4. Tiered attractions and limits
Walt Disney World: As guests book and pre-book FastPass+ selections, they’re limited to choosing only a ride or two from each provided tier. Of course, it’s not explicitly stated that way. Guests simply see a screen full of attractions and are asked to “choose one.” The attractions shown are, on purpose, the park’s most popular. Wise travelers would obviously pick Soarin’, Maelstrom, and Test Track as their three FastPass+ selections when booking their selections. So, the My Disney Experience app allows you to select only one of the three. Your other two selections are forced to be from the high-capacity or less popular rides like Captain EO or meet-and-greets that probably didn't need FastPass to begin with. It makes sense in pulsing guests to less popular attractions and keeping enthusiasts from selecting slots on all E-tickets, and it's a necessary evil.
Disneyland: While Disneyland Resort contains only two theme parks, the two pack in as many attractions (if not more) than Walt Disney World’s four combined. Disneyland Park has all the E-tickets of Magic Kingdom (Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Peter Pan’s Flight, etc) plus a half-dozen more (Star Tours, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones Adventure, Car Toon Spin, Submarine Voyage, etc). If you could even convince Disneyland guests to embrace pre-booking or limiting the number of FastPasses they can have, presenting them all and saying “choose two” would incite riots. And probably for good reason. Disneyland doesn't have too many "naive tourist" types, and a local being forced to choose a FastPass+ reservation for the vacant Muppet*Vision 3D might implode.
5. One park per day
Walt Disney World: When pre-booking FastPass+ reservation slots, guests must base their selections on being at one-park-per-day. So even if you have a Park Hopper ticket and plan to hit all four parks in one day, your three FastPass+ reservations must all be at the same park. After guests revolted, Disney tweaked the system so that reservations can be made at another park, but only AFTER you’ve used your first three, and only if you’re in the park you wish to schedule at.
The reality is that getting between Walt Disney World’s parks is a chore, sometimes taking up to an hour of bus rides, ferries, monorails, or a combination of the above, which made Park Hopping an obstacle to begin with. FastPass+ does further de-incentivize traveling between parks and makes it harder on those who were willing to pay more for the upgraded ticket. Consequently, it also limits confusion since guests would no doubt plan for a certain Park Hopping itinerary, then not make it between parks as quickly as they thought they would, missing reservations and throwing the system out of whack.
Disneyland: Disneyland and Disney California Adventure are not a boat ride away, or even a bus ride. The two are snuggled right up next to each other. Their entrances face each other across a hundred yard wide plaza called the Esplanade. To put it into perspective for Walt Disney World fans, imagine if you could start at Cinderella Castle, walk straight down Main Street, U.S.A., cross the plaza out front, and walt right into Disney's Animal Kingdom with no turns needed.
As you can imagine, many Disneyland visitors have annual passes. Those who don’t invariably have Park Hopper tickets. It’s so easy to travel between the two that they operate somewhat like one giant theme park. As it is, guests can Hop from Disneyland to Disney California Adventure and back unlimited times throughout the day, picking up FastPasses at each and flowing effortlessly back and forth. Again, we doubt Disneyland guests would accept pre-booked FastPasses at all, but if they did, being limited to one park per day would make them hot in the collar. Certainly Disney knows this, and any FastPass+ pre-booking at Disneyland Resort will allow park-to-park choices, even if the system insists on verifying that guests purchased Park Hopper tickets first.
6. Gateless entries
Walt Disney World: Part of the “gee whiz” glitter that makes MyMagic+ and the MagicBands seem so futuristic and “gotta-try-that” are the gateless entries. Each of the parks at Disney World were retrofitted with new gate-free turnstiles where a guest need only to touch his or her MagicBand to a Mickey Mouse sensor, then scan his or her fingerprint. When the sensor grows green and sings a little song, the guest is motioned into the park by a stationed Cast Member. There's no boring tickets, no barcode scanning, no turnstiles to push through, and no hold-ups for strollers. It's sort of those of those grin-inducing moments that's just plain fun and so much different than your local park can do.
Disneyland: While the quirky and technological “wow” factor of the gateless entry is certainly something that’ll make children (and parents) smile, there is a level of practicality to consider. At Disneyland, that means crowd control. On the resort’s 24-hour parties, Christmas, New Years, and other special events, the Esplanade between parks is literally crammed, swarming with throngs of people begging for entry as both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure close, at capacity. It may sound chaotic and to some degree, it is. Hundreds of guests all hoping that the parks will re-open and let in even just a few more hundred people... It’s not that we expect the masses to revolt and start pushing their way in, but the reality is that gates might be necessary at Disneyland, where the Esplanade can be a madhouse of activity.
Our thoughts
You’ve heard, as we have, of the nightmares caused by the My Disney Experience smart phone app, MagicBands, FastPass+, and the resort’s overreliance on technology with MyMagic+. We won’t claim to know that things are really that bad. MyMagic+, it seems, did not destroy Walt Disney World. Many, many guests are enjoying the freedom of booking ahead of time instead of racing around to collect record numbers of FastPass paper tickets. In other words, the system is not the end of the world. The question Disney asks is, “does it make it easier for guests to spend money and stay on property?” It would seem that the answer is yes. Our question is, “Does it make vacationing simpler and more enjoyable?” For many, the jury is still out, but we're not seeing fire and brimstone.
All we can safely say here and now is that, despite outcry, it seems MyMagic+ and its associated components will make the trip to the West Coast and become integrated into the infrastructure of Disneyland Resort. Our intention here is not to say that MyMagic+ is a budget-sucking demon that’s ruining one Disney resort at a time. Instead, we see the six elements above as big hurdles that Disney is going to have to face if they think MyMagic+ is really needed in California.
Comments
I recently returned from a trip to Walt Disney World and I loved having everything connected to the magic band. Since it's waterproof, I didn't have to remove it for anything.
As a Disneyland resort local, I think the Fast Pass+ system would be nice for AP holders who don't get in until late in the afternoon. I do think that the cap of up to 7 days of Fast pass selections needs to be raised due to Disneyland's larger local visitor population.
I'm excited to see what happens in the near future.
I would also have to disagree with this statement:
"Imagine having to remember to wear your Mickey Mouse bracelet to work that day so you can stop by the park afterward for dinner. That’s sure to go over well at the business meeting, right?"
Firstly, AP holders still need to remember to have their Annual Pass with them. I don't see what's so complicated about keeping a magic band in your car, like I do with my annual pass.
I think there are tooooo many locals there in the park. So I think that the Fast Pass plus should only be for out of towners that actually spend thousands of dollars only to find the park is congested with stupid locals because they get off work and spend a few hours there.
"Stupid locals" actually do a majority of the business for the park. Tourists spend more at a single time, but typically don't come back on a regular basis. Considering the fact that annual passes are upwards of $1,000 now, locals support the park on a yearly, recurring basis.
There is one more factor that Disney needs to consider - a good majority of WDW guests are also staying at a Disney resort, which is the only way to be part of MyMagic+ ahead of time. Disneyland Resort clientele is significantly different, with a majority of guests being annual pass holders and one-day park hoppers. If the system remains the same and only resort guests can be a part of this program, there will not be as big of a draw at DLR.
I just came back from a trip to WDW and, although I stayed at a resort, I did not qualify for the early FastPass+ because I did not also buy a ticket package, as I was able to get myself and my party in for free. I noticed much more stand-by line congestion as a result of FastPass+ than I have ever seen at any of my previous trips. The system also takes some of the "charm" out of the thrill of getting FastPasses - now you just have to use a faceless app. Needless to say, the system is good in theory, but definitely needs tweaking in reality.