually, it was the 3 per park that annoyed me. We are not a park commando family so more than 3 in a day isn't something that particularly bothered me.



We were just in WDW from this past Wednesday through Saturday and the Magicbands, FP+ all worked flawlessly…with one HUGE EXCEPTION. On Thursday, while at Hollywood Studios, the entire system crashed and was down for about 4 hours. All of our Fastpass ride reservations disappeared from our MDE account. Now, we did not initially realize this as we were occupied with something at the time. As a result, the immediate crush of people at the little Guest Services building (which I noticed but did not stop to think why at the time) had already died down when we were walking towards Toy Story Mania and noticed that our reservations were GONE!! Ugh!! We walked back to guest services and there was no line so we had the problem resolved rather quickly. I can only imagine what that was like for the guest services workers earlier in the day when that crash initially happened.

Now, as I stated above, this was the only issue we had and overall the use of the Magicbands was fine. But if WDW is choosing to move in this direction and use this type of 'tech' to organize vacations, they cannot have a system that crashes, wiping out all FastPass+ ride reservations. That is unacceptable to me.

Worse than you thought. The crash you experienced was WDW wide. Happens now and then I was told.

 

[wogwog]

Did you know that the Magic Band costs WDW $5 per AND they can not reprogram or reassign the bands on site? They have to be shipped off to the 3rd party vendor for total destruction and replacement... Meanwhile, the RFID based green passed can be totally managed on site.

With RFID in every WDW ticket, it seems to me that replacing the paper FP with an RFID FP and having kiosks around the parks where you can scan and see your current FPs would have been a much better solution. The rules could have stayed the same as they were with paper tickets and with decades of very proven historic use it seems very silly to to an all out replacement. $2B later and we are having expansions and enhancements to the parks outright cancelled or postponed to many years due to it. When will a return of investment be seen? Only those within the financial management of WDW really knows that. Personally, if I were one of the four park VPs I'd be raising some holy hell about this system.

Also, the majority of the hotels already had RFID based door locks prior to MB. It is highly likely that all guests staying at a Disney hotel will be obtaining Disney RFID based park passes... A white board, a few dry erase markers and it doesn't take Wernher von Braun to connect the dots.

Keep in mind it cost just over $1B to build Animal Kingdom. Think about that when thinking of this MyMagic BS.

Don't be concerned with the added cost for Disney. They are not shy about raising prices to have us cover the increase.

 

[Nubs70]

Did you know that the Magic Band costs WDW $5 per AND they can not reprogram or reassign the bands on site? They have to be shipped off to the 3rd party vendor for total destruction and replacement... Meanwhile, the RFID based green passed can be totally managed on site.

With RFID in every WDW ticket, it seems to me that replacing the paper FP with an RFID FP and having kiosks around the parks where you can scan and see your current FPs would have been a much better solution. The rules could have stayed the same as they were with paper tickets and with decades of very proven historic use it seems very silly to to an all out replacement. $2B later and we are having expansions and enhancements to the parks outright cancelled or postponed to many years due to it. When will a return of investment be seen? Only those within the financial management of WDW really knows that. Personally, if I were one of the four park VPs I'd be raising some holy hell about this system.

Also, the majority of the hotels already had RFID based door locks prior to MB. It is highly likely that all guests staying at a Disney hotel will be obtaining Disney RFID based park passes... A white board, a few dry erase markers and it doesn't take Wernher von Braun to connect the dots.

Keep in mind it cost just over $1B to build Animal Kingdom. Think about that when thinking of this MyMagic BS.

While traveling in Germany, I found most hotels were outfitted with RFID keycard room keys.

 

[John]

Unfortunately, that is how I see the world moving forward, in my opinion. And I truly was only giving my opinion from my family's own point of view. I don't always speak for everyone when I give a viewpoint.

Do I think this will be troublesome for other families/people? Absolutely. Big sweeping changes are always difficult because there are always people left out. But don't include all grandparents in your declaration above. I know some that text, have Facebook pages, etc.

But, I truly believe that technology will continue to become more a part of everything that we do. And I believe that that the majority of people in the future, young AND old, will be savvy enough to use it. Each generation becomes more technically literate. To me, your argument is similar to those that at one time expressed issues with radios, TVs, cars and home computers.

All excellent points......but then we are admitting there will be casualties. Some excluded and that was my point. Some how there shouldn't be. I don't know what the answer is, but given the fact that people spend so much money there should be something for every one. I agree us Dinosaurs will die off. I am a grand parent...have a smart phone, Fb page. I am also not typing this on a IBM Selectric either ( you might be to young to remember these, but I am sure some members will).

 

[RSoxNo1]

This is the option that is most intriguing to me, but I still think reducing the number of Fastpass+ reservations to 2 or 1 should happen in conjunction. With this, would also remove same day availability at attractions that don't really need Fastpass+ as well.

 

[Clamman73]

Right off the bat, with the assumption "Guests would be able to make fastpass+ selections in more than one park per day" says (I'm assuming) they are losing out on added revenue from park hopper tickets - people might or might not use their park hopper ticket during each day, but Disney gets the revenue whether they do or not.

Being able to make another Fastpass selection either after a certain time, or after using the first one still benefits someone like me who will try to maximize their Fastpass selections and want to get my biggest bang for the buck while in the Park - kinda like paper Fastpasses. Some other percentage will not bother.

 

[lebeau]

From the survey, the revolving fast pass is a continuous extra fast pass you get after the third. Each time you use the 4th FP+, you get another selection if you choose.
For those asking about kiosks, the survey said to assume everyone could use their smartphone or tablet to make choices.[/QUOTE]

That's a mighty big assumption.

 

[doctornick]

That's a mighty big assumption.

I think when they are saying "could" they mean that all people would be able to use the MM+ app or website. Currently, on resort guests (and APs maybe) can use it, while day guests have to use a kiosk even if they have a smartphone or tablet with them. For the purposes of the survey, it is assuming that day guests would be able to access the app/website to book/change FP+ -- obviously, that is going to depen on whether one has a device to use, but that is true with resort guests as well.

 

[lebeau]

I think when they are saying "could" they mean that all people would be able to use the MM+ app or website. Currently, on resort guests (and APs maybe) can use it, while day guests have to use a kiosk even if they have a smartphone or tablet with them. For the purposes of the survey, it is assuming that day guests would be able to access the app/website to book/change FP+ -- obviously, that is going to depen on whether one has a device to use, but that is true with resort guests as well.

Thanks for clarifying.

The reliance on a device rankles. I have a smart phone. It doesn't run the Disney app. But even if it did, it's the last thing I want to deal with on vacation.

 

[dstrawn9889]

ok, let me get his bit off of my chest. the people who are rankled about not being able to reserve rides at other parks during the day(hopping), seems to be under the impression that this programming should be easy based on the legacy system. the new system does not work like the old system in the background. legacy pulled vacancy slots from a bucket. each ride with fp had a 'bucket' with a number available in each time slot. no problem hopping and getting fp because it was self contained and separate from other things going on in the park. this new system is more complex because of what the system could actually do.(IMHO here guys) this system in its current form can help crowd control by opening and closing availability on command.(to move people around the park and not clogging a certain section.) this system is more like 'control' dispatching a random parade to lure people from an overcrowded land to another. NOW as opposed to legacy hopping... the way the new system works, it can predict and control guest count in a single park, because that is what they want it to do. each park is running independently of the others. i believe that in the beginning stages they were going to run it as all-in (all four parks running together) but that was putting too much stress on the systems and all kinds of errors were popping up, and had to break it down to separate parks to function normally. once they get a good baseline on peak times and what the max load can be per park, then they will start to consolidate the parks back into a single system, thereby allowing you to pick from all buckets, pulling an early EE, then to space and then a late TT. they likely underestimated the processing power needed to roll it out resort wide to begin with. HENCE the continued moniker 'NOW TESTING' JM2C, though

 

[mouse_luv]

 

[DManRightHere]

Disney, this isn't hard... 4 FPs, any and all parks, no tiers.

Done. I just saved you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I like this idea, and I think at least part of it will happen. Disney is doing this in baby steps (makes sense). The tier may have to stay for lack of attractions, especially epcot. But for the park hoppers it would be great!

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

ok, let me get his bit off of my chest. the people who are rankled about not being able to reserve rides at other parks during the day(hopping), seems to be under the impression that this programming should be easy based on the legacy system. the new system does not work like the old system in the background. legacy pulled vacancy slots from a bucket. each ride with fp had a 'bucket' with a number available in each time slot. no problem hopping and getting fp because it was self contained and separate from other things going on in the park. this new system is more complex because of what the system could actually do.(IMHO here guys) this system in its current form can help crowd control by opening and closing availability on command.(to move people around the park and not clogging a certain section.) this system is more like 'control' dispatching a random parade to lure people from an overcrowded land to another. NOW as opposed to legacy hopping... the way the new system works, it can predict and control guest count in a single park, because that is what they want it to do. each park is running independently of the others. i believe that in the beginning stages they were going to run it as all-in (all four parks running together) but that was putting too much stress on the systems and all kinds of errors were popping up, and had to break it down to separate parks to function normally. once they get a good baseline on peak times and what the max load can be per park, then they will start to consolidate the parks back into a single system, thereby allowing you to pick from all buckets, pulling an early EE, then to space and then a late TT. they likely underestimated the processing power needed to roll it out resort wide to begin with. HENCE the continued moniker 'NOW TESTING' JM2C, though

So in short its pure magical cause now you have to do what Disney wants rather than what you want, but its only short term cause they got the fundamentals wrong but will no doubt work it out. I'm convinced.