RFID Scanners installed around MK

[UndercoverMama]

~Base on the pictures that I've seen, the bracelets are optional and removable. They are super cute, you can customize them and they come in a different array of colors, themes, and options.

Where did you see that they will be customizable?, I would love to check it out

 

[jjsdad]

The bracelets come from this article that came out last year:


http://www.delightfullydisney.com/2011/08/rumor-alert-rfid-bracelets-new-key-to.html

 

[peter11435]

70-80%?? No way is it that high, if it were there would be a continual FP line and fastpasses for TSM would be available much later into the day. I believe with FP+ there will be a higher percentage dedicated to timed entries but your numbers do underscore that not everyone onsite would be able to take advantage of FP+. Hmmm. Time to re-boot the speculation machine.

It is 80% for most attractions.

 

[recmouse]

It is 80% for most attractions.

Where do you get that number from? 80% of the riders for the day are from the Fast Pass line? How is that possible?

 

[UndercoverMama]

The bracelets come from this article that came out last year:


http://www.delightfullydisney.com/2011/08/rumor-alert-rfid-bracelets-new-key-to.html

Thanks. I even read that article at one point but forgot about the customizing part.

 

[icc2515]

Does anybody else think that this is going to make the standby lines insane? I mean after you use all your Xpass reservations your still gonna want to get on attractions like Splash and BTM, but all the fast passes will be gone due to lower availability so standby will have to increase.

 

[recmouse]

Let's see... they are taking my fingerprint when I walk in, now I have to wear a bracelet with a chip where they can trace my every step... kind of freaky!

 

[WillAustin]

It is 80% for most attractions.

Is it 80 percent that are reserved to be given away as FPs or that 80 to 20 is the ratio of FP to standby that CMs let through when both lines are full? Not necessarily the same thing.

There are currently ~30,000 rooms available on Disney property. With an average occupancy of 3.5 people per room, that is a maximum of 105,000 patrons staying onsite. If they allowed only one fast pass per day for people staying onsite, that would still leave just under 120k FPs to be claimed in the parks.

But even then, that takes a potentially huge chunk away from the non-advance people. The FP rush at rope drop will be even more frantic for those who don't want to plan attractions in advance, and FPs will run out even faster than they do now.

Personally, I'd love to, but of I am only allowed to book 1 FP+ in each ride category per day, it isn't nearly as useful to me. Once you start allowing multiple bookings per person per day, the numbers would get exponentially worse.

If FP+ is just an RFID version of what they have now with some percentage available for us to book earlier in a very limited way, it isn't really that attractive to me.

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

If people are reserving their fastpasses ahead of time, does that mean there will be less fastpasses available to the general public coming into the parks? Whether they are staying on site or not?

~This is one of the many reasons why I believe xPass will be available to "everyone." I expect there will be more FP's available with FP+. Disney is currently enhancing all of the queues to accommodate this new system.

I'm not a fan of running to Toy Story for a FP but I don't want to plan that far ahead either. Things change in an instant when you're in Disney... someone gets sick, you decide on a different park for that day, you eat something midday and then want to change your dinner reservation to a later time... I could go on and on...

~This means the new online FP system would not work with your touring style. The examples you listed above can and do happen with the current FP system. I can pull a FP for TSM and have a late evening return time and never use it for any of the reasons stated above.

So what if you plan Fastpasses and then don't go in that day? Will the RFID's realize you didn't enter the park and void your Fastpasses? Or will that just waste someone else's chance for a FP?

Does anyone else feel like this is really a "big brother's watching" thing?

~If you change your mind, I'm quite sure it's no big deal, if anything, at the worst the lines would move faster with less people. Every time you use your room key to get a FP , a snack or open your room door you could be tracked.

Here is my ultimate wish for what the RFID bracelets should be:

- You receive the bracelets when you check into your Disney hotel, basically replacing your KTTW cards.

- You use the bracelets to unlock your room door.

- Your bracelets have your park tickets on them that you just wave by the scanners when you enter a park. Much like your KTTW cards now.

- Your bracelets have your ADR's attached to them, when you get to your restaurant near your reservation time you wave it by the front desk as your way of checking in and then wait to be seated.

- Your bracelets can be used to grab fastpasses. Instead of inserting your KTTW card like you do now into the FP machines, you just wave your bracelet by the sensor and the FP prints out.

- Your bracelets can also have your credit card encrypted on it just like your KTTW cards. You can charge items to your credit card just by waving your bracelet in front of a sensor.


Basically just have the bracelets replace the KTTW card, that way you dont have to dig into your pocket each time to grab it. I think it would make things way simpler. Off-site guests can just keep using the regular systems in place now. One can dream cant he!

~This is exactly how the bracelets are supposed to work! I am very excited about it. But, my understanding is the bracelets are optional for a premium. I think everyone who purchases their tickets directly from Disney will be able to purchase the bracelets.

On the other side, I can't see how a system that would be free for all to use would be a positive experience for anyone that tried. Even if they allowed each person one advance FP per day, there simply are not enough ride slots available to do this without it being a disaster, either on the advance side or the in park side. The numbers just don't add up for a free for all system unless they limit it in some way, which would decrease any benefit one might hope to get in using the new system.

Maybe they hope the standby lines will get longer so more people will be pushed to use the FP+ system.

~Again, FP+ is an upgrade and an overhaul of a dated system, the new system will utilize modern technology to accommodate the substantial growth in attendance Disney has seen over the past decade. This is no different than suggesting that the new Fantasyland will cost extra and be available to resort guests only. The value resorts can only ride the old dumbo and the new Casey Jr.'s play area is only for Deluxe CL kids. I think FP+ will be free and available to everyone who purchases a park ticket from Disney, in any capacity.

This is just a response to your responses to what I've been posting. I didn't want to quote that entire post because it woudl've been huge.

My point is referring stricly to people gaining access to the online system that would allow you to reserve ride times x amount of days in advance (the rumor is 180 days right now which i'm guessing is just speculation).

I believe the scanners with screens that you are talking about are maybe part of the same system, but they would be done the day of your park visit on the fly, and not 180 days or so in advance. So if I had to guess, I would think everyone would have access to those machines, but not everyone would have access to the online booking in advance system. Being a resort guest is the easiest way I think they could accomplish that because you have to list how many guests, their names and the exact dates of your stay. I think there has to be some way to make sure that people don't multi book times under seperate names.

~The online system that we use for ADR's, allows for everyone to make a reservation. I don't see why FP+ would be any different, I think anyone who purchases a ticket directly from Disney will be given access to the online FP website.

Where did you see that they will be customizable?, I would love to check it out

~Here is a great article on the wristband from Dizfanatic ---> HERE ~Also, I heard from another source that these wristbands may be called "Magic Bands".

 

[d1gitman]

Let's see... they are taking my fingerprint when I walk in, now I have to wear a bracelet with a chip where they can trace my every step... kind of freaky!

not really... participation is fully voluntary

 

[dobtia]

I have to say this as my opinion on this issue...and if it has been said I am sorry for repeating but there is a lot on the issue to read through.....

The current system seems to work pretty darn good. I don't see the need to change......just because you have a new technology does not mean it is better.....

Just my thoughts.

 

[wishinon3stars]

It looks like I may be in the minority here, but I'm excited to see how all this works!

 

[I Love Pluto]

I'm willing to try the wristbands - as long as they don't have 500 DIFFERENT rules for each attraction, resort, park, etc.

Sometimes all of the new "rules" can be a bit much. The CONFUSION starts when the rules CHANGE at the CM's discretion.

On the POSITIVE side - maybe this will END all of the confusion and rule differentiations. That will be great!!!

 

[justtobeme2]

Well I am interested to see how it works. I just hope there isn't a charge. I hate feeling like I've been grubbed. I am hoping that with this change resort guests will pick their times and the regular lines and the fast pass lines will be shorter because of this. We are on site people but I don't foresee ever making ADR for a ride. It's just not THAT important to us to put the stress of having to run here, run there by this time or that time. As other posters have stated it's bad enough having to make ADRs so far in advance and decide which park you are going to which day.

 

[WillAustin]

~The online system that we use for ADR's, allows for everyone to make a reservation. I don't see why FP+ would be any different, I think anyone who purchases a ticket directly from Disney will be given access to the online FP website.

Many would say the current online ADR system is a disaster. I hope they have a better plan that that.

 

[jjsdad]

Many would say the current online ADR system is a disaster. I hope they have a better plan that that.

This is exactly my point. If you allowed everyone access to make reservations up to 180 days before a vacation people would be multibooking fast passes bigtime. Currently some people do that with the ADRs as they don't know which night they want to eat at each place, so they double book using seperate names or just book the same restaurant on different nights and cancel as teh date gets closer. If the fast pass + was on teh same system it woudl be a total disaster.

 

[Planogirl]

I hate wearing tight bracelets. Ugh, I get squeamish just thinking about it. I hope that there is an alternative.

 

[Squidgyness]

With regards to the concerns over too many people booking double etc, that is why I don't think it will be available to more than a minority of guests. Most likely, as one pp mentioned in a linked blogpost, the 10 most exclusive resorts. If they gave FP+ to ALL guests, and even 1/3 to 1/4 of them used it, major chaos would erupt. Even the 10 most exclusive resorts would be say 15-30k people at peak times all booking FP's in advance. The consequences if one day half of 30,000 people decide to go to say DHS and book for TSMM (If that is included, I presume it will be.) could be disastrous. They already see increased wait times on some days in certain parks as a majority of guests visiting the parks choose to go there (for whatever reason) this system could make things a LOT worse for FP+ users and non-users alike. Guess we have to wait and see how the testing goes. I just hope they don't take a small test to be reflective of how the major roll out would go.

For example, if a majority of guests had access, how would they deal with Food and wine? The majority would most likely go to epcot. Or if MK only has certain shows/parades on a few times that week, those parks could be overloaded with FP requests for the main rides. I'm curious as to how they would manage this beyond just 'limiting' one person to say one FP an hour. This could help, but I don't think it would solve it completely. Even then, I imagine some angry guests being told there are no FP+ reservations left for the big rides. Ironically, if you can book them far in advance, they could run out of them faster than normal FP's which can only be gotten on the day, if they decided to go with a tandem system. Would the people who couldnt get FP+ for the main rides shift to using normal FP's and further bog that system down? Just a rambling thought.

If they do open it up to more people, I sincerely hope they put a strict limit on the number of FP+ bookings, preferably more than the 1 an hour currently being mooted.

Looking away from technical details for a minute, I still just can't see myself ever using this system. I'd like access to it in case it made me HAVE to use it, but until then, I and many of my friends I suspect won't bother since that kind of planning is a little too far. Makes me even more suspicious they will charge to recoup investment, if they don't see a big uptake in bookings.

Then again, I heard that Disney are cutting discounts on stays there from this year on, so maybe that is the 'charge' for this system?

 

[Kate and Family]

Some of the folks who reserve their ride time, would have grabbed FastPasses anyway. So they would not be additional FastPass users. Wouldn't the FastPasses that they would have grabbed, be back in the FastPass system for others to grab?

 

[n2mm]

this all sounds lke the system on the Disney Dream. We used our cards and scanned them while the little ones used their wristbands and scanned them. It works well on the ship. I am open to it esp. if the adults can use their room cards. I'm at WDW now and can see right away the fastpass impact of keeping folks within the 1 hour window. the FP lines are longer than in the past.