Disney's NextGen Initiative

[Disneyhead]

$2.8 Billion and still rising.

There is no way in **** they are going to have a ROI.

 

[Captain Tragedy]

$2.8 Billion and still rising.

There is no way in **** they are going to have a ROI.

Phase 1: Have everyone wear a MagicBand
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!

 

[Hockeyman55]

It is funny, I eat at sit down places all the time. I have gotten walk up reservations at Garden Grill, Japan, Mexico, and others. I have also made in park same day reservations or same day in the morning reservations. Even once almost did Canada this way, but in the end decided against it. I have also made 8:30 PM reservations for Germany and walked up at 7 PM and asked if they could take me now. I have done this 3 times and twice they could take me. The 3rd time was in the middle of spring break, so I don't blame them for not being able to do it then. If you learn to play the system, it really is not as bad as most people say. They don't let empty tables sit. If they have cancellations or an open table they know they don't have a reservation for, they will take you. I was in line for the one on main street, the people in front of me got in w/o a reservation, but that was their last non-reservation table and therefore we could not get in. Heck with my son we needed handicap seating and it needed to be large enough for a double stroller and even with that restriction we still managed to get walk up seating to many places.

A secret for those hard to get places. Most of them require 24 or 48 hour cancellation notice. So go into the Disney online reservation 24 or 48 hours in advance and you would be AMAZED at the reservations you can get last minute for those locals who don't know when they will be going to the parks until closer to the day. For those places that don't require that far in advance cancellation, you can normally get morning of reservations, in park reservations, or even walk in.


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Part of it for us also is we don't do a lot of ADRs because a lot of the places are out of our budget and gets rather pricey when having to buy 4-5 meals, we would rather save some of that money and make a few trips up a year versus going all out on ADRs you know what I mean. Via Napoli works out great because the pizza not only is out of this world but also affordable when broken down to what each person pays, but even there we only go maybe once or twice a year.

 

[IzzyB]

Right now the testers are being allowed to double dip the FP. They are prescheduling their FP+ and then also using their room keys to get FP-. Gee, who wouldn't give great feedback on a system like that?

They must have changed this, because the original testers were not allowed this (I know this from talking with some) and even people on here posted that they declined the testing because were told they would not be eligible for regular FPs. Wonder if they got enough complaints denials to change this.

Part of it for us also is we don't do a lot of ADRs because a lot of the places are out of our budget and gets rather pricey when having to buy 4-5 meals, we would rather save some of that money and make a few trips up a year versus going all out on ADRs you know what I mean. Via Napoli works out great because the pizza not only is out of this world but also affordable when broken down to what each person pays, but even there we only go maybe once or twice a year.

Totally know what you mean. Right now we are only paying for two people (huge savings) since my daughter is under 3. We also don't have to pay for hotel and things like that, so overall our trips are cheaper.

 

[Disneyhead]

Phase 1: Have everyone wear a MagicBand
Phase 2: ???
Phase 3: Profit!

Yep, that the plan.

 

[frenzy88]

I'll just leave this here

 

[Disneyhead]

I'll just leave this here

So much for the "optional" trip through the water playground.

 

[UK-Trigg]

So is this next gen thing up and running?

The reason I ask is because I was on the Disney website checking on my reservations for an upcoming trip, a pop up came up asking me to link in a magic band and a credit card (I declined the card) once done I was able to process FP+ reservations and request room preferences. The process is quite smooth and intuiative, I planned in a days FP+ tickets for MK and was given a bonus one too, no idea why. The tickets were all within a reasonable window and can see how to some it will be a useful tool. I wasn't aware it was live, so am I part of the test phase? I thought it was still in testing.

 

[TomTheRiddle]

So three FastPasses... but can you still get more with your regular ticket?

Right now the testers are being allowed to double dip the FP. They are prescheduling their FP+ and then also using their room keys to get FP-. Gee, who wouldn't give great feedback on a system like that?

From what I was told. No, you can't. That's still policy as far as what I'm hearing.

$2.8 Billion and still rising.

There is no way in **** they are going to have a ROI.

They're just trying to "outspend" Universal....just in things that don't return money...

So is this next gen thing up and running?

The reason I ask is because I was on the Disney website checking on my reservations for an upcoming trip, a pop up came up asking me to link in a magic band and a credit card (I declined the card) once done I was able to process FP+ reservations and request room preferences. The process is quite smooth and intuiative, I planned in a days FP+ tickets for MK and was given a bonus one too, no idea why. The tickets were all within a reasonable window and can see how to some it will be a useful tool. I wasn't aware it was live, so am I part of the test phase? I thought it was still in testing.

You got selected for testing.

Here's the issue. It looks great now to you. You just planned your day! Now on the day you come, let's say that you aren't feeling well and don't want to do FP+ X, well too bad, you reserved X. You stick to it. Then you wait for FP+ Y, great. Now you're feeling up to X later in the day, TOO BAD.

I'm as OCD as it comes and I would NEVER try and plan my day.

 

[maxairmike]

From what I was told. No, you can't. That's still policy as far as what I'm hearing.



They're just trying to "outspend" Universal....just in things that don't return money...



You got selected for testing.

Here's the issue. It looks great now to you. You just planned your day! Now on the day you come, let's say that you aren't feeling well and don't want to do FP+ X, well too bad, you reserved X. You stick to it. Then you wait for FP+ Y, great. Now you're feeling up to X later in the day, TOO BAD.

I'm as OCD as it comes and I would NEVER try and plan my day.

To the bolded, it is entirely dependent upon who you talk to at any given moment on any day. I believe the "official" word is that you aren't "allowed" to use regular FP, but there are no restrictions in place that I am aware of keeping the guests that are part of the test from double dipping, since the room keys have to be active and ready in case something happens with the Bands/system (a lot of food locations haven't received the ability to use the tap to pay system, mostly table service), or the guest no longer wants to be a part of the test, and I don't believe the two FP systems currently talk to each other (I can check on that pretty easily though, just may take me a few days). There are many CMs that are telling people they can double dip, and I believe I have even heard managers telling upset testing guests that as well to try and smooth things out. But the bottom line is that yes, you can double dip.

 

[jh32488]

for my trip i was able to double dip fastpass+ and a physical key card. ill do a writeup later. but as of now its possible.

 

[JungleSkip]

for my trip i was able to double dip fastpass+ and a physical key card. ill do a writeup later. but as of now its possible.

Yea. Full rollout (whenever the hell that will be) will end with the FP machines being removed.

 

[TomTheRiddle]

Mystery solved! Thanks guys.

 

[batsmouth]

Don't mean to seem ignorant but I haven't kept up with this forum and have only just discovered the fastpass+ system so could someone please correct me if I'm wrong as I don't fancy reading through 43 pages You can pre-book up to three fastpasses per park per a day? And do you have to be staying at a Disney resort or not?

Thanks for anybody who helps! :thumbs:

 

[Hockeyman55]

Don't mean to seem ignorant but I haven't kept up with this forum and have only just discovered the fastpass+ system so could someone please correct me if I'm wrong as I don't fancy reading through 43 pages You can pre-book up to three fastpasses per park per a day? And do you have to be staying at a Disney resort or not?

Thanks for anybody who helps! :thumbs:

No you dont have to be staying at a resort but I do believe resort guests get first crack at them a few days before any of the general public can, just like making an ADR if staying on site. And 3 as of now but who knows if that number will change when officially rolled out or not. Also only one park per day so no FP+ park hopping, but could still go to a park in the AM and try to get on as many standby while making FP+ for later in the day for another park

 

[batsmouth]

No you dont have to be staying at a resort but I do believe resort guests get first crack at them a few days before any of the general public can, just like making an ADR if staying on site. And 3 as of now but who knows if that number will change when officially rolled out or not. Also only one park per day so no FP+ park hopping, but could still go to a park in the AM and try to get on as many standby while making FP+ for later in the day for another park

Sounds like a good idea, I only get about three a day and saves running to a fastpass machine lol. Can you select times or are they randomly given to you?

 

[Hockeyman55]

Sounds like a good idea, I only get about three a day and saves running to a fastpass machine lol. Can you select times or are they randomly given to you?

You can select the time when you make select them in advance

 

[batsmouth]

You can select the time when you make select them in advance

Thanks for your help! Sounds like an improvement in my opinion on the current system.
:rep:

Sorry to ask so many questions would I be excluded from the system if I didn't buy my tickets from Disney directly (I tend to get them from tour operators who are good £30-£50 cheaper!)

 

[UK-Trigg]

You can fast pick too, just click fast pick and it will give what it believes is the best fit for you party. It will give 4 sets of options all are which are fully editable.

When I fast picked MK it gave me a bonus attraction too, so I got 4 fastpass+. Maybe worth a try to get 4 then switch around if you need to.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Thanks for your help! Sounds like an improvement in my opinion on the current system.
:rep:

I dont know yet to be honest with you. We typically dont really plan to much before our trips, we don't really do too many ADRs and we usually grab Fastpasses on a leisurely bases/ Its hard to plan things liek this especially with having such young kids, you never know how the day will go. What happens if we make a ride reservation for Splash at 2pm but while at the park we decided to head to the hotel to go swimming? We pretty much lose out on that and waste one of our passes. Now what if we shoot up for the day and a whim? We are then stuck with having to make last min ride reservation and you know all the good times and rides will either be full or really late times. Im just curious to see how ti all goes down once its fully implemented. We are heading up in Dec so hopefully will be giving it a try then.

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You can fast pick too, just click fast pick and it will give what it believes is the best fit for you party. It will give 4 sets of options all are which are fully editable.

When I fast picked MK it gave me a bonus attraction too, so I got 4 fastpass+. Maybe worth a try to get 4 then switch around if you need to.

So pretty much just picks for you then? Im sure that fast pass for Nemo or the Land boat ride will be swell