Very fascinating read. I think I agree with a lot of Stagg's views at the very end of the article - the author seems to conclude that there's a lot of negativity felt within various divisions of Disney, but innovation is rarely perfect. Think of it like a thesis for a PhD student - most PhD students joke that if every part of their thesis went right the first time, they could get their PhD done in a matter of a few months, not years as most doctorates take because most experiments/research are filled with more dead ends than not.

To me it sounds like the MyMagic+ system is exactly what Disney needed - a first step in making sure they have a future. Of course they'll have to adjust the direction (such as potentially utilizing smartphones directly rather than incorporating MagicBands everywhere) but the key thing is that in the process of developing the whole system, they had every division exploring entirely new avenues that they wouldn't have considered prior to the NGE initiative. In the competition to secure a better budget and protect their jobs, every division was thinking "what could we do to make this better?"

I also see complaints in the comments that Disney has become greedy - someone mentioned that they wished they could go back to the time where they went to the park, picked up a FastPass, and went on some rides rather than having to plan everything out. Others talked about how Disney is overbooking the parks. But the unfortunate truth is that if Disney decided to stop increasing capacity while improving the quality of the park, the demand to attend at the park would grow past Disney's ability to supply, which would either drive up prices past what the average person could afford OR make the trip a miserable experience in which no decent attractions are available due to waits.

That being said, I'm one person working in a very different industry, so maybe I'm wrong in that regard. To me it sounds like the difficult process was a huge success and will continue to be a success with the kind of people they have working at Disney. Thanks for the great Snap.

Wow, amazing how much the MyMagic+ project went through before it even was known to the executives!