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

[Mad Hattered]

I missed this article. Is it posted here somewhere? I can't find it.

Here you go.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3200166

 

[clsteve]

I missed this article. Is it posted here somewhere? I can't find it.

Posted in the MyMagic+ Delay - Article thread

 

[clsteve]

Here you go.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3200166

Faster than a speeding bullet....

 

[Mad Hattered]

Faster than a speeding bullet....

I do what I can, Bro.

 

[rastuso]

Here was the order they started out with:

Disneys Pop Century Resort
Disneys Contemporary Resort
Disneys Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House
Disneys Yacht Club Resort

Disneys Art of Animation Resort
Disneys Beach Club Resort and Villas
Disneys Polynesian Resort
Disneys Port Orleans Riverside
Disneys Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House Villas

Notice how many are Deluxe resorts on that list. I think they will have a bigger mess on their hands if they just roll this out to All Star Resorts next.

That is interesting. So the whales at GF are not being given this amazing new perk. But other Deluxes are, but then some Moderates are still amazing new perk free, as are the lowest of the low All Star Resorts.

GF is the bellweather. There is no friggin way Disney has the guts to tell someone staying there that can't get TT, MS, and Soarin FPs in one day. Or that All Star folks will get a perk they don't.

If Disney truly believed in their Billion Dollar Baby, wouldn't the GF have been the top of the list?

As it stands, a savvy moderate guest is getting TONS more FPs than a GF guest. Although "savvy" and "GF guest" don't really go together.

Jason

 

[nugov2]

I do what I can, Bro.

You guys are fast!!! Thank you

 

[Mad Hattered]

That is interesting. So the whales at GF are not being given this amazing new perk. But other Deluxes are, but then some Moderates are still amazing new perk free, as are the lowest of the low All Star Resorts.

GF is the bellweather. There is no friggin way Disney has the guts to tell someone staying there that can't get TT, MS, and Soarin FPs in one day. Or that All Star folks will get a perk they don't.

If Disney truly believed in their Billion Dollar Baby, wouldn't the GF have been the top of the list?

As it stands, a savvy moderate guest is getting TONS more FPs than a GF guest. Although "savvy" and "GF guest" don't really go together.

Jason

GF was in the last group to test them.

 

[The Hub]

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.

 

[rebbyparker]

Wow, hostile guests. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like down there, right now, for the CM's. This just reinforces the point, if you have a good CM assist you, make sure to fill our a card and give them kudos.

 

[rastuso]

GF was in the last group to test them.

OK, so they do have them. It wasn't on the list. But still, I'd assume if this is so awesome, they would start at the top, not the bottom.

That fact alone shows that Disney knows they are polishing a turd. Which IS possible, proven on Mythbusters.

Jason

 

[kmarie99]

OK, so they do have them. It wasn't on the list. But still, I'd assume if this is so awesome, they would start at the top, not the bottom.

That fact alone shows that Disney knows they are polishing a turd. Which IS possible, proven on Mythbusters.

Jason

Your argument makes no sense since the Value resorts (which are the cheapest) are not in the first group but the Contemporary and Yatch club are (which are deluxe)
So it seems that they have a Value, Moderate and Deluxe in each group.

 

[mom2rtk]

OK, so they do have them. It wasn't on the list. But still, I'd assume if this is so awesome, they would start at the top, not the bottom.

And there we have it.

 

[clsteve]

That is interesting. So the whales at GF are not being given this amazing new perk. But other Deluxes are, but then some Moderates are still amazing new perk free, as are the lowest of the low All Star Resorts.

GF is the bellweather. There is no friggin way Disney has the guts to tell someone staying there that can't get TT, MS, and Soarin FPs in one day. Or that All Star folks will get a perk they don't.

If Disney truly believed in their Billion Dollar Baby, wouldn't the GF have been the top of the list?

As it stands, a savvy moderate guest is getting TONS more FPs than a GF guest. Although "savvy" and "GF guest" don't really go together.

Jason

With all of the issues, do we really need to bring guest weight into the equation...........?

 

[doconeill]

That is interesting. So the whales at GF are not being given this amazing new perk. But other Deluxes are, but then some Moderates are still amazing new perk free, as are the lowest of the low All Star Resorts.

GF is the bellweather. There is no friggin way Disney has the guts to tell someone staying there that can't get TT, MS, and Soarin FPs in one day. Or that All Star folks will get a perk they don't.

If Disney truly believed in their Billion Dollar Baby, wouldn't the GF have been the top of the list?

As it stands, a savvy moderate guest is getting TONS more FPs than a GF guest. Although "savvy" and "GF guest" don't really go together.

Jason

The list was not complete, but represented just the first few rounds. ALL Disney operated resorts have them now. In fact, the list also doesn't point out that AKL and CR were in fact the first...POP and YC were added several weeks later.

 

[lugnut33]

"We are walking before we run, so that when you come down and use the service, you are going to feel really good about how it works and not experience glitches, which is our business and not the guest's business," Rasulo said in September.

I have printed this off in size 36 font to bring with me to WDW over Thanksgiving.

I'm have literally been scared over the possibility of having a technological disaster while there over Thanksgiving. I don't want to spend time in the guest services line fixing problems daily. If that happens then Jay's comment will be my backup as to what management expects and what I as a customer should expect.

 

[pigletto]

Wow, hostile guests. I can't even begin to imagine what it's like down there, right now, for the CM's. This just reinforces the point, if you have a good CM assist you, make sure to fill our a card and give them kudos.

Excellent point. Much the same as I am extra kind to retail workers during the Christmas rush, or my waitress on a super busy night, I plan to be very very patient with the CM's on our upcoming trip. You couldn't pay me enough to work there right now. And much the same as any giant company, the person who is helping you try to sort out the issue is never the person who made the decisions or has any real power to change anything. These CM's are likely just getting dumped on all day long for something they likely don't think is such a great idea either.

 

[Mad Hattered]

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.

 

[christineann]

We (two adults) are checking in on Nov. 30 for several days. We have the Magic Bands but have not linked our tickets (which are older no-expiration tickets, including a few paper ones). Though we may be slowed down a bit by having to go through the regular turnstiles, is it the general recommendation then to not link the tickets so we can pull "regular" Fast Passes? We are hesitant to get FP+ at this time, because we don't like to be tied to any certain park at any certain time this far in advance. Crowd levels are listed at 4/10 for the days we will be there.

Thanks in advance for your advice

 

[clsteve]

I have printed this off in size 36 font to bring with me to WDW over Thanksgiving.

I'm have literally been scared over the possibility of having a technological disaster while there over Thanksgiving. I don't want to spend time in the guest services line fixing problems daily. If that happens then Jay's comment will be my backup as to what management expects and what I as a customer should expect.

Excellent idea and I really hope you don't have to use it.

 

[doconeill]

We (two adults) are checking in on Nov. 30 for several days. We have the Magic Bands but have not linked our tickets (which are older no-expiration tickets, including a few paper ones). Though we may be slowed down a bit by having to go through the regular turnstiles, is it the general recommendation then to not link the tickets so we can pull "regular" Fast Passes? We are hesitant to get FP+ at this time, because we don't like to be tied to any certain park at any certain time this far in advance. Crowd levels are listed at 4/10 for the days we will be there.

Thanks in advance for your advice

I don't believe there are any "regular" turnstiles left - at least I didn't notice any last trip. You can still enter, but it will require a CM with an iPad and stripe reader, but they may be "strongly encouraging" that you get them converted to RFID tickets.

As long as you have physical tickets still, it should not matter if you are staying at POP or not or whether they are linked or not. The physical tickets are not being invalidated by linking them, so they can still be used to get regular FP as long as you have them. However, if they are NOT linked, you MUST enter the park using them and NOT the MagicBands.

If they ARE linked, then either should work to enter and the ticket should still be able to get regular FP.