MyMagic+

[Amy]

I am so excited because I just ordered our MB and linked AP, RunDisney park ticket, ADR's, resort confirmation number and picked FP's. Now we wait until they arrive. So excited!!!!

This probably qualifies as a "You know you're a WDW nut when" post as well...thinking a lot of people would be confused by all the abbreviations, but not us smart Disney-fied folks

[boilerbabe]

I am so excited because I just ordered our MB and linked AP, RunDisney park ticket, ADR's, resort confirmation number and picked FP's. Now we wait until they arrive. So excited!!!!

This probably qualifies as a "You know you're a WDW nut when" post as well...thinking a lot of people would be confused by all the abbreviations, but not us smart Disney-fied folks

You mean "Disney Speak" which is what my mom refers to it as when I start going into my Disney language! It just happens!

[BenB]

Do they still do biometrics? Anyone have any pictures of the main entrances of the parks with the new machines?

[Cardinals314]

Do they still do biometrics? Anyone have any pictures of the main entrances of the parks with the new machines?

Here are some of the new machines at EPCOT. It seems like that biometrics are still in use.

[Wizzard419]

If they are removing the old paper ticket systems, are single day/anyone else who isn't staying at a resort hotel, now being given the bands?

[Cardinals314]

If they are removing the old paper ticket systems, are single day/anyone else who isn't staying at a resort hotel, now being given the bands?

That has been a question that has been brought up a lot and I still haven't heard a definitive answer. Disney does give RFID cards to guests for admission who don't have the bands as of now. I would assume that the cards would work for the new RFID turnstiles. Still as of now there is nothing about offsite or single day tickets.

[Wizzard419]

They should, from what MFer was saying, the cards are for people who don't want to look like cattle.

This is where it may get interesting... The cards/bands, while cheap to produce, cost significantly more than paper tickets and Disney will charge guests replacement fees (wasn't it $50?) if they need a replacement band. If everyone is going to have to use the RFID media to get in, then that means they could either charge a one time purchase fee but that would lead to 3rd party band sales, or just raise every single ticket price. If there is no other input option (barcode, swipe, etc) that also may be a problem for people who are allowed in through employee gate passes as well.

[Cardinals314]

They should, from what MFer was saying, the cards are for people who don't want to look like cattle.

This is where it may get interesting... The cards/bands, while cheap to produce, cost significantly more than paper tickets and Disney will charge guests replacement fees (wasn't it $50?) if they need a replacement band. If everyone is going to have to use the RFID media to get in, then that means they could either charge a one time purchase fee but that would lead to 3rd party band sales, or just raise every single ticket price. If there is no other input option (barcode, swipe, etc) that also may be a problem for people who are allowed in through employee gate passes as well.

Yeah the replacement fee is $50 for AP holders. I don't know if it is the same for non-AP holders. I like MFer's quote. He's not the only one that has the same opinion about this. Many people share his opinion.

I bet Disney will raise prices again for park admission. They have been increasing them for the last 7 years or whatnot even outpacing the adjustment of inflation. The magic bands can be used for multiple separate vacations. The weird thing about this is that how would Disney know if you have a band already if making a second trip? Maybe through the Disney profile you create for reservations, but idk. Disney believes that this large investment will make them money. The only way I see that is through the selling of information in guests' bands to 3rd parties. I honestly don't think that an increase of impulse buying of guests will cover the cost of the bands and implementation of the technology.

I would assume that the employee gate passes will also start using RFID cards instead of the paper ones that have Pluto or whoever on them, my employee gate passes I used in March had Pluto on them. The only way to use fastpasses in the future will be through RFID technology. One question I see is that would people with employee gate passes be able to make fastpass+ reservations before they arrive? If there is a way to link an RFID card to your my-disney-experience profile, that would be the way to do it. If not, those people will have to make reservations the day at the park. Making reservations the day of visit is really pointless since you will end up with the leftover fastpasses to attractions that really don't need them. This entire system really hurts the casual AP guests that don't plan 30 days in advance when they are visiting a park.

[Amy]

Do they still do biometrics? Anyone have any pictures of the main entrances of the parks with the new machines?

Several blogs have mentioned that the biometric finger scan is still in effect with the new Magic Bands...only for adults.

Unless something has changed, it was mentioned that they would replace a Magic Band if it was lost, and only with a grey band, no color choice. But they would charge for subsequent bands beyond that first replacement. Maybe that has been changed?

Ticket prices going up is a given. Just how much is the million dollar question!

And yes, I'm thinking that AP holders and guests that aren't staying on property are not going to be pleased with the FP options of the future

[Wizzard419]

Yes, they raise prices regularly, but even last year and future raises will need to be greater since the media itself has gone up. Disney will never assume you keep your bands, and considering they will not be offering any discounts for re-use, I would guess they would also not allow them to be reused. Pretty much, other than if you have Disney Infinity, the bands have no functionality.

The only real potential they have to make money is impulse purchases/drive guests to use the bands rather than cash or credit/debit cards since they would lose money on swipe fees with other plastic but can bundle all the charges into a single swipe if you link the card to your account.

I would imagine that unless you have a paid ticket in your name in the system for that day, you can't make reservations ahead of time since 4chan could then go and book all the rides for all the days until the end of time so no one would be able to utilize the system.

[Cardinals314]

Yes, they raise prices regularly, but even last year and future raises will need to be greater since the media itself has gone up. Disney will never assume you keep your bands, and considering they will not be offering any discounts for re-use, I would guess they would also not allow them to be reused. Pretty much, other than if you have Disney Infinity, the bands have no functionality.

The only real potential they have to make money is impulse purchases/drive guests to use the bands rather than cash or credit/debit cards since they would lose money on swipe fees with other plastic but can bundle all the charges into a single swipe if you link the card to your account.

I would imagine that unless you have a paid ticket in your name in the system for that day, you can't make reservations ahead of time since 4chan could then go and book all the rides for all the days until the end of time so no one would be able to utilize the system.

That's right you can't make reservations unless you have a paid ticket for that day. Disney has stated that the bands can be reused on their website. The issue is that the battery inside the band is planned to only last for about 3 years. After that, I guess you will get either a new band or battery. I haven't heard anything on that front though. It's going to be interesting how the next phases of testing goes. Disney's aim is to get a full roll out by the end of the year. That's kind of scarry to think about since there are many unanswered questions about this whole process

[Wizzard419]

That isn't that scary, even though the bands themselves are re-usable, there probably isn't any code inserted on the page to signal "I have one that is compliant with present version of the bands". Even with APs (going from DLR) they issue new cards each year even though they could just re-activate the old number. The reason they may not re-use the bands is that it would be more work since they would need to re-activate the old account with new information, plus it would not move the existing inventory of bands.

I am still waiting for blackhats to show up and reveal all the exploits/weaknesses in the system.

[Cardinals314]

That isn't that scary, even though the bands themselves are re-usable, there probably isn't any code inserted on the page to signal "I have one that is compliant with present version of the bands". Even with APs (going from DLR) they issue new cards each year even though they could just re-activate the old number. The reason they may not re-use the bands is that it would be more work since they would need to re-activate the old account with new information, plus it would not move the existing inventory of bands.

I am still waiting for blackhats to show up and reveal all the exploits/weaknesses in the system.

That would be fun to see wouldn't it. I hope it will be like something similar to what has happened to Apple lately with their fingerprint usage on their phones. After 3 days hackers were able to retrieve the fingerprints of phone users from the phone. I do wonder what people will do to this system

[Wizzard419]

The key to how long it takes for their weakness to be uncovered is based on how widely used the locks are. The last hotel lock scandal was with a popular model that could be found all over the country, and all locks (regardless of maker) have to have a way to bypass the normal mechanism in the event the lock fails (such as if it ran out of power). They wouldn't be able to shake down Disney for the money since Disney didn't make the locks or develop the system, but the ability to shake confidence and add fear does have benefits.

There is also the issue of the workers at the parks/resorts, since most are temp-to-fire, they could inadvertently share pieces of info that could expose the system. Kind of like how former staff have sold blueprints, manuals, etc. for attractions.

[Cardinals314]

Today a bug in the FP+ system caused legacy (paper) passes to become unavailable at a number of major attractions including TSMM, Soarin, and Test Track. People who are testing the bands were still able to use their FPs. The wait times weren't really affected, TSMM had a 100 minute wait at noon. I would hate to be those offsite guests today.