Wired: Disney's billion dollar bet on MagicBands

It already was.

Yeah, that's what I was referencing.

So I guess if Disney did cgi pubic hair, would it talk? Have super powers?

No, but the animatronic pubic hair will talk and recognize you by name via your Magic Band...

This is the Junk-tuggiest Place on Earth.

I'm curious (though dreading) seeing how these play out at DL and DCA. The traffic patterns are so different (It's a locals park). I'm sure I will adjust, but the potential disruption to the normal way people use the parks is going to be hell.

Thoughts, now that we're a year or so into magic bands?

Could it be possible that MagicBands will be a Florida-only thing? With four theme parks, two water parks and one bazillion rooms, WDW operates on a much different level than any of the other Disney resorts around the world.

I could see this working well on the cruise lines.

Maybe at first, this will be a Florida only thing, but I think this is a preview of the life we will all live in the near future. It doesn't only have to be used in a theme park/vacation setting.

Can you imagine wearing your magicband every single day as you go through your daily routines? It could be either kind of creepy, or amazing.

I vote "creepy." I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I enjoy being off the grid as much as possible.

I think it's both. Like all progress it has good and bad. There are tradeoffs.

If you want the amazing, you have to take the creepy too.

It's a package deal.

At some point similar chips will be implanted under the skin so the wristbands won't be necessary.

Lord Gonchar said:

If you want the amazing, you have to take the creepy too.

It's a package deal.

That's how I proposed to my wife.

"It's a package deal." is not the same thing as "I have this weird deal with my package."

#junktug

Sorry to be that guy to resurrect a 10year old thread. However, it popped up and since I had commented on it back in 2015 thought I’d bring it back with some new thoughts.

1) Magic bands never took off at Disneyland

2) Gonch and others, we all now have SmartWatches so I guess we are all using a different version of a creepy band/package

3) creepy package was my high school jam band name

Is this two truths and a lie?

Because I really want you to produce a pic of a high-school you in a band called, "Creepy Package"

I'm so far out of all the loops. How does Disney track you around the park now? App? How much do you have to pre-book to have a good time?

All I know is that at this point planning a Disney World vacation seems well beyond both my skillset and monetary interest. Man, me trying to book a Disney World vacation would be a fun YouTube video.

Middle-aged empty-nester grump with no interest in a single Disney IP tries to book a week at Disney World.

"If this video gets a million likes I'll actually take the vacation!"

And just because. Creepy Pakkage:

And the Double-Ks - Very metal!

(I give thanks to our AI overlords and creators for this glimpse into an alternate past.)

Gonch- suffer through my recent trip reports if you can. I’m more older/grump/boomer than you and you’ll see I figured it out and now look forward to trying WDW. It’s different but I think I got it. (Can’t help you with the money part…)
And yeah, we were excited to get new Magic Bands at Disneyland but took a hard pass when we realized they don’t do anything and wouldn’t be of help. (I think there’s an interactive component that kids would enjoy). I wanted it to unlock my room, buy stuff and have it sent, get me through the gate, etc. Nope. A park person told me she thought they were working on some of those features but I’d bet it’s actually not coming.
And yes, at Disneyland it’s the phone app. Everything is on it, your hotel, your tickets, your LLs, reservations, and your day plan. You can mobile order snacks and meals, and some snack locations were mobile-only. A lot of parks are cash free and I wonder if Disney may be one day.
I mentioned in my first report that it’s indeed a day about the phone and somebody chimed in that his idea of a vacation is no phone whatsoever. That’s fine, and if one wants to spend every day fishing then OK. But I like to visit parks and if the finest in the world ask me to use my phone to best navigate the experience then I sure will. I’d like to add that it’s just one day and not a lifetime commitment to intrusive, insidious technology or anything. It took me about a half hour to catch on and finally relax about it. One person in the party can do it for everybody and that’s helpful. We had a gal that never pulled her phone out even one time, mainly because I handled it on mine.
Yes, a battery pack is helpful… it’s not so much the time spent but I suspect a lot of the things you run are battery drainers.

The bands are pretty common at WDW still, and probably the most convenient thing for using LL and charging to your room. Where I've seen the biggest change is on the cruise line. The Triton-class ships did stuff to make them blink or whatever from the start, but now you can use them on all ships to open your room and charge to it. With a non-trivial number of people going to WDW before Canaveral, I imagine many already have the bands anyway.

Well that was fun. 10 year old thread resurrected and the last post was me saying "#junktug". Gotta lay off the weed, maybe then I'd remember the context without having to reread the entire thread again. But probably not, it's been a decade and I'm old.