MyMagic+/FASTPASS+ How it Works, Attractions and Experiences

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I recently got a fancy-dancy new iPhone, so I am now researching how to keep it charged in the parks.  I read about the new charging lockers.  can anyone explain to me why these need you to swipe a credit card to open one?  I thought the whole idea behind MagicBands was you don't need to carry a credit card any longer.  If the MBs work as well as they say, why don't they work the charging lockers?

 

If i missed somewhere that they now do, then just 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3FnpaWQJO0

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

I don't have an answer for you, but that video clip deserved an up arrow.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

I thought they pulled the charging lockers. That it was only a test?

 

The Card was to create an id number to serve as a combination for the locker I believe. 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Okay, I was reading on allears.net that they were there, but I am not sure how updated their information is.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Okay, I was reading on allears.net that they were there, but I am not sure how updated their information is.

 

Not very.  The charging lockers have been gone for a while now.

 

If you are willing to hand your phone over at guest services, they will charge it for you there.  Or you can visit the charging stations outside the Rapunzel bathrooms, or inside the Space Mountain gift shop.  My girls also have auxiliary chargers that you can charge up in your hotel room at night and bring along to charge your phone during the day.

 

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

 My girls also have auxiliary chargers that you can charge up in your hotel room at night and bring along to charge your phone during the day.

 

TCD

 

I got one of these last year when we did the 24 hour event.  It worked great and charged my phone about 2.5 times. Plus it's small enough to toss in my stylish fanny pack. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I got one of these last year when we did the 24 hour event.  It worked great and charged my phone about 2.5 times. Plus it's small enough to toss in my stylish fanny pack. 

 

In case Marty doesn't know what one of these gizmos looks like, here's something similar to what my girls have: http://www.amazon.com/Vinsic-Tulip-3200mAh-External-Battery/dp/B00KEGYXRQ/ref=sr_1_8?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1428587578&sr=1-8&keywords=mobile+phone+charger

 

$15 and you're good to go all day.

 

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

Agreed. those small chargers are great. We have a couple that you can charge with a small solar panel for backpacking. I can use them to recharge my camera, gps or cell phone.

[wendinator 109]

Thought this crowd would enjoy this lengthy behind-the-scenes look at how MyMagic+ all came to be... It's a long read (I'm not even half way through it yet).

 

http://www.fastcompany.com/3044283/the-messy-business-of-reinventing-happiness

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Thought this crowd would enjoy this lengthy behind-the-scenes look at how MyMagic+ all came to be... It's a long read (I'm not even half way through it yet).

 

http://www.fastcompany.com/3044283/the-messy-business-of-reinventing-happiness

 

I just read this whole article and I agree it was pretty good.

 

It seems like there was a lot of research in it and its interesting to read how the Disney execs all think its a success but I got the feeling that the cast members don't feel that way.

 

Also interesting how all the politics of the different groups seemed to have caused a lot of the problems.

 

Overall a good read but I didn't like the tomorrowland portion of the article, that all seemed like another reporter giving good reviews because he had a free trip.

 

WBI

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thought this crowd would enjoy this lengthy behind-the-scenes look at how MyMagic+ all came to be... It's a long read (I'm not even half way through it yet).

 

http://www.fastcompany.com/3044283/the-messy-business-of-reinventing-happiness

 

Wow, that's a long article.  It is very detailed, and it seems like the author did speak to people in the know.

 

Some of what is written sounds like it came right from the mouths of those planning My Magic+.  Like this paragraph, for example:

 

The long-range sensors would allow Disney to track guests as they navigated the park. The potential benefits were manifold. By monitoring where crowds were forming, the company could better optimize flow. Say the sensors noted that one section of Magic Kingdom was becoming overwhelmed with guests: Operators could immediately respond with a character parade around the corner, to disperse traffic and ease strain on cast members (as Disney calls all its Parks employees). This kind of traffic management wouldn’t just be a service to ­customers—it could also help Disney fit more guests inside its parks.

 

That sounds like something planners would have said to justify the huge expense of this project.  What they missed, though, is adding attractions for the guests they are cramming in to the parks to do.

 

This paragraph is interesting:

 

On January 7, 2013, Disney finally made a splashy announcement revealing MyMagic+. In a story in The New York Times, Staggs called the project "transformational." Disney played up the ways guests would benefit, including how cast members could use data to know when to wish a guest happy birthday, and how a new Little Mermaid–themed ride would feature an animatronic seagull who could interact with guests wearing the MagicBand. "We want to take experiences that are more passive and make them as interactive as ­possible—moving from, ‘Cool, look at that talking bird,’ to ‘Wow, amazing, that bird is talking directly to me,’ " Imagineering chief creative executive Bruce Vaughn told the Times.

 

Again- great ideas that have never come to fruition. I've ridden that Little Mermaid ride plenty, and not once has Scuttle spoken to me.

 

And here's another paragraph, written by the author, describing his recent experience with using the technology:

 

There is no line at the main entrance to the park, where cast members and a row of polished, golden digital access points greet me, and it takes just seconds to stream through with my MagicBand. According to Disney, the MagicBand has cut turnstile transaction time by 30%. Park capacity has also increased. At the Magic Kingdom alone, Tom Staggs notes, MyMagic+ has allowed "north of 5,000 more people into the park for the same experience."

 

Isn't that wonderful?  5,000 more guests in the Magic Kingdom!  At $100 a pop, that's a half million bucks a day they can rake in!  Awesome.  But wait, did anyone stop to think that maybe they needed to build some new things to do in the park for those 5,000 guests to do?

 

And the tidbits keep on coming.  Like this one:

 

Test Track has 197 touch-interaction points. Disney has measured the impact of effective "scene ones" on customers’ perception of waiting in line. According to Disney World SVP Jim MacPhee, "a 35-minute wait felt like a 15- to 20-minute wait."

 

Maybe that's how you feel, Jim, but I've sure noticed how long the wait for Test Track feels now.  To me, a 35 minute wait feels like a 35 minute wait.  Under the old FP system, we'd go right into the pre-show and then out to the loading area.  Under the new system we wait 35 minutes.  Swell.

 

The author gets to the point near the end of the article:

 

MyMagic+ was always designed to be a plat­form to build on, but even the elements the company publicly promised in The New York Times’ announcement are still missing in action. Though Disney executives still boast, inexplicably, that MyMagic+ lets cast members wish guests a happy birthday, the fact is that feature plainly does not exist. (When I point out to Staggs that cast members don't yet fully take advantage of MyMagic+, he mentions there may be ways in the future to acknowledge a guest's birthday through the program, but also tells me, "You know what, we’ve got the buttons, people put on the buttons [that say] happy birthday, and people say happy birthday, [and] they love it.") Cast members engage with MyMagic+ only in an operational capacity, predominantly at the park entrances, the FastPass+ kiosks, and the guest relations centers. They don’t even wear MagicBands. And that animatronic seagull on the Little Mermaid ride that was supposed to talk with guests wearing MagicBands? During my visit, it squawked on a loop to an empty room.

 

Bottom line- the cool stuff that was supposed to come from the billion+ bucks wasted on this project has yet to happen, and doesn't look like it's going to.

 

I found the discussion about the push-back and resentment from the Imagineers interesting.  I hadn't heard about that before, but it sure makes sense.  Their objections to adding all of this gee-whiz technology to carefully themed attractions, where attention to detail is key, make sense to me.

 

This author claims to have had access to the Disney bigwigs for interviews.  That explains the inexplicable lack of a conclusion at he end of the article that this program is a bust.  Only a small portion of what they planned to deliver has been delivered.  What a shame.

 

TCD

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Bookmarking it for later to give it a thorough read.  Thanks for sharing!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

After having to dig out my AP for park entrance and FP this week, I DO like the wristband aspect of MyMagic....

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

 

New update to iOS My Disney Experience includes Touch ID 2 hours ago

 

Disney has released a new version of the 'My Disney Experience' app to include Touch ID login on iOS devices.

 

Touch ID, a fingerprint recognition system available on iPhone 5s and above, lets users login to apps without the need to enter passwords.

The new 2.10 version also includes bug fixes and enchained overall app performance. The update is available now to iOS devices.

 

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymagicplus/news/14jul2015-new-update-to-ios-my-disney-experience-includes-touch-id.htm

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

I added this info to the My Disney Experience app thread, but figured I should add it here too, as the option is currently only available through the website...

MagicBand Opt-Out Functionality Now Available to Guests
Thursday, July 23, 2015 | Posted by OTPN Administrator
 

Are you tired of accumulating MagicBands? In the past, Guests staying at any of on-site hotels of the Walt Disney World Resort received a completely new set of MagicBands before every visit. Unfortunately, Guests that visited on a regular basis (and therefore had many old MagicBands) could not reuse them. After receiving feedback, a new functionality was introduced to disneyworld.com, allowing Guests to opt-out of receiving more MagicBands for resort reservations.

Disney Resort Guests may opt-out of receiving additional MagicBands if the following criteria are met:

• The Guest already has a MagicBand assigned to them;
• One of the assigned bands is less than a year old;
• The MagicBand order is for a resort reservation (Passholder orders cannot be declined);

Guests who do not meet the above requirements will not have the option to decline receiving a MagicBand via disneyworld.com. However, Guests may still opt-out by contacting a Cast Member.

 

 

As a side note, Guests who have opted out can opt back in any time before their order ships. In addition to that, the opt-out functionality is currently not available via the My Disney Experience mobile app.

 

 

 

http://www.orlandoparksnews.com/2015/07/magicband-opt-out-functionality-now.html#more

[IvanBeausky 0]

Hi guys.  I saw thread is over 30 pages long, and I doubt my ability to mine out the info I want.  If this has been asked/answered before, I do apologize, but here goes anyway!
 

What attractions at MK/Epcot/AK/HS are "fastpass worthy"?  Which ones will really save us some time and which attractions are normally not worth the time-savings that FP has to offer?  If I am not being clear, I give this example:  Space Mountain with a FP, no wait, without a FP it is one hour.  Other ride (you pick it!) with FP is no wait, but without FP is a 15 minute wait.   Which rides are historically worth it to use the FP on?

 

Thanks in advance!

Ivan

 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Hi guys.  I saw thread is over 30 pages long, and I doubt my ability to mine out the info I want.  If this has been asked/answered before, I do apologize, but here goes anyway!

 

What attractions at MK/Epcot/AK/HS are "fastpass worthy"?  Which ones will really save us some time and which attractions are normally not worth the time-savings that FP has to offer?  If I am not being clear, I give this example:  Space Mountain with a FP, no wait, without a FP it is one hour.  Other ride (you pick it!) with FP is no wait, but without FP is a 15 minute wait.   Which rides are historically worth it to use the FP on?

 

Thanks in advance!

Ivan

I found the best info on this sort of thing at www.easywdw.com.  I used the "cheat sheets" I found there to make a touring plan that would let me ride many rides without running from ride to ride and stressing all day.

 

Here is a link to the cheat sheets: http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/

[IvanBeausky 0]

Thanks so much.  That is awesome!

[Beckers 1,136]

.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

So what happens when the MyMagic+ system goes down? Theme Park Tourist's latest article came about after an outage occurred for several hours yesterday.

4 Things We Learned From Walt Disney World’s Latest MyMagic+ Outage

Excerpt...

Quote

...reports have surfaced that a very specific type of outage occurred across Walt Disney World for a few hours on Friday January 29th that affected a select number of guests.

The trouble began in the mid-morning, when on-property guests noticed that they were unable to use their MagicBands to make purchases or redeem Disney Dining Plan credits for meals. Though this is the first time an outage of this type has occurred (guests were still able to use their MagicBands for admission as well as FastPass+ redemption during the time that this issue was occurring), Disney's handling of this issue was swift and efficient, and we learned quite a lot during yesterday’s brief MyMagic+ hiccup. 

Full article...

http://www.themeparktourist.com/news/20160129/31449/x-things-we-learned-walt-disney-world-s-latest-mymagic-outage

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

From WDWMagic...

Quote

Two big new features coming soon to MyMagic+

32 minutes ago

Two major new features are set to debut later this Spring at the Walt Disney World theme parks.

First up is perhaps the solution to one of the biggest guest complaints with FastPass+.

If everything goes to plan, starting sometime around early April 2016, you will be able to make those additional FastPass+ reservations directly from My Disney Experience on your phone. This new functionality will eliminate the need to go to kiosks to make additional FastPass+ reservations after your initial three have been used.

Also set to debut soon is the widespread rollout of StoryMaker, which is the interactive component of MyMagic+ that we heard so much about in the early days of the project. StoryMaker was one of the features that did not make the initial rollout of MyMagic+ due to the complexities with other areas of the system that were deemed to be of higher importance. A concentration of efforts on FastPass+ and MagicBand reliability, along with rising costs put StoryMaker on the back-burner, until now.

Already testing in some areas, StoryMaker allows attractions to interact with guests, using information from the MyMagic+ profile associated with the guest. For example, the "it's a small world" goodbye sequence may know exactly where you are from, or a meet and greet with Mickey Mouse might use your name.

Disney has not yet announced the availability of the new features, so as always, treat as speculation at this time.

 

Article Posted: Mar 01, 2016 / 12:44pm EST

 

 

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymagicplus/news/01mar2016-two-big-new-features-coming-soon-to-mymagic.htm

[Travisma 1,317]

1 hour ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

From WDWMagic...

 

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymagicplus/news/01mar2016-two-big-new-features-coming-soon-to-mymagic.htm

May be along the same lines as StoryMaker.  Someone from a Tampa radio station took his family to MK last week.  They did a meet and greet with Mickey, and Mickey talked to his son and asked him a couple of questions about his day and the things they done.  Now he did say the hostess asked them some questions while in line that Mickey "knew" about. Is a talking Mickey new, or have we just not seen the right one?

[ependydad...Doug 176]

1 hour ago, Travisma said:

May be along the same lines as StoryMaker.  Someone from a Tampa radio station took his family to MK last week.  They did a meet and greet with Mickey, and Mickey talked to his son and asked him a couple of questions about his day and the things they done.  Now he did say the hostess asked them some questions while in line that Mickey "knew" about. Is a talking Mickey new, or have we just not seen the right one?

Are you asking if Mickey talks at all? Or talks with some background info?

We've seen the talking Mickey a few times. But generally the discussion is spontaneous based on the interaction- not with any prior probing for background info.

[Travisma 1,317]

8 minutes ago, ependydad...Doug said:

Are you asking if Mickey talks at all? Or talks with some background info?

We've seen the talking Mickey a few times. But generally the discussion is spontaneous based on the interaction- not with any prior probing for background info.

I guess talks at all and the background info.  At least that's what the radio guy was mentioning.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Talking Mickey meets in the Town Square location and has been talking for over a year now I would guess. Most of the time he talks anyway.  The Storymaker add on is what is new and being worked on rolling out.