News on Fastpass+, MagicBands, a possible meet up, Pinterest, and more!
FASTPASS+ INVITATIONS STILL COMING BY EMAIL, MAIL, PONY EXPRESS, ETC.
I’m getting ready for my next test of FastPass+ and MagicBands in November.
(For the last test, see this; if you have no idea what I’m talking about, see this.)
As happened last time, I did everything first in MyDisneyExperience.com, but also got an emailed invitation—on the right—and a mailed invitation—see below.
I’d thought that maybe these weren’t coming out anymore to those who have already tested FastPass+.
Wrong again.
BTW—Josh reported last week that the ability of FastPass+ testers using MagicBands to also get regular Fastpasses (using the backup Key to the World Card all testers have been getting), may be “scaled back” beginning today.
Josh is almost always right… but while this program so far has been a leaky as a sieve, many of the reported leaks have not quite panned out…so I guess we’ll see…
I have no actual information or sources on the issue, but do have a guess forecast. My forecast is that since Disney’s discussion of FY13 results is 11/7, and there might be a howl–and resulting bad press–if this cut-back actually begins today, Disney World will hold off killing the ability of testers to use both Fastpass systems til after November 7th.
I don’t feel strongly about this forecast–I can argue the opposite side almost as compellingly. I balance between the two possibilities by noting that Disney doesn’t lose much by delaying til after 11/7…and delaying avoids the chance that a lot of complaints by sell-side analysts from New Jersey (as most are) will clot up the earnings call…
CUSTOMIZING YOUR MAGIC BAND
The scoop on customizing your MagicBands is here. The link tells the tale of my red MagicBand.
While I love my red MagicBand, I got a blue MagicBand for this visit.
(You can re-use your old ones, or get new ones. I’ll be getting new ones for each visit until 1. the tests are over and the MyMagic+ program is stable, and 2. I have one of every color…)
The two gray MagicBands are ones I didn’t customize—that’s the default color.
You get a total of nine characters for customizing, including spaces, and can’t use special characters like commas or periods. We had a spare—long story behind that—so I did what I could with the new red one.
Here’s a close up.
Maybe it’ll be a giveaway if we do the meet up!
A POSSIBLE MEET-UP IN DISNEY WORLD ON NOVEMBER 13?
Our last night at Disney World on the November trip, Wednesday November 13, overlaps with the first night of the trip of my favorite Disney World blogger. He and I are chatting about doing a joint meet up with any fan who wants to meet us the afternoon or evening of the 13th.
Planning is still at the early stages—largely emails: “Got any ideas?” “Nope. You got any ideas?” “Nope. How about you—had any ideas since my last email?” “Nope”—so I’m not even naming him, and you shouldn’t view this as an invitation. Yet.
But I really like the idea of a joint meet-up–the cool thing about both of us hosting it is that each of us is guaranteed that the meet-up will be attended by at least one fan!
More to come, maybe…
A REALLY COOL PINTEREST BOARD
I had a chance to chat Thursday with Linda, a Facebook friend who has given me a lot of really great advice.
We had a nice talk, and it reminded me that I’ve never recommended her pinterest stuff. So if you are a Disney World fan, you should check out her pins and follow her boards!
Linda’s goal is to present only the best of what she’s seen about Disney World…which will save you a lot of time! And you may learn about some great other sites.
I know, I know…I’m really lousy at Pinterest—some of the most important stuff on this site isn’t really even pinnable…but I’m beginning to work on it, with the help of some of the best in the world at this—like Linda!!!
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!
Hi again Dave! Not sure if this was the best place to comment about my Fastpass+ woes, but I’ll go ahead. So, I have been so excited about my family’s trip to Disney in January (I still am of course) but I also feel like I’m a little on the verge of losing my mind. I read, researched, read some more, re-researched (you get the picture) for almost a year before securing our plans for a trip coming up January 4th-10th. I really did a lot of work and planning and thought I had it all figured out. I know many Disney experts will disagree with my decision to stay off property, but for our family, it just seemed to be the best decision. We would have only probably been able to afford a value resort, and quite frankly we need our space. So for about the same price, we got a condo at Windsor Hills Resort. But now this whole Fastpass+/Magic Band issue is really throwing me for a loop, and is making me nervous. Am I totally screwed because we’re not staying on property and are not eligible for the magic bands? Are all the good fastpasses going to be taken by on-site guests who have already reserved FP times? We bought tickets through Undercover Tourist and got them last week. Can I still use those to just go and get the normal paper fastpasses? Is there any chance Disney is going to be getting rid of these Legacy fastpasses? I am just feeling really unsure now. Second guessing all the decisions I made, and am really wishing this was all being rolled out in the spring instead of right now. : ) I am just really confused and I of course didn’t consult a Disney Planner because I was just so sure I could do it all myself (with help from your site!). Can you help provide a little clarity? Your site is one of the few I feel gives accurate, unbiased, truly helpful information. Thanks so much!
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Hi Brooke and thanks for the kind words!
First, I think you should be fine. Your UT tix will work fine, and my guess is that you’ll have full access to old paper Fastpass then. As Disney is cutting back on the number of headliner FP+ available–both by testing cutting back the ability of people to “double dip,” and restricting–so far just at HS and Epcot–the ability of people to get more than 1 FP+ per day for headliners, old FP should get better not worse.
At some point old FP will be gone entirely, but not I think by your visit…
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Hi Dave,
You can ignore my message above. I seemed to have linked my reservation now.
Is there a page you have to suggest what attractions to link for Fastpass+ … now I am really lost, lol.
Michael.
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Oops too late! But I’ll leave my response up, because many others have the same question!
For my FP+ attraction suggestions, see the bottom of this page https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/08/20/what-you-need-to-know-now-about-fastpass/
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Hi Dave,
Love the site, have been following for a while now. We are excited to have kids one day and follow your itinerary.
I am staying at a resort on Disneyworld property this coming November 9, for one week.
I am lost with this MagicPass / Fastpass.
Do I … link up my tickets and resort to obtain the magic pass or fastpass?
Do I … need to receive an invite directly from Disney? (have not received one).
I am Canadian, if that changes anything.
Thanks for any help,
Michael
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Michael–what resort are you staying at? I’m asking becasue only Disney owned and operated resorts are in the test.
Assuming you are eligible, see this for next steps https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/08/21/frequently-asked-questions-about-fastpass/
Was this even remotely helpful?
Well then mosey on over to the home page, and like it on Facebook or pin it on Pinterest!
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We just returned from 8 days at Disney World and had a fabulous time. Seemed to me like everyone had a magic band. We found that using both the magic bands for fastpass+ and the key card for paper fast passes worked great, but not during the early entry hours. Our strategy has always been for a “runner” in the group to take all the keycards and get fast passes for our favorites while the rest of get in a queue for a ride. In this case, the ride was Soarin’ during early magic hours. We could get in the queue, of course, but the paper fast pass machines were not open and would not open until regular park hours. Our plan was foiled for a second Soarin’ ride. The digital signs outside The Land still had the wait time and fast pass information from the night before when we arrived during the early magic hours and many people (including me) thought that all the fast passes for the day were gone already! Scheduling the fastpass+ for 7 people in our group, of different ages and abilities, was tough. You can’t just schedule one fastpass at a time. If you don’t pick 3 during your initial scheduling session the computer picks three for you. i.e. So for rides like Toy Story, Soarin, etc, where all members of our party would go scheduling was no problem. It is when we got to the individual rides. I had to schedule all 7 people for Space Mountain even though just three would go on it. Then I had to go back into the site and reschedule the other four people for what they wanted. Once I got the hang of it, it wasn’t bad, but figuring out how to do it (with the aid of several phone calls to the tech dept) it worked.
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Hi Susan! Thanks for the detailed report 🙂
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