MyMagic Update

March 06, 2013

data, Disney, Disneyland, fastpass, mining, mymagic, nextgen, rfid, scanner, ticket, update, wrist band

I’ve been trying to pay attention to how things are progressing over there at Walt Disney World with respect to MyMagic and how it’s being received. I’m very curious to see how it does mainly for my own selfish reasons and how it will impact life at Disneyland. My early thoughts were that I wasn’t crazy about the idea of wrist bands, nor am I crazy about the idea of Disney having an even greater ability to collect data about my spending behaviors and movements. It’s bad enough google does this to us, but I don’t want to have “cookies” in my shorts when I walk around in the real world too.

So I found this article from Apple Insider detailing the MyMagic beta phase. This article is centered only on testing out the elimination of the old school turn-style method of allowing guests in to the park in favor of using RFID (a 4 letter word if I ever heard one) scanners and Apple iTouch devices. So there’s no gate. Just scanners and cast members walking around scanning tickets. I found this video of the RFID scanners in action.

Personally, I kind of like turn-styles better, but that’s just me. It turns out, at least in the short term, that the RFID Scanners are working only about half the time. In those cases where it isn’t working, the cast members with the Apple iTouch scanners step in help out. Is this better? The article is informative, but I found the these comments from guests who have experienced the test in person to be of more interest.

I was there last week and every time I tried to enter a park using the RFID scanners my ticket didn’t work. Whichever cast member who happened to be standing at the station I was attempting to go through would have me try my ticket 3 times (hold ticket to the Mickey Ears logo, then my finger to the scanner) before asking another person to swipe my card with the iPod. The swipe worked every time (they would ask me to verify what parks I had visited earlier that day/the day before).

Having recently been down in Florida at the ESPN site, I can vouch for the problems that they face with the current RFID system. It works ~ 50% of the time. I think the problem is more with the fingerprint reader than with the RFID stuff. I suspect that Disney is not happy with those issues and is looking for a better way. Remove the gates, remove the fingerprint reader (which is creepy, BTW) and move to bands and scanners.

Right, last thing I want is Disney using my information to make my vacation way better. Oh wait, totally do want that. Would hate to go through life thinking they are all out to get me.

MyMagic+ Final Thoughts

So MyMagic isn’t working very well early on, but it’s not exactly making everyone furious either. Some people are totally in to RFID making their experiences better. I suppose I would be too, but the fact is, I just don’t feel like MyMagic a sincere effort on Disney’s part to make for a better experience. I still believe this is a bottom line move with an eye toward data mining. And I will say that I am not even opposed to THAT either. I’m all for making money, watching the bottom line, and knowing as much as I can about my customer. But don’t SCHEME me. Don’t tell me you’ve come up with a magical band that will make rainbows shoot out of my churro. You want me to wear these bands so you can sell me more stuff.

Stay tuned I guess.

About the Author

David has long been a fan of all things Disney, including the parks, the films, and television shows. This appreciation evolved most recently to this website where he’s happy to provide photos, video, and articles on Disney and its affiliates. David has logged more than 120 visits to Disneyland over the last 3 years, and more than 1,000 hours of park time.