I love the MyMagic+ and Magic Bands.

[DisneyKentucky]

REPOST From DIS Unplugged forum at request of moderator:

After reading all the nightmares from people prior to arriving I was ready for long waits and an urge to throw my iPhone into Bay Lake. That did not happen. I had the Memory Maker, Annual passes and everything set up in advance of arriving on the My Disney Experience via the website and made changes on the fly via My Disney Experience App. Sure, it's at times sluggish or has errors but, the thing I think people forget is this is super user friendly from my perspective. Not to mention the lack of needing to walk to a fastpass ticket machine or even talk to people to cancel a reservation or add a reservation with the app.

Yes, there are some park hopper fastpass+ options needed to be added but, those will come. I made an effort to thank Guest Relation and other Cast Members for Magic Bands and FastPass+. They all were shocked I was thanking and not complaining.

Figured I would leave a positive report since most are negative. FWIW, DisneyParks Youtube account posted some great promo videos today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRS2yHZDIo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D-jpc741rw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry35MziPBAI

 

[ferd]

I'm glad you had a good experience with the FP+ and all. Was your visit to MK after the legacy system has been removed? Which day did you visit?

 

[Squirlz]

We were there last week and loved it too! Made changes on the fly with my phone. Very easy to do if you do some research, and I didn't even plan this trip until November!

 

[DisneyKentucky]

I'm glad you had a good experience with the FP+ and all. Was your visit to MK after the legacy system has been removed? Which day did you visit?

I had the opportunity to be there for before and after (8th through 19th).

 

[Magpie]

I enjoyed our experience with FP+ back in December, as well. And I can't wait to try it again in April!



I think there are plusses and minuses to the old system and plusses and minuses to the new system. Personally, I find change highly enjoyable and would rather look at what's fun and new than dwell on what's gone.

I like the Bands (yay, jewellery!). I like the little pixie noises the posts make when they turn green. I like that the cast members were generally agreeable and helpful when our posts turned blue. I love being able to pre-book our rides for the afternoon. Usually by the time we get to our second park the FP- would be all distributed, and we'd ride our "anytime" rides instead. Now we get to ride coasters in the dark! I feel like we're doubling up on Rope Drop rides.

Basically, it all worked quite well for us. And we don't even have a Smartphone!

 

[carrie1626]

I had a great FP+ experience in DEC, too.

Reading all the pre trip reviews had me thinking "disaster" . Finally, I decided not to read them anymore. Glad I did that because my experience was nothing but POSITIVE.

Yeah yeah, I know: change is hard.

 

[CanadianPaco]

Thanks for sharing the Youtube links!

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

REPOST From DIS Unplugged forum at request of moderator:

After reading all the nightmares from people prior to arriving I was ready for long waits and an urge to throw my iPhone into Bay Lake. That did not happen. I had the Memory Maker, Annual passes and everything set up in advance of arriving on the My Disney Experience via the website and made changes on the fly via My Disney Experience App. Sure, it's at times sluggish or has errors but, the thing I think people forget is this is super user friendly from my perspective. Not to mention the lack of needing to walk to a fastpass ticket machine or even talk to people to cancel a reservation or add a reservation with the app.

Yes, there are some park hopper fastpass+ options needed to be added but, those will come. I made an effort to thank Guest Relation and other Cast Members for Magic Bands and FastPass+. They all were shocked I was thanking and not complaining.

Figured I would leave a positive report since most are negative. FWIW, DisneyParks Youtube account posted some great promo videos today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRS2yHZDIo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D-jpc741rw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry35MziPBAI

~Wow! Thanks so much for your review. It's sounds like you had a fabulous time at Disney! I just posted on another thread earlier from someone who also had a wonderful time -- during New Years! We love Magic Bands and FP+, too. I'm so looking forward to our next WDW vacation!

 

[wiigirl]

Thanks for the review!

 

[mejo]

Thanks so much for posting, I loved it as well. I have not been since the MK change over but when I went I did not use FP- since I had FP+. I'm excited about going back. It is wonderful to hear from someone that had a positive experience so the new folks can see that the negative people are just more vocal.

 

[DisneyKentucky]

To be honest. I had 2 issues but, they resolved them easily. One where I made a mistake and had cancelled a Soarin' fastpass for 'Living With The Land.' The person at the gate granted my permission to enter as there is a system in place for override.

Also, this past Saturday I scheduled an Main Street Electrical Parade and it was bumped by the Guest Service folks either due to overbooking or weather concerns. So, how did they resolve it? They gave me a "Free Pass" (it's not an extra but, it was 'free' in that I didn't have to schedule a time and it could be used on any ride and even the same ride already booked that day). SO, they have addressed concerns already.

 

[andyman8]

FWIW, DisneyParks Youtube account posted some great promo videos today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRS2yHZDIo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D-jpc741rw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry35MziPBAI

If that doesn't make you hate this program, I don't know what will. Perhaps the cheesiest marketing material I've seen yet in any context.

 

[Laketravis]

If that doesn't make you hate this program, I don't know what will. Perhaps the cheesiest marketing material I've seen yet in any context.

And the posted comments aren't necessarily glowing with praise either. Hmmm...


Sebastien Tourillon 5 hours ago

Oh dear this won't be good...


SxyChicDisney 2 hours ago

I hate this!! I don't like preplanning, I like getting a fastpass based on what I feel like riding that day! I don't know what I'm going to want a fastpass for months in advance! Ugh I hope enough people complain so that we can have more than 3 per day


STEProductions 4 hours ago

I don't want to pre-plan my vacation.. that takes the fun out of it. 


Hannah N4 hours ago

Oh god I don't have the money for this..can't wait for everyone with this service to cut in line ahead of me and make the wait times even longer...


James Francosky 2 hours ago

Nope, it's still free. It's just going all digital instead of printed paper tickets.


SxyChicDisney 2 hours ago

I just hate this...what if a person doesn't have an iphone? AND I WANT MORE THAN 3 A DAY!


JeanBonnet007 2 hours ago

This is cool. Now if you know ahead of time you can plan. If not you can change your mind like old times. Options


Dan Sparapani 4 hours ago

Terrible...hated this new fastpasses...
Also, 3 fastpasses per park? Ridiculous...


G2red89 3 hours ago

How about yall let me "log" in more then 3 fastpasses a day and on rides I actually want to ride as opposed to forcing me on rides that don't have wait times after a certain hour. I'll take 4 for space mt. and 2 for splash please. I can't? Waist of an investment imo, should have used that money to build idk new rides, new lands, new parks. Things people actually go to WDW for.


m mcginnis 2 hours ago

Why would Disney spend over a billion dollars on this?

 

[morethananyonex]

Actually, there is something very interesting in that 2nd video. They show the family making FP+ selections for MK, unless my eyes deceived me the 3 included Pooh, another attraction and BoG lunch FP+. Can we speculate that means in the near future it will be one of the 3 precious MK FP+? Hmm..

ETA: Just checked again, it's at 1:01 in the video and it shows Pooh, BoG and Space.

 

[kaybird]

Actually, there is something very interesting in that 2nd video. They show the family making FP+ selections for MK, unless my eyes deceived me the 3 included Pooh, another attraction and BoG lunch FP+. Can we speculate that means in the near future it will be one of the 3 precious MK FP+? Hmm..

ETA: Just checked again, it's at 1:01 in the video and it shows Pooh, BoG and Space.

At least for now, the BOG FP+ does not use one of the 3. We can speculate on all kinds of things, but for us, it all went super!!!

 

[Laketravis]

I want those kids in the second YouTube promo - they only wanted one attraction each.

"Thanks Dad!!!"

 

[morethananyonex]

At least for now, the BOG FP+ does not use one of the 3. We can speculate on all kinds of things, but for us, it all went super!!!

Yes, I am aware it currently doesn't use one of the 3, but it's very possible it could happen in the future and it being shown as one of the 3 in their own ads makes it even more likely IMO.

 

[morethananyonex]

I want those kids in the second YouTube promo - they only wanted one attraction each.

"Thanks Dad!!!"

And apparently scoring a TSMM FP+ is the equivalent of getting the winning lottery numbers

 

[DisneyKentucky]

If that doesn't make you hate this program, I don't know what will. Perhaps the cheesiest marketing material I've seen yet in any context.

meh. It's not even on the Quiznos' singing rodents level. They are meant to be cheesy but, hate advancement in technology based on online videos?

 

[andyman8]

meh. It's not even on the Quiznos' singing rodents level. They are meant to be cheesy but, hate advancement in technology based on online videos?

I don't know if you quite see the final result here. This is hardly an advancement in technology (RFID has been around for some time now; Disney just hasn't utilized it) but rather an advancement in profits. Upon full rollout, you'll see people paying upwards of $15 per person to get more FP+s, resort tiering, longer lines at typical "short wait" attractions, and more rigid planning and scheduling when you're on vacation. Realistically, I see the positives with this program alongside the negatives, but my feelings are really mixed at this point. These videos are just another reminder where the $1.5 billion dollars are going. Instead of making videos to help guests learn how to use this somewhat-complicated system, they're spending their time and money on moms bumping into doors and kids asking their teacher for an A on their final.