Soarin' Over Pgh
Well-Known Member
*cough*
Ohh. Please give us something to chew on. PLEASE.
All of this Magic Band talk is DEPRESSING. It's never taken me this long to read through the forum. (ie, all day vs. an hour)
*cough*
What surprised me the most during my recent WDW visit was going bandless had 0 effect on my vacation.
As I recall, there is one meet-and-greet that is MagicBand-only. That's it. My family is long past the age of caring about meet-and-greets.
Otherwise, I'm hard pressed to think of any reason to wear the things at this time.
Just watching people use them, it was obvious they often had to go through all sorts of contortions to get them to line up. Call me old fashioned but it felt much more natural reaching into my (RFID blocking ) wallet and pulling out my family's 6 cards, just like I've done for years.
It also was obvious that many didn't work; something about them not "keyed in". CMs in Guest Relations seemed to be able to solve the issue at their terminals so it wasn't a physical problem with the bands. What's going on? Disney shipped these things to people's homes. What's wrong with Disney's process that they can't get these entered into the database correctly?
At FP+ entrances, there sometimes seemed to be problems with one or two in a group. So, it wasn't as if the party was in the wrong place at the wrong time because it would work (for example) for 3 out of 4 family members.
Other times, someone tried it once and it didn't work. And then try it a second or even third time and it worked fine. A network or database glitch fetching data perhaps?
It's rather sad when old paper FP technology is more efficient than the latest wiz-bang.
I realize some might enjoy wearing MagicBands but I frequently observed guests taking them off, rubbing their wrists, kids playing with them (can anyone say "lost band" ), and an occasional band go flying as someone would catch it just right on something. Others didn't wear them at all and would go rifling through their pockets or bags to find them when they needed them.
Some individuals might like MagicBands but IMHO that's a personal preference. They help Disney track individuals but, inherently, MagicBands do nothing to enhance the guest experience. For guests, MagicBands are a marketing gimmick.
Those that weren't using MagicBands seemed to have at least as good of an experience as those with MagicBands.
If they don't fix the problems soon and end this eternal testing phase, MagicBands are going to leave a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.
WDW has additional MagicBand-only enhancements planned but between the technical challenges they pose and the apparent mixed reaction the public has had towards them, it's becoming increasingly difficult to imagine how MagicBands ever financially justify their investment.
It's too early for corporate to throw in the towel but at some point MagicBands will become good money chasing after bad.
P.S. I've heard that a new MagicBand design is in the works. Looks like feedback on MagicBand version 1.0 isn't the greatest.
Ohh. Please give us something to chew on. PLEASE.
All of this Magic Band talk is DEPRESSING. It's never taken me this long to read through the forum. (ie, all day vs. an hour)
Did any of you notice rides with photos on them will automatically show up on your profile's photopass even if you didn't use your band to do FP+ for that ride!?!
Give it time. I can't say anymore yet.Ohh. Please give us something to chew on. PLEASE.
All of this Magic Band talk is DEPRESSING. It's never taken me this long to read through the forum. (ie, all day vs. an hour)
I have no idea why you clumped me in with those guys. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. haha
So you joined the insiders club huh?
Apparently. News to me!
Word in the Twitterverse is a JP family coaster could open fall of 2014. Nothing special but would add capacity to the park and a family friendly one at that. I have no idea if that is what marni and wdw1974 are referring to.
I have no idea why you clumped me in with those guys. I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. haha
Anyone who is in the know at Universal can easily tell you that there is a plan to re-build a large portion of Citywalk, change a lot of Wet N Wild, and to build more hotels. That's your "nugget" of info to chew on, but I really don't know how much more I should say yet, since it's not all set in stone.
Ok maybe not, but I like reading your posts. <3
haha
Edit to ask: Is there any true "off peak" season at Disneyland because, in all seriousness, I'd rather go 'back home' to that park than WDW at this point.
Wow, its GlaDOS... I wonder if weathley is still in space.Well thank you!
Hubby and I just got back from a 3-day cross-border Christmas shopping getaway - sans kids.Thoughts on Frozen:
I liked Frozen. I think it's a nice change of pace for a Disney fairy tale having the story center around two sisters instead of the hackneyed hero/villain structure. The use of the paid tag line "Best Disney musical since "The Lion King" was a clear mistake because while I'd say the music is better than Rapunzel the marketing should be able to sell the film on its own merits. Now those merits are strong enough, to a degree. Let It Go is the highlight of the film song wise. It's a great ballad that takes advantage of Idina Menzel's talents and is probably the best Disney song crafted for a specific singer since the Eartha Kitt's cut "Sniff Out The Light" from Kingdom of the Sun/Emperor's New Groove. Other than that the songs work to progress story and introduce characters like Olaf, a character that was derisively called "Snow Mater" at one point who really works well despite clear reservations of some who were quick to judge, but they weren't particularly memorable. That fact alone makes it unlike Lion King where almost every song is memorable.
Having said that, I enjoyed Frozen and I went in with no expectations on purpose so I came away pleased. I look forward to seeing what Jennifer Lee directs/writes next and hope we see more from the Lopez's. Frozen was put together very, very quickly and I would like to think they will really, really get into Lion King/Aladdin/Beauty and the Beast territory the next time Walt Disney Animation does a musical from what they learned working on Frozen.
For some added context, my top films of the year (so far) in alphabetical order
12 Years A Slave
Before Midnight
Blue is the Warmest Color (Not for the kiddies, but try to see this if it is playing near you)
Frances Ha (On Netflix)
Gravity
Iron Man 3
Short Term 12
Wadjda
and maybe...
Frozen
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