More Fastpass 2.0 Info

[ilovethisplace]

When I heard about the characters knowing your name I assumed that there was some sort of reader that would get the info from the wrist band and some how deliver that info to the character, perhaps a small screen or even through an ear piece. Because in the video I saw (it has been a while now) I believe Cinderella is calling a young girl by name as she approaches from a distance. The wristbands didn't have any names or anything written on them. It almost looked like a watch but instead of the timepiece being on top it was a character face that I assume has a chip imbedded in it. It really didn't give me the "Orwellian" vibe others may get since it is vacation, not every day life but all I could think was if you lost this thing you'd be screwed. I was also thinking of the restaurants where they are testing out the self-serve kiosks (Pecos Bills comes to mind) and this wrist band seems like an interesting compliment to this system. Order your food and then wave your band to pay, then walk up to the counter and get your food. It seems to streamline the whole thing plus how many ca$t member$ could this save?

 

[anthony2k7]

Sounds like they're talking about using RFID in the wrist bands.

I too dont understand the point in using a wristband instead of just adding it to the KTTW card. Unless they're assuming that in groups each person doesnt necessarily keep their own KTTW card on them (kids hand them back to their parents etc).

I personally assume this means they're considering getting rid of the KTTW card and replacing them with a wristband instead - if so thats going to be a massive project as it will I assume include replacing all the locks in all the resort hotel rooms as well to use RFID instead of barcodes.

It would certainly give them some interesting options by doing this - photopass is one thing that immediately comes to mind. Monitoring guest flow trends would be highly useful for Disney from this. Also ride wait times.

Also though, I'm sure I read recently that they only just stopped issuing wristbands for EMH? Odd that they've just got rid of them and now are thinking of bringing in another kind of wristband.

 

[anthony2k7]

..

Yea I got that part, I was referring to AP holders, off site and locals. I see you don't know either-seems like a big question right? I can picture an AP holder calling WDW and saying they will be down in a month for 1 week at the Hilton-so do they just believe them and give them access to the 3 FP website? I guess if they didn't show up, the lines would just move faster. Same as an onsite guest not showing up I guess, or a local AP holder.

AP and offsite would be easy if the wristband is to replace the normal KTTW/MYW park ticket.

They'd either issue AP holders a wristband (more substantial than normal ones and removable?) or at the start of each trip the AP holder would have to go to a kiosk to pick up a wristband and have it associated to the AP.

 

[jade1]

AP and offsite would be easy if the wristband is to replace the normal KTTW/MYW park ticket.

They'd either issue AP holders a wristband (more substantial than normal ones and removable?) or at the start of each trip the AP holder would have to go to a kiosk to pick up a wristband and have it associated to the AP.

That makes sense, but I still can't picture at what point would an AP holder that lives in Orlando, gain access to the FP website to schedule passes? I guess they could simply check everyday at 30 days out (if that's the window), grab for example RNR, TOT and TSM. Then decide later if they are actually going to go that day or not? If they like to visit on weekends for example (not every weekend), they could literally pre schedule every sat/sun throughout the year-whether they really planned to go or not, then just have these passes available at all times? I dont mean to pick on the locals-its just one example of confusion to me, sorry.

If a guest is staying onsite-there is a much greater chance of them actually showing up and using the prescheduled FP's IMO. Plus they would need to cancel the ressie if they are not going to show up-and all FP's could go back into the system as available-even if just the night before.

 

[rie'smom]

Here's an article on possible Fantasyland changes and FP changes. Basically, if you stay on property, you can have FPs. The # depends on the length of your stay.
Off property, live nearby and don't stay onsite-tough. AP holder? You might be out of luck too. DVC member-maybe passes and maybe not. Anyway, read on(it's after the Fantasyland changes article)
http://miceage.micechat.com/kevinyee/ky072109a.htm

 

[jade1]

Here's an article on possible Fantasyland changes and FP changes. Basically, if you stay on property, you can have FPs. The # depends on the length of your stay.
Off property, live nearby and don't stay onsite-tough. AP holder? You might be out of luck too. DVC member-maybe passes and maybe not. Anyway, read on(it's after the Fantasyland changes article)
http://miceage.micechat.com/kevinyee/ky072109a.htm

"Yet more twists: the amount of FP tickets you get per day is dependent on how long your vacation is. If you’re only staying a few days at a Disney resort, then you’d only earn a couple FP tickets per day. If your vacation is longer, you’d get more per day. This would function to reward those who take longer vacations with Disney (you can see why they’d want to encourage that!)

People staying at hotels off Disney property would not get any. Locals who live close enough to need no hotels would also get none. The rumor is silent about annual passholders, but one assumes they would also get none, unless they are in hotels. It would be a nice gesture if non-hotel passholders could get a single FP per day, though… otherwise, they risk annoying a very core audience. Ditto for the DVC crowd, which is populous, has big pockets, and has already spent a ton of money at Disney and doesn’t want to get shafted now."


Interesting reading. Kind of what I was wondering-with an onsite hotel reservation, it would be a good bet you would show up for sure. I would think DVC would be an onsite hotel ressie as well-who knows. But it would be a negative effect on DVC sales if they didn't qualify.

 

[rie'smom]

I agree. Why would anyone spend $$$$$$ for DVC when they couldn't get FPs. We own and I can tell you that I'll be ticked off if this would happen.

 

[marius97]

Here's an article on possible Fantasyland changes and FP changes. Basically, if you stay on property, you can have FPs. The # depends on the length of your stay.
Off property, live nearby and don't stay onsite-tough. AP holder? You might be out of luck too. DVC member-maybe passes and maybe not. Anyway, read on(it's after the Fantasyland changes article)
http://miceage.micechat.com/kevinyee/ky072109a.htm

Here is the problem with all of these discussions...and as the OP, I am critisizing my own post...is that they are based off of surveys. Both mine and the one linked to in a previous post are surveys done about a different aspect. My survey specifically said that ALL MYW tickets will get three fastpasses and then you could pay extra for more passes and experiences...this still would leave the AP, DVC people as a question though. Just speculation on my part, I had not seen my survey mentioned before. Maybe Disney floated the first survey about no fastpasses for offsite people and saw a horrible reaction. I had the same reaction. As a family of five, we will never stay onsite...at least until the kids leave, then Grand Floridian here we come. After seeing the bad reaction to no fastpasses, maybe they changed their survey to another form to see if they get a better reaction.

 

[VAN]

I don't see what is wrong with the FP system now!! Leave it alone!!

 

[rie'smom]

Here is the problem with all of these discussions...and as the OP, I am critisizing my own post...is that they are based off of surveys. Both mine and the one linked to in a previous post are surveys done about a different aspect. My survey specifically said that ALL MYW tickets will get three fastpasses and then you could pay extra for more passes and experiences...this still would leave the AP, DVC people as a question though. Just speculation on my part, I had not seen my survey mentioned before. Maybe Disney floated the first survey about no fastpasses for offsite people and saw a horrible reaction. I had the same reaction. As a family of five, we will never stay onsite...at least until the kids leave, then Grand Floridian here we come. After seeing the bad reaction to no fastpasses, maybe they changed their survey to another form to see if they get a better reaction.

I know this isn't popular but I would pay for FPs. In April, we took a private tour with unlimited FPS-it cost over $2000 for 1 day! I must have lost my mind that day but it was so nice and we got so much done but that was once in a lifetime. Now, I'm not saying it should cost near that but if the option was there as an add on for a reasonable amount of money, .

Universal is a different experience BUT the unlimited FOTL is what has made it our favorite theme park. It's so relaxing to sleep in and still get to do the things we like. It feels like a vacation.

Disney, as much as we have loved it, has become a chore-the planning, the getting up at dawn, the ADRs,etc. If they could revamp the system to make it more guest friendly, I'm all for it.