FP+ is Live! Magic Bands in the park!

[mom2mickeyfan]

This is interesting. The blackstone group just purchased Seaworld. I was doing a google search on who owned seaworld, and this just came out on the orlando sentinel, not even 15 minutes ago. The fine print says blackstone group has 50% shares in UO.....http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...ts-group-busch-gardens-parks-blackstone-group

SeaWorld Orlando will flip to new owner

SEAWORLD SOLD

After months of talks, Busch Entertainment will be sold to Blackstone Group for up to $2.7 billion

October 7, 2009|By Jason Garcia, Sentinel Staff Writer

Edited to say: Mad Hatter beat me to it.

I think this story is from 2009.

 

[Rileygirl]

oops! thanks mad hatter, I must have been looking at the current clock and not the date of the article!

 

[Rileygirl]

Your right, it is.

My bad!!!!

 

[TLSnell1981]

All mention 3 a day based off T+C's I believe, and CM comments (though I'd trust the T+C's more). It could change, but so could everything else about this system.

And, we can only use one FP+ per headliner. I can't ride roller coasters, so some parks, I can use just one FP+. Stinks for me.

 

[Squidgyness]

And, we can only use one FP+ per headliner. I can't ride roller coasters, so some parks, I can use just one FP+. Stinks for me.

Yeah in the tests they stratified the attractions you can prebook into groups. Presumably as a limit to what you can actually book, and to encourage people to use their fastpasses on 'b' and 'c' level attractions.

It's a fairly safe bet that the more unnecessary FP's will again be in one group and the really in demand ones (and halfway decent ones) in other groupings, effectively requiring you to book Stitch or something similarly 'meh' as opposed to another headliner.

 

[Bob NC]

Ya know, I haven't really kept up with the whole FP+ deal, preferring to wait until it rolls out and I know what it actually IS before judging whether or not it's good for my touring strategies.

BUT, I DO have one thing I'm curious about.

EVERY day you hear about people thinking the current FP system is an add on that costs money.

Every day you hear about people that don't know what it is, or, don't know how to use it.

The things I've been reading on this thread make whatever the new FP+ is will be a little more complicated.

How will the folks who were flummoxed about the old FP EVER be able to understand the new FP?

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Ya know, I haven't really kept up with the whole FP+ deal, preferring to wait until it rolls out and I know what it actually IS before judging whether or not it's good for my touring strategies.

BUT, I DO have one thing I'm curious about.

EVERY day you hear about people thinking the current FP system is an add on that costs money.

Every day you hear about people that don't know what it is, or, don't know how to use it.

The things I've been reading on this thread make whatever the new FP+ is will be a little more complicated.

How will the folks who were flummoxed about the old FP EVER be able to understand the new FP?

The main theory is, and the one that makes the most sense, is that they really won't have to try and figure it out. Disney just has to get them to register into the web site/download the app, telling them a little bit about their family and Disney will pre-select some FP+s for them if they don't want to do it themselves. My biggest question is how are they going to get people, especially off-site guest, to register into the website or to use the app.

 

[Seeker615]

I am on the fence with this magic band thing.

I tend to like to go with the flow when I do a theme park. If you have little ones it can be hard to tell them they can't ride Dumbo because they are not scheduled to ride it until 4pm and no you can't do Peter Pan until 3pm.

I know I don't want to schedule my rides. I like to pick a park and wander my way through.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Ya know, I haven't really kept up with the whole FP+ deal, preferring to wait until it rolls out and I know what it actually IS before judging whether or not it's good for my touring strategies.

BUT, I DO have one thing I'm curious about.

EVERY day you hear about people thinking the current FP system is an add on that costs money.

Every day you hear about people that don't know what it is, or, don't know how to use it.

The things I've been reading on this thread make whatever the new FP+ is will be a little more complicated.

How will the folks who were flummoxed about the old FP EVER be able to understand the new FP?

They won't figure it out. They will just ride IASW and CoP over and over......

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

Stitch or something similarly 'meh' as opposed to another headliner.

Never heard Stitch described so blandly!

The words in our house are usually 'disgusting', 'gross' and the like.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Never heard Stitch described so blandly!

The words in our house are usually 'disgusting', 'gross' and the like.

After we rode it in April, my wife and I were commenting about how terrible it is, they need to replace it, etc. My youngest then said, "It could be worse. Remember Captain EO?" We were laughing so loudly that people began to stare.

 

[TJBerry]

Ya know, I haven't really kept up with the whole FP+ deal, preferring to wait until it rolls out and I know what it actually IS before judging whether or not it's good for my touring strategies.

BUT, I DO have one thing I'm curious about.

EVERY day you hear about people thinking the current FP system is an add on that costs money.

Every day you hear about people that don't know what it is, or, don't know how to use it.

The things I've been reading on this thread make whatever the new FP+ is will be a little more complicated.

How will the folks who were flummoxed about the old FP EVER be able to understand the new FP?

That has been my question all along, too.

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

This discussion of how FP+ could be used to push/pull people into going to the park WDW wants people to go to, by offering better FP+ options for said park got me thinking:

Will they have dynamic FP+ selections? Let me explain...

What if I have a BOG ADR for 6:00. WDW knows I'm going to MK that day. It's in my account. So, they don't need to "push" me to MK. Might they only offer me "B" FP+ for that day, and instead offer headliner FP+ to someone else, to entice this other party to go to MK that day?

Or, what if it looks like MK is going to be packed that day. Would they try to get me to go to DHS be making me choose between BOG with IASM and COP FP+s, or mid afternoon TSM and F! FP+s. And, for some reason, that is the only TSM FP+ available the entire week I'm there...

 

[Rileygirl]

deleted

 

[larryz]

I know that when people were saying, a couple (or perhaps 20) pages ago, that I could be working for Disney, I thought, really?

It wouldn't be the first time Disney floated concepts over the unofficial networks to sound out potential reaction...

Stuff I am posting, if correct (and there is no saying whether I am or not), would more likely make me to be a mole for Universal. And if peoples thoughts are turned that way, I can understand that suspicion.

Ah, but a truly clever Disney marketeer would make it look like they're a Universal mole while actually shilling for Disney!

How can you possibly actually know who I am, or what I do. I could be some guy living in his moms basement in portland oregon for goodness sake.

I didn't/don't; that's why I asked.

And if you're really not lying, then you've already admitted to being Canadian, so I doubt you live in Portland.
You might, however, be living in your mother's basement in Toronto...

 

[Squidgyness]

This stuff is in the realm of possibility I think, but it would be a very complicated business. I just dont know how much info, and what kind of parameters they will be able to set. And how easily the bean counters will be able to control the 'bath tub taps'

Its the POTENTIAL of the system that should be making competitors shake a little in their boots. It will, in my opinion, revolutionalize target marketing and also crowd control. Alas, its downfall is the complexity IT needs to deal with, and 'selling' the idea of prebooking to the masses. I think it can be done. I think THEY think it can be done. However, if the roll out is messy and bumpy, fraught with computer glitches, they have opened the DOOR for their competitors to go for the juggular. Wise marketing on their parts could sink this entire scheme, causing a huge loss of dollars to disney, and also, instead of being ahead of the theme park ball curve, they are going to be way behind, because UO and Seaworld are so far ahead on adding attractions and theming, beating Disney by using 'old school'. (I just am working on another huge email to UO execs with some ideas regarding this.)

Its also possible, given the imagined difficulty of getting people 'on board' to prebook their fast pass, that Disney intend sfirst to offer it to resort guests, and it will act very much like a fotl. However, I truly believe that Disney's intention all along is to subtly screw Universal and every other competing theme park, by tying this to admission media, and not resort bookings. They are playing the magical express logic to magic plus.

The random showing up of 'buttons' on aps and website stuff (and the quick disappearance') makes me really think Disney is tinkering hard behind the scenes, to make it work perfectly when it debuts, and frustrating their competitors by offering a glitch free IT system. There is another thread talking about some random appearances, but the person was from a different time zone.....

Correct me if I am wrong IT people, but they can really see how the whole system will operate on the 'administators' site, and run scenarios, without actually playing with it on the live system. They may turn on the switch for a second or two, in order to see how things look on the live site. I would guess they do this mostly at odd times.

The other aggrevating factor is the lack of kiosks in any of the theme parks yet. Is it because they are so not ready? Or is it corporate cloak and dagger with the intention of 'shock and awe'.

~A

They need to be really careful not to oversell it though, cause if they portray it as some sort of uber prebooked fotl pass, people will come away disappointed.

A fine line. Too much honesty on restrictions, not all that an attractive prospect. Too little, disappointment and inflated expectations.

 

[Dreamer & Wisher]

The other aggrevating factor is the lack of kiosks in any of the theme parks yet. Is it because they are so not ready? Or is it corporate cloak and dagger with the intention of 'shock and awe'.

~A

There is a video on YouTube created by Orlando Attractions magazine demonstrating how to use a Kiosk. I don't know if it is in a park or at a media event. Someone posted a link to it earlier in the thread.

 

[Happy99]

I don't know if this has been posted yet or not. It is a video of Tom Staggs explaining a bit of how the bands will work
Briefly touches on FP+ but nothing that really answers the questions we have here

Warning - it is a long video about 25-30 min in length

http://live.wsj.com/video/thomas-st...d_video#!528B4FF7-C8CA-42B4-AF89-59DCE53C18F1

 

[TJBerry]

This stuff is in the realm of possibility I think, but it would be a very complicated business. I just dont know how much info, and what kind of parameters they will be able to set. And how easily the bean counters will be able to control the 'bath tub taps'

Its the POTENTIAL of the system that should be making competitors shake a little in their boots. It will, in my opinion, revolutionalize target marketing and also crowd control. Alas, its downfall is the complexity IT needs to deal with, and 'selling' the idea of prebooking to the masses. I think it can be done. I think THEY think it can be done. However, if the roll out is messy and bumpy, fraught with computer glitches, they have opened the DOOR for their competitors to go for the juggular. Wise marketing on their parts could sink this entire scheme, causing a huge loss of dollars to disney, and also, instead of being ahead of the theme park ball curve, they are going to be way behind, because UO and Seaworld are so far ahead on adding attractions and theming, beating Disney by using 'old school'. (I just am working on another huge email to UO execs with some ideas regarding this.)

Its also possible, given the imagined difficulty of getting people 'on board' to prebook their fast pass, that Disney intend sfirst to offer it to resort guests, and it will act very much like a fotl. However, I truly believe that Disney's intention all along is to subtly screw Universal and every other competing theme park, by tying this to admission media, and not resort bookings. They are playing the magical express logic to magic plus.

The random showing up of 'buttons' on aps and website stuff (and the quick disappearance') makes me really think Disney is tinkering hard behind the scenes, to make it work perfectly when it debuts, and frustrating their competitors by offering a glitch free IT system. There is another thread talking about some random appearances, but the person was from a different time zone.....

Correct me if I am wrong IT people, but they can really see how the whole system will operate on the 'administators' site, and run scenarios, without actually playing with it on the live system. They may turn on the switch for a second or two, in order to see how things look on the live site. I would guess they do this mostly at odd times.

The other aggrevating factor is the lack of kiosks in any of the theme parks yet. Is it because they are so not ready? Or is it corporate cloak and dagger with the intention of 'shock and awe'.

~A

I don't see the lack of kiosks as meaning they aren't ready for roll-out. At least in my mind, all they'd need to do to make the kiosks operational is literally roll them out to where they want them, plug them in and they should be ready to go.

Whether it will actually work that way is a different story.

A little off-topic, but I was willing to withhold judgement on RFID until I saw how it worked and used it myself. I thought going through the turnstiles was much easier/quicker, paying for merchandise was a snap and it was nice to wave our KTTW card in front of our door lock.

No, we did not have any problems with RFID on our recent vacation, which admittedly colors my perception of how well it works.

FP+ gives me pause, where RFID didn't.

 

[Rileygirl]

deleted