Well, this is going to be a fun trip report to write. We had weather. Bomb scares. Other people’s vomit. MyMagic+ drama. And good food, new friends, and lots of fun. There’s lots to say about this trip.
In the meantime, though, I’ve had a lot of requests on Twitter for my thoughts on the MyMagic+/MagicBand test I took part in last week. After two disappointing Disney surveys that didn’t allow me to express any real concerns/criticisms about the program, I decided to send WDW an e-mail, which I want to share here. I’ll come back to some of these points in further detail, but for now, it should give you an overview of how well (or not) the test went:
I have recently returned from an eight-night stay at the Walt Disney World resort. As you can see from my records, I am an annual passholder and a frequent visitor. I was excited to take part in the MyMagic+ test at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but was disappointed in the follow-up surveys I received after the test. Neither gave me a real opportunity to give meaningful feedback, which I would like to do here.
First, the positive: I was surprised by how much I liked the convenience of wearing a band that contained my ticket media, room key, charging privileges, and FastPasses. Further, the FP+ selection process worked like a charm (for the most part). It was very easy to select, modify, and use FP+. If and when Photopass can be added to a band, one will truly be able to travel bagless into the parks, and that would be a welcome change!
On the whole, however, I found the FP+ system frustratingly limiting. One of the reasons I am an AP holder is the ability to park hop, and being constrained to one park for my FP+ was not enjoyable. In some cases there were not 3 attractions I felt a need to get FPs for, meaning mine went unused. Further, I wish there was some mechanism to use FP+ on repeat attractions. Even the ability to ride something twice if not three times would add welcome flexibility.
My biggest concern with the FP+ system is the lack of day-of flexibility. Yesterday, for example, I wanted to switch my 1:20pm FP+ reservation for an attraction I had a FP+ for at 3:20pm. The way the system is set up, I had to clear out the 1:20 time slot to make room to add in the 3:20 attraction. That is, there is no easy mechanism to switch times around for your existing reservations, without essentially creating new reservations. By the time I did this, I was no longer able to secure that attraction – or any attraction – for 1:20, or for the rest of the afternoon. Ultimately, we had lunch and left, since afternoon lines were too long to wait for before our late afternoon flight.
What was most dismaying, however, was the administration of the MyMagic+ test itself. Over the course of four days, my partner and I spent approximately 6 hours at the AKL front desk, MM+ service center, and guest relations at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Downtown Disney. Room charge would not work on my band. Neither of our APs successfully linked to our bands on the first try, nor on the second or third. Our entry to the parks was held up each and every time on all four days. I had to have three new room keys issued because of RFID problems. I understand this is a test phase, but what bothered me were the many Cast Members who would shrug and tell us that “it’s a test, you have to understand.” We were lucky that this wasn’t our once-in-a-lifetime Disney vacation, like it was for many families. To have that many hours of a vacation spent standing at a service center desk is not something they – or we – should have to endure in the name of testing. This isn’t asking an employee to try new software on her computer; this is a test that greatly impacted our and I’m sure many others’ vacation experience in significant ways.
Neither my partner nor I are people who expect compensation for inconvenience, and in fact we both work in fields were beta testing is a common (and commonly frustrating!) experience. That said, our patience quickly diminished after noting the obvious lack of good communication between management, IT staff, and front-line Cast Members. On a given day we were told multiple reasons for our APs not working, or for why room charge worked on one of our bands but not the other. Ultimately, Jay at Downtown Disney guest relations worked with us patiently for over an hour, calling the Avengers hotline several times. Together they were able to secure a back office fix for our AP problems, allowing us to enter the parks correctly on our fifth day. Jay followed up with us by phone to ensure our bands continued to work smoothly, and I so appreciate him going above and beyond.
On a related note, on several occasions, we were told that annual passholders were not allowed to participate in this test. Or that they had been at one point, but not were “blocked.” While at home setting up my trip on the MDE website, there was nothing to suggest that I should not link my AP, or that I wouldn’t be able to use it during the test period. I wish there had been better up-front communication about what someone like me should expect – someone who was invited to do the test by virtue of staying at a test resort, but who would not be using MYW tickets. Disney knows I am an AP holder; were these problems not anticipated? If they had been, I could have spent more of my time in the parks spending money, instead of standing in line at guest relations. All that would have been needed was an instruction to use my RFID AP for park entry, while using the Band for everything else.
Walt Disney World has long been my vacation destination of choice, but as prices continue to rise, few new attractions are built, and flexibility is instead replaced with a need to plan all aspects of one’s trip 60-180 days ahead, I fear I may need to look elsewhere for a more affordable, relaxing vacation experience. I hope these comments are taken in the spirit of helpful, constructive criticism in which they are intended, and I offer my thanks for allowing me to offer this feedback. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Warmly,
Amanda
Nerds in Wonderland 
Great, very well articulated response to MyMagic+ and all it is currently entailing. The lack of flexibility and the ever-annouced FP+-exclusives (like special character meet n’ greets) make me uncomfortable; like you suggest, when does WDW no longer become an enjoyable vacation but instead an expensive itinerary?
MM+ is obviously designed as a way to increase revenue, but I’d wager they’d get more people excited about the parks, staying longer, spending more money, if they dumped that $3 billion into park enhancements, new attractions, etc., making DHS and DAK full-day parks (even Epcot could use more attractions.)
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Wow, fantastic description of your MM+ experience. Thank you! I’ve been hoping to hear feedback, and yours is the first comprehensive report I’ve read. It’s so un-Disney-ish to inconvenience customers to this extent – I’m surprised that they’ve started such widespread tests when there are clearly so many bugs to work through. I’ll be staying at AKL in a couple of months, and am an AP holder. Now I know to decline the test if an invitation happens to come my way.
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Great review! We’re going to WDW in mid-September and I signed up for MM+ and now I’m rethinking that decision. We aren’t AP’s, and are using parkhopper tickets for the week we’ll be there. We have the dining plan and are staying on-site. Is there an easy way to switch out of MM+ if we encounter problems and just go the old fashioned way?
Hi Michael,
The one nice thing about the FP+ test is that if you’re unhappy using MM+, you can switch to using regular FPs or your RFID key cards for park admission at any time. No need to do anything formally if you decide you don’t want to continue testing the MM+. In the future, though, I worry none of us will have a choice, so I found it helpful to try and get the kinks ironed out while we were still there, just in case this is how the future will be.
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