Today the Disney Parks Blog confirmed what we told you all the way back in the beginning of January. Using the My Disney Experience app, guests will now be able to unlock their hotel room door with their smartphone via Bluetooth.
Coming soon to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, a new feature in the My Disney Experience app will allow guests to quickly unlock their hotel room using a digital key on their mobile devices, providing them with another seamless room entry option that brings added ease and flexibility to their experience.
Guests can also use their digital key to unlock the hotel entrance gate and common area doors requiring a key, which may include pools, fitness centers, elevators and club level lounges. Arriving travel parties that have checked in online may even use their digital key to bypass the need to visit the front desk, giving them the opportunity to go directly to their room when it is ready and start their vacation even faster.
Guests will still be able to use their MagicBand to unlock the door, so the option to use the My Disney Experience app is in addition to MagicBands. And, like MagicBands, guests will be able to unlock doors to common areas such as pools and laundry facilities, using the app as well.
To enable the use of this new “digital key,” guests will have to activate the feature at check-in through the app. Then, to enter their room, guests tap the “Unlock Door” button and hold their phone up to the door lock, the same way the smartphone door unlock feature works at many other hotels.
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And then, your phone’s battery goes flat ….
lol
Yep.
MagicBand is just fine for me.
I agree, The MB is on my wrist, I have to pull the phone out of my pocket. Why not just use the old
fashioned key cards. They would be just as quick, I do not see using your phone will speed up the process. This is just another way to cut costs, eliminate the bands and place adds on your phone. .
Where does Disney specifically say that this is done using Bluetooth?
Its more than likely NFC as bluetooth would require paring devices.
No. It’s done using Bluetooth as per Disney’s site:
“Bluetooth®-enabled mobile devices with the latest version of the My Disney Experience app are required to take advantage of a digital key for room entry. And don’t forget to wear your MagicBand for all other uses including park entry, FastPass+ redemption, room charges and more.”
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/04/new-digital-key-feature-coming-soon-to-my-disney-experience-app/?CMP=SOC-DPFY18Q2wo0329180019A
The lock uses BLE (Bluetooth low energy) which can either be paired or in an advertisement mode. In advertisement mode the lock will basically look for any phone that will talk to it. The app itself will contain your personal authentication key that will most likely be sent to your phone (through the cloud) when you check-in. When you use the app to get into the room, the lock and your phone will exchange authentication information and if what you have matches what the lock has been told is valid for your room, it will unlock and you can go in.
Source: I work for a company that makes Bluetooth locks.
Im not sure how helpful this would be since you get free magic bands with a hotel stay. And wouldnt there be more of a risk of unauthorized entries?
Looks like the begining of the end of magic bands. It’s an easy way to cut on cost of those ge bracelets and have everyone use their own devise and an opportunity for sponsorship of third party chargers .
I dont think magic bands will go away, ever. There is a whole lot of money in personalized bands, especially the new ones that have special effects when used. Not to mention the problems associated with a visitor whos phone is dead and cant access the room or rides.
Uh. Oh.
Bluetooth can be easily hacked or overwritten. I think this is a terrible idea. Also it stores the device data on your phone as a paired device when you leave. Let’s see how this works out lol
[…] This also means the systems that support the My Disney Experience app are down, which means the app is non-functional. Don’t expect to open your resort room door with your digital key! […]
[…] This also means the systems that support the My Disney Experience app are down, which means the app is non-functional. Don’t expect to open your resort room door with your digital key! […]