Disney Says Wristband Boosts Sales in Disney World Test

[Lewisc]

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

I read, but don't remember how credible the source, Disney was going to go back to including park hopper with most tickets.

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.

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Disney knew they were deluxe resort guests. Disney knows what the average guest spends. Disney said those guests spent more. Do you think Disney is lying in order to justify the $$$ spent on the magic bands? I guess it's possible.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I read, but don't remember how credible the source, Disney was going to go back to including park hopper with most tickets.

Disney knew they were deluxe resort guests. Disney knows what the average guest spends. Disney said those guests spent more. Do you think Disney is lying in order to justify the $$$ spent on the magic bands? I guess it's possible.

No, I don't think they are lying, but did they say those guests spent more than the guests staying at deluxe resorts without magic bands, or more than all guests in general? There are lots of ways of coming up with impressive numbers without needing to lie, and I don't think it will be truly telling until a much larger cross sampling of all guests are tested.

As for the credit vs cash concept mentioned by a PP, absolutely! People will always spend more with plastic than cash, but that is already in place with the ability to charge on your RFID KKTW card, so the tap and go concept already exists even without the bands.

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[granmanh603]

Do you have to use these? last stay I did not even use the room key for charging, used my own credit card. When then informed me I had to use and extra code to use, just passed. And having to order fast passes is not going to work for me at all. I never know where I am going to be on a given day til I get there. Often we take the first bus that comes along.

 

[MarkC71]

I realize the key to the world cards already had that functionality, but you probably had people, like my family, who would not use that card for much other then incidentals. When we went down we hardly ever used KTTW cards for purchasing anything. The band just makes it easier, its on your wrist all day, it just makes it easier to separate you from your money.

I'm just telling you what my old company found at their stores with the keytag. And this is at a convenience stores where people were buying chips and gum. Imagine if Disney gets every person that walks into the Magic Kingdom, to buy an extra ice cream cone, or balloon, or plush doll, or lollipop, just because of the Magic bands. That's all it would take to make it profitable.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

I realize the key to the world cards already had that functionality, but you probably had people, like my family, who would not use that card for much other then incidentals. When we went down we hardly ever used KTTW cards for purchasing anything. The band just makes it easier, its on your wrist all day, it just makes it easier to separate you from your money.

I'm just telling you what my old company found at their stores with the keytag. And this is at a convenience stores where people were buying chips and gum. Imagine if Disney gets every person that walks into the Magic Kingdom, to buy an extra ice cream cone, or balloon, or plush doll, or lollipop, just because of the Magic bands. That's all it would take to make it profitable.

True. I wonder if there will be an increase in the number of guests willing to charge back to their rooms. We have always done it...even as a teen in the 80s my parents allowed us charging privileges on our cards. But I have noticed more often than not, people here on the Dis do not charge back to their rooms. They talk of how much cash to bring, using GCs and asking if credit cards are accepted. I guess everyone has their reasons, but I'm wondering if those people will change their ways with the bands, and how will Disney encourage that.

As for me, I am a marketing person's dream....the band will most likely increase my impulse spending

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[Lewisc]

No, I don't think they are lying, but did they say those guests spent more than the guests staying at deluxe resorts without magic bands, or more than all guests in general? There are lots of ways of coming up with impressive numbers without needing to lie, and I don't think it will be truly telling until a much larger cross sampling of all guests are tested.

Did guests volunteer to participate? Did Disney pick a group of guests and told them this is the new system? I'd speculate the kind of people who would volunteer to try out a system which makes buying stuff easier might be the kind of people who like to buy stuff on vacation.

 

[SharkBoy]

I can't wait to try mine, I'm just not sure if the fastpass + is something that I'm going to really use, I find it's bad enough you have to decide way in advance what restaurants you want to eat at and plan your day around that, I'm not sure that I want to add planning my day around a reserved time for an attraction as well... but I guess I'll know more after I try it.

 

[tjkraz]

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

Yes, it is available to all ticket-holding guests. In order to book FP+ prior to arrival, you will have to pre-purchase theme park tickets. The ticket will be linked to a "My Disney Experience" online account, which will then enable the FP+ reservation feature.

Annual Passholders will reportedly get a fixed number of days per year in which they can use the FP+ benefit. I think 20 days per year has been tossed around, but like all things that's certainly subject to change.

What remains unknown is whether Disney will choose to give more FPs to its hotel guests.

Disney knew they were deluxe resort guests. Disney knows what the average guest spends. Disney said those guests spent more. Do you think Disney is lying in order to justify the $$$ spent on the magic bands? I guess it's possible.

I don't know that they would lie...but without any quantification it's hard to draw any conclusions. Just buying a few add-on trinkets for the Magic Bands would technically represent an increase (all other things being equal.) Any fraction of a percent is an "increase", but not necessarily a sign that MB users are opening untying the purse strings.

Do you have to use these? last stay I did not even use the room key for charging, used my own credit card. When then informed me I had to use and extra code to use, just passed.

You must have either a Magic Band or the old KTTW card to unlock room door and to obtain FastPasses. There is no mandate to use it for shopping.

And having to order fast passes is not going to work for me at all. I never know where I am going to be on a given day til I get there. Often we take the first bus that comes along.

Guests are not obligated to pre-reserve ride times. They will have kiosks in the parks where you can use the Band or KTTW card to obtain FP+ ride times. However, the paper FP tickets are being eliminated and the limit of three FPs per day will apply (unless Disney tweaks that policy.)

 

[Shaden]

Guests are not obligated to pre-reserve ride times. They will have kiosks in the parks where you can use the Band or KTTW card to obtain FP+ ride times. However, the paper FP tickets are being eliminated and the limit of three FPs per day will apply (unless Disney tweaks that policy.)

And of course this in the FAQ is repeatedly noted that you can book these FPs same day IF ... giant .... IF there are any left available.

It is quite possible that all the FPs for an attraction you want will book up long in advance of the day you are in the park .

 

[bcrook]

And of course this in the FAQ is repeatedly noted that you can book these FPs same day IF ... giant .... IF there are any left available.

It is quite possible that all the FPs for an attraction you want will book up long in advance of the day you are in the park .

At the very least, the desirable times will be gone.

 

[tjkraz]

And of course this in the FAQ is repeatedly noted that you can book these FPs same day IF ... giant .... IF there are any left available.

It is quite possible that all the FPs for an attraction you want will book up long in advance of the day you are in the park .

That's very true. But again if you consider the logistics of the FP+ system, it seems very unlikely that rides will consistently "sell out" prior to arrival.

Under the current setup, it's possible to get 2 or 3 sets of FastPasses for a single attraction in one day--even a high demand attraction like Toy Story Mania.

With FastPass+, not only are you limited to one set of FPs per attraction but you have to choose ONE experience from a group which may include the likes of TSM, Rock N Rollercoaster and Fantasmic. Not all guests will choose to pre-register and even among those who do, many will choose the other options in that grouping.

IMO, the ones most likely to "sell out" are the once daily park experiences like reserved viewing space for Fantasmic, Illuminations, Wishes or the parades. Reserved viewing sections for those may only hold a few hundred guests per day while attractions cycle upward of 10,000 guests daily.

At the very least, the desirable times will be gone.

What is a "desirable time"?

People fill the parks from 8/9am until close. One guest wants to ride Toy Story Mania right upon arrival at 9am. Another guest wants mid afternoon. Another won't arrive until dinner time and wants an evening ride time.

In this regard, I consider it a vast improvement over the current system which necessitates an early arrival, an often useless walk to the rear of the theme park and a "take it or leave it" approach to the return time.

 

[bcrook]

That's very true. But again if you consider the logistics of the FP+ system, it seems very unlikely that rides will consistently "sell out" prior to arrival.

Under the current setup, it's possible to get 2 or 3 sets of FastPasses for a single attraction in one day--even a high demand attraction like Toy Story Mania.

With FastPass+, not only are you limited to one set of FPs per attraction but you have to choose ONE experience from a group which may include the likes of TSM, Rock N Rollercoaster and Fantasmic. Not all guests will choose to pre-register and even among those who do, many will choose the other options in that grouping.

IMO, the ones most likely to "sell out" are the once daily park experiences like reserved viewing space for Fantasmic, Illuminations, Wishes or the parades. Reserved viewing sections for those may only hold a few hundred guests per day while attractions cycle upward of 10,000 guests daily.



What is a "desirable time"?

People fill the parks from 8/9am until close. One guest wants to ride Toy Story Mania right upon arrival at 9am. Another guest wants mid afternoon. Another won't arrive until dinner time and wants an evening ride time.

In this regard, I consider it a vast improvement over the current system which necessitates an early arrival, an often useless walk to the rear of the theme park and a "take it or leave it" approach to the return time.

At animal kingdom nearly all rides are walk on from 4:00 until close. I wouldn't need a FP then.

Most people don't get to the parks early or stay late to use FP. During those times it is ideal to use standby.

I would say that patterns of desirability will develop. I wouldn't want a FP during Fantasmic or a parade those are good times for standby.

Most people probably will expect FP availability during the peak hours of the day after 11:00 and before 5:00. Of course this is part of the plan by Disney is to spread those crowds out more throughout the day. I hope it doesn't work at DAK, I enjoy having the run of the place in the afternoon.

 

[akl-fan]

We are due to arrive in September for 15 nights, we are DVC members. As we are in the UK we have purchased the UK unlimited tickets direct from Disney. When the package arrived it did not contain tickets but just had a voucher to take to the TTC and redeem for the tickets. As a result I cannot load my tickets onto MDE. Therefore we will not be able to pre- book fast passes if the scheme is up and running by then. I find this really irritating. Can anyone think of a way I could get the tickets early.

I think Disney has really dropped the ball when it come to the UK, not only can we not access MDE from PC's ( I can from iphone). I am also unable to checkin on line. And now there is the question not being able to pre-book fastpasses.

Although I am looking forward to magic bands etc but i hope that the fastpass thing is delayed past Sep.

 

[Shaden]

We are due to arrive in September for 15 nights, we are DVC members. As we are in the UK we have purchased the UK unlimited tickets direct from Disney. When the package arrived it did not contain tickets but just had a voucher to take to the TTC and redeem for the tickets. As a result I cannot load my tickets onto MDE. Therefore we will not be able to pre- book fast passes if the scheme is up and running by then. I find this really irritating. Can anyone think of a way I could get the tickets early.

I think Disney has really dropped the ball when it come to the UK, not only can we not access MDE from PC's ( I can from iphone). I am also unable to checkin on line. And now there is the question not being able to pre-book fastpasses.

Although I am looking forward to magic bands etc but i hope that the fastpass thing is delayed past Sep.

By Sept ... 2013 ??? If so, I wouldn't worry too much, regular fast pass will still be up and running at that point. We don't know WHEN FP+ will be fully rolled out, but certainly not by Sept ...

 

[tjkraz]

At animal kingdom nearly all rides are walk on from 4:00 until close. I wouldn't need a FP then.

Most people don't get to the parks early or stay late to use FP. During those times it is ideal to use standby.

I would say that patterns of desirability will develop. I wouldn't want a FP during Fantasmic or a parade those are good times for standby.

Most people probably will expect FP availability during the peak hours of the day after 11:00 and before 5:00. Of course this is part of the plan by Disney is to spread those crowds out more throughout the day. I hope it doesn't work at DAK, I enjoy having the run of the place in the afternoon.

Some timeframes may naturally emerge as preferable to guests but I wouldn't necessarily view that as being less satisfying than the system we have now. Today if you chug to the back of DHS to get a Toy Story Mania FP at 10am, you have only one option available: whatever return time is currently displayed. And that ride time could be 2pm, 4pm, 7pm or all FPs could already be gone for the day.

Similarly, if a FP+ user may open their smartphone app at 8:30am while waiting for a DHS bus and find that the only TSM reservation times remaining are from 2pm onward.

That said, I also think you're giving the masses too much credit for structuring their trips around "best case" FP uses. Personally I've been to the Disney parks dozens of times. Yet when we were able to test FP+ last December, I willingly chose the 9:05 - 10:05am window for our first FP. We planned to arrive at the park around 9:30 and I really didn't see a reason to delay.

Higher mid-afternoon crowds will naturally drive up demand during certain hours, but IMO the vast majority of guests will not use slide rules and spreadsheets to weigh the most effective use of their FP selections.

Also consider that there's no reason for the number of FP+s to remain fixed throughout the day. Attraction capacity won't change, but Disney can certainly adjust the PF / Standby balance during different times of the day.

 

[bcrook]

Some timeframes may naturally emerge as preferable to guests but I wouldn't necessarily view that as being less satisfying than the system we have now. Today if you chug to the back of DHS to get a Toy Story Mania FP at 10am, you have only one option available: whatever return time is currently displayed. And that ride time could be 2pm, 4pm, 7pm or all FPs could already be gone for the day.

Similarly, if a FP+ user may open their smartphone app at 8:30am while waiting for a DHS bus and find that the only TSM reservation times remaining are from 2pm onward.

That said, I also think you're giving the masses too much credit for structuring their trips around "best case" FP uses. Personally I've been to the Disney parks dozens of times. Yet when we were able to test FP+ last December, I willingly chose the 9:05 - 10:05am window for our first FP. We planned to arrive at the park around 9:30 and I really didn't see a reason to delay.

Higher mid-afternoon crowds will naturally drive up demand during certain hours, but IMO the vast majority of guests will not use slide rules and spreadsheets to weigh the most effective use of their FP selections.

Also consider that there's no reason for the number of FP+s to remain fixed throughout the day. Attraction capacity won't change, but Disney can certainly adjust the PF / Standby balance during different times of the day.

I understand your points. I am working through this from my standpoint.

In December tests you were able to pre schedule and pull FP. If I couldn't pull FP, I am not sure i would waste one of my three FP+ choices on the 9-10 am window. That would be an excellent time to take advantage of short lines elsewhere in the park. I would prefer to schedule my FP during the busy times when lines are longer.

I think most people will figure this out.

I definitely don't want to schedule any FP in DAK after the parade, that would be a waste.

As for less satisfying? I didn't say that. I do think people will have to be on their toes and book early to get the best time slots. This whole thing works extremely well for TSMM and soarin. everything else is about a wash.

 

[pilferk]

Disney knew they were deluxe resort guests. Disney knows what the average guest spends. Disney said those guests spent more. Do you think Disney is lying in order to justify the $$$ spent on the magic bands? I guess it's possible.

Not lying.

But I have a strong suspicion they were not making apples to apples comparisons. We covered this in another thread on the topic, so I'll transplant my post here:

I would offer it could very well be a false correlation, anyway.

It may not be the tech causing them to spend more. It could very well be other factors (decreased use of the dining plans, increased appeal of merchandise, increased acceptance of electronic forms of payment in certain areas, other economic factors particular to the group who are testing, etc...even something as simple as different weather patterns during the different comparison times).

Granted, we don't have their data. But simply comparing average spending of the test group to average spending by those NOT in the test group isn't really a valid comparison (especially if not in the same "resort" category or time frame...but those couldn't be the only two group identifiers used, either).

But I'm relatively sure that's what they're doing. I doubt they're setting up a similar sized, demoed, and econ equivalent control group to make those comparisons. At least not for the purposes of his statement in this article.

1000 people, even if completely randomly selected (and it's not...it's people staying at specific resorts, with specific check in dates, and specific other factors like regular net access, on a WDW vacation package, and a way for Disney to contact them), is simply too small of a relative test group to think it's a poll-able sample size for something like this. For public opinion? Different story.

But spending habits are a little different.

What's also interesting is he says they "spent more"...but not how much more. 1%? 5%? 10%? How much is "more".

 

[Reddog1134]

Not lying.

But I have a strong suspicion they were not making apples to apples comparisons. We covered this in another thread on the topic, so I'll transplant my post here:

I would offer it could very well be a false correlation, anyway.

It may not be the tech causing them to spend more. It could very well be other factors (decreased use of the dining plans, increased appeal of merchandise, increased acceptance of electronic forms of payment in certain areas, other economic factors particular to the group who are testing, etc...even something as simple as different weather patterns during the different comparison times).

Granted, we don't have their data. But simply comparing average spending of the test group to average spending by those NOT in the test group isn't really a valid comparison (especially if not in the same "resort" category or time frame...but those couldn't be the only two group identifiers used, either).

But I'm relatively sure that's what they're doing. I doubt they're setting up a similar sized, demoed, and econ equivalent control group to make those comparisons. At least not for the purposes of his statement in this article.

1000 people, even if completely randomly selected (and it's not...it's people staying at specific resorts, with specific check in dates, and specific other factors like regular net access, on a WDW vacation package, and a way for Disney to contact them), is simply too small of a relative test group to think it's a poll-able sample size for something like this. For public opinion? Different story.

But spending habits are a little different.

What's also interesting is he says they "spent more"...but not how much more. 1%? 5%? 10%? How much is "more".

I saw something about a control group of the same size and demographic at WDW at the same time. They monitored this groups spending and compared it to the Magic Band group.

 

[pilferk]

I saw something about a control group of the same size and demographic at WDW at the same time. They monitored this groups spending and compared it to the Magic Band group.

Do you know where you saw that? It's not in the Bloomberg article.

I know we've discussed that would be the proper way to do it (along with econ screening)...but I have seen no mention that they did, in fact, do it that way.

 

[Reddog1134]

Do you know where you saw that? It's not in the Bloomberg article.

I know we've discussed that would be the proper way to do it (along with econ screening)...but I have seen no mention that they did, in fact, do it that way.

Not an official source, but the only place I've seen any info.

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorize...pecos-bill-adds-karubi-short-ribs-y-u-do-dis/