07 Feb 2014
Disney CEO Bob Iger: MyMagic+ testing a 'real success'
BY Jak Phillips
Disney CEO Bob Iger has revealed the company’s highly-anticipated MyMagic+ programme helped Magic Kingdom theme park process an additional 3,000 guests per day when it was tested over the festive period.
The MyMagic+ programme – which aims to improve visitors’ Disney experience through features such as an updated FastPass+ and a MagicBand bracelet utilising radio-frequency identification (RFID) to serve as a room key, entry pass and payment option – had offered encouraging signs, Iger said during the company’s US first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.
“What has been rolled out has been a real success both for the guest and for us,” said Iger.
“The biggest impact is being able to accommodate more people. This is just more efficient. Secondly, enabling guests to have a substantially better experience than they have had before, because they are doing more.”
He added that FastPass+ – which Disney plans to link to a mobile app – had proved more popular than the traditional FastPass system, with the increased uptake helping to boost capacity.
For the first quarter – which ran from 1 October 2013 to 31 December in the US – revenue for Disney’s Parks and Resorts division grew six per cent, to $3.6bn (€2.7bn, £2.2bn) while operating income rose 16 per cent, to $671m (€495m, £411m).
Increased spending at US theme parks was the main driver of growth, with per capita spending in Disney parks up 8 per cent.
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