Musings and observations from a weekend at Walt Disney World

[Jared]

And I probably owe the InterCOTees a little apology for being one adding to the anxiety. It appears the sky is not falling after all.

Let's wait and see a bit longer. I still have two potentially significant concerns that won't be resolved until after the MyMagic+ system goes live for all park guests.

First, I still worry about technical issues. We experienced a few, and I haven't read a single report regarding MagicBands that haven't included some mention of a problem related to the technology. One Cast Member I spoke with at City Hall in the Magic Kingdom told me he meets guests every day complaining that their bands spontaneously stopped working. This is still far from perfect.

The second concern revolves specifically around Fastpass+. We had no problem securing reservations for the most popular attractions at desirable times. I imagine this is at least in part because we weren't competing with many others. I still fear that we will reach a point where if you don't reserve, say, Toy Story Mania exactly 180 days in advance, you are out of luck. That would be a huge flaw that would essentially negate all of my positive sentiments.

[Gator]

This was mentioned in the original post and bears repeating. Fastpass+ is great... right now, when 5% of park goers get to use it. Once everyone has access to it, it'll be chaos like the dining system. For a west coaster like me, that mean waking up at 4am 180 days out for getting premium dining, and then waking up at 4am 90 days out for getting the premium fastpasses. Pain in the backside, for sure.

[MrPeetrie]

Let's wait and see a bit longer. I still have two potentially significant concerns that won't be resolved until after the MyMagic+ system goes live for all park guests.
...

...The second concern revolves specifically around Fastpass+. We had no problem securing reservations for the most popular attractions at desirable times. I imagine this is at least in part because we weren't competing with many others. I still fear that we will reach a point where if you don't reserve, say, Toy Story Mania exactly 180 days in advance, you are out of luck. That would be a huge flaw that would essentially negate all of my positive sentiments.

Jared, this was my original concern and I had feared if you missed your chance at the 90-day mark (or whatever), you'd miss your chance at that ride.

But after reading your in-depth report, I have a different take: Yes, FastPasses for popular rides may become unavailable the day they are able to be reserved (90 days out, 180 days out, whatever it is determined). But on the day people actually are at the park, I think slots are going to open up as people change their minds and release their reserves. So if you're at one side of the park and your time slot is for a ride on the other side of the park, you may release your FastPass and attempt to reserve something.

I think there will be much juxtaposing on the actual day people will be in the park. The down side is: seeing people glued to their smartphone to see if a window has opened for their favorite attraction rather than enjoying the beauty of the park, or worse still, their company. But I don't think people will be "locked out" of major attractions if they're not up when the web site opens to reserve their ride as I once did. I think there will be opportunities all throughout the day guests are actually in the park.

Again, this is purely conjecture. Only time and experience will tell.

[jetsdc]

Plus - you'd have to think that the hourly capacity at popular attractions vastly exceeds the capacity of sit down restaurants. So there ought to be many more opportunities for more people to reserve attractions than ADRs, all things being equal.

[Crow]

good thread. Ill be interested to see how this goes. I just ordered tickets and hope I can add them to My Disney Experience then maybe get the bands for my Nov 30 arrival.

[amorillo]

We had a technological snafu at one point, because the MagicBands are still unable to recognize Halloween party tickets. We had to spend some time at Epcot's guest relations, where a Cast Member had to manually disconnect those passes from the bands and print out plastic cards.

Still have lots of questions... but quite a few regarding the extra party tickets. Do you still get a hard ticket in the mail... or were they automatically linked to your magicband? Can you choose FP+ options during the party? I'm sure things will all be worked out eventually... but for now... my head is still spinning!

[twinboyz]

Great post.. We too spent the past weekend at WDW and I too have a few comments.

One long weekend in Disney is better than one long weekend in Wisconsin

We stayed at POR and were also asked to test the Magic Bands and were looking forward to using FastPass+. No luck since we have non expiring tix and the resort couldn't get them to link properly. We were told to go to Guest Relations in a park, but the lines were terribly long so we just decided to go the 'old school' route. No worries, I know it's in test mode. We were still able to use it for room charges and accessing our room. When this system works out the kinks I look forward to utilizing all the benefits.

I agree with Jared--the parks were crazy busy.. we were at MNSSHP on Friday 10/11 and it was wall to wall folks. No longer than a 10 minute wait to get on a ride, but we skipped the Trick or Treat--those lies were the longest. Sincerely enjoyed the parade and fireworks

[Yo Mickey!]

Let us know how it goes. Right now fast pass + is by invitation, right? I am just wondering when we would need to get it all set up. I have heard 60 days out, but I am not sure.

so far, perfectly. opens my room door, gets me into the park (we have the PAP's), using it for currency...and even making fp+ plans on the app on the go. working amazingly well. only 1 day in and i am very impressed. i took my AP, room key and a debit card just in case when we went to MK this AM. i wont be bringing any of those with me to F & W tonight -- just the magic band.

[Jared]

Still have lots of questions... but quite a few regarding the extra party tickets. Do you still get a hard ticket in the mail... or were they automatically linked to your magicband? Can you choose FP+ options during the party? I'm sure things will all be worked out eventually... but for now... my head is still spinning!

Your Halloween party tickets will not be linked to the MagicBands automatically. If you have an ID number, you can connect them on the My Disney Experience website, but I was told by a Cast Member not to do that at this point. For now, the system cannot recognize Halloween party tickets. That will change once MyMagic+ goes live for everybody.

Fastpass+ isn't available during the party, just like regular Fastpass wasn't.

[RedSoxFan]

I ran a 5K this morning with Nikki and she was telling me to read your report on the Magic Bands. Sounds like it worked well which makes me feel a little bit better. We leave in 3 weeks and I'm skeptical on how this will work and I still don't like the idea of planning my days. But having said that, I do like the fact that I'm all set with Soarin and TSM.

[Jared]

But having said that, I do like the fact that I'm all set with Soarin and TSM.

At this point, the biggest use for Fastpass+ is to avoid the insane rush to Soarin', Test Track and Toy Story Mania. Hope it works well for you!

[The Horned King]

I'm hoping that we will like the fastpass + system too. My concerns with the system is adding rides that previously were not fast pass attractions like Pirates and Haunted Mansion. You didn't need fastpass before for those and I've heard its creating long wait times now. If they would just leave it to attractions that have always been FP it would be better.

Literally just got back from 2 weeks in the world, and to be honest they don't make a great deal of difference. Most people know to fastpass attractions like soarin and not to waste one on something like the seas with nemo. So the occasional person doesn't make a difference. Attractions such as the great movie ride and the haunted mansion take so many people in at a time that again, it doesn't have much impact.

[kerry827]

I agree with your thoughts on the Bands. I worry that the convenience of them now will not be the same when they are unveiled to everyone. I feel like there is a chance that it could force lines where they usually aren't.

I also agree on your thoughts of the monorail. This was the first trip in a long time where I noticed the monorails were hurting. I didn't stay on the monorail line this time but if I had paid the $$ to stay for the convenience I would have been royally peeved to find the monorails not working.

[Mariano O'Kon]

Hi Jared, nice post.

I was there 3 weeks ago with my son and had MBs.

They are GREAT. FastPass+ was a great way of "optimizing" your WDW experience but, I have to agree, it would be interesting to see what happens when more people have access to it.

At that time, the MBs were still on the testing phase, you know this, but it showed. I am not complaining, but it was very easy to tell:
1. Several time it just didn't work (this happened in ToT)
2. My son's MB didn't have the 6-Day park ticket associated to it, although it should have. I spent 15 minutes in City Hall fixing this. The good news is that they also added the Halloween tickets there and it worked like a charm.

My recommendations today are:
1. Take your plastic card with you at all times, just in case.
2. Use, and abuse, the mobile app to change, and add, FP+s, it is great!

I am going back in 77 days... let's see how is the experience then.

Thanks, Mariano

[Mariano O'Kon]

I forgot to mention one thing that scares me: the Mobile App performance and WiFi in the park.

When I was there some 3 weeks ago the mobile app kept saying "Sorry there was a blip in the network and we couldn't process your request, please try again later" (or something like that)

Also, there were several parts where WiFi coverage was poor, to say the least.

I know this is in the "Testing Phase" and the reason you test is to find these problems and then fix them, so take these comments as feedback and not criticism...

But, as everyone else is saying, I am just wondering what will happen when EVERYONE has FP+ and EVERYONE uses their SmartPhone, Tablet or On-Premise Kiosk to Add, Delete, Modify their FP+ selection...

I am going back in January (I already have my MBs! Yay!) so that will be nice 2nd test for me. Crowds in January are usually not that crazy, although because of people like me that live in the other side of the Ecuator, and we have our Summer holidays in the Dec-Feb timeframe... these months are getting crowder every year...

In any case, I honestly think that MBs and FP+ is really a HUGE step forward and, eventually, they system will get the performance it needs.

Cheers, Mariano

[Yo Mickey!]

just got back today and must say, HUGE fan of the magic band. worked perfectly for our group. i do have one complaint tho...i am a watch wearer but didnt put one on since i was wearing the magic band. i was constantly looking at my magic band as if it was going to tell me the time.

yeah, i know, i could have worn both, or used both wrists...but i wear it on my left and went sans watch. kept thinking that disney needs to put a time display on there

seriously, the magic band was excellent. and the speed of which the transactions were happening -- just amazing.

[DisneyDawgette]

I'm hoping that we will like the fastpass + system too. My concerns with the system is adding rides that previously were not fast pass attractions like Pirates and Haunted Mansion. You didn't need fastpass before for those and I've heard its creating long wait times now. If they would just leave it to attractions that have always been FP it would be better.

We were there about two weeks ago and saw plenty of people with the bands- HM wait was about 15-20 minutes and PotC stayed at a walk-on wait the entire time. No big visible change so far.

[thejens]

Glad to hear the magic bands are working out with minimal glitches so far. I imagine WD will work out the kinks.

The thing I marvelled at is how Disney has found another brilliant way to get us to part with our money. Personalizing your MB! You can buy covers, little decorations (like the ones for crocs.) Not only do you buy a ticket you turn your ticket into an expensive little fashion statement!

Yo Mickey, I have no doubt that soon you will be able to buy a watch to attach to your MB.

[TheVBs]

Thanks for sharing your experiences everyone! I've really enjoyed reading through this thread. We have never ridden TSM because we were never there in time to get a FP and certainly never willing to wait 90 min. So, hoping we get a chance to ride this on the next trip!

[Jared]

I have some time this morning, so I wanted to come back and make a few more observations unrelated to MyMagic+ and the MagicBands.

Animal Kingdom is in the best shape of its young life. In fact, I'd argue that from a purely objective standpoint, it is the second-best Walt Disney World park right now. Unlike Epcot and Hollywood Studios, there are no glaring holes. Though Animal Kingdom is still somewhat short on attractions, just about everything it does offer is extremely high quality, and the landscaping and overall aesthetics remain nearly perfect. I understand everybody has strong opinions about Pandora -- I don't particularly care for "Avatar" as a film or a franchise myself -- but if it is done correctly, Animal Kingdom is about to emerge as a powerhouse.

I rode the Backlot Tour at the Studios for the first time in years. What a joke. Disney should be embarrassed to operate that attraction in one of its parks. It is time to ditch the "working studio" conceit and try something different in the back half of the park. The Backlot Tour and the car stunt show should give way to something worthwhile, be it themed to "Star Wars" or Pixar characters.

Food and Wine Festival is still a delight. Sure, it's crowded. Sure, it's overpriced. Sure, the portions are small. But there are few things as enjoyable as casually strolling around World Showcase and stopping for a snack at the best booths.

The new Test Track is growing on me. The first few times I rode it, I didn't really understand what was going on. Now I do, and I appreciate the overhaul. It isn't perfect, but at least it has aspirations that belong in Future World. The original version was more coherent, but it lacked vision. As fans, we could do much worse than a crop of attractions with this kind of forward-leaning vision.