You have undoubtedly already heard all of the news coming
out of last week's big blogger event at Walt Disney World. With all sorts of
Web-based tastemakers getting treated to construction site tours of the Magic
Kingdom's Fantasyland expansion area as well as Disney's Art of Animation
Resort. Not to mention getting interviews with the key creatives on the Agent P's
World Showcase Adventure, the reimagined Test Track as well as the Splitsville
project.
Photo by Matt Stroshane. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
Well, that's all well & good. But I'm hoping that a few
of those folks are still in Orlando. Because — as usually happens — the really
big Walt Disney World-related news winds up
breaking right AFTER the press event wraps.
To explain: Starting
on Tuesday, May 1st and then continuing through Tuesday, May 15th, the
Imagineers are going to be doing onsite / in park testing of WDW's new xPass / FASTPASS
Plus system at the Magic Kingdom.
"So how is this supposed to work?," you ask.
"More importantly, how do I get selected to take part in this test?" Sadly,
all of the Guests who'll be taking part in this xPass / FASTPASS Plus field
test will be selected prior to their arrival on property. Those who Disney is
hoping to recruit will be notified in advance via e-mail and will then be
offered a xPass / FASTPASS Plus card as well as the opportunity to customize an
itinerary for the Magic Kingdom (i.e. lock in ride times for popular
attractions at that theme park days in advance of their actual visit) .
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
If all goes according to plan, this xPass / FASTPASS Plus
card will grant these test subjects speedy
access to a select group of Magic Kingdom attractions (Not to mention giving
them special experiences while they move through those particular rides, shows or
attractions). The only downside is (because this is a field test after all) that
the Guests taking part in this pilot program MUST use their xPass / FASTPASS
Plus cards for the ride times that they have locked in in advance on their Magic
Kingdom itineraries. And should they ever accidentally misplace those
itineraries … Well, this info can then be retrieved at City Hall,
accessed by e-mail or at participating FASTPASS machines.
Now what's kind of intriguing about this week's xPass /
FASTPASS Plus field test is how rigid Disney will be about the itineraries which these Guests will be selecting. Meaning that — once the test subject decides in advance
which Magic Kingdom attractions they're going to visit & in what order and then locks
in those choices into their itineraries — Disney's not going to allow any deviation. You must then go
to those rides, shows and attractions in that precise, previously arranged order.
But the upside is … The xPass / FASTPASS Plus that Guests
will be using as part of this field test will still allow people to book
other FASTPASSES while they're visiting the Magic Kingdom. So once the previously
arranged / already-locked-in portion of their time in that theme park is
complete, these Guests will then be free to visit any & all attractions in
whatever order they choose.
Photo by Kent Phillips. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
So like I said already, I hope that all of those Disney Moms
/ prominent webmasters haven't already flown back home. Because I'd imagine
that — if they were to start hanging around those xPass / FASTPASS Plus
machines that were recently installed in front of The Haunted Mansion &
Stitch's Great Escape — that there's a really terrific story to be had
starting on Tuesday morning.
But you didn't hear this from me.