There is a failure in the rollout of MB

[WDW-BWV]

Thanks everyone for your really need comments about this topic.

I would like to suggest to the Dis board monitors and editors. That you establish a new section just like there is for DVC and all of the other areas exclusively for Magic Bans and my magic issues.

Finally on the topic of my Disney experience. There's a little glitch that I've shared before and call member services about where the location of restaurants is scrambled when you go to make a dining reservation. I finally found a CM who gave me the advice to clear the cookies on my iPhone. Which seem to correct the issue for a short period of time but I still have funky things like the Cape May buffet being located at the Grand Floridian, Kona at the Swan and. A dozen other mismatch locations to restaurants. I haven't seen this issue bantered about anywhere on the boards and I'm curious if it's isolated to me or have other folks found this technical glitch.

Happy holidays everyone!

 

[Longhairbear]

I just hope those stupid bands never come to CA. I never plan that far ahead, and especially for Disneyland. We've stopped going to WDW, and no plans to ever go back.

 

[erionm]

I just hope those stupid bands never come to CA. I never plan that far ahead, and especially for Disneyland. We've stopped going to WDW, and no plans to ever go back.

Tom Staggs has said they will be used in all Disney Parks worldwide eventually.

 

[Longhairbear]

Tom Staggs has said they will be used in all Disney Parks worldwide eventually.

That's really a shame, and I did know he said that. Most everyone we know here in CA has an AP. No one plans a trip to DLR, they just go. After work, or on a weekend. My Facebook on any given day has pictures of people we know at Disneyland for the day.
We just stayed 3 nights on points at the Disneyland Hotel, and happened to run into friends that also just happened to be there.

 

[Sur]

I just hope those stupid bands never come to CA. I never plan that far ahead, and especially for Disneyland. We've stopped going to WDW, and no plans to ever go back.

Funny, we want them on DCL! It's just easier to open the door and more comfortable for the kids to go to the Kids Club. Charging would be great too. I cannot stand wearing a lanyard.

 

[murphy7573]

Well 4 me living in Cali and just got back from the World in November, I would love to see My Magic Plus at DCL. It would be awesome to Fastpass Peter Pan's Flight or Toy Story Mania for once like they can in Florida previous to MMP. Not having to get up at the crack of dawn to get Fast Passes for Radiator Springs Racers that can be have available use times 8 hours after I initially pll them out of the Fast Pass machine. Of course all you So-Cal-ers have Annual Passes. Remember DCL is surrounded by the second largest urban population in the country. The city of Orlando and its surrounding area doesn't even come close to that. So coming from No-Cal (like all of your water does too), I would LOVE to book attractions in advance instead of having to compete with the Greater Los Angeles area (and I'm not even counting San Diego). I'll be at VGF 6 Jan 14 for my daughter's 5th B-day, wishing for MMP at DCL (won't happen anyways). At least we'll be there 7 and 8 of Jan too !!!

PS: It was awesome setting up Fast Pass+ for Toy Story Mania at HHS and not having to try to be there at rope drop to fight to get one B4 they ran out in the first hour of opening the park !!!!!

I'm out !

 

[murphy7573]

Correction: Not VGF...VGC 6 Jan 14 to 8 Jan 14

 

[mouse]

Used Magic Bands during our December vacation at SS. No problems with MDE and linking everything and all seemed well at check-in. After that is when all the problems began. Too involved to go into here, but issues with the bands took huge chunks of time out of our expensive vacation. Thank goodness it was just my DH & I this trip. At one point we were ready to get in our car and leave for home. That was the day we couldn't get into our villa because the batteries in the door died & engineering had to order parts to repair the "lock". We were eventually moved to another villa, but the day, including our tee time, was pretty much a lost day. We have been DVC members since 2002, & this was a very stressful trip. Already dreading the trip we will be making with extended family, including small children, in April. I plan on putting a lot of work into this upcoming trip to try to make everything go smoothly, but if there are as many hassles as this past trip, may actually consider selling our points and start doing vacations elsewhere that aren't so much work.

 

[JimC]

Great concept, complex technology to make it work, extensive infrastructure required, testing phase is exactly that -find the glitches and fix them.

Front desk staff at BCV knew me very well early in our stay this month. Took several tries and several very kind staff members to get the charging feature working properly. It would not accept the band or the KTTW card. A bit embarrassing at restaurants but the cast members just asked if we had another means to pay (we did - our VISA). I suspect they might have a back up if a guest did not have another means to pay.

FYI, this was related to a linked reservation, which has been difficult for their technology I suspect. Poor SJ would be aghast at how consumer unfriendly this company is when it comes to technology. I run the latest version of IE and their websites keep telling me to upgrade!

Some thoughts. The bands do not speed up entry as the finger scan is the same as before and the scanner recognizing and authenticating the bands takes a bit more time then the old ticket readers did. It is helpful that they have trouble shooter cast members supporting the cast members at the entry points. Having the wider entry lanes is a significant improvement for strollers, scooters and wheelchairs, a collateral benefit from the entry redesign. Since we know Disney uses facial recognition technology at the gates, they could use that instead of finger scans (providing they have the infrastructure necessary to handle the load).

The door entry feature is nice and uses the same lock technology they first introdecued on DCL. Magic bands would be fabulous there, HH and VB where having waterproof wrist key would be great because of the focus on water activities.

I was very surprised when charges were approved without my using a PIN number. This happened at restaurants regularly. I think that is a weak point in the design.

Fast pass plus is another matter. I can not get it to work unless I accept three passes, even when I only want one. I do not understand why they designed that restriction. And it assigns times instead of allowing one to choose. Having pass categories reminds me of the old alpha ride tickets. I still can not figure out how to reserve events like parades and fireworks. Fast pass plus is time consuming and not guest friendly.

A side note for what it is worth - the triple sheeting at BCV is done and is quite nice. The hotel side has a very nice decorative overlay at the foot of the bed, but the DVC villas do not. While working with a front desk manager on my charging issues I asked why. He said it is a combination of DVC operating on a different set of fiscal principles ( I interpret that to mean too cheap to pay for it) and DVC's inability to decide on that design element.

 

[Donna M]

We just returned from SSR on Dec 16. We had a positive experience with the MB.

No problems opening our door except having to contort my arm to make a good contact.
No problems with quick serve charges at the parks or DTD.
Got into 3 different parks on one day without a glitch.
FP+worked.
Easier getting into other resort gates by scanning band instead of finding where I put my license.


BUT, I really don't like the hassle of setting up FP weeks before the trip and the way they are limited.

Hopefully they will get better with time.

 

[Sammie]

JimC you book parades and fireworks just like the rides. If you did not see them, they were either not offered at the time, they seem to only offer them closer to the date, or they were already booked.

I found it easy and quick, to use MDE.

As to the bed scarf, I was really open the would recycle a section of the bedspreads.

 

[bwvBound]

Most everyone we know here in CA has an AP. No one plans a trip to DLR, they just go. After work, or on a weekend. My Facebook on any given day has pictures of people we know at Disneyland for the day.
We just stayed 3 nights on points at the Disneyland Hotel, and happened to run into friends that also just happened to be there.

LOL -- no kidding!

We were there last Wed night ... popped in for dinner at Blue Bayou. While waiting for our table I heard my name ... and someone laughing. Yep, unexpected surprises do happen at Disneyland!

 

[Longhairbear]

A few other sites are reporting that there will be some layoffs at Disneyland starting in Jan to offset the cost of MM+.

 

[Lost in Neverland]

We received our information for MB last week. The issue we have ran into is we are staying at OKW for 5 days but we are lucky enough to get to come down a couple of days early and stay off property. We purchased 6 day tickets but can only link 5 of those 6 days to the bands. It would be nice if all 6 days could be used via MBs but we will have to get paper tickets for the extra day. Our concern is will using paper tickets for one day impact our ability to use the MBs for the rest of our stay.