WIRED article: Disney's $1 Billion Bet on a Magical Wristband

[ellie05]

I might be the only person here who actually feels free by planning ahead. With a plan, it frees up my mind to focus on the here and now and what's around me, than to be calculating what to do next. I love state machines

I feel the same way! We have a touring plan and that helps plan the fast passes. It doesn't mean we have to 100% have to follow the plan so we can still be spontaneous.


I just came from a trip with my family (total of 16). From the 16, 14 of us have been there before, 2 first timers. From the 14, 9 of us had visit within 5 years. Granted I made the plans, everyone loved the MB, everyone that had been there before said they had enjoyed the parks more this time that their other visits. The first timers did say if they were planning a vacation by themselves it would be overwhelming.

For us the repeat guest well it took some time to adjust. Our first trip with FP+ was not the best. Once I adjusted our plans it works great. The only thing I would complain is that if disney is asking you to plan that far in advance they should make changes (hours of operation) also 60 days in advance. I love not having to run from one side of the park to the other for FP, I also love not having to adjust that day plan because certain FP were for later than we thought. The new system allows me to plan in advance and let's me relax the day of.

 

[eXo]

I think the magic band is great. And I would have done the same thing if I was in their shoes.

Disney, like all things with followings, is surrounded by folks who don't like change. It's a simple correlation. The primary reason most of us love Disney is because of a key memory. Maybe it was going with your parents as kids. Maybe it was the honeymoon you went on, or getting engaged there. Maybe it was taking your kids and seeing their eyes. Maybe it was a culmination of things like this amazing sandwich you had at X Cafe and then you went on Y ride afterwards and it felt like the world was perfect.

So many people go to Disney, not to make new memories, but to relive old ones.

So when the restaurant announces a change in menu, people freak. I can't count how many trip reports I have read where the person states they "always" go to a certain restaurant and order a certain thing, as part of their park ritual. When a ride closes, it doesn't matter how horrible the ride was, people will get upset -because it was a part of their memories, and now, no matter how trivial a part it was, they can't do that anymore.

The magic band system changes the entire way people approach their vacations. So those who have these great memories of just showing up at Magic Kingdom without much planning to see where the day would take them feel as though that has been taken from them. In reality, it is still there, you just have to choose to ignore all the benefits of preplanning.

For those of us who aren't trying to relive a specific memory, changes which streamline the experience are welcome!

I have only been to Mk once, and it was for one day. I saw a fraction of what the park had to offer. In doing research for the family trip this year in which my kids get to go for the first time I have discovered so many things I didn't even realize where there. If it wasn't for the ADR system, I never would have stumbled across the Hoop Dee Doo show. I never would have known about certain rides or shows or experiences.

Sure, it's a butt load of work if I want my trip to be 100% the way I want it. First come the ADR's, and to schedule those I have to know what park I want to be in at what day (or at least what time of day). So 6 months before I even go I have to make decisions about where I am going to be and what my entire family wants to eat. But after that brief interlude I have 3 months to chill until I have to then go back and get fast passes scheduled. Since it is limited to three rides, I am mainly just ticking off some of the longer lines. At this point I have a rough outline of where my family will be for 3 rides each day and where we will be eating at some point (I don't make more than one ADR per day, as we simply don't eat much on vacation due to all the snacking).

With ADR's and fast passes out of the way, I'm free to do whatever I want with the rest of our time. So the notion that it is a constrictive system that forces you to plan your entire trip in advance is a bit silly to me. After all, if you removed the system, then you could very easily be turned away from something you wanted to do due to it being overbooked. Or, if it's a ride, you get to deal with the situation over at Universal where if you want to ride Gringott's you get to be there at the crack of dawn and then run across the park like a runaway froot loop and then HOPE the ride isn't down. A chance to just schedule that ride for some point in my day rather than planning my day around it? Yes please. Knowing that I get to eat at Cinderella's castle with my kids or Beast's Castle with them and not worrying about how long the call line is or any of that? Yes please. I think people forget just how much waiting they would be doing if all these tings couldn't be prebooked.

This isn't Disney taking choices away, this is Disney ensuring you still have choices when the crowds get too large.

 

[HydroGuy]

I found the Wired article very interesting and insightful. As a business owner myself (albeit much smaller than Disney LOL!) I can better see where they are coming from now. The whole MB concept does allow them to do things never before possible. The way Memory Maker works (when everything is working properly) where Disney can figure out where you were and send you photos and videos is just one of the many cool things possible. I always, always, ALWAYS hated having to find the photo ID number after a photo enabled ride then standing in line - sometimes for 5-10 minutes - in order to either order the photo or get it onto PhotoPass. Now Disney can figure it out for me. That piece will save me time and some level of frustration.

I also agree with many of the sentiments in the article and shared in posts in this thread about Choice. It is true that too many choices can work against you. My company develops software and we have to be highly aware of how to restrict choices or better organize choices so users do not get overwhelmed. I still remember the meeting I had once with a prospect where in one breath he listed the features he needed before buying our product (which would require adding more choices) then in the next breath explained how our product was too complicated and had too many choices.

Highly experienced users of our software want all the choices because they are comfortable with them. As others have noted, highly experienced WDW visitors are similar. With Disney restricting those choices it can feel negative and a lesser experience. From the article I am guessing Disney is already quite aware of where they want to go with this. For example, an obvious improvement to MDE to help the overwhelmed first timer (as eloquently explained by Angel Ariel) is to offer some default choices for FP+ and even ADR's. Users could enter the profile of their group (age levels, thrill tolerance, number of past visits to WDW which equates to knowledge of the rides and parks, etc., - or for second timers Disney can see what they did on their last visit) and MDE could recommend several default "packages" of choices.

Yes, first timers today are likely to be overwhelmed with MDE - but, heck, as JimmyV stated - they were going to be overwhelmed anyways even without MDE and FP+. When you tell a first timer to buy a book like UOG almost as thick as a phone book LOL, THAT is overwhelming. I myself did that on my first WDW trip in 2006. Plus spent lots of time on forums and TGM. With lots of Disneyland experience as well, I was able to navigate pretty well my first trip. Plus I have a high tolerance for information overload!

I have yet to visit WDW under the MDE/MB/FP+ experience (coming up in May) and just selected my FP+'s last Sunday night. It took me 20 minutes to select for 6 days. Heck, under legacy FP it could take me 20 minutes to go get a single FP at a ride across the park.

Part of that is good as I will save some time gathering the FPs I used to gather which I can then spend on doing other things with my family, while I will certainly will have less flexibility. In that four in my group are my kids ages 18-23, they will want to head out on their own at some point and I already know some FP choices I made will not work for them at some point (like when they want to sleep in one morning - or go to a different park one day than I selected). That and the general loss of flexibility will be frustrating. However, I do have new flexibility now that I already know I have the FPs and ADRs for key things we want to do (two for 7DMT and I snagged one ADR for a BOG lunch ).

In any case, I suspect I will continue to have mixed feelings about MDE/MB/FP+. Which is how I feel about much of technology. There are some things I really dislike about cell phones and the social impact and feeling like I always have to be available for others to reach me. But I do like being able to text, email and search the Internet from my phone. Cell phones are a mixed bag but in the end a definite plus for me.

The jury is still out for me on MDE/MB/FP+. I already have some pre-trip feelings of frustration - while also feeling more comfortable in other ways. But the OP article opened my eyes to things Disney can do that none of us imagined. It can be a time saver/stress reducer in some ways, and it can lend itself to more spontaneity in some ways. No need to hit RD now and run to grab the hot FP at the park. Sleep in if you want, or go have breakfast, and arrive late at the park if you want. And know that your FP is secure. That part does enable spontaneity and flexibility. I think many of us were so accustomed to the legacy FP and RD approach that we did not realize how inflexible it was at times. How many family arguments/frustrations were started in the early morning when trying to get kids and spouses up and going to the bus/boat stop? Maybe those will now be reduced?

As I said, it is a mixed bag. But I think Disney may be on to something.

 

[ArwenMarie]

For people who were good at using the paper FP, it's a takeaway no doubt.
But on our last trip which was President's Week (high crowds ), it occurred to me that this had to happen in a sense. Barring adding ride capacity, if they are going to let in the number of people they do, they needed a way to ration rides.

Another thing I realized...we also visited Universal for a day, no Express Passes. Needless to say we didn't get much done, it was very crowded there too. On the flip side, I would have loved to have been able to prebook 3 ride reservations for that day! So while their Express Pass system gives a great experience, on standalone tickets, WDW actually gives a better experience. At least during high crowds. Which also made me think that eventually Universal will do something like this too.

 

[CarolynFH]

Universal already rations rides via its Express Pass system - requiring people to pay extra or to stay in one of their onsite hotels. We were there last week and if we hadn't had Express Pass we wouldn't have gotten much done either.

 

[IrishNYC]

This isn't necessarily the right place for this, but something said upthread made me think of it...

We're currently closing in on our first trip as a family (DH and I in our 40s ,and 5 y/o DD) to WDW. DH and I were both there as kids in 1980/81, and I went to DL in the early 90s. The old FP system was a big put off for us going to Disney. The random return times, the chasing FPs, the uncertainty of whether you'd be able to do a headliner unless you got there at RD. It wasn't for us. Now with FP+ we know we'll be getting on at least 3 rides/shows M&Gs a day that we really want to do. I know where we can wander and when we have to be back, and how our ADRs fit in, and I know there's no overlapping times and there will be no scramble to get to an ADR that we randomly got a FP for at the same time. It made Disney much more attractive to us. It made spending more than we've ever spent on a vacation, including several trips to Europe, much more comfortable.

The Magic Bands? They're just a bonus. I'm not a girly girl and I hate to carry a bag. Now that DD is old enough to not need all the junk you need for babies, I am gloriously bag free most of the time. My phone case holds my license and a credit card, and can fit a $20 bill, and I don't need much else day to day. The MB being able to hold ticket and FP info, as well as being able to charge to the room - damn, you got me hooked, Disney.

 

[rwdavis2]

There's more spin in that article than three trips on the Tea Cups...

The write should have done his own research along with just using press releases and quotes from people with a vested interest.

 

[CarolynU]

Yep I've let my annual pass lapse and I'm taking a break. I can't stand micro planning weeks before I'm due to visit, nor being restricted to not riding my favourite TOT multiple times a day without using stand by.
I'm happy to cruise with DCL but I no longer combine it with a WDW trip.
Interesting article but MDE lacks spontaneity for me if not for the Disney suits!

 

[MolonLabe]

The write should have done his own research along with just using press releases and quotes from people with a vested interest.

I was thinking the same thing, lol.

I found the Wired article very interesting and insightful. As a business owner myself (albeit much smaller than Disney LOL!) I can better see where they are coming from now. The whole MB concept does allow them to do things never before possible.

I have yet to visit WDW under the MDE/MB/FP+ experience (coming up in May) and just selected my FP+'s last Sunday night. It took me 20 minutes to select for 6 days. Heck, under legacy FP it could take me 20 minutes to go get a single FP at a ride across the park.

I have a feeling you'll be surprised when actually using it. I suppose the "running for fastpasses" thing depends on who you are. There is no where in MK you couldn't get to in 10 minutes for FP's if you were in relatively decent shape. It was never an issue for us. We come off the ride, I go for FP and meet the family at where the next stop was. Easy peasy.

To your other point "things never before possible", I'm a small business owner too and the MB thing is all about hype to lure people in and for the most part, benefiting Disney. Like allowing ADR's way in advance, it allows for staffing and food ordering to be taken to whole new level. Logistics can make or break a company... just in wasted food every day, Disney probably tosses a nice 6 figures worth a day between all 4 parks. Imagine reclaiming half of that because they better judge not just what park you are at but WHERE you will be at what times i.e. what you will be close to and likley buying.. fire up the turkey legs and kill the pork shanks, everyone will be near frontier land at 5:50 pm... or vice versa, everyone is better spread out and it even things without the rushes...

I'm not just talking about a BOG ressie, I mean the entire park from the Turkey Leg Wagon to the Popcorn cart and everything in between. Just cutting waste by 1/3 on food could save them a solid 7 figures a year.

Sure there will be some "perks" for the guests but this is all about making WDW a more profitable location.

When you look at everything WDW is upgrading and investing in, it is about things generating an immediate or long term revenue increase. The insane cash being spent on MB's and new DVC's are to make insane cash back. Nothing wrong with that, I'm all about making profit, as much as I can... at the same time I don't sacrifice my customers experiences in order to do it... i.e. neglecting the monorails.

I haven't been a fan of where the new board is taking WDW. It's short sighted. In the past they thought much longer term.

 

[MolonLabe]

As an aside, they need to introduce a "Pay" fastpass system at this point if they want to retain their time sensitive crowd.

Under the old system I always said I hope they never do a "express pass" like US / IOA.

Under this system, I don't see how they can't do one at some point.

I would like to see a "One fast pass per ride per person per day per park" option for the MB's. I'm not sure where to price it, at least $50 per day I would think, but it will have to be done if they want people like me there during anything other than low crowd weeks.

I've already switched plans for previous trips because of FP+ and I'll likely revert back to a once every 18-24 months thing instead of going every 6-9 months like previously. They lost several thousand dollars last May and again in Oct alone when I cancelled May and then in Oct didn't even consider WDW and did Sea World / US and IOA instead.

Which BTW were awesome, I hadn't been to either of the three in years. Having express passes (one per ride for Sea World and unlimited for US/IOA) was wonderful. No planning, no here or there nonsense. "Want to do XYZ next?" "Yep!" "Ok lets go!"

Now THAT is spontaneity!

 

[ArwenMarie]

I don't think they are ever going to sell extra FPs, other than through the very premium VIP tour. They just don't have the capacity.

 

[cakebaker]

Actually I feel the same way. The more I can plan ahead the more relaxed I feel on the actual day.

Same here. It's not just spin that FP+ allows for more spontaneity, at least not for us. There's nothing spontaneous and magical about standing in the parks or parked at your resort trying to figure out where everyone wants to go and what they want to do. It's a waste of valuable park time. We do that at home, where it costs nothing. Once we're there, the basic outline of what we want to get done is set, the rest just happens.

 

[C-CMom]

Cool article. Thanks for sharing!

And if anyone is interested in reading more about the reducing choices bit, I highly recommend The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. It was excellent!

I agree - this is one of my favorite books. I kind of like reducing the choices myself, though, especially after I know they exist. A bit less satisfying when someone else decides to reduce for me. Interesting nevertheless.

Enjoyed the Wired article too, OP. Thanks for sharing.

 

[HydroGuy]

I have a feeling you'll be surprised when actually using it.

Surprised in what way?

I have yet to visit WDW under the MDE/MB/FP+ experience (coming up in May) and just selected my FP+'s last Sunday night. It took me 20 minutes to select for 6 days. Heck, under legacy FP it could take me 20 minutes to go get a single FP at a ride across the park.

I suppose the "running for fastpasses" thing depends on who you are. There is no where in MK you couldn't get to in 10 minutes for FP's if you were in relatively decent shape. It was never an issue for us. We come off the ride, I go for FP and meet the family at where the next stop was. Easy peasy.

Uhhh, if it took one 10 minutes to get to a FP- distribution kiosk and then 10 minutes to get back, that would be 20 minutes. Which is what I said. It could take 20 minutes.

I myself have done this hundreds of times between WDW and DLR. My point is that it did take time. I disagree that it was "easy peasy". I am not saying it was terribly hard. I do agree with others on the forum it had a lot more flexibility than FP+ in making FP choices on the spot. But it did come at a cost of my time.

To your other point "things never before possible", I'm a small business owner too and the MB thing is all about hype to lure people in and for the most part, benefiting Disney. Like allowing ADR's way in advance, it allows for staffing and food ordering to be taken to whole new level. Logistics can make or break a company... just in wasted food every day, Disney probably tosses a nice 6 figures worth a day between all 4 parks. Imagine reclaiming half of that because they better judge not just what park you are at but WHERE you will be at what times i.e. what you will be close to and likley buying.. fire up the turkey legs and kill the pork shanks, everyone will be near frontier land at 5:50 pm... or vice versa, everyone is better spread out and it even things without the rushes...

The example I gave of Memory Maker was of the "never before possible" variety. To ask "does this benefit Disney or the guest?" misses the point. Guests go to Disney in part because it allows for fun experiences - which they want to remember. Photos is one way they do that. Memory Maker is a service Disney offers guests. You can buy it or not. But IMO it is better than Photopass which I usually bought anyways.

Disney did not do MDE/MB/FP+ out of the goodness of their heart. They are a business trying to make a return on their investment. But they way they make money is by satisfying their guests in the end by giving them value for their money. If part of this MDE/MB/FP+ allows them to be ore efficient, it does allow them to give better value for a lower dollar.

I for one am not very excited about the idea of making ADR's 180 days out and FPs 60 days out. In fact I have never made an ADR at the 180 day point because I have never made a plan to visit WDW that far in advance. Usually it is 2-4 months in advance. Disney has to choose some date and I do not know exactly what I would do different if I were them. Making reservations the day before for ADRs and FPs would be a mess of people cramming their systems. The next option is a lottery system like used at Tokyo Disney for some things. You put your park passes in for some special show and the lottery either gives you a pass or blocks you out for the day. I did not like that system either (I missed out on each lottery LOL) but it is the other extreme from WDW.

 

[Laketravis]

Universal already rations rides via its Express Pass system - requiring people to pay extra or to stay in one of their onsite hotels. We were there last week and if we hadn't had Express Pass we wouldn't have gotten much done either.

We were there last week without EP and got quite a bit done.

Spontaneity at WDW, on the other hand, has been a major fail for us. For example, we decided on Friday night that we would go to MK on Saturday evening (last night). The only mountain available was SM, and then only a handful of choices after 7pm (first hit to spontaneity). So we decided to pick one for 8-9 and based our park arrival time on that at 8pm (second hit to spontaneity). After parking, tram, ferry and admission we were in the park at 8:30 or so only to find that SM was down (third hit to spontaneity) and the choices we were given as make-ups were not anything we were interested in (fourth hit to spontaneity).

That's just one example out of several over the last 9 days with 6 more to go and it only seems to be getting worse.


.

 

[ConnieB]

Hmm....except very definition of spontaneity (per dictionary.com) is: Without effort or premeditation. Making reservations for what I'm going to eat 6 months from now, or what ride I'm going to ride 2 months from now certainly requires both effort and premeditation. Or, maybe I'm doing it wrong?

 

[SharonLowe]

People should be writing these comments on the Wired site so that others who aren't necessarily WDW veterans can see them. The article was a puff piece and I made that comment on the Wired site. Nowhere in that article did they come close to talking to the people impacted by FP+.

 

[Shaden]

Same here. It's not just spin that FP+ allows for more spontaneity, at least not for us. There's nothing spontaneous and magical about standing in the parks or parked at your resort trying to figure out where everyone wants to go and what they want to do. It's a waste of valuable park time. We do that at home, where it costs nothing. Once we're there, the basic outline of what we want to get done is set, the rest just happens.

Except your examples are perfect for highlighting that FP+ does NOT offer spontaneity.

Sitting at home and planning what you are going to do, rides, food, etc - NOT spontaneous, the exact opposite of spontaneity.
Standing in the park, or parked, or at your resort and deciding what people want to do and then doing it - the exact definition of spontaneity.

Now, you are free to argue you like your trips being less spontaneous. Fair, great, and certainly possible.

But you are very clearly pointing out that FP+ makes your trips less spontaneous. And by the way, that's one of the purposes of the system. If you are less spontaneous than WDW can plan around your pre-made decisions instead of trying to have capacity to respond to any spontaneous decisions guests make.

 

[cakebaker]

Sitting at home and planning what you are going to do, rides, food, etc - NOT spontaneous, the exact opposite of spontaneity.
Standing in the park, or parked, or at your resort and deciding what people want to do and then doing it - the exact definition of spontaneity.

I'm always amused at the depth of discussion that can occur over a single word.

First off, not all spontaneity is good. If I drop a brick on my foot and crush it- unless I planned to do that, that's spontaneity. So for purposes of this discussion- I limit myself to the good kind of spontaneity.

At some point along the line- planning is done for WDW. Whether it's in my home, at my resort or in the park. No one just looks up and they're on a ride. They planned that ride at some point. So if planning has to be done, I prefer doing it at home. I don't think there's a lot of value in not knowing where we're going or what we're doing every second of the day. It may be spontaneous, but it's spontaneous mess. One person wants to ride x, another wants z. Someone wants to eat sit down, the other counter. Those kinds details are planned.

But 3 rides takes up 10 minutes of our day. Planned meals take up maybe 1-2 hrs of our day. We know what parks we'll be in each day but outside of a couple of hours a day, and within the confines of the particular park we've chosen, what happens is spontaneous and unplanned.

Rather than spending time standing, trying to decide what an entire group of people want to do, where they want to eat and when, we spend our time enjoying the parks and that's when spontaneous moments happen- the magic if you will. Of those two, I'm happy to make the first planned so that the second can happen spontaneously.

 

[OKW Lover]

People should be writing these comments on the Wired site so that others who aren't necessarily WDW veterans can see them. The article was a puff piece and I made that comment on the Wired site. Nowhere in that article did they come close to talking to the people impacted by FP+.

I think the Wired article was directed at a different audience. The basis of that article was to show the technical aspects of how the whole MDE/MB/FP+ ecosystem works together.