Cruise and Theme Park Operational Updates due to Coronavirus

[MickeyWaffles]

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I think Wishes is the stronger show (I will fight you, HEA lovers), but what I really miss is how much less commitment it required. Without the projections, it was so much easier to just watch it from all the different vantage points without missing out on part of the show.

Agree.

I enjoy HEA. It grows on me each time I see it. But I prefer Wishes. I think projections are neat, but I really don’t like seeing Cinderella castle demoted to a movie screen. Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should. The classic castle framed by fireworks just can’t be beat, IMO. I miss that.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Agree.

I enjoy HEA. It grows on me each time I see it. But I prefer Wishes. I think projections are neat, but I really don’t like seeing Cinderella castle demoted to a movie screen. Just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should. The classic castle framed by fireworks just can’t be beat, IMO. I miss that.

They both bring tears to my eyes... and I'm man enough to admit that LOL!

 

[Teamubr]

Fireworks at MK on our first evening at WDW has been a family tradition. Wishes was the show when we started taking our DS to WDW. He was 4 the first time. 22 now. The first time I saw HEA, I thought the projection mapping was very cool, but it all seemed like a 15 minute commercial for Disney movie IP. HEA has since grown on me. I'll watch Youtube videos of each and Wishes looks really dated now. I'd love to have Wishes come back occasionally, but HEA is the better "show".

j

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Fireworks at MK on our first evening at WDW has been a family tradition. Wishes was the show when we started taking our DS to WDW. He was 4 the first time. 22 now. The first time I saw HEA, I thought the projection mapping was very cool, but it all seemed like a 15 minute commercial for Disney movie IP. HEA has since grown on me. I'll watch Youtube videos of each and Wishes looks really dated now. I'd love to have Wishes come back occasionally, but HEA is the better "show".

j

We try to see Fireworks our first evening there - though typically we don't do a park so it is from outside (so like from the Poly beach, or Cali Grill) ...

... After our last trip (which was last Feb, so pre-Covid, we will never see HEA from inside the parks again unless we do the dessert party. I love the show but the crowding and pushing and kids on shoulders, it was a nightmare. My kids were literally crying because of how it was (they were getting pushed and could see, etc)

 

[only hope]

Not quite. The way active RFID works there are essentially two main types of active tags: either the tag is constantly broadcasting its ID, or it waits until it's pinged by a receiver and then it replies. If it's the first type, it will use battery power at a constant rate regardless of how often you're in the park. If it's the second, it would use more battery in the parks than it would outside the parks, but eventually the battery will discharge.

Ok engineers, which is it?

It’s the second. Disney confirmed a long time ago it is not constant tracking. That being said, I’m not sure that they ever specified whether there are receivers that we don’t know about. The known ones are on some attractions for photos/videos and at a handful of interactive feautures, like the wanted poster in the Star Tours queue.

 

[leannak]

Do they use the magic bands for timing the lines? I remember they used to give random people a marker when you got into line that you were to hand in when you got to the front of the line so they could time it but I don’t think I’ve seen that for a long time. Seems they could do it by magic band now.

 

[yulilin3]

Fireworks at MK on our first evening at WDW has been a family tradition. Wishes was the show when we started taking our DS to WDW. He was 4 the first time. 22 now. The first time I saw HEA, I thought the projection mapping was very cool, but it all seemed like a 15 minute commercial for Disney movie IP. HEA has since grown on me. I'll watch Youtube videos of each and Wishes looks really dated now. I'd love to have Wishes come back occasionally, but HEA is the better "show".

j

And better storytelling all together with a better message.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

Do they use the magic bands for timing the lines?

Yes.

 

[disneygirlsng]

And better storytelling all together with a better message.

The story in HEA is just incredible. And the message makes me far more emotional. And you can get all of that even without the projections. It's just an all around absolutely stunning show.

 

[vacationer1954]

Important quote "if vaccine distribution rates stay the same". This is clickbait. It should be obvious to anyone that vaccine distribution rates will keep increasing and will go up even more as new vaccines receive approval.

I think you're correct about some countries, but the problem is that a lot of cruises make port at countries for which no progress is being made toward vaccination. Cruising might be especially hard hit by the pandemic because of this disparity.

 

[sky13]

I think you're correct about some countries, but the problem is that a lot of cruises make port at countries for which no progress is being made toward vaccination. Cruising might be especially hard hit by the pandemic because of this disparity.

Cruises have resumed where I am, as "cruises to nowhere" with testing in place. Normally cruises here would stop at various regional locations, but as overseas leisure travel isn't really allowed where I am for now they're limited to "cruises to nowhere".

These "cruises to nowhere" seem to be fairly popular...

 

[vacationer1954]

These "cruises to nowhere" seem to be fairly popular...

They're illegal embarking from the United States due to the Passenger Vessel Services Act. There are some efforts underway to get a temporary waiver of the law, but I doubt it will be successful because the industry isn't willing to go for a waiver of a part of the law - they insist on the whole law getting waived or nothing, so they'll probably end up with nothing.

 

[sky13]

They're illegal embarking from the United States due to the Passenger Vessel Services Act. There are some efforts underway to get a temporary waiver of the law, but I doubt it will be successful because the industry isn't willing to go for a waiver of a part of the law - they insist on the whole law getting waived or nothing, so they'll probably end up with nothing.

I'm not in the USA so this doesn't apply to where I am! These "cruises to nowhere" are operating with the full support of the local government, as far as I can tell.

I'm surprised they haven't tried doing this in other places around the world though, I think the cruise companies here are just glad to be sailing rather than having their ships be idle.

(We are fortunate to have an extremely low rate of community transmission so this helps matters at the moment - I imagine it would be a lot harder to do these "cruises to nowhere" from places that have much higher community transmission rates. But as vaccination increases then I'd expect more places around the world to have their community transmission rates decrease and for this to become a more viable option for more locations...)

 

[vacationer1954]

I know that at least one of the US-based cruise lines have been considering basing operations for a while in Barbados, and avoiding US law almost entirely that way.

 

[Runnsally]

It’s the second. Disney confirmed a long time ago it is not constant tracking. That being said, I’m not sure that they ever specified whether there are receivers that we don’t know about. The known ones are on some attractions for photos/videos and at a handful of interactive feautures, like the wanted poster in the Star Tours queue.

Thanks, but this doesn’t answer the question of whether magic bands constantly broadcast or not. How Disney sets up their receivers is a separate issue.

 

[Eric Smith]

Do they use the magic bands for timing the lines? I remember they used to give random people a marker when you got into line that you were to hand in when you got to the front of the line so they could time it but I don’t think I’ve seen that for a long time. Seems they could do it by magic band now.

They don't use the magic bands to time the lines. They stopped giving the cards out for COVID reasons. I think they're just estimating line time by how long the line is. That's probably why there has been such a great variance post-COVID with how long the line is supposed to be and how long it actually takes.

 

[Eric Smith]

Thanks, but this doesn’t answer the question of whether magic bands constantly broadcast or not. How Disney sets up their receivers is a separate issue.

The RFID chip with the battery in the magicband does constantly broadcast. This is the one used for things like on ride photos. There is a separate passive RFID chip that interacts with the touch points. The second chip will last a long time, the first one lasts 2-3 years until the battery dies.

 

[Eric Smith]

I know that at least one of the US-based cruise lines have been considering basing operations for a while in Barbados, and avoiding US law almost entirely that way.

It doesn't work that way. If you dock in a US port, you are subject to US laws. They would have to start sailing from non-US ports to dodge US laws and it's incredibly unlikely that people would fly to another country to get on a cruise during the pandemic.

 

[Runnsally]

The RFID chip with the battery in the magicband does constantly broadcast. This is the one used for things like on ride photos. There is a separate passive RFID chip that interacts with the touch points. The second chip will last a long time, the first one lasts 2-3 years until the battery dies.

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[SMRT-1]

The RFID chip with the battery in the magicband does constantly broadcast. This is the one used for things like on ride photos. There is a separate passive RFID chip that interacts with the touch points. The second chip will last a long time, the first one lasts 2-3 years until the battery dies.

You seem fairly certain that it's constantly broadcasting. I'm curious what your source is? I have yet to find anywhere that provides a definitive answer as to which method of active RFID is used by MBs.

I'm not saying a MB isn't constantly broadcasting - it may very well be, but active RFID does not have to be constantly broadcasting, so it's entirely possible that the active RFID tag is only broadcasting its ID when prompted by a signal from a receiver. In this case, the transceiver operates in low-power mode until it gets a request from a receiver, then wakes up, broadcasts the ID, and then goes back in to low-power mode. It still drains the battery, but at a much slower rate than constant broadcasting - even more so outside of the parks since it's not being asked to broadcast its ID.