I just don't think anyone in the company anticipated the bracelets themselves prompting such a negative response. I think they may truly have seen the MagicBand as a cool convenience factor for guests. I just don't think they thought through the symbolic angle and this has taken them totally by surprise.
This might well be true. However, the kind of negative reaction that Disney is receiving from both its fanbase and from individuals in the government can't have been unforeseeable, given the substantial number of thorny issues on which MyMagic+ obviously touches.
If you're a company that's going to be investing well over $1 billion on an initiative like this -- one that will be scrutinized heavily by the public long before it's operational -- you need to have very carefully considered all of the potential consequences, including the symbolic angle, before you take the first step.
Failing to predict that a blatantly obvious datamining scheme might be met with widespread hostility demonstrates an appalling lack of judgment at a very high level within the company. It's an astonishing blunder that's almost as indefensible -- from a corporate governance standpoint -- as anticipating such consequences, yet plowing ahead anyway because you're certain that your company's deep pockets and residual good name are enough overcome any resistance.
Even putting aside potential privacy concerns, however, the MyMagic+/MagicBand initiative is still an incredibly poor investment, given its astronomical costs and risks. Although having all of your information in one location
is pretty convenient, there are vanishingly few prospective guests who would value "convenience" over an exciting new E-ticket attraction.
You just can't market a plastic wristband in the same way you can a Radiator Springs Racers or a Forbidden Journey; virtually no one is going to choose to visit one theme park over another solely, or even primarily, because it has a more convenient ticketing/reservation/payment scheme. Such a system might work if it's relatively inexpensive,
and is seen as a supplement to an exciting new attraction, rather than as the main event -- but MyMagic+ is none of those things.
Considering the number of potential pitfalls that had to have been reasonably predictable, any failure to anticipate the negative response that MyMagic+ has in fact received is evidence of shortsightedness at best, and overweening arrogance at worst.
