MagicBands - just returned

[dadddio]

I don't think I'm missing it, because there are several different things here.

We don't know if they were selected for testing the MagicBand itself, or participate in the latest FastPass+ test. But it's not entirely relevant to my point.

I think the fact that they had to rebook the reservation indicates that they either couldn't just issue the RFID card and have it work in the FP kiosks (which indicates it was a FastPass+ test that would not allow for regular FP use), or it was insisting on MagicBands and the guest couldn't simply opt-out of them and get an RFID card instead (which has been stated would be an option for everyone). In either case, a simple opt-out option is missing, which is my whole point.

I think that linzbear was outlining a hypothetical scenario. Beating it to death doesn't seem to further the conversation.

 

[golf4miami]

I don't think I'm missing it, because there are several different things here.

We don't know if they were selected for testing the MagicBand itself, or participate in the latest FastPass+ test. But it's not entirely relevant to my point.

I think the fact that they had to rebook the reservation indicates that they either couldn't just issue the RFID card and have it work in the FP kiosks (which indicates it was a FastPass+ test that would not allow for regular FP use), or it was insisting on MagicBands and the guest couldn't simply opt-out of them and get an RFID card instead (which has been stated would be an option for everyone). In either case, a simple opt-out option is missing, which is my whole point.

Not only is the opt-out option missing, it's obvious that the fact that they were going to do any testing at all messed with their system and I don't think that's a good sign at all.

 

[doconeill]

They had to rebook the reservation because when they tried to override the MagicBands and issue KTTW cards, the system did not realize that the KTTW cards were issued and still want to issue KTTW cards. The rebook was the only way to clear the MagicBand flag.

I don't see where KTTW cards were already issued and they were trying to issue more...but even if they were, CMs can easily replace KTTW cards.

And like I said, resort guests are not going to be required to use MagicBands anyways, so there is supposed to be an opt-out to get an RFID card instead.

I think that linzbear was outlining a hypothetical scenario. Beating it to death doesn't seem to further the conversation.

I'm not beating it to death - if it is a hypothetical scenario, then it should be able to stand up to questioning. You however seem to have a problem with me giving counter scenarios.

linzbear implied that you can decline to participate simply by not getting FP+, and it wouldn't change the experience. I had several counters to this:

- What I posted above - there is supposed to be an opt-out of MagicBands in general.
- If you are allowed to decline to participate in the test, you should be able to decline to participate without it requiring a rebooking of the whole reservation.
- It is by no means certain that simple not declining to participate in the test, and just not getting FP+, would not change the guest experience, as FP+ and FP are supposed to be mutually exclusive (although they have yet to actually test that).

 

[dadr]

While that would simply be an annoying time waster and inconvenience for some of us, I know plenty folk who don't take much spending money at all if they have the DDP and may not have indefinitely been able to pay OOP for meals until the error was fixed

You have to have at least one credit card per party to check into the resort, no? Thus every party should be covered by at least one credit card. Even if you don't like credit you should travel with a backup card, or at the very least an ATM card which will allow you to take out more than enough for a day of meals. Everyone with the financial capability to book a Disney resort with DDP should have ample resources by credit/debit/ATM for this and other travel-related emergencies, e.g. nonreimbursable travel delays, medical emergencies, etc.

 

[2Tiggies]

You have to have at least one credit card per party to check into the resort, no? Thus every party should be covered by at least one credit card.

I do and I'm sure most folk do. But you don't HAVE to have a credit card to check in to the resort unless you add charging to your room keys. I sometimes do and sometimes don't and have never given a card at check in unless I am adding charging to my KTTW.

You would think most folk would take some kind of card with, but I know for a fact that some cannot have credit and prefer to go on vacation on a cash only or similar system. Although I see many red flags with that, my point was that there are folk who do travel this way, whether by choice, by lack of information or insight or by circumstances.

 

[dadddio]

I had several counters to this:

- What I posted above - there is supposed to be an opt-out of MagicBands in general.

The opt-out to magic bands appears to be the ability to get an RFID-enabled ticket, instead. It isn't a return to the old tyvex tickets. That being said, the opt-out and every other 'rule' related to how MM+/magic bands/FP+ will work after implementation is not necessarily how it will work work during testing.

- If you are allowed to decline to participate in the test, you should be able to decline to participate without it requiring a rebooking of the whole reservation.

I agree. OF course, we have no idea why they ended up rebooking the entire reservation. For all we know, there was a quick and easy solution to the issue, but the CMs involved did not know how to do it or they screwed everything up so bad while trying to make the necessary change that rebooking was the cleanest solution.

- It is by no means certain that simple not declining to participate in the test, and just not getting FP+, would not change the guest experience, as FP+ and FP are supposed to be mutually exclusive (although they have yet to actually test that).

If their RFID ticket worked in the current FP machines, then the guest experience would not have changed one bit. They would get FPs from the machines as always and they would not care whether or not they were still in the test group. If this was all done on the front end, they might not even know that the test existed. For them, it would be business as usual. That was linzbear's very point.

 

[doconeill]

The opt-out to magic bands appears to be the ability to get an RFID-enabled ticket, instead. It isn't a return to the old tyvex tickets. That being said, the opt-out and every other 'rule' related to how MM+/magic bands/FP+ will work after implementation is not necessarily how it will work work during testing.

True - although it wouldn't have been a Tyvek ticket anyways, but a KTTW card. The RFID cards look just like the previous KTTW cards - just with the RFID chip and antenna inside. They work with regular FP kiosks now - the FP+ vs. FP exclusivity thing is just a technical decision.

As for how it will work in testing - eventually, they have to start doing "real world" testing if they ever hope to get it rolled out completely.

I agree. OF course, we have no idea why they ended up rebooking the entire reservation. For all we know, there was a quick and easy solution to the issue, but the CMs involved did not know how to do it or they screwed everything up so bad while trying to make the necessary change that rebooking was the cleanest solution.

True again...but that could mean that the opt-out option is non-obvious to the CM, or they still haven't been trained yet (possibly a reason for yet more delays).

If their RFID ticket worked in the current FP machines, then the guest experience would not have changed one bit. They would get FPs from the machines as always and they would not care whether or not they were still in the test group. If this was all done on the front end, they might not even know that the test existed. For them, it would be business as usual. That was linzbear's very point.

That's a big If though. Like I said, if the problem was that they couldn't just issue the RFID card under the test flag with the test still allowing regular FP use, that's a problem with the opt-out of the MagicBand. If they couldn't lift the flag for the RFID card to allow regular FP use, that's a problem with opt-out of the test itself, which implies at least to me that this would have prevented use of regular FP.

In either case, it seemed that simply issuing the RFID card as-is wasn't an option.

 

[carolinamama]

To clarify a few points:


*We were selected as MagicBand testers. That was fine, but DISNEY wasn't running the test. We were not opting out.

*Because we were under MagicBand testing, the computer WOULD NOT issue KTTW at all.

*The CM had to repeatedly call someone to get the situation fixed. He himself didn't do the canceling. Whoever he called did.

*The CM was a trainer. He also added that in the future, the MagicBand # is yours forever, and you will link reservations to it, ultimately ending the need for check in as your band will just open the room assignment received via text.

*The 'new' reservation did not have the test attached, but the system wouldn't allow tickets to be added. This seemed to not be unusual based on overheard conversations between CMs.

*The new tickets weren't attached to testing, this allowing us to get KTTW, finally.

 

[linzbear]

What they said.

Yesterday I called up because I was having online check-in problems. I asked her hypothetically if FP+ were to be available would I be able to participate due to the fact I couldn't check in. The person I was transferred to seemed fairly knowledgeable, and verified that there was a CM test in mid February and that the late February resort test was cancelled. She said if there were a test when I go that it would be resort wide, and I would be notified ahead of time.

 

[dadddio]

That's a big If though. Like I said, if the problem was that they couldn't just issue the RFID card under the test flag with the test still allowing regular FP use, that's a problem with the opt-out of the MagicBand.

Perhaps it is, perhaps not. It's been stated that once you go to FP+, you can't go back to traditional FP. Perhaps the system is specifically set to not allow this FP+ to FP change which resulted in the whole rebooking thing. If this is true, then the problem is neither a system issue with MM+/MB/FP+ nor a training problem. The only issue would be how the test population was selected, apparently.

If they couldn't lift the flag for the RFID card to allow regular FP use, that's a problem with opt-out of the test itself, which implies at least to me that this would have prevented use of regular FP.

Without knowing more about how the system works, I don't think that we can make this statement. In fact, we don't know if there is a 'flag' that allows or disallows FP use. We only know that you can't feed a magic band into the current FP machines.

In either case, it seemed that simply issuing the RFID card as-is wasn't an option.

Correct, but we have no idea why that wasn't an option, or at least a simple option. Frankly, I'm not sure if it matters. The OP was inconvenienced. It was a bummer. It doesn't really portend anything about how things will go once everything is up and running, however.

 

[erionm]

I don't see where KTTW cards were already issued and they were trying to issue more...but even if they were, CMs can easily replace KTTW cards.

You were not there, so you don't know the issues the front desk was having with issuing KTTW cards. When they tried to issue KTTW cards, the system would not update and didn't think that they were issued. This was due to them trying to override the MagicBands and issue KTTW cards.

 

[doconeill]

You were not there, so you don't know the issues the front desk was having with issuing KTTW cards. When they tried to issue KTTW cards, the system would not update and didn't think that they were issued. This was due to them trying to override the MagicBands and issue KTTW cards.

I'm going on the original post, by the person who WAS there, where they couldn't be issued KTTW cards to begin with because they were flagged for MagicBand testing. The system is going to need to allow issuing KTTW cards (RFID, of course) in place of MagicBands as guests are not going to be required to use MagicBands. For the rest of it, refer to my other posts.

I'm not talking about the later problem AFTER they re-booked and still couldn't issue KTTW cards, as that seems to have been a completely different problem. Normally re-issuing KTTW cards is easy.

 

[doconeill]

Without knowing more about how the system works, I don't think that we can make this statement. In fact, we don't know if there is a 'flag' that allows or disallows FP use. We only know that you can't feed a magic band into the current FP machines.

I don't know, it seems pretty black and white to me as to what the possibilities are. If they could have just issued the KTTW card in place of the MagicBand (like is supposed to be possible) with normal capabilities, not sure why they couldn't have just done it, unless as you said before it was a mistake/lack of training/etc.

But we're going too far down the rabbit hole as it is...

 

[erionm]

I'm going on the original post, by the person who WAS there, where they couldn't be issued KTTW cards to begin with because they were flagged for MagicBand testing. The system is going to need to allow issuing KTTW cards (RFID, of course) in place of MagicBands as guests are not going to be required to use MagicBands. For the rest of it, refer to my other posts.

I'm not talking about the later problem AFTER they re-booked and still couldn't issue KTTW cards, as that seems to have been a completely different problem. Normally re-issuing KTTW cards is easy.

I WAS one of the those affected that had to have their reservation rebook in order to get KTTW cards on initial check-in.

 

[doconeill]

I WAS one of the those affected that had to have their reservation rebook in order to get KTTW cards on initial check-in.

OK, I apologize for not understanding what you were referring to, but again, I was referring to the OP's original situation, which appears to have had two different (although possibly related) issues.

And as I've said (several times), it shouldn't have been a problem regardless, as they should have been able to issue KTTW cards as part of an opt-out option without messing up the reservation.

 

[fbb]

They were telling people they would not have access to the DDP or park tickets. The best they could do was give out 1 day tickets and tell people to bring receipts for meals and they would reimburse.

Lol. I would have brought them the bill for the meals.

 

[bumbershoot]

The "rebook-to-get-things-to-work" thing is really reminding me of our SSR checkin on 2/15 and 16. And rebooking wasn't the first problem. I'll try to be brief and keep it to what *feels* relevant and maybe related, maybe a precursor to the OP's problem.

Did online checkin as far in advance as the site would let me, but our packet was only done the hour or so before we physically got there, which we know because the CM next to "ours" said she had just done our packet and went to get it. Despite the online checkin process, the CM said that our CC info was "lost". (except that the sticker on the packet said that CC info was received) We opted to leave the CC off of the account since it was a mixed family trip and I didn't want to cause any mixups or messups.

All KTTW were created at that time. We went off to AK for the day.

Got an urgent phone message not that long after telling us to come back and have all KTTWs redone. We were in AK and decided it could be taken care of later. Our family wouldn't arrive until late evening and we had no urgency. We got a text later of our room number.

When we got back, we were told by the lobby concierge that we had gotten "stuck" in an "checkin glitch", where the system doesn't know that we have fully checked in, and the KTTWs won't work. Weird, since I had *just* used my KTTW to get in the "returning guests" gate, but OK.

So they redid all the cards.

Should have been the end of the story, BUT our 2 bedroom villa (1135) was horribly mildewy, and after one rotten night (where even the not-sensitives in our group were complaining) we switched rooms. (they offered us a grand villa during the first conversation DH had with a night manager, but we declined, not wanting more than what we were due, we would wait for another 2 bedroom. the manager was surprised, and offered an amount of room credit that DH accepted.)

So the next day we switched rooms, after meeting with the housekeeping manager who nearly wrapped crime scene tape around the villa once he came in to the room and sniffed the air. Uh oh, getting off track.

OK the room switch was done, we got settled in again. We had a weekend of no parks planned, so we went to the Paddock Pool. DH went up to the front desk to put charging onto his and my KTTW, because there's no way to access the credit if you don't have charging put on your cards (which is the most ridiculous thing ever but that's a huge digression).

That process took 2 hours. And ultimately involved *rebooking the room*. Because we got stuck in a glitch, and it WOULD NOT reprint KTTWs unless they did that. Absolutely would not. It all took so long, and took DH so many trips back to AP to try to make purchases that finally the CM started going with him, and ultimately they increased the room credit voluntarily by half again. And they tossed in two refillable mugs.

This whole "keys won't print unless you rebook" thing sounds mighty familiar. Part of me wonders if there was some sort of something that went live but shouldn't have on that day (checked in first on 2/15, but this part took place 2/16). No way to find out, but it's interesting all the same.


Should it be like this? No, I don't think so. But it seems to BE so.