Max pass/ no magic bands at WDW

[LoveOlaf]

we go to Disneyworld all the time- were at Disneyland last week and while in line for Mission Breakout someone asked the cast member at fast pass redemption station when they were getting bands and he responded they weren't and that Florida WDW might be going to the system they have in Disneyland (show fast pass on phone or scan park ticket at fast pass electronic scanner) because magic bands were more maintenance than expected. I find this hard to believe seeing that magic bands allow for charging, memory maker, etc but he was so sure telling this guest this.

 

[Lee Matthews]

They've invested billions into magic bands so I don't see them abandoning them.

May not be needed at much in other parks around the world but it would still be cool to have the ability to do so.

 

[mom2rtk]

I wouldn't be shocked at all to see them turn on a dime and do this if it gives them a way to start charging for FP.

 

[Hoodie]

I can't even imagine the expense WDW would have to get rid of the band technology entirely. It's not just the fastpasses, it's the key to resort rooms, the entrance ticket touch entrances, and some of the rides (7 Dwarfs) have the Magic Memory Maker technology built in. It would be a re-haul of pretty much everything.

 

[jknezek]

Let alone the magic bands are tied to rides like Test Track and seem to be the best way to set up your Star Wars immersive experience. I think CMs just like to talk and feel important.

 

[tlmadden73]

Depends what they mean by "maintenance". I suspect they don't mean the maintenance of the Magic Bands themselves or the readers that use them) themselves. I think they mean the maintenance of the "reservation" system and all the IT work behind the scenes for it. So I think the maintenance comment doesn't meant the Magic Bands .. it means the FP+ system itself.

I could see WDW switching to MaxPass (but keeping the Magic Bands themselves for a few reasons).
1) No "maintenance" of trying to keep track of every guests Fast passes for 60 days.
2) Making things more "equitable" for all by letting every guest only be able to make Fast Passes the day of.
3) Ability for Disney to be flexible in changing schedules and such up to the day of without having to worry about cancelling people's fast passes.
4) Less guess complaints when book a resort stay, log in at the zero hour on Day 60 and still can't get the Fast Passes you want.
5) Able to charge for Fast Passes like they do at DL.


Personally, I think a lot of us would prefer a MaxPass type of style. A lot of people don't like having to plan everything 60 days in advance. Less flexibility in a touring plan.

Though .. I think there are also a lot of guests as well that like the ability to lock in three "skipped" rides and just forgot about it rather than being glued to their phones during the park day.

For a first time goer, FP+ is awesome, for a veteran or annual Pass Holder, something like MaxPass (or the old paper system) is probably better.

I don't see them abandoning FP+ though . .it is a huge part of their marketing and they have shifted the guests to know and expect it. To ditch it for a "day of" type of system (and/or start charging for it) . .that would be a huge backlash.

 

[jknezek]

I love the FP+ system and the Magic Bands. But I'm happy planning things out in advance. I get the point about being an AP holder. I don't understand why they do it 60 days out and let you go through your stay. If it was me, I'd do it 21 days out, and you have to do it every day instead of end of stay. I do also understand and believe they should keep the "on property" advantage, but set it to 14 days out. With the MDE app, you can make them from anywhere at anytime you have internet, so it's not like if you are taking a month trip and won't be able to do it because you can't get to a phone. I have the same issue with dining reservations. There is no reason it needs to be 180 days out. They don't even need that much time to schedule help and supplies. 30 or 60 days would be more than enough and really there is no reason you can't do it at the same time as your FP+, so you can eliminate a whole different date.

 

[STLstone]

I wouldn't be shocked at all to see them turn on a dime and do this if it gives them a way to start charging for FP.

I could see them getting rid of FP+ to start charging for MaxPass, like you say, but I don't see why they would have to get rid of magic bands to do that.

When Galaxy's Edge opens, if it's really going to have all of the interactive capabilities that some are speculating about, they'll need the magic band (or similar RFID) technology to make that happen.

 

[Roxyfire]

I love the FP+ system and the Magic Bands. But I'm happy planning things out in advance. I get the point about being an AP holder. I don't understand why they do it 60 days out and let you go through your stay. If it was me, I'd do it 21 days out, and you have to do it every day instead of end of stay. I do also understand and believe they should keep the "on property" advantage, but set it to 14 days out. With the MDE app, you can make them from anywhere at anytime you have internet, so it's not like if you are taking a month trip and won't be able to do it because you can't get to a phone. I have the same issue with dining reservations. There is no reason it needs to be 180 days out. They don't even need that much time to schedule help and supplies. 30 or 60 days would be more than enough and really there is no reason you can't do it at the same time as your FP+, so you can eliminate a whole different date.

Yeah I do think they could tighten it up a lot. The more I go, the more I find 180 days for food as totally overblown. Aside from Cinderella's table and some of the high end meals, there's no reason to have to book a restaurant 6 months out. People change their minds so much that it causes people to over book then cancel later. They could do dining at 60 days+ length of stay for onsite, then fp+ the same time or do all of it at 45 days. Before people go firing up their flame cannons, I know why they do it. They want to get F&B counts and resources available far in advance. But 6 months is outta control.

 

[Moliphino]

The most frustrating thing about 180 days is that Disney hasn't finalized their own schedules by then. They still haven't released ROL dining packages for November/December, for example. And there were a lot of Epcot restaurants that held back all reservations until CP packages were released.

 

[Roxyfire]

The most frustrating thing about 180 days is that Disney hasn't finalized their own schedules by then. They still haven't released ROL dining packages for November/December, for example. And there were a lot of Epcot restaurants that held back all reservations until CP packages were released.

And that's the huge disconnect. Disney says you can book up to 180 days in advance. People, especially on here, take it as if you don't get up that day you'll get nothing you want and be eating hot dogs all vacation. I'd be curious to know how many people set up their reservations 6 months in advance and never adjust them. I'd bet it's pretty low. I don't begrudge people getting culty favorite or high demand places like Cinderella's Table, Be Our Guest, or Victoria and Albert's 180 days out. If I want to eat at Alinea on a weekend I'd better plan in advance. Same for seeing Hamilton or a big name concert. But it's really unnecessary for most places. When they open, they open. It's ok if not everything set in stone 3 months out.

As for the hours, it is frustrating that those don't get solidified earlier. But I don't think it's that big of a problem for closing, it's when they open earlier that might be annoying. You lose that extra hour or so of sleep.

 

[mom2rtk]

And that's the huge disconnect. Disney says you can book up to 180 days in advance. People, especially on here, take it as if you don't get up that day you'll get nothing you want and be eating hot dogs all vacation. I'd be curious to know how many people set up their reservations 6 months in advance and never adjust them. I'd bet it's pretty low. I don't begrudge people getting culty favorite or high demand places like Cinderella's Table, Be Our Guest, or Victoria and Albert's 180 days out. If I want to eat at Alinea on a weekend I'd better plan in advance. Same for seeing Hamilton or a big name concert. But it's really unnecessary for most places. When they open, they open. It's ok if not everything set in stone 3 months out.

As for the hours, it is frustrating that those don't get solidified earlier. But I don't think it's that big of a problem for closing, it's when they open earlier that might be annoying. You lose that extra hour or so of sleep.

The problem with hours can also be with closing. If they post just a minimal amount of hours to begin with, fewer fastpasses are made available. They did that with AK in October. Lots of people had no FoP available 60 days out. If you weren't reading here you would have no idea hours had changed and you needed to jump in and finally get your FPs.

The problem also comes when they change around EMH days, which they have been known to do.

 

[jknezek]

And that's the huge disconnect. Disney says you can book up to 180 days in advance. People, especially on here, take it as if you don't get up that day you'll get nothing you want and be eating hot dogs all vacation. I'd be curious to know how many people set up their reservations 6 months in advance and never adjust them. I'd bet it's pretty low. I don't begrudge people getting culty favorite or high demand places like Cinderella's Table, Be Our Guest, or Victoria and Albert's 180 days out. If I want to eat at Alinea on a weekend I'd better plan in advance. Same for seeing Hamilton or a big name concert. But it's really unnecessary for most places. When they open, they open. It's ok if not everything set in stone 3 months out.

As for the hours, it is frustrating that those don't get solidified earlier. But I don't think it's that big of a problem for closing, it's when they open earlier that might be annoying. You lose that extra hour or so of sleep.

I did mine 180 out for our last trip, but we were a group of 7 and we had a very particular schedule since we were in 2 non-overlapping groups during most of the day, but joining up for our table service meal once a day. We got most of what we wanted, but even still it wasn't perfect. I think I changed one thing at about 2 months out and tried to change another and wasn't able to. As I said, I think it's silly to do 180 out, but it is legitimately hard to get a lot of reservations, especially for larger groups at popular times. If you want to eat in EPCOT, it's not so bad. The WS has way more restaurants than customers for the most part, or much of DS is no big deal. But MK, AK and especially DHS are a bear to get table service for large groups at "kids" dinner time.

 

[Roxyfire]

The problem with hours can also be with closing. If they post just a minimal amount of hours to begin with, fewer fastpasses are made available. They did that with AK in October. Lots of people had no FoP available 60 days out. If you weren't reading here you would have no idea hours had changed and you needed to jump in and finally get your FPs.

The problem also comes when they change around EMH days, which they have been known to do.

The first point is somewhat moot. A lot of people do not want to schedule a FP so late in the day. I know people say a lot about things being "fair" but it's not kindergarten. It's not your child's baseball team where everyone gets a chance to bat. It's a managed free-for-all. Not saying that's good or bad, it just is a thing. A system to work within. Even with the paper, same day FP system, it wasn't "fair" to lots of people. I think that's where "life isn't fair" comes into play.

I will however agree if they change around EMH days, and like I said previously, opening earlier, is understandably frustrating. In general, no matter the travel destination, it's probably a good idea to check on the operating hours a couple days before just to be sure.

 

[mom2rtk]

The first point is somewhat moot. A lot of people do not want to schedule a FP so late in the day. I know people say a lot about things being "fair" but it's not kindergarten. It's not your child's baseball team where everyone gets a chance to bat. It's a managed free-for-all. Not saying that's good or bad, it just is a thing. A system to work within. Even with the paper, same day FP system, it wasn't "fair" to lots of people. I think that's where "life isn't fair" comes into play.

I will however agree if they change around EMH days, and like I said previously, opening earlier, is understandably frustrating. In general, no matter the travel destination, it's probably a good idea to check on the operating hours a couple days before just to be sure.

The first point isn't moot when it comes to FoP. It made a huge difference in terms of availability all day long to have extra hours available at closing. Just more FPs in the pot for the day. And for the high demand rides, a night ride is better than no ride. Especially in an area of the park designed to be very attractive at night.

 

[Roxyfire]

The first point isn't moot when it comes to FoP. It made a huge difference in terms of availability all day long to have extra hours available at closing. Just more FPs in the pot for the day. And for the high demand rides, a night ride is better than no ride. Especially in an area of the park designed to be very attractive at night.

Maybe I'm thinking of it differently, but regardless of whether they released those as normal or now they were still going to get booked. The difference is there's a wider pool of people who are eligible. The trade off is, some people won't know about it. Maybe they never really will know about it. If anything, that might be more fair to those who booked later or had a shorter vacation (like me). But the point I'm making is, it probably doesn't benefit the whole day, maybe it allows people to shift around a little. But no matter when they're released, they will get booked quickly.

 

[Pennstate6411]

The most frustrating thing about 180 days is that Disney hasn't finalized their own schedules by then. They still haven't released ROL dining packages for November/December, for example. And there were a lot of Epcot restaurants that held back all reservations until CP packages were released.

I have a feeling they aren't going to release ROL packages for November/December- unless they change AK hours in November they close at 7:00 and the ROL show starts at 6:30- I wanted a November ROL package- just don't think its going to happen. Fingers crossed though as maybe hours will be extended to 9:00 those months

 

[mom2rtk]

Maybe I'm thinking of it differently, but regardless of whether they released those as normal or now they were still going to get booked. The difference is there's a wider pool of people who are eligible. The trade off is, some people won't know about it. Maybe they never really will know about it. If anything, that might be more fair to those who booked later or had a shorter vacation (like me). But the point I'm making is, it probably doesn't benefit the whole day, maybe it allows people to shift around a little. But no matter when they're released, they will get booked quickly.

Yes, they're going to get booked. But the poor person who booked an onsite room and got up early to be on the computer 60 days out might not be the one who gets them. I really dislike random things like that.

And weren't you the one scoffing at the idea of "fair" just a few posts back? Now it needs to be "fair" for those booking shorter trips or booking later?

 

[Moliphino]

I have a feeling they aren't going to release ROL packages for November/December- unless they change AK hours in November they close at 7:00 and the ROL show starts at 6:30- I wanted a November ROL package- just don't think its going to happen. Fingers crossed though as maybe hours will be extended to 9:00 those months

AK hours are extended until 8 and ROL is at 7:15 for the last couple nights of my trip, at least.

 

[Roxyfire]

Yes, they're going to get booked. But the poor person who booked an onsite room and got up early to be on the computer 60 days out might not be the one who gets them. I really dislike random things like that.

And weren't you the one scoffing at the idea of "fair" just a few posts back? Now it needs to be "fair" for those booking shorter trips or booking later?

Oh yeah, I agree, fair is bogus but I'm trying to turn the point around to show why I think it's moot. There's always someone who will benefit and someone who won't. On the large scale of things, this is the epitome of a first world problem.