My MagicBand/FP+ experience

[Hammer]

As I mentioned in my pre-trip report, I am a software engineer for Comcast. I lead 3 test teams for identity login for Comcast partners. An example is if you subscribe to HBO through Comcast, you receive HBO2Go as part of your package. I make sure you can login and use HBO2Go with your Comcast login. I give this background so you understand that when I agreed to be part of the test group for the new program, I knew what I was getting into and expected glitches. I explained to my Mom and sister as best I could, but they fully admit they do not understand the ins and outs of my job :D .

My sister and I did have glitches with our APs on the magic bands. My sister did have the deactivation problem for her AP, which was fixed the next morning (she experienced the problem at Evening EMH).

Charging on the magic bands does not work correctly if you want to use more than 1 credit card. We have always had our personal credit card linked to our individual KTTW card. It let us do that at check in for the magicband, but I wisely checked the night before checkout and it did not filter the charges to each account, though each credit card was linked to the band. They had to manually go through and put the charges on the respective card (the bill did show who made each charge). I mentioned that needed to be fixed as I'm sure this is common with DVC reservations where extended families vacation together.

There are updates which I think they need to make to the FP+ program. You are not able to cancel just one Fastpass using the mobile app. We wanted to cancel just 1 of our fastpasses and keep the others and could not. I was able to cancel all of our fast passes the last full day as we had been able to ride those rides at DHS earlier in the trip.

I know many people are complaining that you can't make more than 3 FP+ selections a day. I have the opposite problem. We almost never use 3 fastpasses in a day and want to be able to book less than 3. The system currently does not allow for that. It automatically chooses rides for you if you pick less than 3 rides.

You can't choose to have less than your whole party for ride fastpasses. An example from our trip is my sister and I wanted to ride Test Track, but Mom can't perform the transfer to those ride vehicles so she sits out. She can transfer for Soarin as she does not have to step up or down. So we wanted 3 FP for Soarin but only 2 for Test Track. System does not allow that. Told the IT people that needs to be corrected as you'll have groups where people are not tall enough for the ride so can't use the fastpass.

[Hammer]

Thought of one more thing that needs to be corrected. Disney, for some reason, does not do sufficent load/performance testing for its software or websites. This type of testing involves simulating various levels of transactions being processed through the new program/server/website to see that it can handle the traffic. I arrived the same weekend as the Tower of Terror 10 miler plus the start of the Gartner convention and the crowds were heavier. The computer system was running very slowly due to the increased transaction activity. They need to beef up server throughput or I don't want to see the lines when it is Thanksgiving or Christmas week!

[buzznwoodysmom]

You can't choose to have less than your whole party for ride fastpasses. An example from our trip is my sister and I wanted to ride Test Track, but Mom can't perform the transfer to those ride vehicles so she sits out. She can transfer for Soarin as she does not have to step up or down. So we wanted 3 FP for Soarin but only 2 for Test Track. System does not allow that. Told the IT people that needs to be corrected as you'll have groups where people are not tall enough for the ride so can't use the fastpass.

Hmmm....Interesting. Is this a problem you encountered trying to use the MDE app on a smart phone in the parks?

I ask because when booking them online I had the option of excluding guests from my party. For instance for some reason DBIL wasn't included in the rest of the groups FP+ selections. I was able to go back through, select only DBIL and add matching FP+ selections just for him, while leaving the rest of the travel parties FP+ selections alone.

Because I was able to select only him I assumed that would mean that you can pick and choose who gets what FP+. When booking the FP's I could either select each guest separately, or click on "select all" if I wanted same FP's for entire group. This was all done on a home computer, not a smart phone.

[faline]

Thanks for the information, Christine!

[Marytheta]

We just returned from DW yesterday and had magicbands. We were able to make split FP+ reservations before we left and update them via our phone as well. We had a wide variety of "riders" with us who could not do everything. On one day, part of our party rode SM while the other part rode Buzz, both booked at the same time-slot with FP+. We even changed Buzz from WTP to Buzz and left one person on WTP. So in essence, we had FP+ for 3 different rides for the same time for different people in our party. I'm not very techy so I don't know if it matters what kind of phone or service provider you have, but we have iPhone4s with Verizion and it worked just fine to split up. Sorry it didn't work for you. We had TONS of problems with our bands too that I'm sure not everyone else had, so I completely understand how disappointing it is when they don't work how you hoped. I said more than once I was very sorry I had signed up to be part of the testing pool.

[Marytheta]

Oh - and our charges didn't work, either, like yours. Agree - that needs to be fixed as well.

[Tiggerlovr9000]

I don't think we will ever use the fast+. My dh would have a fit with all the glitches. Don't know if I would ever get him to go back. Did you get any discount or anything when you booked your trip for being in the test group.

[Hammer]

Hmmm....Interesting. Is this a problem you encountered trying to use the MDE app on a smart phone in the parks?

I ask because when booking them online I had the option of excluding guests from my party. For instance for some reason DBIL wasn't included in the rest of the groups FP+ selections. I was able to go back through, select only DBIL and add matching FP+ selections just for him, while leaving the rest of the travel parties FP+ selections alone.

Because I was able to select only him I assumed that would mean that you can pick and choose who gets what FP+. When booking the FP's I could either select each guest separately, or click on "select all" if I wanted same FP's for entire group. This was all done on a home computer, not a smart phone.

Unfortunately, no. What we wanted to do was to only add my Mom for just one of the 3 rides, which the system does not allow, at least not on the MDE app.

[Hammer]

I think that the magicbands will be great to use once they work out the problems. In speaking with Disney IT throughout the week, this is not going truly "live" at the end of the month. Even though it will be running at all resorts, they'll still be providing guests with KTTW cards.

[clarkee]

I liked many of the features of the magic bands when we went last week but there were a few glitches. These are just a few issues to be aware of;

1. I agree that you can not make FP for just a few people in your group but you can make FP for different people in your group for different rides at the same time. Sometimes you just don't want another fast pass

2. We had many glitches when I changed the FP on my phone. Some were not recognized at all

3. I hated having just 3 FP and only for one park though I am told this will change with the official role out.

4. We scanned magic bands for photopass rather than the card and many photos were missing when we looked online. We called photopass help and all pictures were eventually found if you know the time they were taken but it is a long and expensive long distance call

5. I wanted the option online of searching by time not just experience. For example show me all the rides available for FP at 11:00 am for Magic Kingdom

6. The posts to scan the Magic Bands are way too high. The whole place is for kids and my three year old who needs a ticket and band and was part of the FP had to be lifted at each ride to scan (But when getting a paper fastpass when using cards kids under five don't need a fastpass?)

7. LInking the bands to specific people and fastpasses to those people prevented us from using the fastpasses the way we used to. MY mother does not really go on any rides so previously we would use the paper ticket from her card to get a fastpass for another person in your group. No extra fastpasses are being used than if she rode herself but this way she is basically not able to use any of the features and no one else can benefit either. The same is true when kids are too little for some rides.

8. Would have loved to make some FP for the halloween party. Could have saved FP until the evening, afterall we did pay for those tickets but were not able to book anything after 7:00 even though halloween party tickets were linked to magic bands

9. I agree need to strengthen WIFI capabilities, if I am using my phone for changing and updating fastpasses. Very slow and overloaded.

10. Could not change any FP after time had already started. For example FP for Barnstormer 9-10 am. Wake up late and know you won't make it. At 9:05 try to change it to a fastpass for a closer ride or one that starts at 9:10, system wouldn't let you do it.

These are just suggestions to make it better. For several things it worked well. No problem getting into room (no hunting for a room key), comfortable enough, scan photos, charge things, pay for dining plan. It all worked well. I think when they work all the bugs out it will be a good system overall.

[Beach Club Babe]

Interesting. I'm not sure what to think about the problem you had with not being able to remove your mother from some of the fastpasses. We were able to remove members of our party when Hallie was not able to ride. I could make reservations for 3 on RNR and then 2 for Disney Jr at the same time. Also was able to make 1 for Matt at Space Mt and the rest of us at Fairytale Hall.