[ADVISORY] WDW - MagicBand-Only Testing Begins at Disney's Pop Century Resort

[TDC Nala]

Though we may be slowed down a bit by having to go through the regular turnstiles

Are there still regular turnstiles? I'm sure there are not many left. I do know that International Gateway does not have any. It's all RFID now.

You'll probably need to get a cast member with one of those handheld thingys to let you in if you don't have RFID tickets.

And I don't think it matters whether you link the tickets or not, if you have the hard ticket you can still use it for FP minus. Although I never bothered to try and get any FP- with my annual pass so I don't have any first hand confirmation on that, but there's no reason it wouldn't have worked I'd think.

 

[christineann]

Great - thank you for your quick answers.

 

[clsteve]

Actually, I was incorrect (gasp). GF started testing earlier than most of the resorts:

September 30, 2013: Bay Lake Tower, Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Village, Port Orleans French Quarter, Grand Floridian, and All-Star Movies.

October 7, 2013: All-Star Sports, BoardWalk Inn, BoardWalk Villas, and Caribbean Beach Resort.

October 14, 2013: All-Star Music, Coronado Springs, Old Key West, Wilderness Lodge, and Villas at Wilderness Lodge.

October 21, 2013: Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground and Saratoga Springs.

October 23, 2013: Grand Floridian Villas.

Hmm.... each group a week apart - POP started on the 14th.....

 

[dlinne]

For the last few pages, the subject of late FastPasses came up. The touchpoints will automatically accept a FastPass+ 5 minutes early and up to 15 minutes late. You can still use FastPasses hours late, both paper and FastPass+. However, it will be up to the Cast Member at FP Return. We have an unwritten rule in my park that if a guest approaches you nicely and is already aware they are late and asks if there is anything we can do, we will 100% of the time allow that guest to go through FP Return late, simply because of the amount of guests who do get hostile when we inform them their FastPasses are late. I'm sure other parks have the same unwritten rule as many Cast Members are trained in multiple locations.

To the poster on page 31, Pop Century will not issue these. Only Cast Members at FastPass Distribution will be able to issue them. They will allow you to pull paper FastPasses for that day only, as well as only that park. It will have the same current time or two hour restriction, as normal.

Thanks for this info. To make sure I understand.....does that mean if I am staying at Pop with only a magic band (no card of any kind) I can just talk to a cast member at a fast pass distribution machine (for example at Splash Mountain) and they can issue me a special kind of FP- card that can be used to obtain FP- in that one park for that one day only? I don't need to go to guest relations or anything like that?

 

[chartle]

Thanks for this info. To make sure I understand.....does that mean if I am staying at Pop with only a magic band (no card of any kind) I can just talk to a cast member at a fast pass distribution machine (for example at Splash Mountain) and they can issue me a special kind of FP- card that can be used to obtain FP- in that one park for that one day only? I don't need to go to guest relations or anything like that?

Not exactly.

See this previous post from The Hub.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50100739#post50100739

I'm saying "not exactly" because its how you have to ask.

 

[sharonped]

Hi all - apologies if this can be found on another thread somewhere...has there been any new news about resorts other than POP being rolled out to MB only status yet? Besides being "soon"? Also adding my thanks to TheHub for providing extremely useful information!

 

[Planogirl]

It still blows my mind that Pop guests can ask nicely and then they might get some kind of fastpass card. Why are they being singled out like this? If this is just to test with a limited group then what good does it do to hand out fastpass cards? I suppose that they think that few Pop guests will ask for them. It's just so weird.

 

[lightningbuzz]

I'm checking into Pop Century and the employee I spoke to at guest services said tonight I will absolutely get the KTTW card as backup for my magic band when I check-in tomorrow (11/19). I had her make a note on my reservation. She told me that she recently stayed at Pop and got to use both the legacy fastpasses and magic bands. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[Planogirl]

I'm checking into Pop Century and the employee I spoke to at guest services said tonight I will absolutely get the KTTW card as backup for my magic band when I check-in tomorrow (11/19). I had her make a note on my reservation. She told me that she recently stayed at Pop and got to use both the legacy fastpasses and magic bands. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Check to see if that card can be accepted by the fastpass machines. People have been reporting that the Pop cards can't be used in the legacy machines.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It still blows my mind that Pop guests can ask nicely and then they might get some kind of fastpass card. Why are they being singled out like this? If this is just to test with a limited group then what good does it do to hand out fastpass cards? I suppose that they think that few Pop guests will ask for them. It's just so weird.

Me too. So bizarre.

 

[mom2rtk]

It still blows my mind that Pop guests can ask nicely and then they might get some kind of fastpass card.

Well.......... only if they know the secret handshake.

 

[lightningbuzz]

Check to see if that card can be accepted by the fastpass machines. People have been reporting that the Pop cards can't be used in the legacy machines.

She said I'd get a KTTW card and it would work in the paper fast pass machines. I've read all the posts in this thread and I wasn't anticipating the cheery, reassuring nature of the woman I spoke with saying I'm for certain going to have no issue getting the key to the world card for getting legacy fast passes. Hopefully the folks at the check in desk tomorrow are of a similar nature. Thanks to everyone on this thread because maybe I can circumvent what would have been very disappointing news at check-in. Anyway, back to last minute packing!

 

[Camiandcarson10]

You can request a card and get one.... But it won't work to pull fast passes. I was supposed to check in there tomorrow and after talking to numerous employees decided it would be best decision to just change resorts. Being able to ride without long waits is more important to me than hotel. I have 2 small kids and they don't handle long waits well.

 

[Planogirl]

She said I'd get a KTTW card and it would work in the paper fast pass machines. I've read all the posts in this thread and I wasn't anticipating the cheery, reassuring nature of the woman I spoke with saying I'm for certain going to have no issue getting the key to the world card for getting legacy fast passes. Hopefully the folks at the check in desk tomorrow are of a similar nature. Thanks to everyone on this thread because maybe I can circumvent what would have been very disappointing news at check-in. Anyway, back to last minute packing!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. Remember the back up plan posted by The Hub if the CM you spoke with turns out to be wrong.

More importantly, have a wonderful time!

 

[pigletto]

She said I'd get a KTTW card and it would work in the paper fast pass machines. I've read all the posts in this thread and I wasn't anticipating the cheery, reassuring nature of the woman I spoke with saying I'm for certain going to have no issue getting the key to the world card for getting legacy fast passes. Hopefully the folks at the check in desk tomorrow are of a similar nature. Thanks to everyone on this thread because maybe I can circumvent what would have been very disappointing news at check-in. Anyway, back to last minute packing!

Unless she stayed there in the last 4 days she's incorrect. They just started with this test for Pop Century. You can still get a RFD enabled KTTW card at the front desk if you ask but it won't pull legacy fastpasses. It will function the same way the band did.
The person who started this thread is reporting that apparently you can ask at some attractions and they'll give you one. That one makes no sense to me. What kind of data are they collecting with this Pop test if they build in loopholes once again. But hey what do I know?

 

[lightningbuzz]

Unless she stayed there in the last 4 days she's incorrect. They just started with this test for Pop Century. You can still get a RFD enabled KTTW card at the front desk if you ask but it won't pull legacy fastpasses. It will function the same way the band did.
The person who started this thread is reporting that apparently you can ask at some attractions and they'll give you one. That one makes no sense to me. What kind of data are they collecting with this Pop test if they build in loopholes once again. But hey what do I know?

And my question is what kind of testing can they do if only one resort is singled out to not use the legacy fast pass system? Of course customers at that one resort would be dissatisfied because they are at a disadvantage from everyone else. It makes little sense.

 

[mom2rtk]

And my question is what kind of testing can they do if only one resort is singled out to not use the legacy fast pass system? Of course customers at that one resort would be dissatisfied because they are at a disadvantage from everyone else. It makes little sense.

Maybe they needed to see how loudly people would squeal? It sounds like maybe they are finding out.

 

[pigletto]

And my question is what kind of testing can they do if only one resort is singled out to not use the legacy fast pass system? Of course customers at that one resort would be dissatisfied because they are at a disadvantage from everyone else. It makes little sense.

I agree on that point as well. This part of testing would only make sense to me if other resorts start swiftly getting added or they scrap it all together. Too soon to tell I guess. But just leaving Pop without the ability to pull legacy fastpass, and handing them out to some people if they complain makes zero sense on any level.

 

[mikek]

...

Disney needs to either back off entirely or just pull the bandaid off. This in-between nonsense isn't good for anyone.

+1

 

[wn01aa]

With all these loopholes, things like people at POP being shafted, is it true that any KTTW with a room only will pull FP- right now. So if a person really wants FP- and is willing to pay, they could book a room only at AOA and a room only at All Star Movies, collect those cards for their family by checking in at each, and use those cards (maybe up to 8, 4 from each room only) to get FP- for their week stay. Guess it depends if that price ($250?) is worth 8 KTTW to be used for FP- (and also get the 3 FP+).

This kind of reminds me of the ghost reservation stuff from August and September. Remember when everyone wanted to book or switch to POP to get MagicBands. Oh how times have changed for POP.