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

[mom2rtk]

This is actually quite comical to me. First they launch FP+ with a "lock it in" ad campaign. Now they want us to believe FP+ increases spontaneity.

Sort of sounds to me like they're just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

 

[clsteve]

This is actually quite comical to me. First they launch FP+ with a "lock it in" ad campaign. Now they want us to believe FP+ increases spontaneity.

Sort of sounds to me like they're just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks.

I think he was mis-quoted in the article. What he really said was it increases Spendaneity, not Spontaneity......

 

[mom2rtk]

I think he was mis-quoted in the article. What he really said was it increases Spendaneity, not Spontaneity......

It all just made so little sense...... I knew there had to be an explanation!

 

[Shaden]

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.

Cake I agree that not all spontaneity is good. Dropping a Brick on your foot if accidental, is not spontaneity, its an accident. If you decide in a moment that you would like to drop a brick on your foot and you do so, that's spontaneity.

Its fine that you think a total go with the flow trip is a "spontaneous mess", other people don't feel that way, my family doesn't feel that way. There is no need to plan, you can simply wake up, head to the buses see which park bus arrives first, or decide in the morning its going to be an AK day, and then go about your day as such. Both perfectly spontaneous, you make a decision and act on it then.

Its possible you plan which park which day, but then go through those parks as your mood, and the crowds, take you. The park selection is not spontaneous, but the rest is.

Your "3 rides takes up 10 minutes a day" is obviously misleading, I hope not purposefully so. Having 3 rides booked takes up a significant portion of time, if you pack them all as close as you can, you are looking at 2 hours of time, if you spread them out the calculation gets a little different. However it means that you have significant portions of your day prescheduled, you have to be at a certain place at a certain time, meaning everything around that appointment must also conform to it.

Its not like you can decide in the morning to go to AK despite having FP+s in MK. Then at 10am when your FP is booked suddenly appear in MK, ride SM, and then POOF back to AK. You might only spend 10 minutes ON the three rides, but those appointments end up scheduling FAR more of your day than 10 minutes.

And its fine to say that you like it better that way, you like your day more scheduled, more planned, but that is NOT more spontaneous, in no way, shape or form, does this make a day more spontaneous.

And yes, people get caught up on words here, but that's because words are important. Its important to some people whether a day is more spontaneous or planned. And some people like to defend their decisions because they see the value in their trips being categorized as something spontaneous, relaxed, efficient, value for dollar, etc. and they like to spin their experience to match what others or they value. But lets not do that.

 

[richmo]

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+.

The Wired audience won't really care. Wired is a techie magazine, more or less directed at computer programmers and the like (which is why I saw the article). The readers of the magazine will be more interested in the technical aspects of how the MagicBands work, with the RFID, the technology in the BoG tables, etc. That the implementation of the technology isn't perfect won't be an issue, unless they happen to be WDW attendees, which the vast majority of their readers probably are not.

 

[mom2rtk]

42

And yes, people get caught up on words here, but that's because words are important. Its important to some people whether a day is more spontaneous or planned. And some people like to defend their decisions because they see the value in their trips being categorized as something spontaneous, relaxed, efficient, value for dollar, etc. and they like to spin their experience to match what others or they value. But lets not do that.

To me,the importance of that one word in this instance is in how much I can believe what the suits at Disney have to tell me. When they try to serve up a pile of poo like they did with that use of the word "spontaneous", I doubt the future things they try to tell me even more.

 

[Cormoran]

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.

The Wired audience won't really care. Wired is a techie magazine, more or less directed at computer programmers and the like (which is why I saw the article). The readers of the magazine will be more interested in the technical aspects of how the MagicBands work, with the RFID, the technology in the BoG tables, etc. That the implementation of the technology isn't perfect won't be an issue, unless they happen to be WDW attendees, which the vast majority of their readers probably are not.

Then where are the technical details in this article? I could read it and understand it and I am not a techie. Someone commenting about their lunch magically appearing at BOG sounds more like an advertisement written by Disney than a so-called "technical article" Additionally, this article contains nothing but the pros of FP+ and none of the cons.

 

[cakebaker]

[QUOTE="Shaden, post: 53259335, member: 451019"

And its fine to say that you like it better that way, you like your day more scheduled, more planned, but that is NOT more spontaneous, in no way, shape or form, does this make a day more spontaneous.

[/QUOTE]

I never said I thought our days were more or less spontaneous than the person who wakes up and let's the day carry them where it may.

What I said was, the ability to schedule 3 attractions and our main dining options in advance gives us the freedom not to have to spend time on those issues- we gladly give up flying by the seat of our pants, hoping the attractions we already know we're going to want to experience are available at the time we choose to do them, in exchange for
the ability to just enjoy the parks with little in park planning - the only thing predetermined is what park we go to and the times of 3 rides and most likely, 1 meal a day at most.

We still have spontaneity and spur of the moment experiences. I'm not measuring my experience against anyone else's. I said this is how it works for us, and it is.

 

[IWannaBuildASnowman]

I got what he was saying. Before FP+ you had to do those sprints to get the FPs for rides you wanted. Now, you do that sprint from home 30/60 days out, and ideally in the parks you can then be a little more loosey goosey. In practice it doesn't always work out perfectly but I understood what he meant.

 

[jade1]

Its not like you can decide in the morning to go to AK despite having FP+s in MK. Then at 10am when your FP is booked suddenly appear in MK, ride SM, and then POOF back to AK. You might only spend 10 minutes ON the three rides, but those appointments end up scheduling FAR more of your day than 10 minutes.

And its fine to say that you like it better that way, you like your day more scheduled, more planned, but that is NOT more spontaneous, in no way, shape or form, does this make a day more spontaneous.

You have decide if you want all day of every day "spontaneous", or most of every day spontaneous. And that's only relating to FP's for headliners, not other WDW activities.

How is it being spontaneous by deciding to stay out and close the parks at 3AM, then missing all FP-'s the next day? Or fishing/golfing etc?

Even your 10 minute example means that over a 16 hour day of park hours (960 minutes) 99% of your day is not scheduled. We were totally spontaneous around those 10 minutes, much less the 10 hours leading up to them.

For us-it's not worth loosing out on highly improved evenings with FP+ in a park-by having those evenings completely "spontaneous" with FP-.

Every morning and afternoon became "spontaneous" with FP+, yes they were with FP- as well-but we actually found the headliners calling our name as the hour glass was turned over and time was running out for obtaining any headliner FP's, was by far the moist annoying part of our "vacation".

The other thing is-who picks the spontaneity? Meaning who in the party of 4, 6 or sometimes 14 like us? It's not always easy to have the entire group agree to hit RD much less a specific park. But guess what-not one sole was ever willing to turn down an "unused" FP- if they walked by us on the BC beach for ANY Headliner for ANY park that night even regardless of QTY. Now they have 3 in the back pocket at all times. Nobody has ever been sitting at SAB and said-crap we have no wait for RNR/TSM/TOT for tonight-I really wish it was for AK or MK. Its always "I can't believe I'm just relaxing here instead of in the FP kiosk lines at DHS trying to get even one FP- for RNR, the app last night did it for us and 2 more".

Every morning and afternoon are spontaneous-and not a single one of us would toss out 3 guaranteed FP's for that evening, especially since we would most likely park hop.

AK day is vastly improved. We do not need FP there in the AM-and we always hit a night show, and now with 3 FP+. AK morning is on whichever day we decide, FP+ anywhere that night will suffice nicely.

Now toss in we CAN change if we really want to anyway with the app. Getting everything we wanted, when we wanted on XMAS eve for XMAS Day shows that.

 

[mom2rtk]

I got what he was saying. Before FP+ you had to do those sprints to get the FPs for rides you wanted. Now, you do that sprint from home 30/60 days out, and ideally in the parks you can then be a little more loosey goosey. In practice it doesn't always work out perfectly but I understood what he meant.

Sprinting was never necessary.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Now toss in we CAN change if we really want to anyway with the app. Getting everything we wanted, when we wanted on XMAS eve for XMAS Day shows that.

If we had found the flexibility you did on our November trip, we may have felt differently. Short hours and parties, imo, significantly affect the flexibility of the system - neither of which are an issue on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

 

[Magpie]

I like choice. In fact, I like making choices. I enjoy it very much. I like perusing all of my options and comparing them and discussing them with my family. And I LOVE being able to do all of this months before I even leave home.

What I don't enjoy is waking up in a hotel room and launching into an argument with three other people about where we should go that day. I don't enjoy standing in the middle of a crowded path, peering at a park map, trying to figure out what we should do first. I don't enjoy walking to a ride I really want, just to discover the line is an hour long, and then having to stand around while my family gets over their disappointment and debates what we should try to do next.

On the other hand, already knowing what park we're going to, and knowing what rides we've got blocked out during that time, means that when we walk into Epcot first thing in the morning and see that the line for Spaceship Earth is only 10 minutes, we can SPONTANEOUSLY decide to jump into that line and ride, well aware that we have over an hour to get to Soarin'. In pre-FP+ days, we would have raced past Spaceship Earth in order to position ourselves in line for Soarin' and/or get Fastpasses for a reasonable time. Pre-FP+ I relied much more heavily on detailed touring plans. Now I fly by the seat of my pants.

Structure and spontaneity and choice are not mutually exclusive things. Spontaneity frequently occurs within structure, and - for some people - having a plan enhances their experience and reduces conflict.

Oh, and I'm not "the kind of person" who would check myself back into prison, just because I got used to it, either. Rather, I'm a creative, crafty sort, who likes to take a pattern or recipe and adapt it, making it my own. FP+ is just another such framework, and a fun one to play with!

But I do understand that some people fear change.

 

[cakebaker]

Sprinting was never necessary.

As fast as one can walk without breaking into a run (and that was only because CM's wouldn't let you run)...that was sop back in the day of paper fp. It's true and the old threads on this board prove it. It's just since FP+ came out that people supposedly leisurely strolled to a fp machine. The term "designated runner" was created for a reason.

 

[mom2rtk]

As fast as one can walk without breaking into a run (and that was only because CM's wouldn't let you run)...that was sop back in the day of paper fp. It's true and the old threads on this board prove it. It's just since FP+ came out that people supposedly leisurely strolled to a fp machine. The term "designated runner" was created for a reason.

Actually that was standard folklore back in the day.

Some chose to do it, but it was never required.

 

[grimley1968]

As fast as one can walk without breaking into a run (and that was only because CM's wouldn't let you run)...that was sop back in the day of paper fp. It's true and the old threads on this board prove it. It's just since FP+ came out that people supposedly leisurely strolled to a fp machine. The term "designated runner" was created for a reason.

I was the "designated runner" for my family in FP- days, and not once did I ever actually run, or even walk fast. I don't run on vacation.

 

[jade1]

If we had found the flexibility you did on our November trip, we may have felt differently. Short hours and parties, imo, significantly affect the flexibility of the system - neither of which are an issue on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Those effected FP- as well.

 

[Angel Ariel]

As fast as one can walk without breaking into a run (and that was only because CM's wouldn't let you run)...that was sop back in the day of paper fp. It's true and the old threads on this board prove it. It's just since FP+ came out that people supposedly leisurely strolled to a fp machine. The term "designated runner" was created for a reason.

Just because there are those on the boards who did do that doesn't mean that those of us who said we did not use runners and picked up fps as we went are lying.

As these threads make abundantly clear in the days of fp+ - not all DISers tour the parks the same way. That was true under legacy as well.

 

[jade1]

I was the "designated runner" for my family in FP- days, and not once did I ever actually run, or even walk fast. I don't run on vacation.

I was as well, but this on the night before still crushes getting everyone in the park-much less then one us heading to the attractions.

 

[OKW Lover]

Then where are the technical details in this article? I could read it and understand it and I am not a techie. Someone commenting about their lunch magically appearing at BOG sounds more like an advertisement written by Disney than a so-called "technical article" Additionally, this article contains nothing but the pros of FP+ and none of the cons.

Well, I actually said the article was to explain how all the technology can be used together. I wasn't saying that this was a source of technical detail. However, there are indeed some technical details in the article, including;

Inside each is an RFID chip and a radio like those in a 2.4-GHz cordless phone. The wristband has enough battery to last two years. It may look unpretentious, but the band connects you to a vast and powerful system of sensors within the park.