Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Disney runs MyMagic+ plus ads

 The Orlando Sentinel has this story about Disney showing tv ads touting the new MyMagic+ system, while stating that the system is not yet fully implemented.  The new system is reported to have cost a billion dollars or more.  Bob Iger said in a recent conference call that Disney is "not even close" to being able to state it's financial impact.
"In fact, we are actually just learning more about how it's working and what impact it's having on our business today," Iger said.
It's the first time Disney has widely marketed MyMagic+ to consumers. It comes as Walt Disney Co. faces growing questions from Wall Street about when the company will see financial returns from the sweeping technology project, which Disney hopes will ultimately get visitors planning more of their vacations in advance and spending more time and money on its property.
 While Wall Street analysts begin to grumble about the financial returns from MM+, long time visitors to WDW have their own concerns.  One example is the way Fastpasses are issued using the new FastPass+ system.  As of now, you cannot get Fastpasses to more than one park in a day, thus discouraging park hopping.  Yet, this is what many Passholders do and this creates a conflict. There is a feeling that MM+ is geared for the one-time visitor, and Passholders and DVC members are less important. There is also the feeling that people without a smartphone are going to have a more difficult time enjoying the parks.

Iger's comment that Disney is still learning how MM+ is working does not give a warm and fuzzy feeling with regard to security. A new, large and complex system with millions of people wearing a scannable band that is apparently one step away from account information seems to carry some high risks.  Security experts often say that complexity is the enemy of security.  Does Disney understand and mitigate all the ways the system could be compromised, including a possible inside attack?  What would a Target-style incident do?  Let's hope Disney is spending a lot of time thinking about this.



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