Comments on MyMagic+ system at WDW

Having just returned from 8 days at WDW, here are some impressions and comments of the new MyMagic+ system.

The Magic Bands generally worked to get into the parks and resort room.  They also usually worked to pay for food and merchandise, the main problem being positioning the Mickey logo on the band over the reader.  It can be a little awkward. Some people might find the band uncomfortable to wear on the wrist in hot weather, but you can always put the band into a pocket or purse. But then, it's beginning to be like the old tickets or passes. The band can integrate a lot of information including pass numbers and event tickets (and even Sorcerer info), so this is helpful.

The FastPass+ system needs to be improved in order to keep experienced visitors happy.  As of this posting, you can use the mobile app to get Fastpasses but Disney forces you to take 3, even you if only want one.  On the other hand, you only get 3 for the entire day and experienced visitors often would get more than that under the old system.  Disney says you can add a Fastpass beyond the 3 but it requires lining up at a kiosk, and the lines at all the Fastpass kiosks were very long.  There are also long lines at the Fastpass entrance to many attractions. It seems to take longer to read the bands than it did to just present a paper ticket.  One advantage of the new system is that you can get a known time for a "major" attraction well in advance, and this helps plan your time a little better.

The system is evolving, so the way it is today may not be exactly the same a few months from now. We went to Guest Services one day to ask why the app was showing an event that was 6 months in the future under past and completed events. When we showed the problem to the CM, it had been fixed in the few minutes it took to walk to Guest Services.  So it seems that the system is changing as we speak.

The parks are becoming much more crowded and even "lesser" attractions now have long wait times.  This is probably due to two factors: the MyMagic+ app forces 3 Fastpasses on people so they are apparently deciding to go to all the attractions they are given; second, the parks are just getting more crowded and wait times are going up.  Standby lines for almost anything are getting very long. This also translates into increased difficulty in just walking from place to place.  A very experienced visitor said that they have never seen such long wait times on all attractions in 21 years at WDW.  Another VEV said they are getting tired of playing Frogger trying to walk around.

The combination of the Fastpass+ limitation and long wait times could easily mean that you are going to be able to do less in a given day than under the old system.  First time visitors might not see this, but experienced visitors certainly will. So, growing pains of the new system? Or, is Disney catering primarily to first time visitors?