Phasing out paper tickets

[Disstevefan1]

I guess it's not just Disney doing this (I never got a paper Universal ticket when I bought tickets from Undercover Tourist in 2021), and it's perhaps not as essential now that it's not being inserted into a FP machine, but still.

If I'm paying over $100 I feel like the least you could do is give me a physical ticket. They were fun little keepsakes too.

Rumor has it they will begin selling souvenir paper tickets in the gift shops.

 

[_caleb]

This thread has convinced me that I am one of the few members posting here that isn’t working from a Russian troll farm.

 

[Consumer]

This thread has convinced me that I am one of the few members posting here that isn’t working from a Russian troll farm.

Over the falls! Over the falls!

 

[CaptinEO]

Hmm....

Send them an email with the link to the video with clear instructions on how to click on the link.
Or if that doesn't work, sit them down in front of a computer and open the video for them and ask them to watch and follow along with their own device.

Honestly having worked with many older generations over the years providing Tech assistance its really not that hard to teach them how to do something on a computer. If I can teach my 97 year old grandmother before she died how to access and open a Youtube video I'm pretty sure a company like truecoat's can do the same for someone in their 60s or 70s.

As my family and neighborhood's tech support I wish I could say the same. Some people just don't get this stuff. That's OK but these people are more common than we think.

To even get into a Disney Park these days would be such a massive hurdle. You have to hope they have a smart phone, make them create a Disney account, have them buy tickets, then reserve a day. Then make sure to open the app and navigate the menus on the phone to show the tickets.

It will be super confusing for most people who aren't technical I imagine.

I feel bad for non tech savvy seniors looking to visit Disneyland.

Phones/Apps should be supplemental to visiting Disneyland, not the only be all end all method.

 

[DrAlice]

All this discussion about tech savvy vs. not.... Is it too much to ask for Disney to just make it EASY for their guests to spend money and enjoy their park? Honestly it should just be: Here's my money, now let me in. Period. If you want to have an express line (like at airports) for Magic Keys, frequent visitors, or people on subsequent days of a mulit-day ticket, fine. But jeez, just let the infrequent day guest get in the parks without hassle.

*goes back to yelling at clouds and telling those darn kids to get off my lawn*

 

[Disney Irish]

As my family and neighborhood's tech support I wish I could say the same. Some people just don't get this stuff. That's OK but these people are more common than we think.

Well you know what they say, a bad teacher blames their student....

It will be super confusing for most people who aren't technical I imagine.

And that is why I have to imagine that a few ticket booths will remain for those type of people.

I feel bad for non tech savvy seniors looking to visit Disneyland.

Luckily these days its probably safe to assume that those type of seniors are now becoming few and far between, and will continue to dwindle down as time goes on.

Phones/Apps should be supplemental to visiting Disneyland, not the only be all end all method.

We live in a technologically advancing world, there is no avoiding it. Just like there are still people that use VCRs, there are some people that don't or won't use a Smart Phones even though as of 2021 85% of all Americans own a Smart Phone. So Disney can't make long term business decisions based on the remaining 15% of people that don't use a Smart Phone just because they "may" visit Disneyland, or even the 3% that don't use a mobile device at all.

The world moves on, and Disney has to move with it, no matter how some may feel about it.

 

[Disstevefan1]

This thread has convinced me that I am one of the few members posting here that isn’t working from a Russian troll farm.

You say you are not working from a Russian troll farm.... Hmm... I am suspicions.... JK! I do not want a Russion troll mad at me!

 

[CaptinEO]

Well you know what they say, a bad teacher blames their student....


And that is why I have to imagine that a few ticket booths will remain for those type of people.


Luckily these days its probably safe to assume that those type of seniors are now becoming few and far between, and will continue to dwindle down as time goes on.


We live in a technologically advancing world, there is no avoiding it. Just like there are still people that use VCRs, there are some people that don't or won't use a Smart Phones even though as of 2021 85% of all Americans own a Smart Phone. So Disney can't make long term business decisions based on the remaining 15% of people that don't use a Smart Phone just because they "may" visit Disneyland, or even the 3% that don't use a mobile device at all.

The world moves on, and Disney has to move with it, no matter how some may feel about it.

Pretty evil of you to wish for non tech savvy people to dwindle and die out.

Also people like me doing their technical support because I'm patient and understanding and see things from their perspective.

God forbid some dramatic shift doesnt confuse you when you're older. I work in tech but would hope when I'm a senior someone would have mercy on me not understanding the current new thing.

Just this week I bought tickets and made DL reservations on behalf of family members. It was easier than even trying to explain it.

 

[Disney Irish]

Pretty evil of you to wish for non tech savvy people to dwindle and die out.

Its not evil, its just pragmatic.

Also people like me doing their technical support because I'm patient and understanding and see things from their perspective.

God forbid some dramatic shift doesnt confuse you when you're older. I work in tech but would hope when I'm a senior someone would have mercy on me not understanding the current new thing.

By the time you get to be a senior I'm sure we'll be moving beyond Smart Phones anyways. So it won't be an issue.

Just this week I bought tickets and made DL reservations on behalf of family members. It was easier than even trying to explain it.

And I'm sure that makes you an all-star to your family. Just like I'm sure there are many family members out there doing the same thing for all their non-tech savvy family.

Disney is a business, it doesn't do things in a vacuum. The entire world is moving in this direction, so Disney has to move with it.

 

[CaptinEO]

Its not evil, its just pragmatic.


By the time you get to be a senior I'm sure we'll be moving beyond Smart Phones anyways. So it won't be an issue.


And I'm sure that makes you an all-star to your family. Just like I'm sure there are many family members out there doing the same thing for all their non-tech savvy family.

Disney is a business, it doesn't do things in a vacuum. The entire world is moving in this direction, so Disney has to move with it.

It's evil when you say "Luckily" as you did. You feel lucky that people that aren't on your same technical level are dying.

I don't know if Disney is making the right choice though in how they use technology. So far its a battery draining app that is unreliable with a bad UI. In many cases it requires unnecessary usage of a phone for no benefit.

Having tickets, wait times, photos, and reservations on a phone is a great use of the technology. Some stuff like mobile order or mobile checkout is a good idea but is poor in execution, especially when they reduce staff as a result of it.

I had better experiences in quick service restaurants pre mobile order.

Genie+ IMO requires too much using and refreshing of your phone to make plans.

Dining Reservations are so bad and unreliable with the app that many sites offer paid services to help you get a reservation.

The park reservation system at this point is complicated for old timers and is used by the company to understaff as much as possible, and the guest experience is still miserable. I don't see the benefit.

As the "planner" when I go with family or with my wife I have to be the one always on my phone. It usually dies by 4pm and we need to switch to someone else's.

The phone only tickets is terrible for this alone. How are they going to help you out if your phone dies? Will they keep a database of every name and ticket holder that entered the park each day?

Even if they did there would be strict privacy rules for how to securely store and access that information.

What if your relatives phone tries to send you an authentication code to your dead phone to log in?

It just is asking for trouble in my opinion.

Disney isn't trying to move with technology as much as they are trying to aggressively find ways to cost cut, be it in staffing or printing tickets. I don't see either being beneficial to the guest experience.

 

[Disney Irish]

It's evil when you say "Luckily" as you did. You feel lucky that people that aren't on your same technical level are dying.

Again not evil, pragmatic. I'm speak about this from a business perspective not as an overall wish for the older generation. If it was my choice everyone would live forever, but I know that is not possible.

I don't know if Disney is making the right choice though in how they use technology. So far its a battery draining app that is unreliable with a bad UI. In many cases it requires unnecessary usage of a phone for no benefit.

Having tickets, wait times, photos, and reservations on a phone is a great use of the technology. Some stuff like mobile order or mobile checkout is a good idea but is poor in execution, especially when they reduce staff as a result of it.

I had better experiences in quick service restaurants pre mobile order.

Genie+ IMO requires too much using and refreshing of your phone to make plans.

The reservation system at this point is complicated for old timers and is used by the company to understaff as much as possible, and the guest experience is still miserable. I don't see the benefit.

As I said Disney doesn't live in a vacuum. Large scale venues all over the world are moving in the same direction as Disney. Again using the example of the NFL, go to an NFL game these days and you'll have the same requirement of using an app for entry as you do at Disney. And yet I don't hear many complaints about older NFL fans not being able to go to an NFL game. Guess older NFL fans are just more tech savvy than Disneyland guests.

 

[Disney Irish]

As the "planner" when I go with family or with my wife I have to be the one always on my phone. It usually dies by 4pm and we need to switch to someone else's.

Might I suggest either getting a Fuelrod, I hear they are still sold at Disneyland. Or if you want to get one before hand there are many inexpensive very small options you can get on Amazon to keep your phone charged.

The phone only tickets is terrible for this alone. How are they going to help you out if your phone dies? Will they keep a database of every name and ticket holder that entered the park each day?

Even if they did there would be strict privacy rules for how to securely store and access that information.

What if your relatives phone tries to send you an authentication code to your dead phone to log in?

It just is asking for trouble in my opinion.

Your reservation as well as the names of each guest are tied to the ticket. Guest Services can pull up your reservation/ticket and provide you assistance.

Also as has been pointed now many times you have many options instead of using your phone for entry, including still being able to get a paper ticket from a ticket booth if you want and now also being able to using a MB+. The only thing that really changed so far is Disney isn't using the paper ticket as a default now.

Disney isn't trying to move with technology as much as they are trying to aggressively find ways to cost cut, be it in staffing or printing tickets. I don't see either being beneficial to the guest experience.

This is no different than any other business, again Disney doesn't live in a vacuum. And Disney is far from the only entertainment venue doing this.

Whether you see a benefit or not, well YMMV.

 

[PiratesMansion]

@CaptinEO is right, it's too much tech and complications for more people than some here (and at Disney) seem to realize.

People don't associate theme parks as places where they need to use a lot of tech to make decisions period, let alone just get into the place.

Adding to this issue, Disney's current apps are anything but intuitive or user friendly.

Disney used to be experts at a frictionless experience; now they're piling friction on like toppings at an ice cream sundae bar. I find the parks less user friendly than they should be, and I go more frequently than many others. So I can't blame infrequent visitors or people who aren't tech savvy for being overwhelmed, especially when it is Disney that is the primary reason these problems exist.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be ANY tech or app use, but they are creating unnecessary frustrations and friction by essentially forcing people to use tech to do almost anything at the parks.

 

[Disney Irish]

@CaptinEO is right, it's too much tech and complications for more people than some here (and at Disney) seem to realize.

People don't associate theme parks as places where they need to use a lot of tech to make decisions period, let alone just get into the place.

Adding to this issue, Disney's current apps are anything but intuitive or user friendly.

Disney used to be experts at a frictionless experience; now they're piling friction on like toppings at an ice cream sundae bar. I find the parks less user friendly than they should be, and I go more frequently than many others. So I can't blame infrequent visitors or people who aren't tech savvy for being overwhelmed, especially when it is Disney that is the primary reason these problems exist.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be ANY tech or app use, but they are creating unnecessary frustrations and friction by essentially forcing people to use tech to do almost anything at the parks.

I have a question, given the requirement to use an app, do you have an example of an app used for venue entry that you would consider to be the "premier" experience that Disney should try to emulate with their app?

I just want to know what one would consider the ideal experience when using an app-based entry.

 

[_caleb]

Luckily these days its probably safe to assume that those type of seniors are now becoming few and far between, and will continue to dwindle down as time goes on.

At first I was like, "Yeah, because the tech is getting easier to use and old people are learning how to use it."

And then

Pretty evil of you to wish for non tech savvy people to dwindle and die out.

And I was like, "No, they didn't mean it that way. They meant that the tech is getting easier to use and older people are learning how to use it."

And then

Its not evil, its just pragmatic.

And

I'm speak about this from a business perspective not as an overall wish for the older generation. If it was my choice everyone would live forever, but I know that is not possible.

So noe I'm like, "Oh, he DID mean it that way."

Yikes.

 

[Californian Elitist]

After having just come back from the parks, I’m in the “all this reliance on tech is annoying AF” camp.

 

[Disney Irish]

At first I was like, "Yeah, because the tech is getting easier to use and old people are learning how to use it."

And then

And I was like, "No, they didn't mean it that way. They meant that the tech is getting easier to use and older people are learning how to use it."

And then

And


So noe I'm like, "Oh, he DID mean it that way."

Yikes.

Realistically I mean both, but you're always going to have a small group that just isn't going to learn the technology no matter how easy you make it. So when thinking about things from purely the business side with no emotion you can't hamper business decisions (or at least a mega global media conglomerate shouldn't) based on a small non-tech savvy group that may make up less than 5% of the primary US consumer that Disney goes after. 95% of all adults between 18-49 (primary US consumer) have Smart Phones. This is the primary consumer that Disney is trying to attract into the Parks. That is not to say they don't want all consumers of any age, but just like all businesses they try to attract that specific demographic.

I understand that some are adverse or have a deep hatred for the use of technology in the Parks. But again just speaking from a pure business minded perspective I understand why Disney is moving in this direction. Fast forward 10-15 years (which goes by quick) and there will be very few (less than 1% by some estimates I've seen) of the worlds developed population that won't have a Smart Device of some kind.

 

[_caleb]

Realistically I mean both, but you're always going to have a small group that just isn't going to learn the technology no matter how easy you make it. So when thinking about things from purely the business side with no emotion you can't hamper business decisions (or at least a mega global media conglomerate shouldn't) based on a small non-tech savvy group that may make up less than 5% of the primary US consumer that Disney goes after. 95% of all adults between 18-49 (primary US consumer) have Smart Phones. This is the primary consumer that Disney is trying to attract into the Parks. That is not to say they don't want all consumers of any age, but just like all businesses they try to attract that specific demographic.

I understand that some are adverse or have a deep hatred for the use of technology in the Parks. But again just speaking from a pure business minded perspective I understand why Disney is moving in this direction. Fast forward 10-15 years (which goes by quick) and there will be very few (less than 1% by some estimates I've seen) of the worlds developed population that won't have a Smart Device of some kind.

This is what people said when Disneyland started adding disability access to the parks (before ADA). "Why are you going to all the time/trouble/expense for such a small percentage of guests?! The vast majority of us don't need that stuff!"

It might not make much "business sense" for Disney to keep accessibility features like printed tickets or app-less reservations, but even as concessions, it's good service that doesn't leave older/disabled/low-tech folks out.

I love technology. I'm a huge fan of MDE/Disneyland apps and the functionality they provide–when they work correctly (and let's be honest, they don't always work correctly). When these are done well, even the less-tech-savvy can use them intuitively. But paper tickets and a human answering the telephone are just good service, which is good business.

BTW, do you know who often has a lot of money to spend? A good portion of the older audience!

 

[Disney Irish]

This is what people said when Disneyland started adding disability access to the parks (before ADA). "Why are you going to all the time/trouble/expense for such a small percentage of guests?! The vast majority of us don't need that stuff!"

It might not make much "business sense" for Disney to keep accessibility features like printed tickets or app-less reservations, but even as concessions, it's good service that doesn't leave older/disabled/low-tech folks out.

I love technology. I'm a huge fan of MDE/Disneyland apps and the functionality they provide–when they work correctly (and let's be honest, they don't always work correctly). When these are done well, even the less-tech-savvy can use them intuitively. But paper tickets and a human answering the telephone are just good service, which is good business.

BTW, do you know who often has a lot of money to spend? A good portion of the older audience!

Well there were legal reasons why programs like DAC got setup (even before ADA). So that isn't a good example.

And while you're correct that the older audience does have disposable income that still isn't Disney's primary audience. And Disneyland is probably not on the top of the list for vacation spots for those older audiences. And even the older audiences that do go to Disneyland, I would suspect a vast majority of those visits are by younger families being the primary purchasers that include the older audience as part of the ticket purchase rather than the older audience being the primary ticket purchasers themselves.

And again Disney is not in a vacuum here. They are far from the only entertainment venue moving to app only for tickets, again I gave the example of the NFL which has gone full app only for tickets.

 

[Phroobar]

As my family and neighborhood's tech support I wish I could say the same. Some people just don't get this stuff. That's OK but these people are more common than we think.

To even get into a Disney Park these days would be such a massive hurdle. You have to hope they have a smart phone, make them create a Disney account, have them buy tickets, then reserve a day. Then make sure to open the app and navigate the menus on the phone to show the tickets.

It will be super confusing for most people who aren't technical I imagine.

I feel bad for non tech savvy seniors looking to visit Disneyland.

Phones/Apps should be supplemental to visiting Disneyland, not the only be all end all method.

You should try to get on a Disney Cruise. You wouldn't believe the crap they made me fill out for check in. I had to upload birth certificates, passports, immunization cards and fill out tons of web site forms that crash. They made me get the cruise app that mostly just shoots you to a poorly designed web pages. Then they deny immunization cards because they think the year is '81 instead of '21 on one immunization card. They even denied my son's passport because the picture didn't look like him. The passport was from three years ago when he was 12. He's 15 now and he is bigger and teenage uglier now. There is no help line available. To top it off, you have to bring all of these documents you uploaded with you so they can look at it in person!!!

Disney doesn't make anything easy.