News Round Up 2018

[AMusicLifeForMe]

Not a big fan of April Fools but Disney on Broadway did good here...

I laughed so hard when I saw this.

Especially at the Penguin part.

 

[nkosiek]

When did they start showing The Force Awakens on TV? It's being played on TNT right now.

About 2 or 3 weeks or so ago as I recall.

 

[jlundeen]

Not a big fan of April Fools but Disney on Broadway did good here...

Boy, they really go full out on everything, including April Fool's jokes! it's no wonder there are so many rumors flying around about everything.

 

[danikoski]

News

Permits filed for Star Wars hotel at WDW: http://blogmickey.com/2018/04/break...star-wars-hotel-at-disneys-hollywood-studios/

Who was it on here that called that it'd be by the current excess dirt pile? Although completely makes sense...it's by the SWGE side of the park and a lot of the land has already been cleared.

I see this opening late 2020...that's my prediction if they "break" ground soon based on how fast they are moving on Riveria and the tower at CSR.

 

[rteetz]

Who was it on here that called that it'd be by the current excess dirt pile? Although completely makes sense...it's by the SWGE side of the park and a lot of the land has already been cleared.

I see this opening late 2020...that's my prediction if they "break" ground soon based on how fast they are moving on Riveria and the tower at CSR.

I think it will open in time for the 50th. A time line on this really hasn't been talked about much.

 

[writerguyfl]

I really don’t get the point of this. The magic band does all this, and it’s already conveniently around your wrist. Seems like a waste of time and money to roll this out

I doubt this cost much money. It's just a different way to activate the current mechanisms in place. I think pepperandchips is probably correct in her comment that this is likely related to the convention side of Disney's lodging business. Many of the major hotel chains offer room access via smart phones. It's in Disney's interest to keep up with the Joneses in order to remain competitive.

From an operational perspective, this might actually save Disney money. If convention-goers don't typically have magic bands, the ability to use their smart phone means they can avoid a trip to the Front Desk. That may result in slightly lower labor costs because there are fewer people needing to directly interact with the Front Desk.

 

[AzzySpazbourne]

News

Wife of Fl Congressman arrested Omar Disney World.

 

[Capang]

News

Wife of Fl Congressman arrested Omar Disney World.

Well, her husband IS a congressman. She can do whatever she wants.

 

[crazy4wdw]

Fox says Disney could buy U. K.'s Sky News:

http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/disney-sky-news-21st-century-fox-takeover-bid-1202742166/

 

[Tigger's ally]

Well, her husband IS a congressman. She can do whatever she wants.

And she can do whatever she wants in the back of a patrol car. Knock yourself out girl.

By the way, you are on candid camera.

 

[mikepizzo]

I really don’t get the point of this. The magic band does all this, and it’s already conveniently around your wrist. Seems like a waste of time and money to roll this out

I'm a little late to reply, and perhaps this was already mentioned, but I do think that MagicBands will be phased out. Not necessarily soon, but eventually.

MagicBand 1.0 came out in 2013, right? Apply Pay and Google Pay (former Android Pay) were released in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Now that more and more people are using their cellphones to make payments, I'm sure Disney is seeing the potential savings if they were to allow ones cellphone to do everything the MagicBands can do. You already need your phone if you want to modify any plans that were previously made in MyDisneyExperience. Why not let the guest provide their own hardware?

I'm definitely in the MagicBand boat though. My wife is usually the one modifying any of our plans, so I luck out and don't really need my phone in the park.

Besides, I prefer to look at a screen as little as possible on vacation. That's why we go to Disney over Universal.

 

[andyw715]

I could see this appealing to convention guests, business people who might already be acquainted with using a smartphone app to unlock hotel doors from the major chains. Those same people might be less likely to have park tickets or want to wear cutesy plastic bracelets? Just the first thought I had.

I've also left the room and members of my travel party did not have a magic band with them, but did have their cell phone. This would have allowed my travel partner to open the door and retrieve his magic band (or just go without it). I'm all for giving people more options for access!

I agree, I always have my phone on me, even in the parks (to take pics of course!)

You have to turn Bluetooth on your smart phone in order to use this new feature.

Most if not all modern phones have BLE (bluetooth low energy), so there really isn't any reason not to have BT turned on....but I think using BT for this is the real miss....see below

The only thing I hope for is that each add onto MDE app doesn't in turn make it more buggy. Sometimes companies go 'feature-crazy' on their apps that have a hard time keeping up. Got no idea if that will happen with MDE just a general thought I have. *Goes for softwares too not just apps.

I think what was confusing was Disney marketing it as the “next evolution” of this technology. To me, that makes it sounds like a better option. When really, it’s just the same technology/functionality in a different medium.

Overall, doesn’t bother me and I totally get the conventioners using it, or the people who don’t like MBs.

I think the real miss the the integration with the app vs a NFC solution using the standard wallet apps (ie. Apple Wallet). You shouldn't need to open up an app just to initiate the connection for authentication.


I guess the BLE solution is ok for near proximity content delivery. But having to route through an app for authentication circumvents the builtin authentication/authorization that something like Apple Pay/NFC provides. <-- having to open an app just to get in a hotel door? Kludgey.

 

[tarak]

Not a big fan of April Fools but Disney on Broadway did good here...

I generally despise April Fool jokes, but that one was really funny.

 

[rteetz]

News

Disney Juniors Vamparina coming to WDW?

https://www.wdwmagic.com/attraction...ampirina-coming-soon-to-walt-disney-world.htm

 

[rteetz]

News

New port adventures inspired by ABC’s The Chew for Disney Cruise Line

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...the-chew/?CMP=SOC-DPFY18Q1wo0329180404180015C

 

[CCostner]

Are there any photo updates on the progress of Riviera and the tower at CSR?

 

[rteetz]

Are there any photo updates on the progress of Riviera and the tower at CSR?

Latest images are in the aerials thread.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

News

Disney Juniors Vamparina coming to WDW?

https://www.wdwmagic.com/attraction...ampirina-coming-soon-to-walt-disney-world.htm

I am sort of surprised they don't add more Disney Jr characters - not saying they need an E-Ticket attraction or anything but seems like they get popular for a few years and then go away, so why not bring them in as meet and greets or something for when they are popular to help draw kids - especially in DHS? Vamparina, but they have Miles from Tomorrowland, etc. - stuff like that

 

[rteetz]

I am sort of surprised they don't add more Disney Jr characters - not saying they need an E-Ticket attraction or anything but seems like they get popular for a few years and then go away, so why not bring them in as meet and greets or something for when they are popular to help draw kids - especially in DHS? Vamparina, but they have Miles from Tomorrowland, etc. - stuff like that

It’s probably a budget thing.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It’s probably a budget thing.

true - feels like it wouldn't cost much, but guess hard to measure the return on even a smallish investment

and to think, not too long ago they would do a new parade practically every year to promote the latest animated movie