Looks like they are testing magic band stuff at DL today!

[Angel Ariel]

Disneyland tickets and Annual Passports are not RFID enabled.

They aren't the plastic cards you just tap? I thought they made that change at the turnstiles a while ago?

 

[DznyPrnces]

Disneyland tickets and Annual Passports are not RFID enabled.

Granted, I don't know what RFID enabled means. However, when we were there in June Space went down while we were in line. As we were exiting the line, they scanned our tickets and put a fast pass on it to be used when the ride came back up. When we went back to use it, they again scanned our ticket and their machine showed our fast passes, enabling us to ride without losing our fast passes.

 

[PinkBudgie]

At WDW using FP+ was tolerable. I didn't know anything else there and it was fine. I don't want that at DLR. The tricky part is having to check your phone/itouch to see when your rides are. I wrote them all down ahead of time because if the wifi or web page wasn't working, I wanted to know my schedule. At DLR there is no wifi so how will you remember what times your FPs are if you can't check a paper ticket? I did like not having to keep track of the tickets though.

 

[ArchOwl]

I don't have a problem with an enhanced form of FP. Let's face it, technology is advancing and issuing paper FPs is definitely old school. I would welcome being able to use my phone or a kiosk to make FP reservations. And scanning myself into the FP line sounds great.

But what lots of DL folks dread is the possibility of the FP+ craziness leaking into our parks. I don't want to book FPs months in advance. I don't want to have tiered FPs. I don't want a problematic system that won't let me make changes. I don't want long lines at FP kiosks. I don't want FP return lines shoehorned into attractions that don't need them, like HM or POC.

I would absolutely welcome same day FPs made available in the parks by the app or by kiosk. But I would hope that DL would put in some seriously good wifi before doing this.

Magic Bands are frankly outdated. My phone can do everything a Magic Band can do; charge to my credit card, open hotel doors, and so forth. I don't need a Magic Band, but I would welcome the ability to use my phone to do the things that a Magic Band can do. I think in DL we will not see the Magic Band, but the app will take on a lot of the properties of the band.

 

[jani3]

Disneyland tickets and Annual Passports are not RFID enabled.

Actually the AP is RFID enabled. I was having a problem with the photopass pics taken last Saturday at DL and called guest services today. They asked for my AP # and I gave them a 16-digit number off the back of my pass. He said that that was the RFID # and needed my AP # that started with DLAP or PREM. So yes, my pass has the RFID according to the CM on the phone today.

ETA: the premier AP has the RFID

 

[VandVsmama]

Well, this just SUCKS!!

 

[mom2rtk]

They aren't the plastic cards you just tap? I thought they made that change at the turnstiles a while ago?

The park hoppers we had the last 2 years weren't even plastic cards. They were paper. No tapstiles.

 

[mom2rtk]

And scanning myself into the FP line sounds great.

I don't even want to see that happen. Having every person scan something, or even tap something, slows that line down too much.

 

[ArchOwl]

I don't even want to see that happen. Having every person scan something, or even tap something, slows that line down too much.

The line is already slow, people don't have FPs out, they don't show the CM the time on them, they are hard to read at night, and so on. I would rather scan them myself so at least I can move faster, lol. But I understand if you don't like the idea. It will definitely take some retraining of people.

 

[ashley0139]

I don't even want to see that happen. Having every person scan something, or even tap something, slows that line down too much.

I was just at WDW, and having people tap their magic bands didn't slow down the lines at all. In fact, it was better than people digging through their bags to find their fast passes. If you're magic band is on your wrist it's a quick tap and away you go.

 

[Jacie]

I'm WDW Vet and I loathe FP+. Picking what rides you want to ride 60 days in advance is the pits. I did love MBs though. They are super convenient!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

I am happy about this and hope a DL version will come to DL soon. I am happy to see some starting.
What I would love is FP for firework and Parades. yes please mama.

I like the idea of not having paper FP's because they always get lost sweaty or wet. Id much rather scan something on the phone or magic band.

I have said this before that they should have a number of fp available each day for AP holders, the others could be fore day visitors they can make them months out if they want, but also having some for AP holders for those sper of the moment visits would help.

I think 2 rides, two shows, and 2 chr meets should be available each day once ones used you can try and get another for that kind if you want.

I know many don't like it. I in fact think it will help.

 

[iKristin]

As a very frequent visitor to DL (65 days this year so far) I would LOVE to have everything be on my wrist and not have to carry anything!! I was so excited when they released the app and I no longer needed to pull my AP card out to get into the park. I can only hope the FP being on the band would be happening as well (let's save paper shall we?)

 

[only hope]

Same here. I am a DLR local and don't plan my visit months in advance. It's usually just within the week or even just the night before when I decide to go. So there's no way I can make that FP+ reservation in advance. We're planning on going to WDW next month and had to book the FP+ at 60 days (onsite stay) and that was a pain in the butt. Not everything we wanted was available and had to stalk the FP+ website for a possible cancellation...pain in the butt and giant waste of my time!!!

I see a potential problem with the FP+ at DLR. As an AP holder and not staying on site, I'll be able to book the FP+ 30 days out. Since I don't really know when I'm going until last minute, I can theoretically book FP+ for every single day (rolling 30 days) in case I decide to go. Then that means I'm taking up the FP+ from someone who's definitely going. Is this happening at WDW too?

WDW passholders can only make advance fp+ reservations for 7 days in a 30 day period. I think this is very unfair; I understand they don't want us booking FP every day, but those who buy a park ticket longer than 7 days get to make FP+ reservations for each day of their ticket. Why should visitors get to pre-book more FP than passholders?

The line is already slow, people don't have FPs out, they don't show the CM the time on them, they are hard to read at night, and so on. I would rather scan them myself so at least I can move faster, lol. But I understand if you don't like the idea. It will definitely take some retraining of people.

We are long time WDW passholders and in our experience, FP+ has slowed the lines down significantly. We just made our first trip to DLR last week and were so glad to use the paper system. We never waited more than 30 seconds to get past the first checkpoint in a DLR fp line, or at WDW a minute before the change. Now we routinely wait 5 minutes to get past the first checkpoint. People don't line up the bands correctly and it takes forever to scan. The cards aren't as slow but most people wear the band. Paper fp they take one second to glance at the pass and you're off. You still get people returning at an incorrect time too. Paper fp it's right there, there's no arguing about it; fp+ guests argue with the poor CM, wanting let in, saying they didn't know the time or thought they'd changed it etc etc.

 

[Ryan120420]

Actually the AP is RFID enabled. I was having a problem with the photopass pics taken last Saturday at DL and called guest services today. They asked for my AP # and I gave them a 16-digit number off the back of my pass. He said that that was the RFID # and needed my AP # that started with DLAP or PREM. So yes, my pass has the RFID according to the CM on the phone today.

The Castmember is wrong. The only APs that Disneyland issues that have RFID chips in them are the Premier Passports.

Easy way to see if there is an RFID chip in your pass is to hold a flashlight to the back of your pass and look for the chip.
You're not going to find it.


Given that they are now testing a barcode scanning My Magic+ touch point, I think its safe to say Disneyland has no plans of switching over to RFID tickets or passes. Sticking with barcode scanning is going to save Disney a lot of money.


Here is a video of the barcode touch points:

 

[Meriweather]

I like Magic Bands....and it surprised me to like Fast Pass+

 

[kailuagirl]

I hope DL doesn't get FP +.

 

[mom2rtk]

We are long time WDW passholders and in our experience, FP+ has slowed the lines down significantly. We just made our first trip to DLR last week and were so glad to use the paper system. We never waited more than 30 seconds to get past the first checkpoint in a DLR fp line, or at WDW a minute before the change. Now we routinely wait 5 minutes to get past the first checkpoint. People don't line up the bands correctly and it takes forever to scan. The cards aren't as slow but most people wear the band. Paper fp they take one second to glance at the pass and you're off. You still get people returning at an incorrect time too. Paper fp it's right there, there's no arguing about it; fp+ guests argue with the poor CM, wanting let in, saying they didn't know the time or thought they'd changed it etc etc.

That's because it's faster for a CM to fan out a pile of FP return tickets for an entire group and look at them than it is for each individual to line the Mickey up and scan. Remains to be seen if it is the same for a barcode scanner, but I think any time you move from having groups move through with one act as opposed to each individual doing something, it takes longer. They had a real issue with this in the early days at WDW, but I think have reacted by turning off the second scanner, which I think only invites cheating (people entering through standby then ducking under the rope to the FP line knowing they won't need to scan again).

 

[Jerryp49]

From eynsteinp from another blog site :

I think that the system will definitely incorporate the Disneyland hotel guests getting to book 3 fast passes in advance per day. This not only makes sense from a business standpoint as it gives a perk to their hotel guests, it also allows the out of town guests who come once every few years the opportunity to have a good experience because they will get on the rides that are most important to them, making it more likely they book a future trip. The simple fact is that the hotel guests are the customers that spend the most on average and Disney would want to continue to have the guests rebook future trips. I for one am not sure why everyone is so anti magic bands and the MM+ system when most people have not tried it and the general opinion on those that have seems to be more positive than negative. Maybe I am being naive but I am sure that Disney will figure out a way to make it work for the Disneyland market.

I also think they will offer advanced FP bookings for Resort Hotel guests. As a special promotion in the past ,they have offered one FP for everyone in your room in addition to EMH.

 

[Angel Ariel]

. I for one am not sure why everyone is so anti magic bands and the MM+ system when most people have not tried it and the general opinion on those that have seems to be more positive than negative.

I have tried mm+ and fp+. I liked the bands themselves, but fp+ is not an improvement, imo. I did not like all the preplanning involved. I *love* that dlr requires so little planning, and will be sad if that changes.