FastPass+ NextGen Disney World Testing Begins
Starting today, May 1, 2012, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom began testing FastPass+ (FastPass-Plus), part of it’s NextGen (or xPass) technology. Tests are expected to last through May 15th, with guests traveling between these dates having been pre-selected at random to participate. At this time, you cannot voluntarily opt-in to participate in the test.
FastPass+ will allow eligible and participating Walt Disney World guests to reserve ride times in advance, using their Magic Band wristband to access the attraction’s queue. RFID readers have been installed in many attraction queues specifically for this purpose. The Magic Band will not only allow access to these attractions, but will also replace the Key to the World room key, eventually allowing guests to use the Magic Band to access their rooms, enter the parks, and pay for their dining (DizFanatic.com leaked concept art for these bands last summer, but that article seems to have since been pulled).
These RFID readers have been installed at Jungle Cruise, Splash Mountain, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Stitch’s Great Escape, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan’s Flight, and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
As stated above, not every guest visiting the Magic Kingdom during this time frame will be participating in the experiment, only those receiving emails in advance or upon checking into their Disney-owned resort hotel. At this time, it appears that all testing will be done with a FastPass+ card, rather than the actual Magic Bands that will eventually be utilized. Guests can then access their itineraries via their smartphones, City Hall, or at select queue entrances.
UPDATE: TouringPlans shared some photos and insight into what’s currently being used for the test.
Our Reaction
NextGen, xPass, FastPass+, or whatever its current name is, has been incredibly polarizing, despite seeing only limited tests thus far and no one really knowing how it will work. By “polarizing,” I mean almost universally panned.
Reactions range from, “why didn’t they spend this billion dollars on new attractions,” to “I’m not renewing my Annual Pass and will never visit again once this goes live.” Few people are excited about the prospect of more advance-planning for their vacations, and fewer still are happy with the investment Disney has made in new queues and NextGen infrastructure.
I’m hardly the eternal optimist, but I’m not yet ready to anoint this new project as the worst thing ever to happen to Walt Disney World. I think it will have minimal impact on guests who don’t (or can’t) use it, as I don’t see it as siphoning off 75% of all FastPasses for the day (I see a more realistic upper limit of about 25%). More importantly, I view The Walt Disney Company as a business that needs to dynamically adapt to function in an ever-changing marketplace.
If that means investing over a billion dollars (these rumored amounts are exactly that: rumors) in infrastructure instead of attractions, so be it. In this case, it’s pretty clear that Disney envisions there being a substantial return on investment from the infrastructure-investment. Whether that be from increased per-guest spending, increased bookings in resort hotels (or higher tier resort hotels), or through some other plan. Whatever the case may be, the Company views NextGen as a revenue-generating investment.
While I’m sure most fans would prefer the billion dollars to be immediately spent on new or existing attractions (I would!), many are treating this as an either/or situation. As in, either we get new attractions or we get interactive queues and other NextGen “stuff.” This doesn’t seem to me to actually be the case.
If NextGen works as expected, it will presumably increase revenue at a higher clip than new attractions would have, leading (in theory, at least) to more money in the budget in subsequent years for improvements that are more immediately felt by guests. Management views Walt Disney World as a mature resort, so investments like NextGen and Disney Vacation Club might actually be necessary to fuel future substantial growth.
That said, I have no problem with these changes from the perspective that NextGen draws from funds that could be allocated towards additional attractions. The cost of NextGen infrastructure and interactive queues might add up to the same cost as the construction of three new attractions (maybe, I’m just throwing that number out there). However, the construction of a new attraction is not the only cost of a new attraction, which is what others fail to consider when they make the argument that Disney should be building new attractions with the NextGen money. New attractions also have staffing, operational, and maintenance costs.
Moreover, from the outside, it’s tough to speculate as to whether new attractions can actually do a better job than the NextGen infrastructure at increasing revenue. New attractions are something to market, but unless you have something on the level of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter or Cars Land, how effective is that marketing? New attractions increase capacity, which should in theory increase guest satisfaction as guests wait in shorter lines, but this assumes that the parks all need greater capacity. It seems clear that the Magic Kingdom needs more capacity (and they’re working on it), but what about the other parks?
The point being, as you can see with all of the different above factors and the rampant theorizing, is that this is not a cut and dry matter. It’s not as simple as saying, “spend the $X on new attractions instead of spending the $X on NextGen for better return on investment!” Things aren’t that simple. The (Disney) World’s problems can’t be solved with a little debate on an internet message board or Twitter. We fans simply aren’t privy to all of the variables associated with making such a decision.
I do fear that Disney is tailoring its research to validate conclusions it has already made prior to the research, as seems likely to be the case based on the past, but I hope the company is performing its due diligence and making the decisions based on actual cost/benefit research concerning NextGen.
Beyond that, I don’t really see FastPass+ negatively impacting my day too much. It might mean one less attraction per day, but in the grand scheme of things, that’s not that big of a deal to me. We go to Walt Disney World for the variety of the experience, not to cross as many attractions off of our “checklist” as we possibly can. I’ll admit that I am excited for some of the possibilities with NextGen (especially if it increases revenue to a level that makes Disney feel justified in green-lighting some ambitious attractions), but I’m also concerned that in future years it could continue to siphon away money that otherwise might be spent on attractions if it turns out to be a money pit with less ROI than anticipated. I have no real basis for these hopes or concerns, they’re just my speculation.
So for me, my outlook is “wait and see” at this point. From a guest perspective, I’m not ready to laud NextGen or FastPass+ as the evolution of the theme park experience, but I’m also not reading to condemn it as the death of spontaneity. If I don’t like it, I simply won’t use it–I doubt it will impact my day much if I don’t. From a business perspective, I simply don’t have the information necessary to make an informed decision as to whether NextGen is a good investment. I have my speculation, but speculation is fairly worthless without any supporting bases.
Anyway, there you have “The Gospel of NextGen and FastPass+ According to Tom.”
What do you think of NextGen and FastPass+? Let us know in the comments!
Just wondering if you will have to wear this thing the whole time your there? My daughter and I hate things on our wrists, they usually give me a rash, plastics, nylon, metals, etc. so I have no interest wearing it for 14 days on vacation, sleeping and showering. Are you able to take them off and on as you like?
Can Tom Bricker please stop acting like he knows everything about this system? We don’t need your comments on each post Tom. Thank you.
As the author of this post and owner of this site, I think I’ll comment as I see fit. Thank you.
From what I heard and read on the subject. The reservation in advance part is to ensure people can get into some of the most famous ride ( let’s admit it… people run to Toy Story Mania to get a FastPass, there are gone in 10 minutes ).
But, the most interesting part of it all was the RFID tag. They could hand them out to every guest in the park. It become your key to enter the park, the restaurants reservation, your hotel room key, etc. But it also contain your special events, your names, etc. Therefore, like they always did before, they are trying to personalize your vacation.
You could enter a ride, tap your RFID tag. A Cast Member with a tablet near the entrance could see you went X times to this ride today, greet you with your names, congratulate you on this special anniversary/event. Maybe, they could offer you something more with the RFID knowing you might be late for a upcoming diner reservation ( offering you to get into the ride faster) etc.
The RFID will be used for FastPass+, BUT they always specify it’s part of their NextGen queue system. I think the “real deal” here is the tracking system NextGen ( RFID system ) will offer. FastPass+ is a bonus for people willing to use it ( I don’t think I will, even for free. Maybe for 1-2 ride later at night, but not more ).
As for Disney, it’s also a great tool for managing it’s employees. Help send peoples where there’s a need for it. Maybe they lack peoples at X ride because of a sudden rise in guests. Maybe to many peoples are leaving the park all of sudden and need more bus at the station. You can get detailed datas, on all of this. With time, creating a better idea of where your needs are.
Let’s also not forget the number of time you can tell people ride each rides. Giving them great insight to build future ride. Having a better idea of what people actually like.
And like you said, money wise I think it’s a great investment and will make people come back more (better customers service), help them manage the park better, etc.
FastPass+.. we’ll see about them. NextGen ( xPass ) technology. Now, that IS interesting!
Well I had to write this comment to see something talking about exactly the same thing the next morning on Digg (article coming from the NY Time).
Will not post it here ( don’t know if you allow link to other website ). But all in all they talk about the same things I said.
They specify that the RFID Band will have information on it, but the guests can change them from a website or app (the one they launched already). You can also set how much information you want to share with Disney.
The official name is now MyMagic+.
The Fastpass+ is limited to 3 per vacation. Doesn’t seem to have any price attached to it. Probably free. And yes you can book advance reservation for fireworks or parades (that part is interesting and could save hour from a trip waiting for the firework with reserved sections)
All in all, they Disney official talk about getting better guest data, Guest enjoying the park more, getting ride of turnstile and more profits for the park.
And like you said, I guess this money can then be invested into new attraction or current attraction. ( nice info in the article about the new Little Mermaid Ride making use of those band, so animatronics can talk directly to guests).
We were invited to test out the Fastpass+ this December when we were there. I was very excited when we got the invite. It was very simple to get your ressie. We were able to get the 2 major attractions that were opening in the New Fantasyland, and then we added Peters Pans flight, and then Jungle Cruise. They sent us a Fastpass+ card in the mail about a week before we left. The system worked great while we were there. We enjoyed not having to race from one attraction to another to get our fastpasses. Later on in the day, a cast member saw the cards in our lanyard and asked us about our experience. He was then explaining what he knew about it, he made mention that it was going to cost $200 per vacation package. He didnt mention how many attraction ressie’s you would be able to make at a time. But he did mention that you would still be able to get regular fastpasses while in parks.( how much of that is truth??) So our overall experience was good. Would I spend $200 to add it on to the package… Probably not! I enjoyed knowing that I was able to get to do the new attractions in Disney, but i dont think I could plan my whole day. It would just be too stressful..
The $200 part is not true. Rumors are floating around that there will be various add-on tiers (possibly based on your resort tier), but nothing is confirmed.
One benefit I can see, (if I understand the system correctly), will be the assurance to see at least one usually ‘hard to get into’ ride on your trip. I am a Florida resident and Annual Passholder and visit multiple times a year, but there are still quite a few attractions we rarely get to ride due to long wait times and early-distributed Fast Passes (ahem, Toy Story Mania, ahem). We don’t have the patience to wait 2 hours, and we park hop so we can never ensure we’ll still be in the park 8 hours later to redeem a FP. With the FP+ system we can schedule a visit to the ride without enduring the current frustrations. I agree that spontenaity is part of the fun, so I would never overutilize FP+. However, for one attraction here and there it seems like a pretty good idea. I must say, though, I will pity the poor children dragged from ride to ride on their OCD parents’ strict FP+ schedule. I hope people will remember to let the little ones (and big ones) go at their own pace and enjoy the little moments, too.
First, I hate change. I’m already confused with with I’ve read. Part of the Disney World mystic is the unknown, lines, etc. I schedule my vacation, but am always flexible with what we do. To have to “schedule” rides, etc. eliminates that flexibility. Now that they are being strict with the times on FastPasses, it’s a whole new Mouse House. The simple fun times at Disney may be in the past.
We live on the West Coast and have already purchased Annual PassPorts to be used over the next year (6-weeks plus). If this is the future, as much as we love WDW, it may be our last. Time will tell.
Me and my friend got to help test this new FastPass card. Disney Cast Members were stationed near the Magic Express area at Orlando International Airport and were asking anyone they came across if they’d like to test this new system. I wouldn’t say it’s totally random in their selection. We got to choose 4 rides/attractions from a laminated card presented to us. From my recollection, there were only about 8 choices total, and all were located in the Magic Kingdom. We scheduled our ride times, then we were presented with a yellow Fast Pass card that was loaded with our information, including our names and what we were celebrating. I provided the Cast Member with an email address I’d be using while on vacation. She explained they will be emailing me the ride times. We only utilized 2 of our 4 choices because the times they helped us select didn’t work out as well as we had hoped due to me not being used to the hot weather. So far, I’m still waiting for an email from Disney to give some feedback. Right now, I think this idea stinks. It’s enough trouble scheduling dining reservations, so why would I want to schedule my entire vacation down to the minute? That removes the spontaneity.
My personal speculation at this point is that the biggest bang for the buck with Xpass initially will be the ability to book reserved “seating” (or standing) for the Parades and shows like Wishes, Illuminations, and Fanstasmic! . I’ve heard about the customization experience part – ie, you get personal interaction in an attraction when it recognizes your rfid device – but I have trouble believing they can make it work reliably. What it could do, though, is improve customer service by providing feedback to the CMs on your activity. Let’s be honest about one thing – the next gen will be tracking your activities to a fare thee well, which I personally don’t have a big problem with while I’m there in the park.
There are so many possibilities on how this will be used it’s a little difficult to do more than guess at this point.
I agree with you pretty much 100% on everything here, from parade/show seating to RFID interactions probably not being reliable to not caring whether RFID tracks me. Well said!
I’m reserving judgment until we know more about how exactly it will work. For now, I’m gonna be cautiously optimistic. I can’t see myself using it for mornings at all. I would use it to reserve an evening ride or two. Some of my favorite rides are even better after dark, in my opinion, but we hop & fastpasses are gone. Even if we didn’t, it could be a hassle trying to time it right now that they’re enforcing fast pass return times. Waiting for an hour in a stimulating queue isn’t a good situation with a Asperger’s and SPD kiddo.
Taking a wait and see approach is never a bad idea. Pretty difficult to proclaim this the best or worst thing ever when we really don’t even know how it will work. Everything at this point is best-guess speculation.
While I AM one of those people who can make a dining reservation a year in advance, I honestly don’t see myself using this service very much. Realistically, I MIGHT schedule my first ride of the day using it, but I love the spontaneous discovery that is a Park experience, and I feel like I would miss that if I were constantly watching my watch to make sure I got to the attraction on time. I’m all for enforcing the FastPass time frame, but this seems a bit on the extreme side.
I doubt we’ll use it much for attractions, either, but I don’t anticipate it affecting us too much. It’ll be nice for those who really like to plan, but I doubt it’ll really impact (maybe 5-10 minute increases per attraction) anyone else.
I can see a few things happening.
– Is Disney looking to offer a “perk” to DC Members or people that stay in a Disney resort as opposed to someone that stays off property? – probably –
– Is it an innocent way to spread out the lines at the busiest attractions that is a bit more convenient by planning your park visit from the comfort of your own home? – maybe –
– Is it going to be free? – no –
I suspect that it will be free. That’s just an educated-guess, though.
I suspect that the majority of the cost and primary goal of this system is more about tacking customer behavior rather than being a tool to interact with attractions and push OCD planning on people who do not wish to do so. I have an IT background and figure their goal is more than anything to increase efficiency of park operations. From staffing to inventory management to transportation. There is a lot of business decisions that could be improved with this kind of system. From a fan perspective, there is some neat stuff they can throw on top of it, but primarily it is improved profits. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, fans should hope it works as planned and profits are improved tremendously. If profits increase that means further investment in rides and things that are more tangible to the user. Even if nothing improves other than transportation and staffing to reduce lines.
That’s exactly how I feel. I think WDI will work to exploit the “cool” side of the infrastructure, but I think the primary aim of this is increased efficiency and profits. Obviously they won’t market that side of it, though. The “face” of this project to guests will be the interactive queues (and possibly attraction scenes), meet and greets, Magic Bands, and FastPass+ system.
I agree with your take. I don’t think this will affect me, but I do think that the level of micro-planning Disney World is trying to encourage with this NextGen FastPass is absurd. It doesn’t suit my touring style at all and I think it would be a nightmare to travel with the kind of commandos that are looking forward to it. Could the money be better spent? Yes, but I’m still hopeful that the improvements I deem worthy will also be made eventually.