Asked to test MyMagic+ during BLT stay 7/24

[bcrook]

Very curious to hear how this is going. I hope the testers are having the time of their lives.

 

[ddhoeg]

We checked in yesterday and received our magic bands. The lobby was swarming with CMs to help with questions about the bands and fp+. Disney did an excellent job IMHO in having extra staff available to assist guests. There was also a communication session today 8:30-10:30 on the 15th floor for guests to provide feedback about their experiences. (We did not go since we have yet to try out the bands in the parks.) In addition disney research has a mobile office set up by one of the elevator banks where they are asking guests to provide feedback more specifically on the MDE website and mobile app. Finally there is a service/assistance room on the first floor that guests can go to for specific help with magic bands, MDE, fp+, etc. that is open 8 am - 6pm. They had 4 or more CMs here with computers and 2 iPads used as kiosks for MDE. Overall it seems Disney really has taken time and care to help the test be successful, IMHO anyway.

 

[ddhoeg]

As for my personal experience so far, we customized bands before we left home and received them upon check in. We then needed to go to the service/assistance room to have CMs transfer over our annual passes to the bands.

Without boring everyone with a long story and background, the quick version is that we had a 3 day stay on the front end of this trip (non Dvc disney hotel on platinum plan which on a sidebar I would highly recommend!!) and had used park hoppers from that to put towards renewal of annual passes. For some reason that caused a huge problem with their system in making the annual pass transfer happen.

CMs ended up having to reissue our bands. At first they told us they were not going to be able to give us color choices, just the gray. However they ended up being able to find color ones to use as replacement bands. We lost our names that we had on the old ones, but did get to keep those as souvenirs. This replacement process took a long time to complete. From start to finish it was a 2 - 3 hours of everyone's time. However through the whole thing CMs were extremely kind and apologetic and kept thanking us for participating in the test to help work all of these types of bugs out. They couldn't have been better or more helpful IMHO.

I spent a large portion of my waiting time in the service room and got to talk with CMs as well as hear other guest comments when they came in. It seemed that the biggest question on everyone's mind was will I still get to use the regular fp machines during this test? Interestingly, the CMs gave the run around answer of well you are welcome to try it and see if it will work but wouldn't come right out and say yes it will. Other issues I heard were that bands didn't work in the parks, bands won't open door to the pool/sky bridge walkway/outside entrances.

In the end we got our new bands and CMs booked us additional fp+ for today and gave us a room credit for the lost time ad inconvenience. I never asked for anything like that but it was a special treat that was appreciated. We will try out the bands later today and I will try to post back and report how it goes.

 

[CarolMN]

Thank you to all of you testers! I am not sure I would be very happy to have to spend so much of my precious vacation time waiting for someone to straighten things out. I am also worried about the wi-fi service in the parks and how long it's going to take for the software to work using it.

I have been using the www.MyDisneyExperience.com software and it is very, very, S L O W! I've used it on multiple computers at different locations & on high speed networks, so I'm reasonably certain it's the software - or perhaps related to the load on Disney's servers. IMO, they have a lot of work to do before they should even think of rolling it out to everyone!

Thanks again to all of you who volunteered to test!

 

[bcrook]

We checked in yesterday and received our magic bands. The lobby was swarming with CMs to help with questions about the bands and fp+. Disney did an excellent job IMHO in having extra staff available to assist guests. There was also a communication session today 8:30-10:30 on the 15th floor for guests to provide feedback about their experiences. (We did not go since we have yet to try out the bands in the parks.) In addition disney research has a mobile office set up by one of the elevator banks where they are asking guests to provide feedback more specifically on the MDE website and mobile app. Finally there is a service/assistance room on the first floor that guests can go to for specific help with magic bands, MDE, fp+, etc. that is open 8 am - 6pm. They had 4 or more CMs here with computers and 2 iPads used as kiosks for MDE. Overall it seems Disney really has taken time and care to help the test be successful, IMHO anyway.

This is reassuring. I would think Disney wants everyone to use this new system. Providing places for questions and training is extremely proactive.

That is too bad about the mess with switching tickets, but maybe they will iron that out now. Funny, they won't give a straight answer about regular fastpass.

Enjoy!!! Looking forward to additional updates when you have time.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thank you to all of you testers! I am not sure I would be very happy to have to spend so much of my precious vacation time waiting for someone to straighten things out. I am also worried about the wi-fi service in the parks and how long it's going to take for the software to work using it.

This was my first though too. Frankly it doesn't sound like it's ready to be mass tested like this if they are having all of these issues still.

And having access to the current FP system and the new one can't be providing any accurate satisfaction ratings.

 

[Sammie]

I am hoping we can do this in December for our Christmas trip at AKV. In anticipation, I already had our APs linked to MDE.

I would say there is a good chance everyone will have it by then.

 

[ddhoeg]

We spent about 7 hours at MK yesterday with the bands. The entry process was the hardest part of the day and it wasn't too bad.

We had some trouble getting the Mickey head to recognize our bands and finger scan at the same time but with a small delay we were in. You really need to have your band on your left wrist or just hold it in your left hand when entering the park to have your right hand free for the finger recognition. I'm left handed so had the band on my right wrist initially but ended up just holding it up to the reader with my left for entry. Once we were in and needed bands for fp the readers seemed easier to use and bands could be worn on either wrist.

We continued to use the bands for our allotted fp times while we were there with no problems. (Our plastic APs still worked at the paper fp machines and we didnt have to do anything special to activate them.) Most CMs were excited to see the new bands and try them out with us. Some greeted us by name while some didn't. I can't decide whether that is cool or scary lol. From looking at CM screen the only info they see is your first name (no last name or gender). We joked around with them about the fp system turning into airport body scanners.

We used the band for food purchases as well with no problems. I did not have a situation where I was using a Dvc or Ap discount to test whether those discounts would be applied automatically but hope to try that out soon.

i had a print out of our times which I carried with us that helped us remember when and where. I could see situations where you either forgot your phone or had a dead phone etc. where trying to use the mobile app/kiosks in the parks would be a pain.

Since we were experimenting we scanned our bands at haunted mansion late last night when there was no line and we weren't causing any delays for anyone else. The reader turned blue and the CMs could tell us that it was blue because we had a fp time from 9:05-10:05 at space mountain. I thought that was interesting.

The entire time we were at MK we never saw anyone else either using bands or wearing bands. We did however run into a family from our home town 1400 miles away who we didn't know was going to be at WDW. Statistically speaking i would have guessed that we would have seen people with bands before people from home. So it appears that this test is a very small test sample of total guests. Hopefully it can be used to work out the kinks before it rolls out to everyone. Fingers crossed.


We are headed out again today for a test at HS. If you have specific questions you want me to ask or experiment with, please let me know and I'll do my best. I'm testing this out for Disney so might as well test for the Dis as well.

 

[Song of the South]

I have a question if you do not mind...if I was still in the 90s with my cellular technology would FP+ be a huge issue? On your thread and Belle's Castle's I keep reading about needing to use your phone. I assume you have an iPhone or similar.

Silly question I guess but it may but me over the edge for an upgrade...

Thank you for taking time from your vacation to help everyone (seriously, millions!!! of people!) who visits in the future.

SotS

 

[bcrook]

Thank you ddhoeg! Really appreciate the time you are taking for us.

How would this "feel" if you didn't have access to paper FP?

Looking forward to discount answer!

 

[FRANKTSJR]

I have a question if you do not mind...if I was still in the 90s with my cellular technology would FP+ be a huge issue? On your thread and Belle's Castle's I keep reading about needing to use your phone. I assume you have an iPhone or similar.

Silly question I guess but it may but me over the edge for an upgrade...

Thank you for taking time from your vacation to help everyone (seriously, millions!!! of people!) who visits in the future.

SotS

A wi-fi enabled iPod can be a less expensive alternative and you will be able to use the MDE app with it. Some people don't want to give up their flip phones.

 

[ddhoeg]

I have a question if you do not mind...if I was still in the 90s with my cellular technology would FP+ be a huge issue? On your thread and Belle's Castle's I keep reading about needing to use your phone. I assume you have an iPhone or similar.

Silly question I guess but it may but me over the edge for an upgrade...

Thank you for taking time from your vacation to help everyone (seriously, millions!!! of people!) who visits in the future.

SotS

SoS,

We are an iPhone family and have been using our phones to help us through the fp process as well as post here. I don't think you would necessarily have to have a smart phone to navigate through fp+, but it may enhance your experience while onsite. I still used my laptop from home to plan and make arrangements before we left.

It was nice to sit at on a bench in HS last night and be able to adjust our fp times for today after we decided to sleep in a little bit. You could do the same thing with an iPad if you were comfortable taking it into the parks. I like those because the screens are easier to read for us over 40 crowd who need glasses to read our phones.

IMHO any device that has wifi capabilities would add to the fp+ experience and allow you easier flexibility. HTH

 

[ddhoeg]

Thank you ddhoeg! Really appreciate the time you are taking for us.

How would this "feel" if you didn't have access to paper FP?

Looking forward to discount answer!

You are very welcome! Glad to do it!

I think it is really difficult to say how this would "feel" without paper fp, especially if there is a 3 or 4 limit per day per park. There are so many variables like normal touring plans, weather specifically rain, likes/dislikes etc. that go into accessing whether fp+ is good for you or not. I think your satisfaction may be based on your prior experiences and expectations. If the new system provides you with a better experience than you had previously it is great. If it doesn't, then I don't think you will be a big fan.

For us, being limited to only 3 fp per day at MK would be a downer. Our normal pattern would be to pull many more fp than that per day. We would normally be there at rope drop and ride certain rides multiple times. However last night at HS we strolled in at 6:00 pm and had fp for TSM, RR, and TT. We would never had expected to be able to ride those attractions that late in the day without having been there earlier to pull fp. So there it worked beautifully!! I'm still trying it out a few more days before making overall conclusions.

 

[ddhoeg]

Want to update that I went by World of Disney yesterday and made purchases using the bands. The CM there said she couldn't see whether I was Dvc/ap holder for discounts. She said even if the system did I would still need to have the actual Dvc card or ap as well a photo ID for verification. I will try this out again and see of I get the same response.

 

[ddhoeg]

Last post before we are out this morning I promise.

Need to tell you all that we checked out of BLT yesterday and checked in to BCV. We didn't do anything special with the bands or tell front desk we were doing anything other than online check in but our bands still worked as room keys and opened our doors at BCV!! This was a huge surprise for us!! It again was both extremely cool and a little bit creepy.

If this is a part of the MM+ experience, split stays could be be a whole lot easier. One band instead of multiple keys!!

We will try doing room charge with the bands today to see if that works as well. Or we may find that everything ended at midnight yesterday when our BLT stay officially ended. We will see.

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

I received a letter this a.m. to test magic+, but the reservation that shows for testing is my 2 night stay at Pop. We are not arriving until 11:00 p.m. the first night. Will I only be able to test for 1 day? We are moving on to Coronado for 4 days and then on to BWV for 4 days. It does mention to bring my DVC member card and AP with me.

I hope it is just not for the one day. What happens for the rest of my stay and resort switches? Does the band stop working? I see there is a phone number to call for questions, so I guess I will do that since I have a lot!

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

So I did phone the help desk and indeed it is only testing for our 2 nights at Pop. I will still do it even though it is just going to be for the one day.

 

[BlazerFan]

Are the bands for everyone in your party linked so you can all get FP for the same ride at the same time? Is so, what if part of the group wants a different FP?

 

[kdegour23]

We are visiting WDW 8/6 through 8/13, and were invited to try the MagicBands during our stay (we are staying at The Contemporary). I was excited to find this thread to learn more about it. My husband spent an hour or so on the phone last night finalizing our dining plans, and the CM he spoke with had great things to say about the bands. She had tested them with her family recently. She told him that approx 800 people a day in the entire WDW resort are using them, since only about 80% of those invited take part. So that seems like a pretty good advantage in and of itself!

 

[erionm]

Are the bands for everyone in your party linked so you can all get FP for the same ride at the same time? Is so, what if part of the group wants a different FP?

You need to add people to your 'Friends and Family' in MDE to be able to book the same FP+ times. Each person can select different attractions if they desire.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/fastpass-plus/