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MyMagic+ kiosks are generating big returns for Disney

Disney's MyMagic+ program, which uses a combination of wristbands and kiosks to help theme park attendees prioritize and get to their chosen attractions faster, has turned out to be very lucrative, according to executives on a recent earnings call.

February 17, 2015

Disney's MyMagic+ program, which uses a combination of wristbands and kiosks to help theme park attendees prioritize and get to their chosen attractions faster, has turned out to be very lucrative, according to executives on a recent earnings call.

The program initially launched in the summer of 2013, and has gradually been expanded, tweaked and modified since.

On the call, Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Bob Iger said that 10 million guests have worn the bands since the program launched, and that a "significant" number of them rate their experience with it as "excellent."

Iger went on:

Just to give you a for instance, there were days during the holiday season where we were entertaining 250,000 guests at a time on-property. And when you just consider how many guests you have to flow through the gates when the park opens in the morning — the fact that you have a band that enables you to basically walk right in, touch the band to a kiosk and keep going instead of handing a ticket to a cast member; making sure the ticket is right; and then going in, that's obviously creating a huge improvement, meaning much quicker entrance into the park.

And what this all adds up to is our ability to manage more people at a time without in any way diminishing guest experience. We did see in the quarter a positive impact to the bottom line from MyMagic+, just the beginnings of it. We will continue to see more of that.

Iger declined to give specific numbers on revenue from the program, but VP and CFO Jay Rasulo noted that the increase in revenue from MyMagic+ this year "will outweigh the preopening spending on Shanghai Disneyland in our total numbers for fiscal 2015."