Musings and observations from a weekend at Walt Disney World

[Jared]

Good morning, friends. I just returned from a long weekend at Walt Disney World and wanted to start a thread outlining my thoughts and observations. i hope it sparks a worthwhile discussion.

Let's start with the most controversial topic sweeping the Disney fan community: MagicBands. We stayed at the Polynesian and had the opportunity to test them and experiment with Fastpass+.

Like many others, I was skeptical about the program, but I really tried to keep an open mind until trying it for myself. I am to report that my entire party came away with nothing but praise for the MagicBands. They truly did make our vacation easier and more accessible in many ways. It was a pleasant surprise.

Fastpass+ was a delight. It is remarkable how much time you waste walking to an attraction, obtaining a regular Fastpass and then walking all the way back. This was especially evident at a place like Epcot, where the major attractions are far apart. Meanwhile, Fastpass+ made it so we didn't have to sprint to Toy Story Mania or Soarin' at rope drop. We were able to sleep in a bit, mosey over to the Studios on our own time and hop right on Toy Story Mania. Fabulous.

We also loved that the MagicBands were waterproof. Because the bands act as a room key and a credit card, we didn't have to bring our wallets to the pool and leave them sitting around while we swam. It is a minor thing, but we viewed it as a perk nonetheless.

Now, they weren't perfect. 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. I also want to withhold judgment until Fastpass+ goes live for everybody. We had no problem securing ideal reservation times for major attractions on relatively short notice. I fear that will no longer be the case in a few months.

But our initial experience with MagicBands was a huge success. I am still a bit stunned.

Other quick hits:

Fastpass+ at Be Our Guest is the way to go if you want to eat lunch there. That line is absurd. We walked right into the restaurant, ordered and had our food within 15 minutes. That said, I still say Columbia Harbour House is better, and I'll be spending most of my Magic Kingdom counter-service dollars there.

The monorail system is in dire shape and needs serious help. It is slow, creaky, inefficient and an embarrassment to Walt Disney's legacy. At this point, buses are a more reliable transportation option, which is a sad statement.

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party was as crowded as I've ever seen it. I'm not sure if they are selling more tickets this year or what, but it was a bit nuts. It's still a fun experience, though.

Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom is in the best shape I've seen it in a while. There are several effects working I haven't seen in operation since shortly after the ride opened.

Splash Mountain is still looking pretty decent all these months after its refurbishment. The projection on the wall and hopping Brer Rabbit are working. Most -- not all -- of the water effects in the Laughing Place are working, too.

There are serious issues with the new boats at Pirates of the Caribbean. They drift and sag and take on a remarkable amount of water. Meanwhile, the Blackbeard mist effect was turned off for our entire trip. The mermaids still add nothing and barely count as an effect.

The hubbub about the dining reservations system continues to be much ado about nothing. We were there over a busy holiday weekend and managed to eat at several of the most popular restaurants with virtually no notice. We booked a dinner at Boma about 30 minutes before we wanted to dine and even at dinner at 'Ohana without a reservation. We just walked up to the podium when the place opened and were seated within 15 minutes. That was on a Friday night.

Meanwhile, we walked into Yak and Yeti around lunchtime and were told we would have a table within "five to 15 minutes." We passed, but still.

Some new signage around the Polynesian now refers to the hotel as Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, further proof that a name change is coming.

I'll stop here for now. More to come.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

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.

[DonaldDuckUSA]

Great report. You've covered a lot of ground! I agree with you on so many points. Thanks for posting.

It is remarkable how much time you waste walking to an attraction, obtaining a regular Fastpass and then walking all the way back.

You're absolutely right! This is the main reason we are slightly annoyed with the way the FP system evolved. It used to be that you got a FP when you arrived at an attraction, you had an hour to two hour before you could use it, so you rode something else and had a meal. You stayed in the same area/land (generally speaking) and then you used your FP. But everyone rushing at the start of the day was just too much for us. That's why we haven't really used FPs in the past few years.

We also loved that the MagicBands were waterproof. Because the bands act as a room key and a credit card, we didn't have to bring our wallets to the pool and leave them sitting around while we swam. It is a minor thing, but we viewed it as a perk nonetheless.

This is a major thing! When I got mine in the mail I said "Wow. This is going to make the Waterparks so much easier." We don't do them often, but when we do, the band is going to be very useful. You're totally right about the pool too.

Fastpass+ at Be Our Guest is the way to go if you want to eat lunch there. That line is absurd. We walked right into the restaurant, ordered and had our food within 15 minutes. That said, I still say Columbia Harbour House is better, and I'll be spending most of my Magic Kingdom counter-service dollars there.

GREAT idea. The only reason we probably won't do this is for the exact reason you mentioned, we love Columbia Harbour House. Its quick, reasonable, yummy, and filling.

The monorail system is in dire shape and needs serious help. It is slow, creaky, inefficient and an embarrassment to Walt Disney's legacy. At this point, buses are a more reliable transportation option, which is a sad statement.

We went before the summer break and we didn't notice any glaring issues, but maybe its been a slow devolution and we simply didn't notice. If so, this makes me sad. Maybe it was slow because it was kind of busy?

Meanwhile, we walked into Yak and Yeti around lunchtime and were told we would have a table within "five to 15 minutes."

Shhh. You're giving away all of my travel secrets. Yak and Yeti is our go-to table service in AK. It never books up and if it does we can sit at the bar. They have great food. Great bar. We enjoy it every time.

[KylesMom]

Hey Jared, thanks for posting the positives about FP+ and Magic Bands. I must admit that I have been in the not-so-positive camp about these. It's great to read from a veteran how well they actually worked.

[cer]

Jared,

Are you an annual passholder?

We are currently and I am not sure I have seen any definitive information that states whether we will be able to use the Magic Bands /Fastpass + for our trip in Jan....

Just wondering.

I am glad you had a great experience.

[Jared]

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.

This is a reasonable concern. Rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion consistently had longer lines than I'm used to seeing, but it wasn't as dramatic as I had feared. The nice thing about Fastpass+ is that you no longer have to rush to the major attractions first thing in the morning, since you already have a reservation for later. Fastpass+ will likely change your touring strategy, but I'm not convinced it will worsen it.

Jared, Are you an annual passholder?

I am. I think the plan is to have MagicBands rolled out to everybody by January, but the way the MyMagic+ roll out has gone so far, it easily could be delayed again.

[Mickey'sGirl]

Thanks for reporting Jared! I appreciate your comments!

[VWL Mom]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Seems as if the FP+ roll out is proceeding smoother than expected.

I agree with the new POC boats, although I found them less bumpy I did think they were wetter.

[AgentC]

This is a reasonable concern. Rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion consistently had longer lines than I'm used to seeing, but it wasn't as dramatic as I had feared. The nice thing about Fastpass+ is that you no longer have to rush to the major attractions first thing in the morning, since you already have a reservation for later. Fastpass+ will likely change your touring strategy, but I'm not convinced it will worsen it.

We were there this past weekend too and did not have Magic Bands. We were also there mid Sept and again were at a resort that didn't have Magic Bands.

I really did not feel that other guests using MagicBands affected either trip. I did see a lot more guests with the bands on my October trip than the September.

I did see some 20-30 minute waits at PotC and The Haunted Mansion but I think it was more a factor of the Columbus Day crowds than guests using FastPass+. We were at Animal Kingdom Saturday morning and wait times there seemed average for October. Since it was a higher crowd level I'm sure it did affect wait times a little but really nothing that felt out of line. In September the crowd level was low and I don't think there was any effect at all.


I agree with Jared on Be Our Guest. We do not normally do BOG because of the line. This weekend it was only me and my husband so we decided to wait. I was very envious of guests going up to the FP+ check in.

[Hammer]

Thanks for posting your experience, Jared. While I posted some issues we had with Fastpass + in Trip Reports, such as you can't cancel just one of your fast passes unless you swap it out for something else, I think these are more along the lines of improvements for future updates to the program. Overall, I think this system is going to be good.

The one real problem we had was the fact we were using a different credit card for each magic band and the billing system did not handle that correctly. Did your group use just one credit card? We have always done this as our group lives in 3 different locations and getting payments would be a hassle. When it was just the KTTW cards, we were able to just have separate bills printed out based on the card. Did not work that way for us with the Magic Bands. Fortunately, I went down the night before we checked out and they were able to fix it, but had to go in and manually separate out the charges. That needs to be fixed.

[Jared]

The one real problem we had was the fact we were using a different credit card for each magic band and the billing system did not handle that correctly. Did your group use just one credit card? We have always done this as our group lives in 3 different locations and getting payments would be a hassle. When it was just the KTTW cards, we were able to just have separate bills printed out based on the card. Did not work that way for us with the Magic Bands. Fortunately, I went down the night before we checked out and they were able to fix it, but had to go in and manually separate out the charges. That needs to be fixed.

Yeah, there are lots of little technological quirks that still need to be ironed out. We ran into a few of them along the way as well. But I agree with you, Christine, these seem like relatively minor fixes rather than fundamental flaws with the system.

I had issues with attempting to change Fastpass+ selections for individual members of my party. The app kept making me either change for everybody or change for nobody. Also, it was annoying that you couldn't cancel individual reservations -- only all three for the day at once.

I hope these things get fixed over time. But considering how much of a disaster this could have been, things are off to a decent start in my mind.

[SBETigg]

Thanks for updating us, Jared. I'm very encouraged by your report on the FP + and Magic Bands, though of course it is early and things change. Still, I am loving the idea of not having to trek around for FPs and not having to rush to a line just to get them for major attractions. Also encouraged by your ability to spontaneously dine without ADRs. All good changes maybe, fingers crossed.

[Aurora]

Thanks for the report, Jared! I enjoyed reading all your experiences.

But our initial experience with MagicBands was a huge success. I am still a bit stunned.

This cracked me up.

The monorail system is in dire shape and needs serious help. It is slow, creaky, inefficient and an embarrassment to Walt Disney's legacy. At this point, buses are a more reliable transportation option, which is a sad statement.

Could you elaborate? That's very sad to hear. The monorail is one of my fondest features of WDW. If it's declining, my fear is that it would be removed instead of renovated. I hope that never comes to be.

The hubbub about the dining reservations system continues to be much ado about nothing. We were there over a busy holiday weekend and managed to eat at several of the most popular restaurants with virtually no notice. We booked a dinner at Boma about 30 minutes before we wanted to dine and even at dinner at 'Ohana without a reservation. We just walked up to the podium when the place opened and were seated within 15 minutes. That was on a Friday night.

We've also never had problems dining without ADRs, even on our trip in June 2011, which was more crowded than I've seen in a long time. The only restaurant for which we make sure to have ADRs is Chefs de France in Epcot, 'cause it's my parents' favorite.

Some new signage around the Polynesian now refers to the hotel as Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, further proof that a name change is coming.

Everything old is new again.

[Jared]

Could you elaborate? That's very sad to hear. The monorail is one of my fondest features of WDW. If it's declining, my fear is that it would be removed instead of renovated. I hope that never comes to be.

Disney needs new monorails. The current fleet is outdated, which has led to the problems today.

Whole lines seem to have some unscheduled downtime for a few hours on practically a daily basis. The trains are constantly running with delays. The monorail as it stands now just isn't the efficient, sleek mode of transportation it once was. It needs help.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

This is a reasonable concern. Rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion consistently had longer lines than I'm used to seeing, but it wasn't as dramatic as I had feared. The nice thing about Fastpass+ is that you no longer have to rush to the major attractions first thing in the morning, since you already have a reservation for later. Fastpass+ will likely change your touring strategy, but I'm not convinced it will worsen it.


I am. I think the plan is to have MagicBands rolled out to everybody by January, but the way the MyMagic+ roll out has gone so far, it easily could be delayed again.

I hope so because I will probably use mine for those rides that have always had long lines like Soarin, Toy Story Mania, Peter Pan etc...and that would be awesome if its not a hassle to ride the old favorites.

[Yo Mickey!]

Jared,

Are you an annual passholder?

We are currently and I am not sure I have seen any definitive information that states whether we will be able to use the Magic Bands /Fastpass + for our trip in Jan....

Just wondering.

I am glad you had a great experience.

we have AP's and we will be using the magic bands and fp+ on our trip this upcoming weekend.

[MrPeetrie]

Hey Jared, thanks for posting the positives about FP+ and Magic Bands. I must admit that I have been in the not-so-positive camp about these. It's great to read from a veteran how well they actually worked.

Jared, I second this opinion. I have had so many reservations about this new program and your report has me becoming excited about the updates.

I do agree about not having to run across the park to get FastPasses. I remember one lunch at Pecos Bill's. My wife said, "Why don't you get us FastPasses for Buzz while we wait here and eat?" I am the FastPass runner. That will be nice to turn in my running shoes.

Also, we've been to WDW four times (with stays of nine days or longer) since Toy Story Mania has opened, but have managed to ride it only one time. Hollywood Studios is usually a park where we have breakfast at our resort instead of at the park, so we rarely are there early. By the time we arrive, FastPasses are either gone, or are for times when we will have already left. And since we have small children, waiting in line for 70 minutes or more usually isn't an option. I like knowing we'll have a chance to ride this.

Jared, your report was very detailed. You seem to have much experience so it carries weight. 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.

Thanks.

[Dulcee]

This is what I've been trying to tell people since we tried the system all the way back in last December. We really loved the ease of not having to run around the park to get "hot" fast passes. We loved knowing if we wandered into Hollywood Studios at noon we could actually ride toy story mania.

Its great to hear other reports that feel the same.

[cer]

we have AP's and we will be using the magic bands and fp+ on our trip this upcoming weekend.

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.

[BrerGnat]

I agree about the monorails. They just need new ones. The trains are dirty, smelly, and slow. We spent a HUGE amount of time waiting for monorails just to go around the MK resort area on our last trip. We stood at the Poly station for well over 10 minutes one evening. Our trip from the GF to the MK took over 15 minutes. That is insane.