Disney Says Wristband Boosts Sales in Disney World Test

[crazy4wdw]

From Bloomberg News:

Disney Says Wristband Boosts Sales in Disney World Test
By Christopher Palmeri - Jul 12, 2013 12:01 AM ET

Electronic wristbands tested at Walt Disney Co. (DIS)s Florida resort succeeded in boosting spending by guests, parks division Chairman Thomas Staggs said.

The bands serve as admission tickets, hotel room keys and credit cards. They were tested by 1,000 people at Walt Disney World in Florida, Staggs said in an interview at Allen & Co.s annual conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, without offering details. Guests spent more on average in part because they had fun with the technology, he said.

Rest of article here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...ts-sales-in-disney-world-test.html?cmpid=yhoo

 

[Spacedog1975]

No surprises here.
I hope the successful test will expedite the live rollout.

 

[DJRosko]

I'm curious to see if the 3 fastpass limit is going to stay... And it doesn't allow for park hopping...

 

[Lewisc]

I'm curious to see if the 3 fastpass limit is going to stay... And it doesn't allow for park hopping...

The goal is to increase guest spending. Spreading out your day with 3 FP+ for one park gives you enough time to "enjoy shopping". Running from park to park..not so much.

 

[Spacedog1975]

The goal is to increase guest spending. Spreading out your day with 3 FP+ for one park gives you enough time to "enjoy shopping". Running from park to park..not so much.

Perhaps, but it cuts into selling the value of the park hopper addon.

 

[tjkraz]

Perhaps, but it cuts into selling the value of the park hopper addon.

Agree.

I've always been in favor of the FP+ concept, but its ultimate value depends greatly upon the implementation. Disney is walking a fine line in relation to guest satisfaction. If the concept proves to be a big turn-off, it won't take much of a decline in guest traffic to offset sales gains.

Personally I think the limit of 3 FPs is a bit too restrictive.

If they at least expand it for on-site guests--allowing 5 or 6 FP+ per day--that will help a lot. Disney charges an awful big premium for staying in its hotels and other than picking your color of wristband, there doesn't appear to be any resort guest FP+ benefit yet.

FastPass is a core part of the experience they have provided for nearly 20 years now. This is one change that Disney cannot haphazardly shove down the throats of its guests, and assume everyone will happily adapt.

 

[disneyworld1977]

I am still confused over this stuff. But when is it suppose to "roll out"?

 

[Reddog1134]

The 3 FP limit doesn't really bother me. I don't think I've ever used 3 FP in a single day. Of course, I don't go during the really busy season.

I am still confused over this stuff. But when is it suppose to "roll out"?

No official word yet, but I've heard "late this year to early next year".

 

[ChipnDale79]

Agree.

I've always been in favor of the FP+ concept, but its ultimate value depends greatly upon the implementation. Disney is walking a fine line in relation to guest satisfaction. If the concept proves to be a big turn-off, it won't take much of a decline in guest traffic to offset sales gains.

Personally I think the limit of 3 FPs is a bit too restrictive.

If they at least expand it for on-site guests--allowing 5 or 6 FP+ per day--that will help a lot. Disney charges an awful big premium for staying in its hotels and other than picking your color of wristband, there doesn't appear to be any resort guest FP+ benefit yet.

FastPass is a core part of the experience they have provided for nearly 20 years now. This is one change that Disney cannot haphazardly shove down the throats of its guests, and assume everyone will happily adapt.

I like a lot of what they are doing with the RFID program, but I'm not a fan of the proposed Fast Pass Plus, I don't want to schedule fast passes well in advance, I like to plan, but not that much.

 

[Angel Ariel]

The goal is to increase guest spending. Spreading out your day with 3 FP+ for one park gives you enough time to "enjoy shopping". Running from park to park..not so much.

I'll concede I may be the odd one out here, but no amount of FP restrictions are going to make me buy more merchandise. I go with a budget for souvenirs/food...nothing Disney does is going to change it

 

[Spacedog1975]

Personally I think the limit of 3 FPs is a bit too restrictive.

If they at least expand it for on-site guests--allowing 5 or 6 FP+ per day--that will help a lot. Disney charges an awful big premium for staying in its hotels and other than picking your color of wristband, there doesn't appear to be any resort guest FP+ benefit yet.

FastPass is a core part of the experience they have provided for nearly 20 years now. This is one change that Disney cannot haphazardly shove down the throats of its guests, and assume everyone will happily adapt.

I agree with this. There should be a FP+ benefit for resort guests. I'm still annoyed that EMH has shrunk. I'm hoping that decision eventually reverses.

EMH is a big reason I can convince people that they want to stay on site. There is nothing like being in MK after midnight

 

[DCTooTall]

Agree.

I've always been in favor of the FP+ concept, but its ultimate value depends greatly upon the implementation. Disney is walking a fine line in relation to guest satisfaction. If the concept proves to be a big turn-off, it won't take much of a decline in guest traffic to offset sales gains.

Personally I think the limit of 3 FPs is a bit too restrictive.

If they at least expand it for on-site guests--allowing 5 or 6 FP+ per day--that will help a lot. Disney charges an awful big premium for staying in its hotels and other than picking your color of wristband, there doesn't appear to be any resort guest FP+ benefit yet.

FastPass is a core part of the experience they have provided for nearly 20 years now. This is one change that Disney cannot haphazardly shove down the throats of its guests, and assume everyone will happily adapt.

Fastpass hasn't been around that long. It wasn't introduced until 1999 (per Wiki), which sounds about right since I can remember for a fact it wasn't around in December '97 on my last "teen" trip.


So Fastpasses have existed for a little under 15yrs, not quite "nearly 20".

/nitpick

 

[DCTooTall]

I agree with this. There should be a FP+ benefit for resort guests. I'm still annoyed that EMH has shrunk. I'm hoping that decision eventually reverses.

EMH is a big reason I can convince people that they want to stay on site. There is nothing like being in MK after midnight

Sadly I remember being in the MK after midnight as a kid... BEFORE EMH even existed. (including when there were only 2.. and then only 3 parks).

These days I'm more inclined to use EMH as a selling point on which part to AVOID during the day since it tends to make the EMH park even more crowded during the regular park hours.

 

[tjkraz]

I like a lot of what they are doing with the RFID program, but I'm not a fan of the proposed Fast Pass Plus, I don't want to schedule fast passes well in advance, I like to plan, but not that much.

I don't think people will have to plan nearly as much as they think.

When you consider the number of attractions & experiences which have added FPs and the current limit of 3 per guest, the FP system will have a lot more capacity than anyone seems to believe. They are also grouping attractions so you will be forced to choose ONE option from a half-dozen or more headliners.

Simply put, they aren't going to run out of FPs for the Magic Kingdom Mountains at the 59 day mark because there will be more FP+ ride times than guests will even be able to book. In almost every case, I believe guests will be able to use their smartphone or an in-park kiosk to get their desired FP+ rides same-day.

Meanwhile you also receive the secondary benefits of not having to criss-cross the parks claiming those ride tickets and you get to choose your exact ride time window.

That said, I think the limit of 3 rides per day is going to be a major turn-off and could discourage many from visiting the parks. Even if it turns out that most guests can do just as much in a day with just the 3 FP+ rides, psychologically it's going to be very tough to convince guests that they're coming out ahead when they only get the 3 daily line-cuts and have to use Standby for a dozen or more other attractions.

And like another poster said, wristbands and FP+ aren't going to encourage me to spend more time (or money) in Disney's gift shops.

 

[monorailrabbit]

I agree with this. There should be a FP+ benefit for resort guests. I'm still annoyed that EMH has shrunk. I'm hoping that decision eventually reverses.

EMH is a big reason I can convince people that they want to stay on site. There is nothing like being in MK after midnight

Yup! I agree there should be some sort of perk again for being onsite! And also very sad about decreased EMH

 

[karl_nj]

Electronic wristbands tested at Walt Disney Co. (DIS)s Florida resort succeeded in boosting spending by guests, parks division Chairman Thomas Staggs said.

Are they bumping up your "credit limit" along with rolling out the magic bands? I know that on my last stay I tried to use my WDW "Key to the World" card as I would on any cruise, to pay for 'everything'. But every so often I would hit my "credit limit" and have to visit the front desk in my resort in order to have them charge my credit card (on file) and reset my balance. I really didn't understand why they woudln't do this automatically.

I found this quite annoying, and eventually just switched to using a credit card in most places.

I wasn't even spending all that much, the limit was pretty low. Perhaps if I had a dining plan then I wouldn't have run into this issue, since I think most of my charges were for food.

I was staying at the Pop Century -- I really wanted to ask if my "limit" would have been higher if I had been staying at the Grand Floridian...

 

[diskids2]

Are they bumping up your "credit limit" along with rolling out the magic bands? I know that on my last stay I tried to use my WDW "Key to the World" card as I would on any cruise, to pay for 'everything'. But every so often I would hit my "credit limit" and have to visit the front desk in my resort in order to have them charge my credit card (on file) and reset my balance. I really didn't understand why they woudln't do this automatically.

I found this quite annoying, and eventually just switched to using a credit card in most places.

I wasn't even spending all that much, the limit was pretty low. Perhaps if I had a dining plan then I wouldn't have run into this issue, since I think most of my charges were for food.

I was staying at the Pop Century -- I really wanted to ask if my "limit" would have been higher if I had been staying at the Grand Floridian...

It is higher at moderates and bumps again at deluxe

 

[momto3gr8boys]

Are they bumping up your "credit limit" along with rolling out the magic bands? I know that on my last stay I tried to use my WDW "Key to the World" card as I would on any cruise, to pay for 'everything'. But every so often I would hit my "credit limit" and have to visit the front desk in my resort in order to have them charge my credit card (on file) and reset my balance. I really didn't understand why they woudln't do this automatically.

I found this quite annoying, and eventually just switched to using a credit card in most places.

I wasn't even spending all that much, the limit was pretty low. Perhaps if I had a dining plan then I wouldn't have run into this issue, since I think most of my charges were for food.

I was staying at the Pop Century -- I really wanted to ask if my "limit" would have been higher if I had been staying at the Grand Floridian...

Yes, your limit would have been $1500 at the GF vs $500 at Pop. That has been in effect for years.

But what no one mentioned was that the 1.000 people who tested the bands were deluxe resort guests. On avg these guests tend to spend more anyway. I don't think fun and the bands had anything to do with getting them to spend more.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[beer dave]

Please correct me-- but I haven't seen any info saying fpp will be available to off site guests. ???

 

[MarkC71]

I'm excited about the new my Magic bands but I am concerned that allowing more Then three fast passes per day would increase the wait in the fast pass lines and ultimately end up negating their value. However, I'm sure Disney has put a whole lot of time and effort into researching crowd levels and line wait times and have a good idea how everything is going to work. I don't love the idea of having to book my ride time 60 days out, but I'm also thinking a lot of other people won't want to do that either and maybe guests will wait until they get closer to their vacation before they start booking times. I don't know, I guess we will have to wait and see.

As for the increased spending this makes sense. I used to work for a company that used similar technology at convenience stores. Time after time market research showed that customers paying with cash spent the least money, those paying with credit cards spent more in the store, and those paying with the key tag technology paid the most, even if it was only a dollar or two. I'm sure it won't hold true for everyone visiting the parks but its just human nature, it's easier to put out a couple of extra bucks when you aren't using real cash. I guess that's what keeps all those big credit card companies in business.