Just back: Report on RFID and My Disney Experience

[DisneyDoc5]

Hello Disers...
Just returned from a week at the most magical place, had an awesome trip, and thought I would share a few park related experiences and tips here:

1. RFID Key to the World: super easy to get in and out of the parks with it, much faster than old system (I had 6 kids and 4 adults in my group) - not one problem. LOVED the 'tap to charge', super simple, key in the 4 digit code, done. Fast and efficient. Tapping into our room and the CL floor in the elevator was also very nice. I wish this was the extent of the RFID technology, I am NOT looking forward to FP+.... moving on.

2. Fast Pass - We toured as we always have, getting the next fast pass asap, enjoying low wait attractions in the meantime, riding multiple FP attractions a day. We always arrive at rope drop. Bottom line, my family and I are used to being able to ride our favorite FP attractions mulitple times a day (Space and Big Thunder 2x a day for example). For the MK and HW, this approach is awesome and we get lots of rides in - FP+ will kill this strategy, and it will be a drag until we adjust to either waiting in lines or being satisfied with 1 ride, yes we are spoiled with knowing how to maximize the system. We don't feel the FP+ will impact our AK strategy too much. And frankly, I am a little sick of the FP dilema at EPCOT - Soarin or Test Track....hmmmm, run back and forth - please Disney, give us a few more headliners at EPCOT - FP+ may benefit us at EPCOT - who knows....
NO flames please, just sharing some thoughts and would love a friendly discussion.

3. My Disney Experience app - android: stupid, sorry if you like it, but I don't. I was able to link all my stuff, it was there, great. If you want to check wait times or look something up, you will have enough time to take a nap while it loads. Is it just me or does this app take forever to load the next screen?!! So, instead, I bought Touring Plans Lines app - LOVED IT (thanks for the recommendations). It is totally worth the $12 - get this people, it was a LIFE SAVER!!!! It was almost always accurate except one occassion, not a huge deal. Loved it also for the dining information since we had newbies with us and I could show them the types of food to choose from. So, my jury will remain out on My Disney Experience until they get the bugs worked out.

4. Parks - looked beautiful as ever. Cast members were fantastic. Guests were generally great, only comment here is that I found it more frequent this trip to have people stop dead in their tracks and be texting and looking at there phones - or stop right at the exit to an attraction to check their phones - just simple courtesy type stuff, look behind you before you stop walking in the middle of a walk way. Missing the orange smell in the bathrooms - different air freshener, a few still had the orange - I know this is strange, but I like it!

5. Weather: ponchos people - bring ponchos in the summer - saved us. Most days a short shower, no big deal, then tropical storm Andrea was heavy rain most of the day Thursday, but it didn't slow us down!

I will be putting up a mini review on the Resort Board regarding our stay at Yacht Club for those interested.
I hope this information helps some of you.
Have a magical day!

 

[WLSILVERCREEKSPRINGS]

Sounds like you had a great trip, we're heading to the world Friday and plan on having another great trip. I still say that our expectations help us to have a fun trip every time we go!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

Sounds like you had a great trip, we're heading to the world Friday and plan on having another great trip. I still say that our expectations help us to have a fun trip every time we go!

So true! We had so much fun, even with a few rain drops. Have an amazing time!

 

[OurDogCisco]

Thanks for the report back. We go Thanksgiving this year and I'm so not looking forward to the FP+. We tour a lot like you so, hopefully, we'll still have the "old" FP system in place. I'm not sure if this will be our last trip together as a family as my oldest will be going off to college soon. So, I'm sure she won't be able to join us on every trip.

 

[DisneyDoc5]

Thanks for the report back. We go Thanksgiving this year and I'm so not looking forward to the FP+. We tour a lot like you so, hopefully, we'll still have the "old" FP system in place. I'm not sure if this will be our last trip together as a family as my oldest will be going off to college soon. So, I'm sure she won't be able to join us on every trip.

I so understand your concern, I was so hoping it didn't get implemented before this trip, for us, and for our friends we took who it was their first time and I wanted them to experience things 'our way'. The best we can hope for your trip is that it either doesn't happen or it happens soon and you can learn how to navigate it from others experiences! Keeping my fingers crossed for ya! (I get the kid going off to college thing too, my oldest is a freshman in highschool this year, that means 4 more years of all of us on the same schedule...they grow up too fast!)

 

[WorldWacky]

Thanks for the report back. We go Thanksgiving this year and I'm so not looking forward to the FP+. We tour a lot like you so, hopefully, we'll still have the "old" FP system in place. I'm not sure if this will be our last trip together as a family as my oldest will be going off to college soon. So, I'm sure she won't be able to join us on every trip.

These are my thoughts(fears) exactly! We will be going with family for Thanksgiving and they are looking to me to "show them the ropes". I was also VERY frustrated with the Disney app. on our last trip. As it was loading, I would just switch over to the Lines app and get the info I needed.

 

[DisneyDoc5]

I was also VERY frustrated with the Disney app. on our last trip. As it was loading, I would just switch over to the Lines app and get the info I needed.

I was literally on Magical Express trying to load My Disney Experience over and over....bought Touring Plans Lines, instantly it worked, super fast, easy to use and read. In addition to the slow load of the Disney app (as with all of their sites - so slow!), there were mulitple screens to go through to find what you want, isn't easy to use, just a mess. I can't recommend the Touring Plans Lines app enough, it's super useful and easy.

 

[Kanga1]

Thanks for the report!! Very informative. Do all the parks have the new RFID entry? Can you use the new RFID tickets on the old turnstyles if there happens to be a shorter line at one of those?

 

[ChristineOH]

Thanks for the report!! Very informative. Do all the parks have the new RFID entry? Can you use the new RFID tickets on the old turnstyles if there happens to be a shorter line at one of those?

Yes. We inadvertently got in one of two turnstyle lines at DHS preRD. I went up and asked when I realized, because by then the lines behind us had gotten quite long and I would have been sad to move. The CM said no problem. Caveat: one ticket didn't actually scan, so it wouldn't give us a FP when we tried. A CM gave us a FP and told us to go back to the front and just get it rescanned, which we did at a more convenient time, thanks to him giving us a FP for our unactivated ticket. That wouldn't have happened at an RFID lane, I don't think, since it literally gives you a green light to enter.

 

[DaisyDew]

I was literally on Magical Express trying to load My Disney Experience over and over....bought Touring Plans Lines, instantly it worked, super fast, easy to use and read. In addition to the slow load of the Disney app (as with all of their sites - so slow!), there were mulitple screens to go through to find what you want, isn't easy to use, just a mess. I can't recommend the Touring Plans Lines app enough, it's super useful and easy.

I agree MDE is a bit clunky. There are three or four screens you have to pass in order to find wait times. We found the UCT app was quick and easy, but it doesn't show fastpass return times.

 

[DisneyDoc5]

I agree MDE is a bit clunky. There are three or four screens you have to pass in order to find wait times. We found the UCT app was quick and easy, but it doesn't show fastpass return times.

I think the fast pass return times was what I liked most about the Touring Plans Lines app - it made it easier to decide if we would get a fast pass and our strategy without running over to check, super efficient use of the system resulted.

 

[DisneyDoc5]

Thanks for the report!! Very informative. Do all the parks have the new RFID entry? Can you use the new RFID tickets on the old turnstyles if there happens to be a shorter line at one of those?

Yes, like the other post explained, they all had RFID, the machines are everywhere.

 

[WDW2012]

This is probably a stupid question but I'm sure you veterans know the answer Are the RFID tickets and the My Disney experience only available to resort guests? We're contemplating staying at Bonnet Creek next time but I think the kids would get a kick out of the RFID in the parks.

 

[missx0xdelaney]

This is probably a stupid question but I'm sure you veterans know the answer Are the RFID tickets and the My Disney experience only available to resort guests? We're contemplating staying at Bonnet Creek next time but I think the kids would get a kick out of the RFID in the parks.

My Disney Experience is an app for iPhone and Android phones. Anyone can download it and use it.
As for RFID, as long as you have an RFID enabled ticket (Annual Pass, new green ticket, or Key to the World card) you can use the new turnstiles. However, touch to pay/touch to enter room would only be with a Key to the World card (since resort guests are the only ones with a room account to charge to and room to open).
Hope that helps!

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

Thanks for the info and the tips!

 

[terrybsw]

Totally agree with your take on MDE. We were there last week and it was totally useless in the parks. Hard to navigate: there is nothing intuitive about it; have to go through multiple screens. It would not load in the parks and took forever even in our resort room. We were at EPCOT and wanted to find out what time MK closed. I finally just went to the wdw website to look. They have a lot to work out with the app.

 

[mikedoyleblogger]

Also agree about MDE app. So clunky, and no reason for it to have to download every single page. And no connection, no work. I finally gave up and just used MouseWait.

The only time I found it halfway useful was to find an open CS restaurant at MK while we were on our way there from another park. And it still took about 10 minutes to find that info.

 

[rfc0001]

Just got back from a 14 day trip to WDW on 6/14 wanted to share the real world experience of using resort RFID keys, RFID tickets, and paper tickets:

Gates

• Half of the ticket gates have been converted to RFID readers at all parks
• The RFID “gates” are no longer actual gates but a series of 4 RFID readers arranged in a V formation flanked by cast members on either side.
• There are sign placards posted showing large pictures of resort keys and the new green plastic RFID cards with an arrow telling you to go to the right and picture of a paper ticket showing you to go to the left. At busy times and parks, there are people holding these signs, also asking what kind of ticket you have and directing you appropriately if you look confused. That said, there were still a lot of people in the wrong line, and when this happens, if you have the RFID card in a paper ticket line you have to get back in a RFID line. However, if you have a paper ticket in a RFID line, you are unwittingly subjected to a completely manual process, which not only delays you but all the people behind you. More on this later.
• Near park closing, they turn all the paper ticket lines into exit lines, and *only* RFID lines are open which means *you will be forced to got through a manual process to use your paper tickets* so expect delays, which is only compounded by the fact you are entering the park close to closing.
• Two people can scan at a time. If someone has an issue (has a paper ticket or gets the white circle of death because of an invalid fingerprint match) then chaos ensues. What *should* happen is they should ask the person to step to the side and continue to let 2 people at a time keep scanning, but what *actually* happens is that persons stays put, effectively reducing the throughput of that line in half, and the Cast Member is now distracted talking to that person so two things start to happen on the remaining reader: 1) false positives—people who get the white ring still walk through because the Cast Member is too distracted to notice and the person either doesn’t realize it or doesn’t want to mess with it and 2) false negatives: you successfully scan yourself and your kids quickly because know what know what you are doing and are in a hurry because your line has just gotten slowed down, and since the cast member is busy they don’t see any of this so ask if you’ve scanned even though you already have – this is quite annoying since scanning twice will result in an error, so the only option here is to explain to them you already scanned successfully and they just have to take your word for it. Obviously, there are some snags in the system, one which Disney can easily track by looking at invalid scans that are not followed up with valid scans. Hopefully this gets better over time.
• The RFID lines *are* a bit shorter, mainly just because there are more people with paper tickets at this point. The line itself is a little faster as long as someone in front of you doesn’t have an issue.
• If you erroneously get into a RFID line with a paper ticket, or enter the park after the paper ticket lines are closed and turned into exit lines, you will have to go through a completely manual process to validate your tickets *which is extremely frustrating*. If you bought your paper ticket from Disney, this isn’t a problem, because your name and address are registered to the ticket, so they’ll just ask your name and where you are from to validate you are the authorized ticket holder since they can’t validate your finger print. *However* if you purchased your ticket through an authorized Disney reseller, chaos ensues. We had to go to Guest Relations, and waste 40 minutes even though we were trying to get in an hour before closing – so wasted a day on our ticket since this was our only visit that day. They claim they can’t validate the ticket because they refuse to allow you to use the finger print scanner (even though you’ve used it successfully) – just because they decided to turn them off. Then they claim since you didn’t buy the ticket from Disney your information isn’t registered to it, so they have no way to validate you are the authorized ticket holder, implying you are some criminal or using an unauthorized (transferred) ticket. Then they ask for a receipt for the ticket, which of course you don’t have since you bought it months before and even if you have an email receipt your phone only synchronizes the past month or so of emails. After failing to provide this, you then have to show ID so the ticket can be registered. Of course, after insinuating you are a criminal, handing over your ID seems a little intimidating. As a result, I told them I didn’t want to and asked for my tickets back so I could go home and come back the next day when the paper ticket readers were back up, and was told *they would have to confiscate the tickets* if I didn't show ID. Talk about Big Brother. This just added insult to injury after wasting my time because off Disney’s process to close the paper ticket readers near closing and Disney’s process to fail to register tickets sold through Authorized Resellers. Needless to say, this is a *painful* process, and I’ve send several scathing emails to Disney about this ridiculous process for paper ticket holders who bought tickets from Authorized Disney Resellers. So, lesson learned, if you have a paper ticket *not* bought from Disney, 1) make sure to not enter the parks near closing when the paper ticket lines are down, 2) make sure to not erroneously get in an RFID line because you will unwittingly subject yourself to this process and delays, and 3) if you plan on entering the parks near closing, bite the bullet and go to Guest Services at the beginning of your trip when you have time and convert your tickets to RFID. Ultimately, I showed them my ID and they converted the tickets to RFID to avoid this hassle on subsequent visits, so all was good from there, but I still had to deal with traumatized kids who didn’t get to ride the rides and had to lay on hot pavement for 40 minutes while we were interrogated.

Magic Bands

• There are *no* magic bands -- I didn't see a single one in two weeks across all the parks

FastPasses

• There are *no* FastPass+ readers active -- they are installed at the *entrance* to most rides, but not installed at distribution points, so you still have to use the old paper card readers which distribute paper FastPasses.
• The paper readers *will* accept the RFID cards, but there were plenty people I saw including myself who had a card get eaten by a machine which is a little scary if you are by yourself and have to leave your $500 ticket in a machine to go get a Cast Member.

POS RFID Readers

• POS readers are installed at 99% of snack and retail locations, and require a PIN which you set up when you checked in (either online or in person)
• If your PIN fails (which *will* happen the day you check out and also erroneously happened the day we checked in despite setting it up) Cast Members are not consistent in how they handle this. Most of them assume you entered the PIN wrong, or don’t know it, even though this is *not* the problem. Some of them know to just check your ID and swipe the card the old way – which they *can* do, but you have to tell them – they aren’t consistently trained on how to handle this, which is sort of frustrating given the front desk said this happens all the time after people check out and have remaining snacks on their card. Even worse, some just swipe the card without checking your ID, completely defeating this security feature. Sit down restaurants don’t require a pin nor check ID either, again a pretty big security hole

Miscellaneous

• Amazingly enough the concierge at the hotel *can’t* scan green RFID tickets (not hotel keys) to tell you how many days are left on your ticket despite the fact the hotel keys have been RFID for years. Apparently there is a different system for RFID tickets than hotel keys. You have to go to Guest Services in this case.

 

[Suzanne74]

To the OP and PP - this is great information. Thanks!

 

[DisneyDoc5]

Wow rfc0001....what a hassle for you, I feel bad that you had to deal with all that. It makes no sense why they would shut down the paper ticket entrance when they are still open! And your point about leaving your $500 ticket in the machine to go get assistance, that is scary and I hadn't thought about that! I hope the rest of your trip wad magical and hassle free, but the points you raise are things that I hope Disney is paying attention to. I love technology, when it works and makes our lives easier and more efficient. I am disillusioned that a company that is providing entertainment services and is known for excellent customer service, is introducing systems that are clearly not ready to be implemented and causing their customers so much dissatisfaction. I hope the all mighty dollar isn't tarnishing the quality company and vision Walt and Roy created. My jury on all this tech will remain out, I am working hard to remain cautiously optimistic.