UPDATED: MagicBands will NOT be coming to Disneyland

[ethanwa]

UPDATE on March 17, 2016: It's since been confirmed in the last year that MagicBands will NOT BE COMING to Disneyland any time soon.

Original post here:

Disney Parks Chairman Tom Staggs told the Orlando Sentinel last week that the new technology that allows guests to customize park experiences will be made available at Disneyland and other Disney theme parks in the near future.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...-disney/os-disney-mymagic-20141225-story.html

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-646893-mymagic-disneyland.html

 

[letsgoreds]

Whohoo! Now whether or not to delay our 2015 trip to 2016 to try to wait for FP+/MDE and the birthday celebration...

During our last two trips, we really enjoyed leaving those days of fastpass runners (always me) behind.

Decision, decisions...

 

[KalamityJane]

Noooooooo!

 

[Bossy22]

Do not understand why they would do this. I don't like to have a plan, I like to see what my girls react to and swing our days in those directions. This just seems to make planning a must. Not happy, may put off our next trip for awhile after these kick in!!!

 

[tarheelalum]

I can see some form of it coming to Disneyland just for corporate politics alone. They spent an absurd amount of money on this program and I'm sure careers would end if DL does not get its moneys worth at the various parks around the world. So its going to happen in one form or another but its going to have to be changed to fit the demographics of SoCal or it will end up costing DL big money.

Twice last month my wife and I woke up and decided to go to DL that morning. And 2.5 hours later we were in the parks having a good time and spending money. If we have to plan things out more than 2 hours, we would not have gone, nor would we have been spending our money at DL. Many other pass holders feel the same way and DL bread and butter is the 24 million people who live in SoCal. Its not a tourist park like WDW.

 

[ethanwa]

I can see some form of it coming to Disneyland just for corporate politics alone. They spent an absurd amount of money on this program and I'm sure careers would end if DL does not get its moneys worth at the various parks around the world. So its going to happen in one form or another but its going to have to be changed to fit the demographics of SoCal or it will end up costing DL big money.

Twice last month my wife and I woke up and decided to go to DL that morning. And 2.5 hours later we were in the parks having a good time and spending money. If we have to plans things out more than 2 hours, we would not have gone, nor would we have been spending our money at DL. Many other pass holders feel the same way and DL bread and butter is the 24 million people who live in SoCal. Its not a tourist park like WDW.

I agree that it would need to be changed a bit for DL people like youself. But just to give context, I am a Florida local who lives 5 minutes away and MyMagic+ and FP+ works great for me as it is. But DL has way more AP folks who will resist it more, for sure.

 

[mouseguy77]

I'm not surprised by this news. Disney spent way too much money for this to be a WDW only technology. I will not be surprised if this ends up in every Disney park worldwide within 5-10 years.

As is often the case with change, people will get all worked up and threaten all sorts of things, but in the end it will blow over and the Disney train will keep on rollin'. I'm sorry for everyone who does not see this as a good thing.

 

[Suvadoo]

It would be a really sad day if FP+ came to the DLR resort in it's current form. I'm hoping the suits are smart enough to realize it won't work at DLR. ADR's and character M&G are totally different experiences at DLR. They are spontaneous.
I can see maybe having centralized FP+ kiosks for guest to reserve rides while they're in the park, but I can't see guests booking their reservations 30- 60 days out.
One of my favorite things about DLR is to arrive in the esplanade and decide which park to visit first. FP+ would eliminate a lot of small pleasures.

 

[nannyz]

Can someone explain exactly how this Magic Band stuff works?

 

[Suvadoo]

Can someone explain exactly how this Magic Band stuff works?

The best explanation are provided by Mesaboy:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3326057

Good luck

 

[figment_jii]

The best explanation are provided by Mesaboy:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3326057

Good luck

Technically, mesaboy's thread explains how FP+ works, which is actually independent/different from MagicBands. WDW rolled out the system together (to some degree), so folks tend to think of them as the same thing, but they are actually independent of each other. You do not need to have a MagicBand to use FP+, nor do you have to use FP+ if you have a MagicBand.

MagicBand is basically a wrist-let that can function as your ticket, room key, etc. within WDW. If you set-up FP+ reservations (see mesaboy's thread for information about FP+), you can use your MagicBand to access the FP+ lines (it basically functions like the FP papers you hand to the CM at DLR; just at WDW you scan your MagicBand and the reader lets the CM know if you have a valid FP+ or not). If you do not have a MagicBand, you can use your park ticket to access the FP+ lines and kiosks.

I went to WDW in October and I really liked MagicBands, but I wasn't as much a fan of FP+.

 

[mom2rtk]

It's too big to fail. This had to happen.

And honestly, adding magic bands is not the same as adding fastpass+, but I've always contended that FP+ is the cheese they use to get the labrats to do what they want. So I'd wager big money it includes the whole thing.

I'm so sad to be right in this case.

And I wonder..... how are they going to shoehorn FP return lines into all those Fantasyland attractions...... maybe they'll have to do what they did with Anna and Elsa there and go exclusively FP since there's no room for 2 lines on most of those.

 

[Aladora]

I might have missed it but have they announced any plans for park-wide wifi?

 

[mom2rtk]

I might have missed it but have they announced any plans for park-wide wifi?

LOL, that would sure be a good first step, wouldn't it?

 

[Laz]

DLR can't tie the room keys with park tickets. How are they going to get magic bands to work?

 

[mom2rtk]

DLR can't tie the room keys with park tickets. How are they going to get magic bands to work?

Oh, you want it to actually WORK? Remember, that didn't stop them from rolling it out in Orlando.

 

[sophies*mom]

I'm assuming this would affect people staying onsite more than anything...

I will be really annoyed if we have to deal with FP+. I can see why WDW would need that, being so big, but not DLR...

 

[Arctic Stamp Queen]

I was afraid of this...given it was such a big financial investment it doesn't surprise me...what concerns me is that there are not as many Disney hotel options in DL and this program very much caters to onsite guests. We can never afford to say onsite at DL, least expensive option for the time we would be able to go this year was $400.00/day for one of the Disney properties, with no moderate or value options here, this will be a HUGE factor for us in deciding where to vacation...super sad.

 

[DahliaRW]

My guess would be that their goal is to make Magicbands work for everyone, including the ability to charge. It's in their best interest to do so. At WDW now everyone can get a band, or they can use their rfid admissions card. They may do the same at DL (not necessarily bands for everyone, maybe cards, but they do the same thing). I sure would welcome fingerprint scanners over the time consuming process of taking everyone's picture. Sucks to wait in a long admissions line to get in and then have to wait for the group in front of you to activate their tickets and get pictures taken. You'd think they could have lines for those who don't need that done...

And just because bands are coming, doesn't mean that FP+ is coming, possibly at all, or if it does that it'll be the same as WDW.

And fwiw, we had absolutely no issues with our bands spending 5 days at WDW and staying on site a year ago. They worked perfectly.

 

[john398]

Wow did not realize they cost the normal people at WDW $12 if not staying at the resort, I have my WDW ones, and a package booked Dreams ffor Disneyland in June at a good neighbor hotel. Hopefully I will not have to buy a Disneyland one