First day of xPass / FASTPASS+ field testing suggests that Disney World may have a new Guest pleaser on its hands

Jim Hill

13 years ago

So we're two days into WDW's first real field test for the
Resort's new xPass / FASTPASS+ system. And the results so far look rather
promising.

Perhaps the biggest news so far is that we've discovered one
of the ways that Disney is recruiting Guests to take part in this two-week-long
field test. And that's through randomly selecting people at Orlando International
Airport as they head downstairs to check-in for Disney's Magical Express

Once they get down to the first floor of the main terminal, these folks are then
directed to a Cast Member with a laptop. Who — during a relatively speedy check-in
process that takes only 3-to-5 minutes — first gets the test subject's name and
e-mail address. Then these Guests are shown a bookmark-sized piece of paper
that lists five attractions on one side of the Magic Kingdom and are asked
" … which two of these five are you most interested in experiencing
while you're visiting the Magic Kingdom?"

After the test subject picks two rides & shows, the Cast
Member flips this bookmark-sized card over to reveal five more attractions that
are located elsewhere in the Magic Kingdom. Where — again — the Guest is
asked to pick the two that they'd most like to experience during their day at
the Kingdom.

Then — from there — these recruits are asked when exactly
they'd like to begin their visit that theme park: morning (9 a.m. to noon), mid-morning
(11 a.m. to 2 p.m.), afternoon (noon to 5 p.m.) or all day (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). After
that, the Cast Member collects some additional information to help personalize
these people's itineraries (EX: Is this anyone in that party's first trip to
the Park? Is anyone in this group celebrating a birthday or anniversary while
they're visiting Walt Disney World?) and then issues yellow xPass / FASTPASS+ RFID
cards for everyone in the party.

And once this is done, these field test recruits are then directed
to the appropriate Disney's Magical Express line so that their WDW vacations
can officially begin.

"And what happens after this?," you ask. Well,
once the Guests check into their respective WDW Resort, later that same day
they receive a copy of an e-mail which
reads:

Thank you for participating in the Disney's FASTPASS test
experience. We are continuously looking at ways to improve our Guest
experience. The offerings you participated in may or may not be representative
of future plans. You will receive an email after your visit to provide comments
on your experience during this test. Your feedback is important to us as we
look at the future Disney's FASTPASS experience.

Photo by Kent Phillips. Copyright Disney Enterprises,
Inc. All rights reserved

Please enter the Disney's FASTPASS entrance at the
attraction between the times noted above. Cannot accept early or late arrivals.
Valid only on date and times specified above. Operating hours of the attraction
are subject to change without notice. Attraction may close temporarily without
notice. Not valid for admission to any theme park. All posted height
restrictions apply for each attraction.

As you might expect, this xPass / FASTPASS+ confirmation
e-mail includes all of the ride times that these test subjects have previously selected
& locked-in back at OIA.

And beyond that …
Well, once these people got to the Magic Kingdom, they obviously had fun
because that they had 4 pre-booked FASTPASSES+ for that theme park's most
popular attractions. But the truly weird part of this tale is how excited the WDW
Cast Members were when they were presented with these yellow xPass / FASTPASS+
RFID cards.

You see, these Disney World employees (just like the rest of
us) have been following all of the stories & the rumors that have been swirling
around the Company's Next Generation
efforts for years now. So to finally have this new system actually being field tested
at the Magic Kingdom was a very, very big deal for most Cast Members.

So when people walked up for the entrance of these
attractions and then pulled out their yellow cards by that RFID reader, it was
hard to tell who was more excited: The Cast Member or the Guest. The WDW employee would often call their
managers over so that they could show them what happened when that xPass /
FASTPASS+ was waved in front of the RFID reader. How the iPad that this Cast
Member in the Greeter position would suddenly reveal that Guest's name and
whether they were celebrating an anniversary or a birthday during their visit
to the Park.

Beyond that, the only real difference between a regular
FASTPASS and this version of xPass / FASTPASS+ was that — at the point where
the Guest typically surrenders their FASTPASS to a Cast Member before boarding the
attraction — this yellow RFID card was scanned one last time and then returned
to that Disney World visitor.

Best of all, this RFID card acts like just like a standard
WDW admission ticket. Which means that — if you stick it into a FASTPASS
machine — you can then score a fifth (or — if you're lucky and/or extremely
canny about how you use that card — a sixth) FASTPASS ticket which you can
then use during your visit to the Magic Kingdom.

Another intriguing aspect of this xPass / FASTPASS+ field
test is that there are now these kiosks scattered
around the Magic Kingdom that — should you forget the times & what order
you're supposed to experience your pre-booked attractions in — will then show
you the rides & shows that you have yet to experience. And if you've already completed your itinerary
by the time you visit this kiosk, the message that you'll receive when your
yellow RFID card is scanned is "You have no events scheduled."

Okay. I know. We're only in the first two days of a two
week-long field test. And as you might
expect, there were the usual hiccups that happen when you're rolling out a
brand-new, basically untried technology. But overall things went relatively smoothly yesterday.

And then when you take into consideration that this particular
iteration of xPass / FASTPASS+ only
makes use of a 10th of the features that Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
eventually plans on making available to Guests through this Next Generation program
… It looks like the next few years are going to be very, very interesting for
both WDW visitors as well as Cast Members.

Because based on people's reactions so far, it looks like
the Mouse may have a new Guest pleaser on its hands.

Your thoughts?