Guest Test of Magic Bands (Official Notice)

Ok..I'm going to be bold here and post something.

The thing is that most people use FP because they hate the idea of waiting in line. I've been to Cedar Point...I'm used to waiting 3 hours for Top Thrill Dragster (which is a 17 second 400 ft coaster) and every other ride at that park during 99% of the operating season...it doesn't bother me. I understand that WDW has more than CP however I still don't see it being hard to hit 90% of the rides in a day. If you hit during meal times and parade times like you would at any other amusement park then you'll be fine. Will I use it for things like ToT, RnRC, SM, Space Mountain, Test Track and Everest? Absolutely only because they are the popular ones and I know the wait will be long. Here's my thing. The GP (general public) will wait in line regardless. Disney makes it that much better because unlike hot sunny queue lines at any amusement park...theirs are themed. So it makes it fun. When one goes to Disney you expect to have to wait in line at MK and the other top rides.

That being said. I too am a planner and I love the idea of being able to plan a bit ahead of time as to have an idea of what I may be hitting and in which order to do the rest of the park. I'm going in September of 2014. I'm staying onsite at FW in a tent by myself. I'll take full advantage of single rider lines but I'm also willing to wait because its been almost 20 years since I went last. FP+ limiting me to 3 rides a day....not a huge deal! You decide which three you have to ride and go with the flow the rest of the time. My issue is the same as some others here....what happens if/when the system fails as most systems do if overloaded or a heaven forbid a virus gets in there.

JMO!

Everyones perspective is valid, everyones opinion holds a point. I am glad you posted this. It makes me think.

I would like to suggest that you may have a different opinion of waiting three hours in line for a one minute ride, if you are saddled with a 3 year old and a 5 year old. Your experience would be different, no matter how amazing the 'line' or ride is. [edited to add: I assume you have not been saddled with little kids in a theme park, who need to pee, who need to run , who are not necessarily patient for a 3 hour line. Forgive the impertinence of it! It was the single rider line comment, coupled with the ability to see 90% of the park in a single day that made me think you are foot loose and fancy free- I hope I have not offended you, that was not intended.]

For your demographic, fp is maayyyybbbeee not necessarily a priority. I think that is why most big ticket theme parks never bothered to 'invent' it, because thrill ride theme parks really cater to your demographic. Disney invented it partially because they cater to a wider demographic then the average theme park, and focus on 'family', partially because they realized doing so would make them a pile of money.

Theme parks around the world picked up on the 'money' part, and because they tend to be a one day deal, decided to have 'pay for' express passes. This makes them lots of money, at very little cost, and the average age of thrill ride theme park goers hits the correct demographic where long lines are may not be the intense issue they can be for disney. And if its an issue, you are given a choice to pay more for a better experience.

Go and have a bad experience with super long lines at your one day local theme park - you will be grumpy. Go on a week long vacation with your children, paying for flights, tickets, food, hotel and transportation, and have a miserable experience, thats really a different ball game.

That said, its always good to add your 2 cents, because it makes folks realize that when analyzing what Disney does, or intends to do, effects different people (read here demographics) in different ways. Not everyone will be negatively effected, not eveyone will be positively effected.

Jury's out on who the majority winner will be. I truly believe that the average disney goer is going to have a MUCH better time then what they currently been encountering. I believe that the savvy disney goer is going to have a harder time of it. However, we CAN learn to maximize what ever system gets in place, so its going to be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Hopefully we get a lot of first hand dis reports from our members on how they feel the system is working while they are down there. I know I appreciate anyone taking the time to post, especially while on vacation (whatsarahsaid - you rock!)

Cheers
 
:thumbsup2



And I totally agree. I have NO desire to experience everything being planned out. We much prefer to play everything by ear.

WDW is getting too complicated. Glad I am not the only one who feels this way.
I've often thought it would be nice to have a Front of the Line Pass with your room key like Universal! But Universal only has 3 hotels, while WDW has many. So not sure the same system would work. Also Universal is building a new Value Resort that won't get this privilege.

I usually have a plan of which park I'm going to each day based on crowd calendars, so I guess Pre planing a few FPs will be ok. Not thrilled, but guess I can live with it. For those of us who like to ride our Favs more then once, guess we will have to get there at rope drop like always and make the mad dash. Then use FP for later. Ugh.

Everyones perspective is valid, everyones opinion holds a point. I am glad you posted this. It makes me think.

I would like to suggest that you may have a different opinion of waiting three hours in line for a one minute ride, if you are saddled with a 3 year old and a 5 year old. Your experience would be different, no matter how amazing the 'line' or ride is. [edited to add: I assume you have not been saddled with little kids in a theme park, who need to pee, who need to run , who are not necessarily patient for a 3 hour line. Forgive the impertinence of it! It was the single rider line comment, coupled with the ability to see 90% of the park in a single day that made me think you are foot loose and fancy free- I hope I have not offended you, that was not intended.]

For your demographic, fp is maayyyybbbeee not necessarily a priority. I think that is why most big ticket theme parks never bothered to 'invent' it, because thrill ride theme parks really cater to your demographic. Disney invented it partially because they cater to a wider demographic then the average theme park, and focus on 'family', partially because they realized doing so would make them a pile of money.

Theme parks around the world picked up on the 'money' part, and because they tend to be a one day deal, decided to have 'pay for' express passes. This makes them lots of money, at very little cost, and the average age of thrill ride theme park goers hits the correct demographic where long lines are may not be the intense issue they can be for disney. And if its an issue, you are given a choice to pay more for a better experience.

Go and have a bad experience with super long lines at your one day local theme park - you will be grumpy. Go on a week long vacation with your children, paying for flights, tickets, food, hotel and transportation, and have a miserable experience, thats really a different ball game.

That said, its always good to add your 2 cents, because it makes folks realize that when analyzing what Disney does, or intends to do, effects different people (read here demographics) in different ways. Not everyone will be negatively effected, not eveyone will be positively effected.

Jury's out on who the majority winner will be. I truly believe that the average disney goer is going to have a MUCH better time then what they currently been encountering. I believe that the savvy disney goer is going to have a harder time of it. However, we CAN learn to maximize what ever system gets in place, so its going to be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Hopefully we get a lot of first hand dis reports from our members on how they feel the system is working while they are down there. I know I appreciate anyone taking the time to post, especially while on vacation (whatsarahsaid - you rock!)

Cheers

You make some good points. Paid FP would not be economical for wdw where the average stay is a week, and to add a cost to the already skyrocketing tickets for the average family of 4 isn't reasonable.

My children are adults, so guess you could say we tour fancy free, but there's no way I'm going to wait an hour much less 3 for any attraction. So FPs are essential to our touring. Guess we will see how it all plays out. I suspect it will mean doing less attractions:sad1:
 


Hopefully we get a lot of first hand dis reports from our members on how they feel the system is working while they are down there. I know I appreciate anyone taking the time to post, especially while on vacation (whatsarahsaid - you rock!)

Cheers

Aww...thanks so much! :goodvibes
 
Also, out of the 5,000 invited to take part in the test, only 3,000 did and who knows how many of those participated in the feedback/focus groups.
Both of these numbers seem very high. It was only available to people staying at the Contemporary or AKL and not the DVC areas, with arrivals on three specific days. Since these two have a total of about 1,500 rooms, this would mean about 650 families at most would have been invited, and this would probably average to fewer than 2,000 people invited.
 


Both of these numbers seem very high. It was only available to people staying at the Contemporary or AKL and not the DVC areas, with arrivals on three specific days. Since these two have a total of about 1,500 rooms, this would mean about 650 families at most would have been invited, and this would probably average to fewer than 2,000 people invited.
Those are the numbers I was given by a CM...who knows if they are true. It seems that even they are not immune to all the rumors floating around out there! :confused3
 
Everyones perspective is valid, everyones opinion holds a point. I am glad you posted this. It makes me think.

I would like to suggest that you may have a different opinion of waiting three hours in line for a one minute ride, if you are saddled with a 3 year old and a 5 year old. Your experience would be different, no matter how amazing the 'line' or ride is. [edited to add: I assume you have not been saddled with little kids in a theme park, who need to pee, who need to run , who are not necessarily patient for a 3 hour line. Forgive the impertinence of it! It was the single rider line comment, coupled with the ability to see 90% of the park in a single day that made me think you are foot loose and fancy free- I hope I have not offended you, that was not intended.]

For your demographic, fp is maayyyybbbeee not necessarily a priority. I think that is why most big ticket theme parks never bothered to 'invent' it, because thrill ride theme parks really cater to your demographic. Disney invented it partially because they cater to a wider demographic then the average theme park, and focus on 'family', partially because they realized doing so would make them a pile of money.

Theme parks around the world picked up on the 'money' part, and because they tend to be a one day deal, decided to have 'pay for' express passes. This makes them lots of money, at very little cost, and the average age of thrill ride theme park goers hits the correct demographic where long lines are may not be the intense issue they can be for disney. And if its an issue, you are given a choice to pay more for a better experience.

Go and have a bad experience with super long lines at your one day local theme park - you will be grumpy. Go on a week long vacation with your children, paying for flights, tickets, food, hotel and transportation, and have a miserable experience, thats really a different ball game.

That said, its always good to add your 2 cents, because it makes folks realize that when analyzing what Disney does, or intends to do, effects different people (read here demographics) in different ways. Not everyone will be negatively effected, not eveyone will be positively effected.

Jury's out on who the majority winner will be. I truly believe that the average disney goer is going to have a MUCH better time then what they currently been encountering. I believe that the savvy disney goer is going to have a harder time of it. However, we CAN learn to maximize what ever system gets in place, so its going to be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Hopefully we get a lot of first hand dis reports from our members on how they feel the system is working while they are down there. I know I appreciate anyone taking the time to post, especially while on vacation (whatsarahsaid - you rock!)

Cheers

No offense taken :). You're right I don't have kids however I have been in line with friends who have children. I too was a kid once (I think? It's so long ago lol) and I remember waiting in line and being bored. With 3 kids in tow it would be terribly long and a hard wait but if that was the case (no offense to you here) I would be taking full advantage of their child swap program or parent swap whatever they call it.

My friends go every year with 2 kids under 6 (one is just potty training) and this year an infant. She mentioned to me that compared to how long we wait at CP or Wonderland (the 17 second ride was an example...it tends to be that long for most rides in the height of summer) the lines at Disney aren't as bad because there is something to see and experience unlike most amusement park queues.

Offering FP is a great thing because I know it's there if I need it and I don't need to pull off my right arm and leg to pay for it. I'm wondering if Disney is starting to limit it to three because people have complained about the standby line and the fact that fastpassers get to go ahead of them and this is there way of trying to make it fair for everyone?
 
Offering FP is a great thing because I know it's there if I need it and I don't need to pull off my right arm and leg to pay for it. I'm wondering if Disney is starting to limit it to three because people have complained about the standby line and the fact that fastpassers get to go ahead of them and this is there way of trying to make it fair for everyone?

I guess the problem is that FastPass actually CAUSES the longer wait times - and I'm sure we'll see substantial increases in standby wait times for all of the new FP+ attractions once the new system comes fully online.

Personally, my yardstick for the new system will be does it make the in-park experience (both for pre-booked people and day-guests) in overall terms better than it was before. And at the moment it's not even a case of the jury being out on that one, we haven't even sworn them in before the trial yet.

As to the limits, I would suggest to any Disney people who might be reading this thread, that it would be ideal to set the limit to 3 FP+ allowed to be booked at any given time. Thus the pre-book limit would be 3 only, but after you've used the first one in the park you should be able to then book another to replace it (subejct to availability) much like the current system.

Andre
 
This apparently just a continuation of the testing, at another resort. They will probably work through all the resorts before go-live.
 
This apparently just a continuation of the testing, at another resort. They will probably work through all the resorts before go-live.

Gotta imagine they most likely know or have a go live date already be it phase in or parts of it on a phased in basis..
 
Any hope for the bands to be live in December? A couple of us have AP but we are a techy group and would love to do this!:grouphug:
 
Gotta imagine they most likely know or have a go live date already be it phase in or parts of it on a phased in basis..

I think you are right. A great deal of info is published, several tests have been done, and Disney is saying later in the year, so they have set themselves a hard limit. I don't think they would wait for the Holidays, so I am guessing September through October for at least the beginning of a rollout. Everything would also be dependent on testing going smoothly. If a major problem arises, it could table the whole plan.
 

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