Bloomberg BusinessWeek article My Magic+

[joonyer]

Interesting article, particularly the comments by Rasulo and Iger.

By Christopher Palmeri, Bloomberg BusinessWeek


Jason McInerney and his wife, Melissa, recently tapped their lunch orders onto a touchscreen at the entrance to the Be Our Guest restaurant at Florida's Walt Disney World Resort and were told to take any open seat. Moments later a food server appeared at their table with their croque-monsieur and carved turkey sandwiches.


Asks McInerney, a once-a-year visitor to Disney theme parks: "How did they know where we were sitting?"


The answer was on the electronic bands the couple wore on their wrists. That's the magic of the MyMagic+, Walt Disney's $1 billion experiment in crowd control, data collection, and wearable technology that could change the way people play -- and spend -- at the "Most Magical Place on Earth."


If the system works, it could be copied not only by other theme parks but also by museums, zoos, airports and malls. "It's a complete game changer," says Douglas Quinby, vice president for research at PhoCusWright, a travel consulting firm.


That would suit Disney just fine, as it expands its global empire of theme parks and kicks up efforts to fend off rivals. The most formidable is Comcast's Universal Studios, which this summer will unveil a massive expansion of its hit Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at its parks near Walt Disney World.


One hitch for Disney could be if devotees such as the McInerneys find MyMagic+ confining, confusing or even a bit creepy. Some have lit into it with such vigor on Facebook and blogs such as micechat.com that Kevin Yee, a former Disney World employee who operates the travel website UltimateOrlando.com,​ called their grievances "a rolling boulder . . . and it's going to be difficult to stop completely."


Change is always tricky for Disney, especially at its parks, where introducing a new brand of coffee can spark a revolt by fans. Unhappy mouseketeers last year began a petition drive to keep Disneyland in January from pulling the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show after 21 years (it didn't work). Others marched on the park's City Hall in 2004 after recalibrations made to the Mad Tea Party ride in the name of safety slowed it down.


MyMagic+ promises far more radical change. It's a sweeping reservation and ride planning system that allows for bookings months in advance on a website or smartphone app. Bracelets called MagicBands, which link electronically to an encrypted database of visitor information, serve as admission tickets, hotel keys, and credit or debit cards; a tap against a sensor pays for food or trinkets. The bands have radio frequency identification (RFID) chips -- which critics derisively call spychips because of their ability to monitor people and things.


That tracking power also is what makes them so important for Disney's $14.1 billion theme park and resort business. Intelligence collected using the bands coupled with what visitors input into the related My Disney Experience app and website -- all voluntary -- help Disney determine when to add more staff at rides, what restaurants should serve, which souvenirs should be stocked, and how many employees in costume should roam around at any given time. Data about customer preferences could be used to craft e-mails or text messages alerting them to restaurant menu changes or sudden openings for reservations in an expedited queue at Space Mountain or the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.


The goal is to offer people what Tom Staggs, head of the company's parks and resorts unit, calls "a more immersive, more seamless, and more personal experience" -- allowing Disney employees to address a child by name, for example, or wish someone a happy birthday. "The implications for big data and for personalization are extraordinary," says Quinby. "It could radically change interaction between customers and the company."


Moreover, visitors with full Disney World schedules mapped out in advance on the MyMagic+ system will be less likely to jump spontaneously to one of the dozens of other attractions in Central Florida, including five SeaWorld Entertainment parks and a Legoland. And, of course, the MagicBands make it so easy to spend.


"When you make (the logistics) easier, people tend to spend more time on entertainment and more time on consumables -- be that food and beverage, merchandise, etc.," Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said in a November investor call. "We do expect this to be a . . . growingly positive impact on our business in the years to come."


Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger told analysts in February that the new system helped the Magic Kingdom park accommodate 3,000 additional daily guests during the Christmas holiday season by reducing congestion around the most popular attractions. "I'd say the biggest impact is, one, being able to accommodate more people because it's just more efficient," Iger said, "and second, enabling guests to have a substantially better experience than they've had before because they're doing more."


Many Disney fans are already sold. "I think this in the end is going to make Disney better," says Jamie Landry, a Boston police officer who visits Disney World with his wife and daughter every year. He was floating in the pool at Disney's on-site Coronado Springs Resort hotel, appreciating his waterproof MagicBand, which allows him never to carry identification or room keys or credit cards.


That's not how many critics have reacted in the blogosphere. The harshest complaints are directed at FastPass+, a way of reducing wait times for popular rides.


Under the original FastPass -- introduced in 1999 and still used at Disney's other parks -- a visitor could race around to collect more than six paper reservation slips a day at kiosks outside the most popular attractions, show up at a time printed on the slip, and get into a theoretically shorter queue. The new system, while letting guests at Disney hotels book reservations months in advance via the My Disney Experience app and website, limits all visitors' reserve-ahead slots to three per day. That unleashed a torrent of objections that Disney is limiting the number of reservations guests can make for its most popular attractions, and that the lines are as long as ever.


A Disney spokeswoman says neither lines for its reserved spots nor walk-up lines are longer. The number of attractions on which slots can be reserved has doubled to 60 and limits on advance reservations for the most popular rides should allow all guests to book at least one of their top choices, Disney says. A Disney World spokeswoman says 80 percent of the comments on social media about MyMagic+ have been positive, and just 2 percent have been negative.


Still, Tom Burnet, CEO of Accesso Technology Group, which makes queue management systems for theme parks, says his company's experience with ride scheduling at parks in Europe is that people don't like to schedule their days in advance. "One of the joys of being in a theme park is you're not on a schedule," he says.


That's been part of Disney World's appeal for Clayton Cannon, who lives about an hour's drive away in Daytona Beach and holds an annual pass. His gripe is that MyMagic+ puts day-trippers like him and others who don't plan ahead at a disadvantage. "Magic Kingdom was definitely a worse experience," he says about a recent visit. "You used to be able to get there at 3 or 5 p.m. and still get a FastPass. Now all the FastPasses for top rides are being wiped out by 10 in the morning."


Despite such grousing, hospitality experts say that the use of more monitoring technology is only a matter of time. Explains Accesso's Burnet: "Where Disney goes, other people follow."

[DizneyRox]

A Disney World spokeswoman says 80 percent of the comments on social media about MyMagic+ have been positive, and just 2 percent have been negative.

Hmmm.. Not sure I believe that. Social media to me is all about people whining and complaining about everything they can. Who goes to social media to talk about how much they enjoyed anything?

[Middle of the Map]

I just read this article this a.m. and had a good laugh. Where are the conspiracy theorists and their complaints about Big Brother watching us?

Disney is going to KNOW when you tinkle? Oooohhhhhh........

[DizneyRox]

I just read this article this a.m. and had a good laugh. Where are the conspiracy theorists and their complaints about Big Brother watching us?

Disney is going to KNOW when you tinkle? Oooohhhhhh........

We went over all that a few years back. You can opt for the regular card; that doesn't have the same tracking abilities (the band can transmit a ways since it has a battery). The card needs to be very close to a sensor...

[joonyer]

That depends on whether the RFID tags in the bands are active or passive. Passive tags have no batteries and depend on the scanning antenna for power, thus they can only be read when near the antenna. I don't know if the Magic Bands are active or passive.

[DizneyRox]

That depends on whether the RFID tags in the bands are active or passive. Passive tags have no batteries and depend on the scanning antenna for power, thus they can only be read when near the antenna. I don't know if the Magic Bands are active or passive.

They have a battery, they are active...

[joonyer]

They have a battery, they are active...

Thanks for the info.

[Quadstriker]

A Disney World spokeswoman says 80 percent of the comments on social media about MyMagic+ have been positive, and just 2 percent have been negative.

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Not on this planet. Not in this lifetime.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Hmmm.. Not sure I believe that. Social media to me is all about people whining and complaining about everything they can. Who goes to social media to talk about how much they enjoyed anything?

Yep, that was typical PR speak... The positive/negative feelings are kind of split, with negative in the lead... With FP+ getting majority of the negative comments and the magic bands getting most of the positive comments... The app, the website, the mess this is causing runs right up there with the FP+ for negativity...

I just read this article this a.m. and had a good laugh. Where are the conspiracy theorists and their complaints about Big Brother watching us?

Disney is going to KNOW when you tinkle? Oooohhhhhh........

Are you trying to say those of us who said from the get go that Disney would be tracking us were wrong? Cause that article actually proves we were right... yes, Disney will know when you stop to use the bathroom and which one you used...

[DizneyRox]

Are you trying to say those of us who said from the get go that Disney would be tracking us were wrong? Cause that article actually proves we were right... yes, Disney will know when you stop to use the bathroom and which one you used...

And time spent with which they can infer all sorts of information...

[Buttercup]

I hate FP+. With the burning intensity of a thousand suns. That is all.

[Ian]

I hate FP+. With the burning intensity of a thousand suns. That is all.

[ChipNDale79]

MDE still doesnt work right....

We leave for our trip on May 10th, so our 60 day window to select Fast Passes started yesterday. Let’s start with the first problem, a few weeks ago my wife checked to see if everything was right on MDE, of course it wasn’t, apparently our tickets were missing. After spending an hour and a half on the phone with Disney they were able to resolve that issue.

The other night we were talking about what we wanted to do with Fast Passes, so we logged on the MDE and yet again some tickets were missing (mine, they were there before), after spending yet another 45 minutes on the phone we were able to resolve that issue.

Later on that night she wanted to change one of our dining reservations through the MDE IPhone app, as soon as she tried to cancel one of them, she received an error message stating the service was unavailable and we need to call to cancel.

Fast forward to the morning of the 60 day window, at 7 am she’s getting ready to make our FP+ reservations, and yet for some reason she’s unable to do so from the MDE app. Therefore she logs on via our PC to make the reservations, and yes we are now able to do that, but believe it or not some of those FPs actually conflict with our dinning reservations (thought that wasn't supposed to happen).

Quite frankly I’m getting a little tired of spending time on the phone with Disney for them to fix their issues, to say I’m a little annoyed is an understatement.

[Middle of the Map]

We went over all that a few years back. You can opt for the regular card; that doesn't have the same tracking abilities (the band can transmit a ways since it has a battery). The card needs to be very close to a sensor...

I was joking.

[joonyer]

We went over all that a few years back. You can opt for the regular card; that doesn't have the same tracking abilities (the band can transmit a ways since it has a battery). The card needs to be very close to a sensor...

I was joking.

But a lot of people aren't laughing.
(about being "tracked").

[DizneyFreak2002]

I was joking.

I was hoping so... Sarcasm/joking is hard to tell on the internet..

[Middle of the Map]

Yup! It's hard to guess sometimes.

I think that the band thing will be a work in progress - tweak it here, wait a while, then tweak it there.

We'll all get used to it or we won't

[Middle of the Map]

But a lot of people aren't laughing.
(about being "tracked").

Yup - not too funny if you are being tracked, but most of us don't have to worry about that.

Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying about the crazy stuff in the world.

[Aurora]

MDE still doesnt work right....

We leave for our trip on May 10th, so our 60 day window to select Fast Passes started yesterday. Let’s start with the first problem, a few weeks ago my wife checked to see if everything was right on MDE, of course it wasn’t, apparently our tickets were missing. After spending an hour and a half on the phone with Disney they were able to resolve that issue.

The other night we were talking about what we wanted to do with Fast Passes, so we logged on the MDE and yet again some tickets were missing (mine, they were there before), after spending yet another 45 minutes on the phone we were able to resolve that issue.

Later on that night she wanted to change one of our dining reservations through the MDE IPhone app, as soon as she tried to cancel one of them, she received an error message stating the service was unavailable and we need to call to cancel.

Fast forward to the morning of the 60 day window, at 7 am she’s getting ready to make our FP+ reservations, and yet for some reason she’s unable to do so from the MDE app. Therefore she logs on via our PC to make the reservations, and yes we are now able to do that, but believe it or not some of those FPs actually conflict with our dinning reservations (thought that wasn't supposed to happen).

Quite frankly I’m getting a little tired of spending time on the phone with Disney for them to fix their issues, to say I’m a little annoyed is an understatement.

It's kind of crazy how glitchy the software still is. They've been testing this for more than a year and it still has so many issues. When I was helping my brother plan for a family trip in January, we both were on the phone and the software for hours trying to make things work. I really think that it's going to be a psychological barrier for people when they're considering their next trip.