FP+ is Live! Magic Bands in the park!

[Robo]

I will go so far as to say I think this new system could cost them the few teenage patrons...

Yes, a few of them will be amused by the incorporation of their smart phones into the process. But that will be over the minute their headline ride is over and they are faced with standby as their only option to repeat it.

It has been the case for eons that attempting to set up to cater to the "latest fad" is a fool's errand.
By the time a behemoth corporation gets into gear to connect with the fad, it will have become passe' and shunned by the masses.

Look at the (brief) excitement generated by the hint (and testing) a few years ago
that Disney was going to hand out (clunky by today's standard) "game boxes" that would tell guests where the attraction lines were shorter.

BOR-ing.

 

[bcrook]

This is actually the most fascinating part of all of this. It really does appear that Disney believes they incorporation of magic bands can in some way absolve them of needing to answer Universal's RIDE expansion.

To me, the magic band is no different than having a rewards card at Walgreens. I have to use it to get the enticement, so I will. But I don't see it as any sort of value added benefit. After all, I used to get the sale prices without it, and didn't have to dig it out of my purse every time I made a purchase. And I know that it's really just there for them to gather up a bunch of free data about me and my shopping habits.

At least at Walgreens they still give me as many sale prices as they did before implementing the card.

That is a perfect analogy. Because it is all about the data.

 

[doconeill]

I agree - I think that this has the potential to further alienate the teen/young adult crowd - and in entertainment, that can be a very important demographic.

 

[mom2rtk]

I agree - I think that this has the potential to further alienate the teen/young adult crowd - and in entertainment, that can be a very important demographic.

And a lot of teens have younger siblings. If the family is looking for something that makes everyone happy, Universal just might start looking better and better.

Compare the teen's experience staying onsite with FOTL at Universal with doing Disney under the new FP+ system with headline ride rationing. It's almost comical.

 

[Rileygirl]

All our speculation certainly points to these comprehensive problems.

But, one has to wonder, if we figured that out, wouldnt Disney a couple of years ago, when they were plotting their attack? Or do you think that the behemouth that is WDW is so slow moving, and so slow acting, that it is behind the theme park curve?

I go both ways on this. I am scared that Disney has balled this up. That it will not be great for anyone anymore, and the system is unliveable. Disney spent a billion on nothing that is great for the average guest.

But, then I get hopeful. I wonder if there is something fairly big that Disney is planning to do with this technology that we will really love, and change the experience of theme park goers world wide.

Then I get worried that Disney may have the idea, but dont have a hope in heck to get the technology to work.

 

[d1gitman]

I still think a device that has a dispay, say a smartwatch and/or lanyard device would be feasible. the application I could see it coming in handy for is crowd control. say per instance your in a 2 hr line for BTMRR or approaching the line for BTMRR (say within 50') of the entrance. Disney could display a message to those guests that some other attraction is accepting FP+ entrance for the next 15min. this could shift a certain portion of the crowd at BTMRR to some other attraction that has shorter waits. Some will choose it, some will not. It also can flash alerts to parades, special events, meet n greets, etc... I know everyone is bent on smartphones but I don't believe that the vast majority of guests have or use smartphones. Lots of us do, but not all, plus you have lots of guests coming from other regions of the world where they may not be able to or choose not to use their phone. Furthermore, a proprietary device that Disney controls may be simpler to implement. I for one think there is a place for such a device. for those who want to use their smartphone, they could still do that and have a non-display smartband and the guest can use their own smartphone to receive alerts and messages.

just my $.02

 

[Rileygirl]

d1gitman:

I have totally wondered this myself. I wondered why, if this system is suppose to be almost ready to roll out, WHY there are no KIOSKS at the theme parks to do the data management.
And How can Disney expect people to all have smart phones now, or want to use them and their data bill now. And how this is impossible for international users because phone bills would be astronomical!
And how the free wifi in the parks is totally useless when the park gets busy, how does disney expect this system to work at all?
It seems crazy.
There is something missing! What are we missing?

 

[d1gitman]

And a lot of teens have younger siblings. If the family is looking for something that makes everyone happy, Universal just might start looking better and better.

Compare the teen's experience staying onsite with FOTL at Universal with doing Disney under the new FP+ system with headline ride rationing. It's almost comical.

there is something to be said for this....Universal has kept it simple...you either have their express pass or you don't. we love the unlimited express pass while staying onsite. the only thing is, Universal only has 3 hotels, far fewer guest to accommodate than with Disney's 2 dozen+ resorts.

 

[d1gitman]

d1gitman:
...There is something missing! What are we missing?

hopefully there is a big component that we are missing. I will continue to drink the cool aid that Disney does indeed have the bases covered and there is a grander plan. that the info we have is by design so that they can hear, monitor and vet out various factors. maybe, just maybe they are listening and have been all along and are just testing in the manner they are because it's the process necessary to hear and adapt to all the comments and ideas. there is something to be said by handling the FL expansion and now the FP+ the way they have....it generates lots of discussion which can expose flaws or spawn new ideas.

just imagine what the threads on the DISboards would be if they just flat out launched FP+ with no warning

 

[mom2rtk]

I do believe that if this system relies too heavily on smartphones, or if it heavily advantages smartphone users, that Disney will indeed alienate more blocks of people. (I do know that my friend who participated in the December FP+ test completed a survey afterwards, and it included a lot of questions about what technology they carried with them in the parks.)

1) Overseas visitors who would have to pay high fees to use their service here.

2) People who don't have smartphones. The figure in early 2013 was that 55% of mobile users had smartphones. Disney visitors probably skew a little higher, but it still leaves a significant hole in their system.

3) Any one of us could be disadvantaged if our cell service wasn't functioning properly in the parks (what are the odds????) and we had trouble with Disney's Wi-Fi (again, what are the odds?????).

Kiosks in the parks could fill these gaps, but I really thought there would be reports by now of lots more kiosks showing up in the parks.

 

[doconeill]

I still think a device that has a dispay, say a smartwatch and/or lanyard device would be feasible. the application I could see it coming in handy for is crowd control. say per instance your in a 2 hr line for BTMRR or approaching the line for BTMRR (say within 50') of the entrance. Disney could display a message to those guests that some other attraction is accepting FP+ entrance for the next 15min. this could shift a certain portion of the crowd at BTMRR to some other attraction that has shorter waits. Some will choose it, some will not. It also can flash alerts to parades, special events, meet n greets, etc... I know everyone is bent on smartphones but I don't believe that the vast majority of guests have or use smartphones. Lots of us do, but not all, plus you have lots of guests coming from other regions of the world where they may not be able to or choose not to use their phone. Furthermore, a proprietary device that Disney controls may be simpler to implement. I for one think there is a place for such a device. for those who want to use their smartphone, they could still do that and have a non-display smartband and the guest can use their own smartphone to receive alerts and messages.

just my $.02

A proprietary device is often not simpler, mainly because you have to design it, build it, test it, produce it in bulk - all without the benefit of commodity pricing.

But to illustrate the problem...the closest thing to what would likely be needed is the Pebble watch. It has a programmable "e-paper" (really just low-power LCD) display likely sufficient for MDE/FP+ info and bluetooth for wireless connectivity. Not particularly complicated. But it costs $150 retail right now. Not something you are likely going to give away. And it only gets about 7 days on a charge.

You could probably go simpler on the display...scrolling LED, perhaps...which would save power but take a lot longer to get relevant information.

The more complicated part is making it two-way. The MagicBand/RFID is essentially a one-way device. When in the presence of a magnetic field (or with the active transmitter), it sends a signal with a code. It doesn't have a receiver. It's very simplistic.

To do more, you'd need to upgrade to a receiver, which may have different antenna requirements (which affects shape, size, etc.). You probably have to go to a Near Field Communication (NFC) tech, which is similar to RFID (they overlap a bit), but designed more for two-way communication and just starting to hit the commodity market, and is a bit more expensive to implement because of it.

As a plus, if you were utilizing NFC, you could offer "bandless" MagicBand features for people with NFC-enabled smartphones. But then, not everyone wants to be tied to their phone...

You know what would be simpler and cheaper? Loaning out reprogrammed Android phones.

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

I agree - I think that this has the potential to further alienate the teen/young adult crowd - and in entertainment, that can be a very important demographic.

And to think that is who they were intending to target in the first place.

 

[larryz]

I can't articulate how much I disagree. What "first-time" guest has a clue about FP+?

None. But first-time guests have a clue about long lines, and those that go without ever using FP to shorten times in line will go back and tell their friends that WDW just isn't worth it because of all the lines they had to wait in.

Actually, they probably know more than we do because while we're here speculating about 1,000 scenarios that COULD happen but probably never will, they are happily going about their lives...

Well, for some of us, Disney is a big part of our lives, and this is how we go about them...

 

[doconeill]

And to think that is who they were intending to target in the first place.

That's the thing - they are coveted for their disposable income - which Disney wants more of.

 

[larryz]

Something just doesn't feel right.

Are you thinking we've been set up?

 

[g-dad66]

SO....are there any company big-wigs on here who did the testing this past week, who would like to tell us how it went?

 

[bcrook]

Are you thinking we've been set up?

I am intrigued by this line of questioning.

 

[larryz]

This is the stick. Disney will get us to hate SB, and covet FP, even for attractions we never wanted fp for before.

Remember ROI -- once you're totally dependent on FP's to get to a ride, I'd be surprised if WDW doesn't implement the US/IOA model with a twist: Three for free, $$ for more. (Resort guests, DVC and AP holders somewhere in between).

And being a stockholder, I'm interested in more than just how it affects me as a tourist...

(I'm loving this thread -- thanks for all the time you took putting your thoughts out there... now please state for the record whether or not you work for Disney...)

 

[larryz]

I am intrigued by this line of questioning.

Classic misdirection... part of the moviemaking legacy... see my post just above this one...

 

[Momtomouselover]

I used to work in marketing and helped in the redesign of a website. It was a fairly large company I worked for and there were specialists and consultant firms on this project. We were designing a website that was mostly used by scientists and assistants and still the over ruling design concept was always to keep it simple and we had to often ask ourself "could grandma use it?". Now apply this principle to FP+ and Magicbands and prebooking, smartphones, schedules, websites w/log-ins and MDE, kiosks, etc....and what do you think? I hate to be pessimistic but I think the average person is not going to want to or in some cases be able to understand all this. Consider how many people don't use or understand FP as it is now and that is a much simpler system.

My gut feeling is that Disney over engineered this with all these hopes of using this grand technology for tracking, data, etc., which benefits Disney, but it doesn't benefit large sections of guests as others have mentioned. Examples are those without smartphones or who live out of country or don't wish to use them throughout vacation, teens who mainly want big ticket rides, families with kids who want to ride one attraction multiple times, non-planners, last minute visitors, day visitors, and those that just can't or won't understand the system, etc. It also relies on a huge IT structure and reliable Wifi etc.
I suppose they could be calculating value and decided that the benefits or potential benefits to them and to a few guest populations out weigh the number of guests who will be unhappy or turned away from visiting.

I'm hoping there is some big hidden element. I'm hoping Disney didn't spend all this money on a system that benefits them and not us rather than invest in new rides, lands and imagineering. I know companies and project managers sometimes lose sight of reality or the ability to be unbiased in their evaluation once so much has been spent. Perhaps the testing and focus groups are pointing out some issues.

I bristle at the idea of people telling me how to tour. I also can't help but think that Disney is overestimating the savvy ness and the want of every visitor to plan out each day. IF this somehow decreases SB lines then perhaps that is the saving grace. Ok, that was all really negative I know and I hope my concerns are unfounded. We will see...