What's the benefit of keyless entry on your smart phone?

What does the 5 yo do? I may be in the minority but we don't get the 5 yo a phone. Or even the 10 yo, still not the norm in her social circle, even in the upper middle class. There are lots and lots of kids at WDW who I'm going to guess won't have a phone but will have FP. Based on that alone the logistics of what you are suggesting just won't work. As an option, sure. As a first choice, no.

Bingo. My son will be 13 in a month, and he still doesn't have a phone...and he's not getting one anytime soon, either.

A sizable portion of the guests at WDW do not have smartphones for various reasons. Comparing WDW traffic to your average business traveller is not remotely a valid comparison.
 
What does the 5 yo do? I may be in the minority but we don't get the 5 yo a phone. Or even the 10 yo, still not the norm in her social circle, even in the upper middle class. There are lots and lots of kids at WDW who I'm going to guess won't have a phone but will have FP. Based on that alone the logistics of what you are suggesting just won't work. As an option, sure. As a first choice, no.

The 5 year old gets a magic band. The mom, the grandma, and the teenage brother who all have high end smart phones they carry at all times use their phone (Because maybe there’s a $5 fee for the adults to get magic bands). Oh, and the British cousin using a crappy temporary phone because their normal phone doesn’t work in the US may need a magic band too.

Again, I’m not saying I think they’ll ditch magic bands completely. I think they may reduce their use of them...start nudging adults towards using their phones instead. Not unlike the fact that the cards still work. They’re just less common.

Magic Kingdom has 20 million guests a year? If 1/4 of them have smart phones that’s 5 million magic bands a year they’re not having to create and ship.
 
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The 5 year old gets a magic band. The mom, the grandma, and the teenage brother who all have high end smart phones they carry at all times use their phone (Because maybe there’s a $5 fee for the adults to get magic bands). Oh, and the British cousin using a crappy temporary phone because their normal phone doesn’t work in the US may need a magic band too.

Again, I’m not saying I think they’ll ditch magic bands completely. I think they may reduce their use of them...start nudging adults towards using their phones instead. Not unlike the fact that the cards still work. They’re just less common.

Magic Kingdom has 20 million guests a year? If 1/4 of them have smart phones that’s 5 million magic bands a year they’re not having to create and ship.
What I'm saying they are there now. You can already decline MB if you have any less than a year old. So they have already significantly reduced the number given out. The only difference is, you need to use one of the ones you already have.
And you are leaving out one other feature MB do, that I'm not sure the phone feature can ever replace, ride photo uploads. The signal the phone uses takes too long for the photo to link during a ride. It has to have a MB to read it. The new rides don't have a touchpoint either. It has to be via RFID signal.
 
a) They're still making and shipping you a new magic band every year. b) What percentage of their guests are going multiple times a year (and if you're a local going all the time, how sentimental are you going to be about your magic band?) c) They're also issuing a bunch of cards for offsite guests d) How many people are taking a new magic band every time even if they have an old one?

I kind of wonder if they couldn't use gps for the ride photo features you're talking about. Guess it depends on how well that works indoors. I'm betting they could make a very good guess roughly which photo is you just by when you entered and left the line based on gps just from what I’ve seen with Google maps.

Plus, imagine being a local and being able to just login to MDE, buy a ticket on the web or in the app, and then being able to just walk up and scan your phone instead of having to get a card? Or if you're a local season pass holder, how nice would it be to be able to go over to one of the parks after work or after church on a Sunday afternoon and not have to worry about whether you have your magic band on you or having to dig a card out of your wallet.

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Thinking about it more, they know what lines you’re in today because that’s part of the premise of that Play Disney app isn’t it? You have to physically be in line to play some of the games, in don’t you?
 
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Because folks are eat up with the latest technology.

We were at Disneyland back in May. It was aggravating as all get out to be behind a bunch of "technology soccer moms" who had their entire family of 6's fastpasses on one phone. Took 3 times longer for them to scroll through each person's fp than it took others to simply have their pass out and scan right through.
Did this once with boarding passes. Never again.
 
Now, I love me some electronic boarding passes. Even better, on my watch. Don't have to get out anything else.
So, you understand it's a similar concept, right? Airlines and the TSA didn't ban the use of paper tickets when they made electronic ones available on phones. Both work and work about the same. If you had an electronic one, but something goes wrong, you just revert to getting a paper ticket. It's just no longer a default that you get a paper ticket. Meanwhile, they're using a little less paper and people who don't want to have to keep up with a paper ticket don't have to.

The difference being instead of tapping "Mickey to Mickey", in theory, you'd tap "Phone to Mickey"
 
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If we can already open our room door with our Magic Bands, why the need to sign up for entry using a smart phone? What am I missing? I know last time I was there, I wore my MB all the time.

It's what got me in my room at 11:00 pm, after picking up my luggage from bell services and a long day at the parks. None of the MBs worked and someone was on the way to let us in.
 
So, you understand it's a similar concept, right? Airlines and the TSA didn't ban the use of paper tickets when they made electronic ones available on phones. Both work and work about the same. If you had an electronic one, but something goes wrong, you just revert to getting a paper ticket. It's just no longer a default that you get a paper ticket. Meanwhile, they're using a little less paper and people who don't want to have to keep up with a paper ticket don't have to.

The difference being instead of tapping "Mickey to Mickey", in theory, you'd tap "Phone to Mickey"
Actually, it is. With all flights I take it is. With Southwest, American and Delta. I don't even want it, wish they would ask but they've printed it before I even get a chance to tell them I don't want it. Otherwise, I am not sure what your point is. I'm pretty sure I've said all along that I believe they can offer the phone as an alternative but that it will never be the default. The phone is not the default for flights either.
 
I just dont get why it works through Bluetooth, so the claim, and not just simple straight forward through the smartphone's NFC, which is what the Magic Band works off anyways.
 
So disappointed we stayed at the CR last week and we forgot to use our phones for entry, We love our bands and just didn't even think of it. OH well need to book another trip to find out
 
I just dont get why it works through Bluetooth, so the claim, and not just simple straight forward through the smartphone's NFC, which is what the Magic Band works off anyways.
Because that's what the system they installed works with. That's the norm in the industry, since other hotels don't have MB. They used a standard system that hotels use (for the mechanics part) and just added the software portion to MDE instead of the hotel app, like Marriott or Hyatt did.
 
So disappointed we stayed at the CR last week and we forgot to use our phones for entry, We love our bands and just didn't even think of it. OH well need to book another trip to find out
Yep, you need to hear the tinkleing, or is it better described as twrilling, sound. You know, it's the same sound that is made when Tink sprinkles her pixie dust over the castle at the beginning of a Disney movie
 
Actually, it is. With all flights I take it is. With Southwest, American and Delta.

Does SW at your airport have the self-tagging kiosks? You don't need to print a boarding pass there if you just choose "check bags only." I can't remember the last time I've had a paper boarding pass...probably four years or so, at least.

I'm just thankful for this thread for giving me the term "technology soccer moms," which I will use derisively, ie, "Look at those technology soccer moms, using their back-up cameras to make sure they don't hit anyone as they leave soccer practice," and, "Those technology soccer moms think they're so smart, ordering their food ahead of time using one of those 'apps.'" :-) I myself am a "luddite football dad" and thus my son and I will only listen to the game on a shortwave radio.
 
Does SW at your airport have the self-tagging kiosks? You don't need to print a boarding pass there if you just choose "check bags only." I can't remember the last time I've had a paper boarding pass...probably four years or so, at least.

I'm just thankful for this thread for giving me the term "technology soccer moms," which I will use derisively, ie, "Look at those technology soccer moms, using their back-up cameras to make sure they don't hit anyone as they leave soccer practice," and, "Those technology soccer moms think they're so smart, ordering their food ahead of time using one of those 'apps.'" :-) I myself am a "luddite football dad" and thus my son and I will only listen to the game on a shortwave radio.
We don't fly SW much, as little as possible, since it means a 2 hour drive to Atlanta and arriving 2 hours early vs a 5 min drive to a 5 gate airport where we can arrive 60 min before our flight.
But yes, they do.
However, when you check in with curbside, which we do, they print them. And RAC at Disney will print them.
 
Regarding the cost savings for WDW to replace magic bands with a phone app, are they really losing money on the magic bands? Obviously the cost is factored into the room rates, but in addition, you have the sales of all the other special design magic bands and magic band accessories. I would have to guess that magic bands are creating profit for WDW, unless the cost for maintaining the system is that high. But I would think that the costs for maintaining the ability to use a phone app would be similar?
 
I can't remember the last time I've had a paper boarding pass...probably four years or so, at least.

Personally, I always use the paper boarding pass. You show it when checking luggage, at the TSA area and when boarding the flight. If you phone suddenly goes dead or isn't able to access the info for any number of reasons (i.e. site down, internet issues, wifi down....etc.) you are out of luck. Paper works just fine for me. I don't see the phone boarding pass as any advantage and lots of possible issues.
 
Why can't this be JUST another option that people can use and not jumping to conclusions of MBs going away! Have you not gone into souvenir shops and see all the MB's for sale or their accessories! They are not going to give all that up for something (smartphone) that they cannot make $$ on.
 
Why can't this be JUST another option that people can use and not jumping to conclusions of MBs going away! Have you not gone into souvenir shops and see all the MB's for sale or their accessories! They are not going to give all that up for something (smartphone) that they cannot make $$ on.

Yes, this. There is absolutely no sign that this is meant to be a magic band replacement. Or that magic bands are going away. As many have said here and on similar threads, Disney has spent a staggering amount of money on the magic band system. They're not going to replace a thing that all of their resort guests have (magic bands) with a thing that only a certain percentage of guests have (smartphones that support the MDE app). Are they going to require that guests have a smartphone to stay at their hotels, because they won't be able to get into their rooms without one? Pretty unlikely, I'd say.

As I've said before, I see a couple of reasons for this.

1) It's a backup for the (sometimes flaky) magic bands. We see plenty of reports of guests not being able to get into their rooms with their magic bands. This way they have a backup method to use when that happens, which takes some of the pressure off the resort staff. Having a backup also is a guest satisfaction feature. The guest who's stuck outside their room door at 10 PM with two wailing, overtired toddlers and a nonworking magic band can just pull out their phone and get into the room, without having to hike to the front desk.

2) It's something frequent travelers are used to using. Most of the major chains are adding this capability to their apps. I suspect the manufacturers of the door locks provide an API that made it easy to add this to the MDE app. And development groups love the low-hanging fruit - quick, easy projects that add functionality, might make the guests and staff happy, and don't cost a lot of money.
 
Yes, this. There is absolutely no sign that this is meant to be a magic band replacement. Or that magic bands are going away. As many have said here and on similar threads, Disney has spent a staggering amount of money on the magic band system. They're not going to replace a thing that all of their resort guests have (magic bands) with a thing that only a certain percentage of guests have (smartphones that support the MDE app). Are they going to require that guests have a smartphone to stay at their hotels, because they won't be able to get into their rooms without one? Pretty unlikely, I'd say.

As I've said before, I see a couple of reasons for this.

1) It's a backup for the (sometimes flaky) magic bands. We see plenty of reports of guests not being able to get into their rooms with their magic bands. This way they have a backup method to use when that happens, which takes some of the pressure off the resort staff. Having a backup also is a guest satisfaction feature. The guest who's stuck outside their room door at 10 PM with two wailing, overtired toddlers and a nonworking magic band can just pull out their phone and get into the room, without having to hike to the front desk.

2) It's something frequent travelers are used to using. Most of the major chains are adding this capability to their apps. I suspect the manufacturers of the door locks provide an API that made it easy to add this to the MDE app. And development groups love the low-hanging fruit - quick, easy projects that add functionality, might make the guests and staff happy, and don't cost a lot of money.
I also think it's for conference and convention people, who, like a PP noted, does not want to wear a MB.
 

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