UO Plastic Annual Passes coming June 3

[Quint]

Their turnstiles do need some updating though.

Look for hardware changes after data has been collected once mobile ticketing begins.

 

[*Q*]

Look for hardware changes after data has been collected once mobile ticketing begins.

So smartphone tickets are coming for sure?

 

[IronFozzie]

So smartphone tickets are coming for sure?

I wouldn't hold my breath for it any time soon. If Universal does it it will probably be a few years out, but I wouldn't be surprised if they've talked about it behind closed doors.

 

[GadgetGuru]

Weird request: could somebody with a plastic pass try to read it with a RFID reader? RFID tags cost fractions of a penny. I'd be shocked if these passes don't have ones built in a la MagicBands. I'd be really curious to see what info they may / may not send.

 

[IronFozzie]

Weird request: could somebody with a plastic pass try to read it with a RFID reader? RFID tags cost fractions of a penny. I'd be shocked if these passes don't have ones built in a la MagicBands. I'd be really curious to see what info they may / may not send.

I can try to do it, but I probably won't be there until the 5th, so someone might get to it before I do.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Yes! Thank you MagicBands. It makes anything outside the mornings a breeze to get in.

I've seen it mixed. I've seen it go quicker with families who know what they're doing but slower for those who don't know or just individuals.

 

[MrRoamer]

All the parks can have on and off days but I think @IzzyB is pretty spot on. The magic bands have made a huge dent in the time it takes to get into any of the Disney World parks, and in my opinion it feels like universal's time to enter has gone up.

In my opinion MK rope drop vs HHN shows just how big of a difference there is. I know that HHN security is at a much higher level than normal but the amount of confusion and time it takes after getting through security should be a semi fair comparison.

 

[JoeCamel]

Weird request: could somebody with a plastic pass try to read it with a RFID reader? RFID tags cost fractions of a penny. I'd be shocked if these passes don't have ones built in a la MagicBands. I'd be really curious to see what info they may / may not send.

If they have RFID I bet you can hold it up to the sun and see the antenna but somehow I don't think they do.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

All the parks can have on and off days but I think @IzzyB is pretty spot on. The magic bands have made a huge dent in the time it takes to get into any of the Disney World parks, and in my opinion it feels like universal's time to enter has gone up.

In my opinion MK rope drop vs HHN shows just how big of a difference there is. I know that HHN security is at a much higher level than normal but the amount of confusion and time it takes after getting through security should be a semi fair comparison.

The biggest issue is MK has 2x as many entry points as USF, which is very clearly their major problem.

 

[epcyclopedia]

A big selling point of the touchstiles at Dosney was that a single CM could monitor many of them versus having one CM per turnstile.

As for lines, it was an absolute nightmare when it first rolled out. But not nearly as bad as a morning at Disneyland when they checked every APs photo.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

A big selling point of the touchstiles at Dosney was that a single CM could monitor many of them versus having one CM per turnstile.

And from what I see, and like a lot of MM+ and MDX "enhancements", no CM reductions actually occurred.

 

[Nick]

And from what I see, and like a lot of MM+ and MDX "enhancements", no CM reductions actually occurred.

I think they overestimated a lot of things regarding MM+, but as someone who visits one of the Orlando parks (be it WDW, Uni or SW) weekly or bi-weekly, it has certainly made it a breeze WDW's parks.

I still will never understand why they can't add my AP Discount to my MagicBand, though.

 

[Jon84]

I still will never understand why they can't add my AP Discount to my MagicBand, though.

Agreed, I think that is mad. If you don't have your card, they don't seem to mind just seeing your MDE app that shows your ticket type

 

[IronFozzie]

I still will never understand why they can't add my AP Discount to my MagicBand, though.

The problem lies in that MDE doesn't communicate with the POS system Disney uses. I know there had been talks about figuring out a way to apply discounts without having to show the card, but I'm not sure if they ever figured out a way to do it. It's the same with allowing AP to charge on their MB without a resort reservation.

 

[IzzyB]

I think they overestimated a lot of things regarding MM+, but as someone who visits one of the Orlando parks (be it WDW, Uni or SW) weekly or bi-weekly, it has certainly made it a breeze WDW's parks.

I still will never understand why they can't add my AP Discount to my MagicBand, though.

Agreed, they over estimated how many less people they will need, because they still need the roaming people when issues arise about the tickets. Especially since some people still have paper passes that need converted. But I am like you, we are normally at one of the parks bi-weekly if not weekly. Sometimes multiple times a week. Now that will slow down with the hot weather coming in quickly, but we will still do evenings at the parks.

I am with you, my two annoying things with magic bands is the discount and not being able to pay with your magic band. I mean I get if the banks are causing issues (which I don't understand how paypal is OK, but not this) but why not let us pre-load money onto the card. Do something like Sunpass where you pre-load $50 and then re-load at a set point like $10 to add another $50.

At least now you can use your band for parking. Which is so funny because the parking attendants are so lazy compared to Sea World or Universal. Which is also why you wait in car lines longer for Sea World and Universal. They are very particular at those two parks. We will just say Disney is very much not particular about getting thru the parking gates without paying.

 

[Nick]

At least now you can use your band for parking. Which is so funny because the parking attendants are so lazy compared to Sea World or Universal. Which is also why you wait in car lines longer for Sea World and Universal. They are very particular at those two parks. We will just say Disney is very much not particular about getting thru the parking gates without paying.

Yeah, at Sea World/Universal, they make 100% sure you have parking approved for your pass. Both tend to scan the passes and ask for ID (At the very least Uni asks for ID).

Disney just waves us through when we pull up.

 

[IzzyB]

Yeah, at Sea World/Universal, they make 100% sure you have parking approved for your pass. Both tend to scan the passes and ask for ID (At the very least Uni asks for ID).

Disney just waves us through when we pull up.

Yep. Our bands are all chained together and the last 3 times we have shown them the chain of bands and they waived us thru. The time before those they actually did look at my ID. Only twice have they scanned the bands themselves. This last time my husband didn't even say anything, because the time before that the guy cut him off before he could get out AP holder. So he just held up the bands this last time and the guy glanced and waived us thru.

At Uni and Sea World every single time my pass is scanned and the majority of the time my ID is asked for.

 

[Brian G.]

Yeah, at Sea World/Universal, they make 100% sure you have parking approved for your pass. Both tend to scan the passes and ask for ID (At the very least Uni asks for ID).

Disney just waves us through when we pull up.

My wife was just asking about this last night. "Why is Disney the only one who just let's us on in?"

 

[Nick]

My wife was just asking about this last night. "Why is Disney the only one who just let's us on in?"

Some of it simply has to do with terrible planning. There's a lot of times where DHS gets waved through and people get free parking simply to ease congestion. Most of it is they see so many people (especially at MK), they need to go as fast as possible.

 

[IronFozzie]

It also has a great deal to do with the amount of revenue that is generated at each place. Disney has a lot of people who stay on property so they don't have as much revenue generated from the parking sales, which in turn makes them less likely to enforce it. Universal and Seaworld have a lot less people who receive free parking, which means it generates more revenue and therefore they'll attempt to get as many people as possible to pay for the parking. I know it seems counter intuitive, but Disney figures you'll just spend more money in the park anyway than fight you over $20 when they already give away parking to thousands of people each day.