I got an email from Disney today saying that 'MyMagic+ is Here". So does this mean that MyMagic+ has been officially rolled out and no longer in testing stage or is it still testing as of now?
Disney's NextGen Initiative
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All I know is im not so thrilled about this system after seeing some pictures on Twitter of some of the lines this week for those kiosks. Rope drop is going to turn into a mad dash to these kiosks now
The number of issues with that statement make my head spin. "Quick lets get in line for the bus to make sure we get there in time to be in line for the opening rope drop. If we aren't there in time the line to schedule our rides is going to be way too long!" :doh:
- Oct 14, 2012
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How fast you get to the kiosks doesn't really matter though. First of all, you have to consider that the only people rushing there will be off-site guests. I know, that's still a lot of people, but when you think about almost everyone at DHS, for example, rushing to TSMM (INCLUDING hotel guests), it's not comparable to the so-called kiosk rush...not only are you dividing the number of people going by a solid number, you've also got to realize that the kiosks are spread out all over the park, so not everyone is running to one single congested ride entrance. The distribution and size are different.
Secondly, getting to the kiosk first thing in the morning really isn't that big of a priority. It's not like the old Fastpass where if the 12 o'clock FP's are used up, you're stuck with a 12:05, and so on. The FP+ distributions are relegated relative to your other reservations. If you want Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain, your return times could be completely different than what they would be if you wanted Pirates, Big Thunder Mountain, and The Little Mermaid.
The other thing to think about is that with your reservations limited to one park per day, park-hopping becomes less feasible. So instead of the mad dash to Toy Story to get a ride squeezed in before noon so you can make it over to Epcot to grab Soarin' FP's, you can take a bit more time considering you'll most likely be in one park for the full day. You walking up to the kiosks at noon and getting an 8 o'clock return time doesn't necessarily interfere with other parkhopping plans like it would have in the past.
We used the system again at MK the other day and still like it a lot. Before, parkhopping was a hassle that was very time consuming. And honestly, I rarely used paper Fastpasses whenever I would park hop, because the return times would often conflict with my plans to leave the park. Let's say my game plan was to hit Animal Kingdom, DHS, Epcot, and MK in one day...well at Animal Kingdom I wouldn't want to wait around for my FP for Everest to be good, and likewise for all the other parks, because I'd be on the move. Basically, on hard-core parkhopping days, we always would wait in the regular or single rider lines. So I can't even really complain that FP+ ruins my ability to park hop because it doesn't really take anything away from me (and I'd assume that, because of the nature of WDW, this is true for most guests). When using FP+ at MK, I experienced quick FP lines, relatively speedy standby queues, and an overall much more relaxing day.
Secondly, getting to the kiosk first thing in the morning really isn't that big of a priority. It's not like the old Fastpass where if the 12 o'clock FP's are used up, you're stuck with a 12:05, and so on. The FP+ distributions are relegated relative to your other reservations. If you want Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain, your return times could be completely different than what they would be if you wanted Pirates, Big Thunder Mountain, and The Little Mermaid.
The other thing to think about is that with your reservations limited to one park per day, park-hopping becomes less feasible. So instead of the mad dash to Toy Story to get a ride squeezed in before noon so you can make it over to Epcot to grab Soarin' FP's, you can take a bit more time considering you'll most likely be in one park for the full day. You walking up to the kiosks at noon and getting an 8 o'clock return time doesn't necessarily interfere with other parkhopping plans like it would have in the past.
We used the system again at MK the other day and still like it a lot. Before, parkhopping was a hassle that was very time consuming. And honestly, I rarely used paper Fastpasses whenever I would park hop, because the return times would often conflict with my plans to leave the park. Let's say my game plan was to hit Animal Kingdom, DHS, Epcot, and MK in one day...well at Animal Kingdom I wouldn't want to wait around for my FP for Everest to be good, and likewise for all the other parks, because I'd be on the move. Basically, on hard-core parkhopping days, we always would wait in the regular or single rider lines. So I can't even really complain that FP+ ruins my ability to park hop because it doesn't really take anything away from me (and I'd assume that, because of the nature of WDW, this is true for most guests). When using FP+ at MK, I experienced quick FP lines, relatively speedy standby queues, and an overall much more relaxing day.
Generally, I agree with you. If you are the type of person who just wants to go with it and likes the added flexibility of being able to change times, getting FP's from the kiosk (or through the app) and just kind of hanging out more, then it is a nice system to do that with.
The system hurts those that were big park hoppers however. Those that would go to DAK in the morning, ride everything (while getting a bunch of FP's along the way), then maybe go back to the hotel and hit up MK at night and grab FPs there. You can't do that with this system. You have to pick a park to use our FPs at for the day and from there you're on your own.
Like I said, I like using it the way you described, but there are many visitors who this system hurts.
- Oct 14, 2012
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I thought about that, but how many Fastpasses could you realistically collect in the past if you were park hopping? On a crowded day when you really NEED Fastpasses to get your favorite rides done, Fastpass return times are usually well into the afternoon by just an hour after opening. And then by the time you use these afternoon Fastpasses and haul yourself over to a different park, then the Fastpasses for that park's big rides are all used up. Maybe there's some special commando way I've been missing out on, but the more I think about it, the less I actually used FP's when I was parkhopping...honestly, I probably averaged less than 3 per day.
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The onsite people wont have to worry about that since they can use the app and reserve in advance. Its the off site guests that will have to deal with this situation and it totally sucks. You ever had to stand behind someone who doesn't know how to operate a Red Box or and ATM? No picture that but double the wait
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The only reason I would go to the kiosk first thing in the AM would be to avoid any of the long lines for them later in the day. How are the kiosk lines later in the day?
- Oct 14, 2012
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The onsite people wont have to worry about that since they can use the app and reserve in advance. Its the off site guests that will have to deal with this situation and it totally sucks. You ever had to stand behind someone who doesn't know how to operate a Red Box or and ATM? No picture that but double the wait
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The only reason I would go to the kiosk first thing in the AM would be to avoid any of the long lines for them later in the day. How are the kiosk lines later in the day?
Ive only been twice since MM+, but the longest Ive seen is about ten (if that) minutes around mid-day. Also, there are CMs stationed at each one to walk the guests though the process...you dont have to worry about people who dont know how to use it clogging up the line.
- Jul 14, 2010
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The other thing to factor in here is those restrictions on using the app should be slowly lifted. They're starting to roll it out to passholders, and hopefully non-resort non-passholders will get access after that. Once it's rolled out it'll be a mad dash months beforehand, but the kiosks won't have nearly that bad of a line.
I got to try Fast Pass + for the first time this week and it isn't terrible, but it's still not as good/easy as the old system. If you go to a kiosk and are nice to the FP+ attendant, they have pretty good control over being able to adjust times for you. I have a friend who works there and he hooked me up with the perfect combination of times for the attractions we wanted so it worked out perfectly, but the other two days I got pretty random times that didn't work so I only ended up using one of the Fast Passes each day. The fact that you HAVE to take three and often one or two of them is a time or attraction that you didn't really want seems like a huge waste of time as well as reservation times that some other guest might be able to use.
- Jul 14, 2010
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I haven't actually used the kiosks, but the app makes it fairly easy to switch the times around and you don't HAVE to take three. So hopefully when that rolls out it will resolve some of the issues you experienced.
The problem right now is people who are day guests or are using cast main gates can't schedule using the app, they have to use the kiosks. When yo go to the kiosk you have to pick three things and then when you do they give you a schedule with 3 variations so you can pick the closest match to what you want (though quite often the options are lousy because hotel guests already snapped up the best times for attractions).
Let's see...just how surprised am I by this...
This might just go down as one of the biggest IT investment boondoggles in corporate America, or even the world, and I can't help but laugh, because a bunch of people knew it was coming and not a bit of attention was paid to them.
No... not even close. A SAP implementation almost shut down Hershey
Seriously, way worse projects have been attempted at large companies and have failed. This is nothing new to someone like me who works in the IT world. The only issue is since it is so public, people that don't normally see this clusterf*** are seeing it.This was on the 21st, the day after a holiday. MK is ALWAYS packed the weekend of a holiday because locals and even some people far away (my cousin was in that weekend) allow the kids to take a couple days off of school and come down for an extended weekend. So this had nothing to do with FP+ Trust me, I was at MK the year before during that holiday and it was the same disaster.
I wouldn't worry about it. Go ride something and find a Kiosk back where you are riding something. I will post a summary of my experience below, but no need to rush to a kiosk at rope drop.
OK, so I have used the Kiosks several times now in AK, Epcot, and MK. The Kiosk line at AK was long, but an hour later there was no line, so it was probably bad timing on my part. The MK line didn't exist. I went to the Kiosk at the Mickey meet and greet and got right up to someone who could help me. At Epcot I also went the ones closest to the entrance and had to wait for a couple minutes. But they have a TON of people standing around that can make the reservations for you, so I never even made it to a Kiosk since in all cases they stopped me before the kiosk and did it for me or pulled me out of line to do it for me. So lines at Kiosks are not an issue. Keep in mind at AK we went on a very busy day as it was a holiday weekend.
Was I able to get the rides I wanted? Yes. Was the times good, the times were AWESOME. In all cases I showed up at the park 2 PM or later (AK 2, Epcot 3 and MK 4:30) and at AK we got Everest, Safari, and Little Nemo (never used that one). At Epcot we got Soarin, Nemo, and something else. Honestly Epcot was our worse experience since they have the tiered there. So I asked for Soarin and told them I didn't care about the other ones. Melstrom is the only other one we wanted and it is in the upper tier. I think over time this may change. MK I wanted Barnstormer, Peter Pan, and Pooh. I got LM, Peter Pan, and Pooh. I was surprised Barnstormer was sold out. The lady said it was because it was down for planned maintance on Mon, Tues, and Wed so this was the first time week long guests could ride it. Pretty understandable and we just went later in the night when the line was 5 minutes and road it 6 times anyways.
Now onto the times. At MK it worked the best, but at all the parks it worked similar. They really try to get it so that it works into your plans well. I will use MK as my example. We got a 4:50 LM time, so we went there first, we then had Pooh at 5:50, which was enough time to ride the carosel after LM and grab a quick snack. Then I had Peter pan at 7:20, so we did everything else in FL (Small World, HM, etc) and then rode PP right at 7:20 PM. Then after that we went down to the circus area and then over to tomorrowland. So we got to do everything we would normally do and didn't have to run all over the park trying to get FP and also trying to go back to a land we left because the FP was so late in the day. I was very impressed with the times they gave us at each park, it allowed us to flow thru the park and we did way less running around than we normally do.
Now this is coming from someone that never really used the paper passes like some of you crazies did. We would normally get FP for one, maybe two rides. We always had to do the running around because we would show up so late that all our FP would be for later in the day. So you run to the Kiosk, end up riding what you can but end up leaving the area and then have to come back. I also for a year and half didn't really need FP, so you have to factor that into it. But here is a perspective I can give you. I go to Disney a ton, way more than probably most of you. I also have waited in more FP lines than any of you since we had handicapped access. The FP lines are no longer if actually shorter than they were before. So they have managed to straighten that part of the system out. Sometimes you have to wait outside the FP line because people don't know how to scan, are coming to early, or coming to late. So that os causing some issues. The regular lines from what I can see are no longer. HM, PoTC, and small world were still walk ons. Later in the evening when the parade starts, everything starts to become walk ons like before. The big name rides are no longer than before (PP was 40, Pooh was 25) which is about what I saw last year during this time of year. So I think the longer line part is not coming true, in fact in same cases the lines looked a little shorter than normal even for off season. So I agree with others, don't knock it until you try it. Also, yes, there are MAJOR technical issues, but I guarentee you this is like any other major IT rollout. They will get the tech issues fixed, like any other company does. I think me coming from an IT background working in business systems, I have seen way worse issues. Trust me, the last thing you want to do is not pay someone at a major company that could get into a lot of legal issues. Try being under that pressure when you go live with a new system (My first job after being there a couple months I had to be part of the go-live crew and I ended up staying up 24 hours like all my co-workers including my pregnant boss) so this is nothing and will get fixed.
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Something interesting Len mentioned on a recent WDW Today Podcast...According to Tour Plans statisticians, you wait in a little longer in line with FP+. However, it's basically a wash when you take away the time previously spent walking around just to get FPs.
Shot in the dark question here.
We are in Orlando December this year and will have 14 day passes for WDW, we are staying at a WDW resort for 4 nights out of 14.
Does anyone know how Magic Bands will work?
Can I link my ticket?
Will the band be active with the ticket before and after our stay?
If not, will linking break the ticket I recieve?
We are in Orlando December this year and will have 14 day passes for WDW, we are staying at a WDW resort for 4 nights out of 14.
Does anyone know how Magic Bands will work?
Can I link my ticket?
Will the band be active with the ticket before and after our stay?
If not, will linking break the ticket I recieve?
I will be honest with you, because your trip is so far out, I don't know anyone can say how it will work in December. They haven't phased it out to everyone including people with Multi-Day tickets not staying on property. My guess is by then the system will be up and going fully and that it should be active your entire stay. I know you can link your ticket for sure and I know linking won't break the ticket. The only part I am not sure of is whether you can use Fast Pass while not staying at resort. If I had to guess, I would say yes you will be able to use the fast pass and purchasing part of the band your entire 14 days. But since it is so far out, I don't think I or Disney could promise you anything.
I thought you could attach a credit card to the magic band? Because eventually they will also have that for AP holders too. I mean it would be dumb for Disney not to have as many people use that feature as possible since that is one of their main ROI.
The times we used it, we had to register it at check in. The first time we stayed on property we got all of our magic bands and associated the card at that time. The next time we stayed we used DVC points and they sent us new magic bands. We were told that charging and room keys would be off of the new ones and that our tickets would be on the old ones unless we wanted to go through and connect the new ones.
This could all very well change in the future no doubt though.
This could all very well change in the future no doubt though.
