On this trip, we got to test out the Magic Bands and tested the My Disney Experience extensively for the first time. So here are some thoughts on that process.
1. The Magic Bands are very convenient. No more fumbling with trying to get the key card out, or our admission tickets. I see people not understanding exactly what to do when they're about to enter the park with the Magic Bands, especially if they are using the finger for their biometric identifier on the same hand that has the Magic Band (i.e. when can you move your Magic Band away and then scan your finger. When that happens, the line can slow down.
2. The Magic Bands also made visiting other resorts a lot more convenient. It used to be that one has to show drivers license or some form of ID. Now, all they do is scan the Magic Band.
3. I am of two minds with regards to the FastPass Plus. On one hand, I can see how it is convenient to try and get fastpasses even before one gets to the park, sometime days ahead of time. On the other hand, if you hated the idea of fastpasses before, you'd hate fastpass plus even more. It certainly contributed to even longer/slower standby lines. And the fastpasses also seem to run out quicker for the most popular attractions, especially Toy Story Mania.
4. The fastpass system needs a bit more improvement. In my opinion, the use of the Magic Band actually slowed the fastpass line. I seldom see LINES trying to get into the fastpass line, but now, I'm seeing them rather frequently. At the Kilimanjaro Safari, for example, there is a roped queue line just to get into the fastpass line! Why is this happening? It used to be that it took very little time for a cast member to simply look at one's fastpass ticket to know if one has a valid time to get onto an attraction. Now, with the band, one actually has to stop and spend a few seconds getting the Mickey Symbol just right for the darn thing to turn green. I've seen way too many people who took a little bit longer to get this done, and that's enough to slow down the line and cause a backup when there's a lot of people trying to get on it.
5. There was also an inconsistency in who should get scanned. On some attractions, such as the Safari, only one person in the party needs to be scanned. On other rides, everyone going in must be scanned. We got confused on which attraction does what. They need to have just one, uniform policy on this and get it over with. We did mention this to a cast member who manned the My Disney Experience kiosk at downtown Disney, and she has never heard of having only one member of the party that needs to be scanned. She checked with the back office, and came back with news that this was done only for a small number of attractions on a temporary basis, and that soon, all the rides will require everyone to get scanned to get into the Fastpass line.
6. If you play Sorcerer of the Magic Kingdom, you can transfer your keycard info to your Magic Band. However, take note that when you do that, your key card will no longer work. You can only use your Magic Band for all your Sorcerer games. This means that if you get another band on your next visit, you must still bring the old band unless you get it transffered to the new band. And if you lose your Magic Band, you lose info of your game and will have to start from scratch unless you still have your old, disabled key card. Presumably, we were told that your old key card can be used to transfer the info to your new band. It gets confusing. We decided that we will keep using the key card and not have it transferred to the Magic Band.
7. You must still bring your Annual Pass card with you if you want to get your Annual Pass discounts. Even though your Magic Band has your annual pass info for you to get into the parks, it doesn't show that information when you scan your band at the cash registers to pay for your merchandise. So you need the Annual Pass card to get your discounts. The same is true for DVC discounts.
8. The My Disney Experience app and interface still need some tweaking. There are things that are just not that easy to find or not very clear on what they meant. Adding "friends" and "family" is one such example. What distinguished between the two and what can and cannot be done between the two is still unclear. Trying to consolidate different accounts of the same person still requires assistance of a My Disney Experience cast member.
9. If Disney expects that people make use of the My Disney Experience app, then it is imperative that the wi-fi at the parks and at the resorts be reliable. This was not the case for us at Epcot and at MK on two different days. The wi-fi kept dropping off almost the entire time we were there. It was very frustrating. They need to be able to support the large bandwidth and the increasing number of users on their network if they continue to push this ahead.
10. There need to be an ability to have push notification for the app so that one can have a mobile device reminding us of an upcoming fastpass time. As it is now, the only way one can check one's fastpass time is by looking at one's "My Plan". There should be an option where the one can have the app send either a text message or a push notification indicating that one's fastpass time is 5 minutes away, or something like that.
11. Please, please, please consider implementing the Magic Band on the Disney Cruise very soon! It will fit exceedingly well in that situation considering that the darn thing is waterproof. So one doesn't need to have to carry a baggie to put one's key card in so as not to get wet when swimming, or have to give it to someone else to look after. It will certainly be a lot more convenient than having one's key card dangling from a lanyard.
Zz.
No comments:
Post a Comment