Changes to hotel express

[AJA]

Very cool! We'll be checking in May 7th, excited to see if it's up and running by then.

Found some photos of the photo kiosks on orlando informer.

HRH

PBH

RPR

 

[JessicaR]

Thanks for the pics! Will be interesting to hear from someone once they implement them. So basically, its a do it yourself thing?

 

[phamton]

The hotel express passes are on paper stock with a black and white photo of the guest. You do it yourself and it's very quick and easy.

 

[JessicaR]

The hotel express passes are on paper stock with a black and white photo of the guest. You do it yourself and it's very quick and easy.

Do you carry them with your room key? Has this replaced the plastic room key altogether? How well will paper hold up in a wet park? Thank you for the info!

 

[mjohnson96]

It is a separate ticket now. So you will have a park pass, a hotel key, and a express pass to carry around. I would think they would be as waterproof as a regular ticket so that might not be saying much.

 

[JessicaR]

It is a separate ticket now. So you will have a park pass, a hotel key, and a express pass to carry around. I would think they would be as waterproof as a regular ticket so that might not be saying much.

OK get it. So I'm guessing the same paper the AP's are made of. Just one more thing to carry. I was originally thinking the photo would be on the plastic room key. Lets see how long this lasts.

Thanks!

 

[Bluer101]

It is a separate ticket now. So you will have a park pass, a hotel key, and a express pass to carry around. I would think they would be as waterproof as a regular ticket so that might not be saying much.

Yea, and from experience the AP paper ticket gets faded real fast from the water rides. Even in the plastic pouch some water gets in there. About every other trip I need to get a reprinted AP.

I just hope with this change in hotel express its here to stay and not the new Q-Bot system they are trying in the parks. That system is fine for non hotel guests.

 

[stephensmum]

Anyone used one yet?

 

[Bourquefam]

We will be there in two weeks and I'll snap a picture of one and post it when we return (if no-one else does before then).

I'm going to bring some Office Depot luggage tag laminates and ask at the front desk if it would be ok to put on our park passes and express passes. (You simply iron them on and attach to a lanyard.) Hoping it will work and we can all wear around our necks to save us from having to pull them out of plastic pouches to show each cm before boarding a ride!!!!

Thoughts on this???

 

[JessicaR]

We will be there in two weeks and I'll snap a picture of one and post it when we return (if no-one else does before then).

I'm going to bring some Office Depot luggage tag laminates and ask at the front desk if it would be ok to put on our park passes and express passes. (You simply iron them on and attach to a lanyard.) Hoping it will work and we can all wear around our necks to save us from having to pull them out of plastic pouches to show each cm before boarding a ride!!!!

Thoughts on this???

As long as it scans sounds like a great idea! Have a fun vacation.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

We just returned from a split stay at Hard Rock and Portofino - neither resort is using the new system as of yet, though the kiosks are in place. We asked at Hard Rock, and the TM there thought PBH and RPR were online, even though HRH was not. When we arrived at PBH, they said the plan was for PBH and RPR to start on April 30 - but since HRH wasn't ready yet, they thought it would be too confusing for park employees, so all 3 resorts will begin at the same time.

They did not give us a new implementation date.

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm going to bring some Office Depot luggage tag laminates and ask at the front desk if it would be ok to put on our park passes and express passes. (You simply iron them on and attach to a lanyard.) Hoping it will work and we can all wear around our necks to save us from having to pull them out of plastic pouches to show each cm before boarding a ride!!!!

Thoughts on this???

Our experience has been that as long as the barcode that they scan is visible through the lanyard pouch, they can scan it right through it. We have only *had to* take them out a few times.

FYI while entering the parks, our experience (3 trips so far) the TMs take your tickets and scan them for you, so you will want to have the park passes off/out of the lanyard.

 

[k&a&c'smom]

Our experience has been that as long as the barcode that they scan is visible through the lanyard pouch, they can scan it right through it. We have only *had to* take them out a few times.

FYI while entering the parks, our experience (3 trips so far) the TMs take your tickets and scan them for you, so you will want to have the park passes off/out of the lanyard.

This was our experience last week for each of our six days in the parks. The TM at the entrances were taking the park tix and swiping them while wiping the fingerprint reader with a towelette, then asking us to place our finger on the reader. It didn't take nearly as long as it sounds, lol.

We didn't keep our room keys in a lanyard, so I can't say how well that works - we kept our keys in a pocket and handed them to the TM as we entered the boarding area for each ride, and they scanned the bar code. Pretty easy, but then it wasn't packed last week.

 

[Lewisc]

Good idea but not well thought out. Guests have an extra piece of paper to carry. Are CMs really going to take the time to look at the picture? Disney used to have pictures on the APs. Now they use the finger scan to prevent ticket transfers.

The good news is Universal is taking steps to stop abuses instead of using the abusers as an excuse to get rid of the perk.

 

[AlexandNessa]

I'll be the voice of dissent, and say that I don't like it.

If it had remained your roomkey card with your picture on it for verification, I'd be fine with it. But as it sounds like it is a seperate card, I now find myself keeping track of 3 documents when going to the park (park ticket, roomkey and now the express ticket). I'd prefer all three to be combined into one card.

Also, how would these kiosks work? Slide your roomkey for verification, have your picture taken, and then a new express pass gets issued. As it sounds like these can be reissued, what happens to the previous pass if a new one is created? Does it get deactivated? I would hope so. Almost seems like there's an increased chance of fraud if people can issue multiple express passes with one hotel keycard.

Patrick, I am TOTALLY with you on this one. I don't want to carry around an extra card. I carry my DL for identification, my AP, and my hotel room key. Now I have to carry a 4th card (I'm a "Look Ma, No Bags!" type of gal, so I what I need goes around my neck). I'm all for asking for photo ID to use icw with my room key, but I'm a little annoyed at the extra card.

Perhaps it's just when we go to the parks, but we see lots more folks with paid express than with hotel keys. Are they going to go to pictures for all express now, or just us hotel schmucks? Cause we hear and see a lot more paid express sharing than hotel key sharing (I'm not riding Hulk, you can use my express for Hulk, etc). Guess I should read the rest of the thread first .....

 

[AlexandNessa]

OK, finished reading the thread, and for the record, still not a fan.

Seems to me you could easily ask for a photo ID when someone presents their hotel room key, and that would've cost UO nothing compared to these stupid kiosks and extra passes. OK, young kids, maybe not. But still.

 

[helenb]

I don't see why this is so hard. If Disney can have everything on your KTTW card, including your biometrics, why can't Universal do the same and have a photo show up when the card is scanned? Cruise lines do this with your cruise card: it is everything and has your picture encoded on the magnetic strip.

 

[AlexandNessa]

I don't see why this is so hard. If Disney can have everything on your KTTW card, including your biometrics, why can't Universal do the same and have a photo show up when the card is scanned? Cruise lines do this with your cruise card: it is everything and has your picture encoded on the magnetic strip.

Exactly.

Don't get me wrong ... I'm all for fraud and abuse prevention. I have never shared my room key with anyone and never plan to. It's the implementation I object to.

 

[SgtClaymore]

Well, well, well. Wonder if there was a lot of cheating going on? I'm happy with anything that keeps express for those who actually paid for it.

Couldn't agree with you anymore!

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't see why this is so hard. If Disney can have everything on your KTTW card, including your biometrics, why can't Universal do the same and have a photo show up when the card is scanned? Cruise lines do this with your cruise card: it is everything and has your picture encoded on the magnetic strip.

The TMs at rides scan the cards with small handheld scanner guns. There's no place for a picture to pop up.