Magic Bands at Disneyland

[Reimondo]

For those who don’t know what the bands are. I think Disneyland should upgrade their systems and add in the bands. What are your thoughts? Are you for it or against it?

[biggsworth]

I have been saying this for a while. I wish they would do this so we wouldn't have to use our phones. I like to turn off my cell service and just use my phone for pictures while in the parks. the Wi-Fi isn't good enough for me to switch to airplane mode at DLR like WDW.

[9oldmen]

I have been saying this for a while. I wish they would do this so we wouldn't have to use our phones. I like to turn off my cell service and just use my phone for pictures while in the parks. the Wi-Fi isn't good enough for me to switch to airplane mode at DLR like WDW.

I think that with MyMagic+ you still have to use your phone to make additional FP+ reservations beyond the original three that you can make in advance. Either that, or you have to use one of the self service kiosks. Also, in California you don't really need to use your phone to enter the FP entrances as it is. You can just scan your park ticket or AP (i.e., the one you used at the kiosks, or the one linked to your MaxPass account). In other words, with Magic Bands you won't be using your phone any less than you are now, or could be now if you choose.
As far as getting it in California, some people here keep saying that the infrastructure here is too antiquated to be retrofitted with the system, which is funny because DCA is newer that all the parks in Florida. Also, they use a wrist band system over at Great Wolf Lodge. I think it has to do with MyMagic+ being more geared to out of the area guests on extended vacations, as opposed to California, where we have a larger percentage of local AP guests.
Personally, I like using the bands, as I like having my FastPass and park access be something I wear on my wrist, rather than something I have to keep pulling out of my wallet (my AP card). However, implementing the system would cost some money, and is not likely to happen, at least not any time soon, given what's going on right now.

[tarheelalum]

They would be illegal in California.

[ClownLoach]

They would be illegal in California.

When WDW rolled this out they put in extensive RFID based antennas and trackers to understand where visitors are and monitor their traffic patterns. That kind of tracking mechanism via RFID is not legal in California.

Having said that - its also unnecessary and obsolete today. The Disneyland app gathers and sends more information with a greater level of precision than any RFID antenna could provide.

The rest of it - the infrastructure is already 100% installed and would just need to be turned on. The scanners at ride entrances already have the RFID reader on them for the Magic bands and are using the exact same software - you can see it on the screens the cast members use, same as WDW. Even the newer Apple scanners they use for park entry at DL have the Magic band reader on the back, so they wouldn't need to build the "touch points" that are used in WDW.

I have always assumed that the implementation of this is a "rainy day project" - there is significant profit and revenue in the sale of collectible bands at WDW - and if DL had a sudden revenue shortfall due to recession or other event they would quickly roll these out for sale. And now that we have such an event....

[Stormy]

MB yes, FP+ no. The bands are really convenient and easy to use. At WDW you use your phone to pick your FP+ (after your advance 3 are gone) but then it goes back in your purse/pocket. You scan in at the ride using your band. Easy peasy. At DL, you get your phone out to make your MP, then get it out again to scan in, sometimes twice. Although I use the paper ticket as I can be a butterfingers. And I do see lots of delays with people fumbling for passes or getting phones out.

At WDW you use the MB as your entry ticket, your FP+ ticket, and if you choose, to charge things. It even serves as your room key (or gate card) if you're staying onsite. They're really great.

As far as legality, I think the law is written to prevent someone from putting a tracking device on something/someone without their knowledge or consent. Disney wouldn't be doing it without consent, they'd put it in the small print for those who wanted to use the bands. WDW allows people to 'opt out' and use a paper ticket. DL could do the same.

[linkeq2001]

For those who don’t know what the bands are. I think Disneyland should upgrade their systems and add in the bands. What are your thoughts? Are you for it or against it?

I think it it honestly inevitable that some form of FP+ comes to Disneyland in a very similar manner to WDW, it practically already is with Maxpass. As long as it was done intelligently the "antiquated" infrastructure would be just fine. Rides with fastpass already could easily be adapted to have the tap in points at the beginning and merge points. As long as they didn't try to shoe horn in fastpass into rides that definitely don't need it, such as the Fantasyland Dark rides the system would work fine.

If FP+ ever arrived in full they have a system in place in Florida that would probably work just fine for AP holders in California, you can make reservations 30 days out and can make reservations up for up to 7 days in a 30 day period which would cover many of the Friday evening and weekend visiting APs just fine. Would some guests have a better reservation window than APs? yes, but those guests are not able to visit as frequently which is the trade-off

[ClownLoach]

I do not think they would implement FP+ in California for all the reasons stated in the past. Nor would they use the RFID tracking because it's obsolete (and probably represents an asset that needs to be depreciated early for the company at WDW). There is no "antiquated" architecture issue as again the touch points are already installed, in fact the WDW ones are antiquated now as they don't have the additional phone scanners built in.

The reality is that there is really no need for Magic bands EXCEPT as a revenue generator, and for the CA customer that is primarily going to be thru retail sales. As soon as they can come up with a strategy to sell the CA customer on the bands (since they would be an up charge plus the extra expensive collectible ones) AND they determine that they would generate more retail sales than some other merchandise so they can justify the in store space - I guarantee Magic bands will finally land at Disneyland.

[Starcade]

I personally do not like any move to more Magic Band/FP/MaxPass etc. it is a very slippery slope. Not only does it create a world where your trip is scheduled like a day of meetings in the office and takes away the spontineaty of a day at the park. People keep forgetting the park is not designed for guests to all be rummaging about he common areas. The park is designed to have the majority of guests in a queue at all times. Disney is not wanting to get rid of people in lines they are trying to make you reserve the privilege of waiting in a line. The lines will still be there and they will be long again within a year of re-opening, this is not being done so your line free it;s being done so they can distribute people more evenly creating the ability to service larger crowds at the cost of you being able to access all the attractions at your leisure. ( See boarding pass to see the horror that they would love to have in place for everything. ) With this system in place they could in essence limit you to 12 attractions a day and those attractions will not all be your first choices etc. Disney knows they once had advantage with ticket books and were basically forced by the changing culture to give you an all access pass I fear they are slowly taking that away from all of us guests.

[linkeq2001]

I do not think they would implement FP+ in California for all the reasons stated in the past. Nor would they use the RFID tracking because it's obsolete (and probably represents an asset that needs to be depreciated early for the company at WDW). There is no "antiquated" architecture issue as again the touch points are already installed, in fact the WDW ones are antiquated now as they don't have the additional phone scanners built in.

The reality is that there is really no need for Magic bands EXCEPT as a revenue generator, and for the CA customer that is primarily going to be thru retail sales. As soon as they can come up with a strategy to sell the CA customer on the bands (since they would be an up charge plus the extra expensive collectible ones) AND they determine that they would generate more retail sales than some other merchandise so they can justify the in store space - I guarantee Magic bands will finally land at Disneyland.

Magicbands value is not in the retail of the bands themselves, it is in the immense amount of data that Disney can collect on its guests through their use. Your demographic data is attached to them, and through purchases attached to the bad via credit card, fastpass choices, and park entries Disney can collect an immense amount of information that they can then turn into marketing materials, retail hours, future attractions decisions, and park hours. The system is not just about streamlining a guest experience, the more "nefarious" purpose behind it which I do not like is the vast amount of data that can be used to govern details to a minute level.

[tarheelalum]

Magicbands value is not in the retail of the bands themselves, it is in the immense amount of data that Disney can collect on its guests through their use.

Bingo, but thankfully they would be in violation of California law so we will never see them here regardless of Disneyland's revenue problems.

[ClownLoach]

Magicbands value is not in the retail of the bands themselves, it is in the immense amount of data that Disney can collect on its guests through their use. Your demographic data is attached to them, and through purchases attached to the bad via credit card, fastpass choices, and park entries Disney can collect an immense amount of information that they can then turn into marketing materials, retail hours, future attractions decisions, and park hours. The system is not just about streamlining a guest experience, the more "nefarious" purpose behind it which I do not like is the vast amount of data that can be used to govern details to a minute level.

The Magicband as a payment is only used to charge merchandise, etc. to your room at WDW. If you're not staying at a WDW hotel then you can't use them for payment. If it was used like a credit card replacement without the "room charge" element then Disney would be on the hook for disputed charges. So no benefit from that perspective to roll them out on Anaheim where only a tiny percentage of daily guests stay at the Disney owned hotels.

All of the other information is still gathered in different ways, in far more sophisticated ways than the bands can deliver. One of the biggest failures of the whole project that brought the bands to WDW is that nobody foresaw that nearly every visitor would be carrying a smartphone within a few years of the project completing. This made all the RFID tracking that cost so much completely obsolete (except for a few cute in ride photo ops). Reportedly the cost of the infrastructure was over $1 Billion to put in all the tracking attennas and short/long range RFID readers that are now obsolete. They can get more data from your phone than the band at this point which is why they are pushing the app so much even in Orlando - the WDW app gives them more precise info than the bands thanks to precise GPS location.

Your information is linked together in many ways already with intense mining of the data pool. It is not hard to put things together. If John A. Smith purchased a one day ticket today with his Visa card - it was used in the park today. Even if Mr. Smith used a different credit card in the park that day they still receive the billing address information from the merchant processor - link back to that original card and the ticket - and can get a very good idea of what you spent and where you spent it by linking the data together. The amount of data mining that exists today even at very basic retailers would surprise you - many retailers without "club cards" report to investors they can uniquely identify over 80% of their customers today. Disneyland is probably in the high 90% range, with only a few purchases that aren't traceable like the occasional churro paid in cash by a person without the app on the phone that's in their pocket.

Again this takes it all back to why there hasn't been a push of the bands to Anaheim. They already have all the data, and better data than the band can give them. The only value is to sell them as merchandise to generate revenue. But they've had pretty good success selling the right to use your personal property (your smartphone) as Maxpass instead - for about same price they sell the band for at WDW - and bonus to Disney they get more information about you than the bands ever could deliver. So there is no data benefit anymore, and there is no cost savings to implement bands either.

So it all goes back to revenue. With all the consumer product folks like Chapek running the parks - Disney looks at the parks like a giant shopping center and everything has to earn its space or it goes away (and gets trucked to the outlets or "Company D" clearance store for cast members). First they need to determine if there's a market, and I'm sure the hardcore fan who buys collectibles like pins, purses, etc. would gladly start collecting the bands. They will determine roughly what that market size is. Then they have to determine the space piece since the parks are limited in size and retail space. Let's say that Magic Bands needed 100 linear feet total of merchandising space, which would cover probably about two dozen racks throughout the parks. Would they get more sales and profits from having those two dozen racks of bands instead of what is already in that space? What would they eliminate to make room - less T shirts? Less pins? If they can make all that work - again I am sure the bands immediately land on the shelves and get rolled out.

Again this has definitely been considered - contrary to popular belief the necessary software and infrastructure has been installed already 100% because they needed to upgrade - so they wisely took the opportunity to install RFID readers with everything that was installed for cell phone scanning. If there was going to be a legal issue with the RFID element they would not have installed the RFID hardware - I am not sure that you can even install the hardware in California if it isn't going to be used in a manner consistent with the laws. The Magic bands already have California compliant packaging with Prop. 65 warnings - the exact ones on the shelves at WDW are literally ready to be sold in Anaheim tomorrow if they so decided. The only thing that stops the rollout is the sales/revenue question. If they can make enough money selling them they roll out. But it sounds like the market just isn't there in Disney's opinion yet, despite how much some people (including myself) would like to have them in Anaheim.

[IzzyInWonderland]

At first I didn't think Magic Bands at Disneyland sounded like a great idea UNTIL I went to WDW. They made everything easy and convenient. The only slow downs occur at park entries when people cannot figure out the band and fingerprint scan. Other than that I thought they were super awesome for all the Fastpassed rides and Photopass.. If they could be implemented at DL, I wouldn't mind.