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Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

wired.com

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Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#61
post #38
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only adults have charging privileges and even then you need a PIN (that the cardholder does not need to share).

It would be cool if you could get a text message for the charge amount(if it was over some set limit), location, and possibly itemized bill(since disney does control every system after all), and respond yes or no to allow or deny the transaction.

Which of course Apple already does for in-app purchases in iOS family accounts...

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The long range reads are primarily used right now to detect that you were on a particular ride when your photo was taken so when you swipe your band they can pull up your photo for purchase. A lot of the other ideas they had for this tech was never brought to fruition because it creeped out a lot of the test guests. Source: I played a very very small role in making magic bands happen.

Do you mean like the characters greeting kids by name or saying "Happy Birthday!" if that was a known event? As a techy parent that's one thing that sounded great on paper but I'd be kind of creeped out if I didn't know what was going on.

The greetings seemed to be based off of buttons the kids could wear or if it was marked on a reservation, there was a tick box asking about special events.

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#63
post #33

I always wanted my kids to have a wristband that's tied to my credit card - good thing there's nothing they'd want at Disney World! Sarcasm aside, we always get a big wad of cash when we go on vacation (and especially to Disney World). It's almost impossible to track your spending if you follow the normal pattern of pulling out your credit card ... this wrist band (in my mind) is to make sure you don't realize what y…

Hmm... there's a real need for a credit or debit card app that tracks real time charges. I know authorization holds go through immediately (while actual transfers may take a day) and aren't always the same as spending (i.e. car rentals typically issue an authorization hold at time of rental for more than cost), but, in principle, that should be enough to keep track of likely cash flow in realtime. I'd like to see a bank app that simply takes authorization holds as spending and updates a graph in real time.

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#64
One difficulty with the bands is that, unlike a regular hotel with a magnetic (or even RFID) wallet sized card, this needs to be placed on your wrist every morning. I've needed several replacement Magic Bands because I am used to walking out of my house/hotel room and just checking for my wallet, cell, keys and knowing I'm good. Usually a hotel card would be in my wallet and it is not an additional check.

They are free to replace so it's not too big of a deal.

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#65
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean like the characters greeting kids by name or saying "Happy Birthday!" if that was a known event? As a techy parent that's one thing that sounded great on paper but I'd be kind of creeped out if I didn't know what was going on.

The greetings seemed to be based off of buttons the kids could wear or if it was marked on a reservation, there was a tick box asking about special events.

On our last visit that had the MagicBands, the reservation step asked for the names of everyone in your family. The bands were personalized with a color of your choice as well as your name laser-engraved on the back. So now Disney has a first and last name to go in the database next to your tag ID.

One of the early ideas being touted by Disney for this technology was the ability for the staff and characters to greet you by name (as read off the MagicBand at a distance) as you approached.

The low-tech birthday buttons are a whole different thing.

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#66
post #33

I always wanted my kids to have a wristband that's tied to my credit card - good thing there's nothing they'd want at Disney World! Sarcasm aside, we always get a big wad of cash when we go on vacation (and especially to Disney World). It's almost impossible to track your spending if you follow the normal pattern of pulling out your credit card ... this wrist band (in my mind) is to make sure you don't realize what y…

Hmm... there's a real need for a credit or debit card app that tracks real time charges. I know authorization holds go through immediately (while actual transfers may take a day) and aren't always the same as spending (i.e. car rentals typically issue an authorization hold at time of rental for more than cost), but, in principle, that should be enough to keep track of likely cash flow in realtime. I'd like to see a b…

Simple is kinda this.

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#67
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The greetings seemed to be based off of buttons the kids could wear or if it was marked on a reservation, there was a tick box asking about special events.

On our last visit that had the MagicBands, the reservation step asked for the names of everyone in your family. The bands were personalized with a color of your choice as well as your name laser-engraved on the back. So now Disney has a first and last name to go in the database next to your tag ID. One of the early ideas being touted by Disney for this technology was the ability for the staff and characters to greet…

Sorry, I mixed up the one you were responding to, I'd guess you're correct as that's what I would've felt was creepy sometimes. My kids got overwhelmed by all the Happy Birthday/special greetings on the first day so it was nice to have a way to "turn it off".

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#68

1) You still can't see how many frickin days you have left in the parks when you're at home. Are you kidding me? 2) Joining groups, and saying who can reserve for whom is still a pain. It probably works GREAT for 98% of people, but we got screwed on three different trips. 3) The way they track photos is great for small parties, but it's a pain for groups that get together, split up, get together, split up, form with…

I wish I had known that it was possible to book more than three fastpasses per day. Thanks for the heads up.

I also had a less-than-stellar time getting into my hotel room with the band. I expected it to be very forgiving and ended up banging my hand against the door at different angles before I got in.

Another complaint is the fit of the wristband. I imagine it will get better as the technology miniaturizes, but it was uncomfortable enough that I wanted to take it off constantly, which is obviously counterproductive.

Overall though, I think they're great. No more hassling with small paper tickets and a unified system for basically every old system you can think of.

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#69
post #33

I always wanted my kids to have a wristband that's tied to my credit card - good thing there's nothing they'd want at Disney World! Sarcasm aside, we always get a big wad of cash when we go on vacation (and especially to Disney World). It's almost impossible to track your spending if you follow the normal pattern of pulling out your credit card ... this wrist band (in my mind) is to make sure you don't realize what y…

My first response to this is to eschew the technology, but in retrospect, maybe getting pre-paid cc's for the kids and linking their cards to those may be a good option. "Here's $200 for the week, don't blow it all on the first day".

Re: Disney's $1B Bet on a Magical Wristband

#70
post #13
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, how does the Magic Band replace a camera?

It doesn't really. There are photographers throughout the park that will take your picture then scan your band. You can then buy said pictures.

You don't need a band to use these photogs. When I was there in 2012 they gave me a card with a code on the back. I took a picture of it with my phone and stuck the card in my backpack. There's a disney site that hosts the photos for about a month, you create an account and add all the codes to your account. Then you can buy whatever pictures you want (or download the previews if you don't need the full res pictures).

I brought my own camera - the pre-positioned photogs were nice to have (and had better equipment than me), but I still enjoyed being able to take my own pictures.

Until Disney gets drones to take pictures for you on-demand, you are still going to want to bring a camera (smartphone or otherwise) to the park.

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