PHOTOS - Retail MagicBands take prominent position in Walt Disney World shops

Virtual Toad

Well-Known Member
This is the most absurd and mystifying thing I've seen (lately)!

Why on earth would ANYONE want to actually purchase one of these, other than the mistaken perception that your $13 will buy you front of the line access?!

I can see a lot of guests thinking that's exactly what they're purchasing. I also bet many guests will think purchasing the bands is a requirement for participating in FP+, which it clearly is not. Aren't all ticket media RFID-enabled at this point? Is Disney even trying to make this clear to the average guest?

This smacks of borderline-deceptive sales practices, not to mention desperation within the halls of TDO. Is management so afraid of not showing good ROI on the bands that they've willingly sunk to the level of snake-oil salesmen?

Not to mention the very real (and totally unnecessary) environmental impact of all these things (batteries included) ending up in our landfills.

Look, I enjoyed using the iPhone app and FP+ on our visit last week, so I'm willing to give DisCo credit where credit is due. But this just seems idiotic on multiple levels.
 

rct247

Well-Known Member
While it is all purely evil marketing at it's best, the thing that bothers me the most is that the Cast Members have currently been left in the dust. Cast have to pay for theirs. Cast can't connect their tickets to these yet. Cast can't even prebook Fastpasses yet. Only if they are staying at a resort and/or have purchased tickets.
 

Andrew C

You know what's funny?
While it is all purely evil marketing at it's best, the thing that bothers me the most is that the Cast Members have currently been left in the dust. Cast have to pay for theirs. Cast can't connect their tickets to these yet. Cast can't even prebook Fastpasses yet. Only if they are staying at a resort and/or have purchased tickets.

They are working on something for CM's.
 

note2001

Well-Known Member
Call me silly, but I was under the impression all pass media was eventually going to go away and be replaced by these beautiful tiffany-like creations. Was I alone on that boat?
 

BigTxEars

Well-Known Member
I can see if someone does not want to buy one, but why all the lack of understand and outright insults to those who do? It's WDW, folks want to go and enjoy themselves, if buying a MB makes then happy for whatever reason then that's a win for both WDW and the guest. Why buy ears? Or a shirt? They do nothing to increase the enjoyment of the visit do they? Oh wait that's right for some they do. The MBs are the same. Heck for the price of a MB you can't really even buy two Disney pins hardly.
 

BigTxEars

Well-Known Member
Getting people to, in effect, pay for their own admission media. Walt weeps.

That's entirely untrue. They have admission media when they buy a ticket included. They do not need to buy a MB to use their admission. Was the lanyard and card holders they sold for years as a option making them buy their own admission media? No they were not. The MBs are the same, it's a option you can choose to buy or not to buy.
 

Next Big Thing

Well-Known Member
I'm also wondering if guests will think that purchasing a magicband automatically gives them access to all the fp lines. Just walk right up, not knowing they need a fp, get denied, get upset with the cm that they purchased the magicband but are not allowed in the fp line.
Unfortunately, that's why Disney is going to sell a ton of these. Confusion. People don't know what they're buying, but they know that they want one and they have an idea in their heads of what it will get them as far as perks go.
 

disney4life2008

Well-Known Member
The advantage for an offsite guest would be that they no longer need to be concerned about pulling a card out to enter the park, PhotoPass or to use FastPass+. The MagicBand will also give them access to some of the attraction NextGen features when they come online - the cards cannot do this.
The advantage for an offsite guest would be that they no longer need to be concerned about pulling a card out to enter the park, PhotoPass or to use FastPass+. The MagicBand will also give them access to some of the attraction NextGen features when they come online - the cards cannot do this.


Still not sold. But I know regardless people will buy into it.
 

BwanaBob

Well-Known Member
That's quite a photo of the tremendous amount of display cases taken up by the MB's at the Emporium. Just curious what products or merchandise were displaced? It would be interesting to see a before and after shot. Seems like overkill to me. A simple carousel display would have been so much classier. :)

The area you see in this picture is completely behind registers.
There are 5 registers in this section of the Emporium... located in what is called "zone 1" right as you enter near the Car Barn/Firehouse entrance. It is usually filled with what is known as "Purchase With Purchase" merchandise (those tote bags and blankets you can purchase after spending $40 or more...) There was no loss of retail space...

It was also put here for several reasons: Right up front as you enter to get the guests as soon as they enter; behind the bank of registers where limited edition items are usually sold (Sorcerer cards, pins, etc); and least amount of disturbed shelf space, dedicated registers and CM's who know how to activate to keep it moving.

That's what bothers me about this, this isn't necessary at all. I worked WDW merchandise and all stores have at least one designated stocker (and Emporium has several) whose permanent job is to refresh shelves with new merchandise as guests buy them. "Running out on the shelves" is very rarely an issue; even the smallest of shelves with extremely high demand product will be continuously refreshed at a rate faster than guests can buy it. If Disney did this, it has nothing to do with ensuring supply and everything to do with the visual power of the display - which is disappointing because it means they truly have traded the intimate shelves of a turn of the century shop for further enforcing the arrival of MyMagic+.

Very true about the stockers.

Yup. Certain retail counters, such as the emporium and Mouse Gear, already get long lines. I realize they want the most exposure for these to get them into the hands of Park-goers, but there has to be a better location.

Not really. You would be surprised how many different places have been tried for new-release merch and it STILL gets lost (Oswald, Glow with the Show, Sorcerer cards, Frozen...(all movie merch for that matter)
 

BwanaBob

Well-Known Member
Also forgot to mention...

The first generation of bands did not have batteries. Getting the Mickey Orbs to light-up and recognize was difficult at best. It went back to the design team to incorporate the batteries to widen the 'signal field' so it could be picked-up easier. A LOT of negative feedback early-on said bands would not/could not be read. Main reason for the batteries... to give the RFID a 'boost' so sensors can more easily read the signal/response.
 

StageFrenzy

Well-Known Member
Not really. You would be surprised how many different places have been tried for new-release merch and it STILL gets lost (Oswald, Glow with the Show, Sorcerer cards, Frozen...(all movie merch for that matter)

Is it because just about all locations have the same merch? Thanks for some detail on the merch ops.
 

llrain

Well-Known Member
What I wouldn't give to be in these shoes right now and not have to use one of these bands.

While it is all purely evil marketing at it's best, the thing that bothers me the most is that the Cast Members have currently been left in the dust. Cast have to pay for theirs. Cast can't connect their tickets to these yet. Cast can't even prebook Fastpasses yet. Only if they are staying at a resort and/or have purchased tickets.
 

englanddg

One Little Spark...
Also forgot to mention...

The first generation of bands did not have batteries. Getting the Mickey Orbs to light-up and recognize was difficult at best. It went back to the design team to incorporate the batteries to widen the 'signal field' so it could be picked-up easier. A LOT of negative feedback early-on said bands would not/could not be read. Main reason for the batteries... to give the RFID a 'boost' so sensors can more easily read the signal/response.
Odd.

The FCC Filing (which would have been required before rolling out in the parks for any large scale testing, and indeed, was filed in October 2012) clearly shows that it is powered by a coin cell battery.

Which would imply (no, actually, require) that the units always had a battery before any wide scale public testing. The battery is for powering the active radio chip MB-R1G1 (yep, those numbers on the back of the Magicband).

I should clarify, for those unfamiliar with the terms "Active RFID" and "Passive RFID", there are some important distinctions.

Active RFID is battery operated, and requires very low signal strength with the reader station to connect. As a result, it has a very long communication range (around 100 meters or even more, given conditions). It has a much larger data capacity (128 kilobits). It is more expensive then Passive RFID per chip, but cheaper per reader (interrogator, actually).

Passive RFID has no power of it's own, as all power is supplied by the reader through short range wireless power transmission. As a result, they require high signal strength, and have a limited range (around 3 meters or less, given conditions). They have less data capacity (128 bits), but they are pretty darned cheap. However, the readers are more expensive since they are more intensive, and the readers generally will require either strong battery, or some external DC power source.

So, the Magicband has a coin cell powered Active RFID chip. This is the chip that interfaces at 2.4 Ghz with the long range xConnect xBR units (3 versions filed for those, v3.0, v3.2 and v4.0. These are the units that will interface with the Active RFID chip, and will be used to track guests, among other things.

3.0


3.2


4.0


The filing from 2012 clearly indicates that the battery is to power the radio transmitter for the active RFID functions, which is to be expected, as that's how Active RFID works. For the band, this requires FCC 15C compliance ("Low Power, Non-Licensed Transmitters").

However, the kiosk / stanchion installations use the Synapse xTP reader. It connects to the passive RFID chips in the MagicBand (there are two, one UHF and one HF, both passive as indicated in the FCC filing). The Payment pin pads use the Synapse xPD-R1G1.

Both of these readers, rather then using external antennae, have a long internal coil antenna assembly. The chips they read in the MagicBand are passive RFID, and require compliance only with FCC 15B. If they were to add a battery to the MagicBand to power these chips, then it would no longer be passive RFID, but active, and would require recertification by the FCC.

In the xTP reader, the antenna is located in the Mickey Globe.





In the xPD it is located behind the Mickey face. You can see the antenna is the green piece in the upper right hand corner of this disassembly.



The "touch" systems all use this Passive RFID system.

One more item to clear up (which has nothing to do with the original comment), but this comes up a lot. No personal information (outside of the name you chose to have printed on the outside of your band) is actually stored on the band or any of the readers.

The readers interface through a private network (hard lined ethernet, just like your home cable modem to your computer or Xbox) to servers which host the databases that house your information. The RFID chips (Active or Passive) merely have a UID (Unique Identification Number). The format, I'm not aware of, but it's probably some long string of what looks like gibberish. 6F9619FF-8B86-D011-B42D-00C04FC964FF, or something like that. Each chip will have it's own number, so you'll have 2-3 from your band.

Then that UID will be associated with your band ID. Then the band ID will be associated with your profile ID.

Anyhow, this isn't gibberish. It's the ID of the transmitter, which then associates to the band and then your profile. All on back end servers. So, it's NOT YOU. However, somewhere in the database will be a table that then connects the ID of the band to another UID which is associated with you as a person. This ID is most likely generated when you set someone up in MDE, and then when you "link" the band, you are linking the UID of your band to your UID profile.

This is actually MORE secure then you would imagine. The ability to "unlink" the media (be it the band or a plastic KTTW card) is an excellent design feature.

Anyhow, the point is, people can't get your information off the band. It's not on the band. At the absolute most (and I doubt this) they have your name stored on the band, but I doubt that...as it's really not required for the system as they have it set up.

So, there ya go. More then you ever wanted to know. :p
 
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Skippy's Pal

Well-Known Member
That's entirely untrue. They have admission media when they buy a ticket included. They do not need to buy a MB to use their admission. Was the lanyard and card holders they sold for years as a option making them buy their own admission media? No they were not. The MBs are the same, it's a option you can choose to buy or not to buy.


Except that the lanyard and card holder were never used for admission. The MB's are. I never said that the purchase of the MB was mandatory, but once it IS bought, people have then paid for that which they use for admission. To me, that sounds like paying for one's admission media.
 

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