Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline for Pixie Dust PhD. I am filming this on August 11, 2022,
which means this is your month 30 creator update. So we are two and a half years into the YouTube
channel! In this creator update we'll discuss MagicBand+ and the park pass reservation system,
and then we will move on to the usual monthly and lifetime analytics--stay tuned!
Alright, in terms of that Disney news I want to touch on—MagicBand+ and then
the park reservation system--I don't want to dwell on it too much. But there's just been
so much attention to these things recently over on #DisTwitter, a lot of negativity,
so let's just get it out there. Magic Band+ is basically your standard MagicBand 2.0 with
some additional features. So it does everything you're used to with MagicBands, and then also
it has some haptic feedback, it lights up sort of in coordination with some of the fireworks,
you can interact with the Fab 50 statues, you can play a bounty hunter game in Galaxy's Edge,
and there's probably a couple other small features I'm missing. Plus, as time goes on,
they may add more features, who knows. And it has a rechargeable battery, which I actually think is
a pretty cool feature. But I have seen several folks say that the battery doesn't last for very
long if you are using all the various options of playing the games and doing the haptic feedback,
and especially I think the Bounty Hunter game takes a lot of the battery. So pros and cons to
rechargeable I guess. But in my head I hope it means that since this is rechargeable that that
also means the rechargeable battery applies to the long range RFID. Whereas before with
your MagicBand 1 and 2 versions once the--the internal battery died your long range RFID was
also pretty much shot. So people seem pretty upset that they're relatively expensive, and
the add-on features aren't necessarily that cool I guess. I obviously haven't used it firsthand,
but the Bounty Hunter game is, you know, you get an assignment, you go find a door basically in
Galaxy's Edge, and you collect your bounty. It doesn't seem all too involved. Interacting with
the Fab 50 statues seems cool, but essentially you're just waving your wrist in front of the
statue and it will make some sounds. And apparently the recognition of the statues to
the MagicBand+ I think seems relatively variable. There's been a lot of wrist waving and nothing
happening I've seen. The light coordination with the nighttime shows thus far is pretty
underwhelming from what I'm able to tell. It's not like with every sequence it really lights up
and--and synchronizes with the fireworks or the projections or anything. It seems to be mostly
not on honestly… from what I've seen thus far, it seems like the lights on your MagicBand+ do
come on at certain times during the fireworks shows in Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, but it's not
like a constant cool stream of things. And I'm not really seeing anyone rave about any of the
features overall. And again it's mostly been complaints. So I understand obviously if it's
not living up to the hype in your head, but again for me I think this comes back to like setting
correct expectations. And it's basically just a MagicBand with a few extra features. And I never
really thought it would be that cool to begin with. I do think that the light synchronizing
with the nighttime spectaculars could be improved, but this may be an issue with battery… who knows?
But even if that was perfect, like would this thing be worth 40 to 50 bucks to you personally?
I have a suspicion that we'll end up buying one, maybe one each--maybe one for me,
one for my partner--just to sort of try it out and see how we feel about it. But uh I don't know. I
mean in general I don't like the band part of the MagicBand to begin with. I typically will
take the puck out of the center and then just put it in a Magic Holder [MagicKeeper], and put
it on like a lanyard or something more key chain style is--is more for me. Just because I do wear
a watch every day, so the additional band I find to be kind of annoying. And then the MagicBand+’s
are even bigger than Magic Band 2's, Magic Band 2’s were bigger than the original MagicBand… so
they're just getting chunkier. Overall, I--I mean I guess I get that it's disappointing.
But no one's making you buy it. And especially now with the added functionality with Bluetooth
on your phone through the My Disney Experience app like you really don't need a MagicBand at all. So
I don't know… let me know what you think down in the comments below. Are you underwhelmed by it?
Are you so underwhelmed that you're angry? Do you think you'll end up purchasing one and just one,
or none ever, or do you think you'll purchase one see how it goes--maybe you'll end up
purchasing more? The--they are expensive, and it seems like that upcharge compared to the
MagicBand 2 price may not be worth it for most people, but to each their own. Next let's talk
about park pass reservation. So there's no real update in terms of news; you still just do have
to make park reservations at either Walt Disney World or Disneyland. I saw a really interesting
thread getting amplified around Twitter that… the argument was basically that park pass reservations
keep Disney more accessible from a socioeconomic point of view. I think the overarching argument
was without the reservations to cap capacity then they would probably continue to increase ticket
prices even more, pricing more and more folks out. So in that way, because the reservation system is
sort of a free-for-all… it's--it's sort of fair, you know. Once you can afford to buy your tickets
everyone who's a ticket holder has sort of an equal chance of making a park pass reservation.
Though I think if you're an annual pass holder that's a completely separate conversation. But
if we're talking about day guests, just buying day tickets, it does kind of equalize out folks
who can barely afford to go to Disney and then the folks who are super rich and could
pay a much higher ticket price. Instead everyone goes into this pool to make their reservations,
and you basically have an equal chance. I do think that's an interesting argument. I'm not saying
it's wrong at all. But it does always strike a chord with me when folks are arguing that things
Disney does is to make it more affordable and make it more accessible for your average American… like
I think most of the Disney community has lost sight of what an average American family is,
and particularly money-wise. Like Disney is so priced out of so much of the country already that
sitting here trying to tell me that like “oh well the park pass reservation makes it more affordable
for poor families”, like no, like actually poor families just cannot already go to Disney, okay.
Like I really think Disney is already at a place of being close to a luxury product. Yes, they
could bump prices up even more; and I get that and perhaps the park pass reservation is helping from
that happening sooner rather than later. But it's still… like I have so many friends that, you know,
work perfectly respectable jobs, and typically in customer service, and they literally cannot
and probably never will be able to afford a Disney vacation. So just even being in that tier of going
to Disney with enough regularity, and paying attention to the news enough to like make your
economic argument about park pass reservations… like you are already probably relatively well off.
And I just think we need to remember that when we talk about these things. So yes, maybe the park
pass reservation is helping not have ticket costs skyrocket right away or food costs or some other
way for Disney to make more money and--and make it more of a totally luxury product. But I mean…
you know, I don't hate the park pass reservation system as a person who only goes once every couple
years. I plan that well in advance. I buy tickets well in advance. It's pretty easy for me to snag
reservations. I understand that's not the case for many people. So I don't know… I don't really see
the utility a ton. I think it helps them plan out staffing, which I understand must be very useful
for them. And originally I feel like they were trying to play it as controlling crowds for the
pandemic situation, but they're way past like safe crowd levels now for that. So it seems to really
help the corporation, and I don't think it does a ton for the guests. And I really don't think
the economic argument is there enough to act like “oh well this is what's keeping it affordable.”
Like Disney's not affordable, straight up. But let me know what you think in the comments down
below. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the park reservation system. Particularly,
I know a lot of you head down to the parks more than I do, so I think we come at it from fairly
different angles. It's always interesting to have those discussions. Alright, let's move on to stats
then. Month 30 stats will run from July 11th through August 10th. During this period, if we
look at the videos I posted---not shorts, so just proper videos--the first one was that Disability
Access Service program video, and then there was a month 29 creator update. Then we have the
Disneyland planning part 2 video. We did the beat the heat tips… the one day at EPCOT vlog. And then
technically the Genie+ overview and experience video did get posted on August 10th, so it does
sort of just barely count. But I mean meaningfully it will end up in next month's stats. If we
look at the top videos this month actually the Disability Access Service program video is number
one, which is pretty exciting. Because for me it's incredibly rare to post a video and then in that
same month it got posted have it perform. Usually the DVC news videos do this because they're quite
timely, but for general informational content it's--it's typically a much slower grind. So it
was awesome to see the engagement on this video. Then we've got some old standbys that tend to do
well: there's the ADR tips and tricks video; the old PhotoPass video; that DoubleTree room tour
is really doing numbers.. I don't know what it is about that property, but people look it up.
Next is the BoardWalk Studios room tour. And then we do have one short on this list, and this was
the DVC reinstating the 100% borrowing short. So I thought about making this a proper video actually,
but since it was such a small update I just decided to make it a short. Then we've got our
Disneyland off-site hotel room tour; last month's monthly creator update; the beat the heat; and
then seven month DVC availability for September. Four of these were posted during this past monthly
period, and again the number one video was posted this past this month. So pretty happy with the
engagement on the most recent content. Moving into actual stats then. This month we got almost
7,000 views; we were at over 6,800, which is pretty good for me. And this came from over
4,000 unique viewers. So again a pretty good number for me. Of those almost 4,200 unique
viewers, 389 were returning. So thank you so much for coming back, liking the videos, subscribing
to the channel, and turning notifications on. I was sad to see this dip a bit from last month,
but that's how it goes sometimes. All those views resulted in almost 600 watch hours this month; so
we were at 592 and change, which is really really great for me. I think it literally is the second
time I've been over 550 hours for one month. And another great stat this month was impressions:
we were at over 91,000 just for the month, which I'm pretty sure is a record, so hooray! But
unfortunately my impressions from YouTube is down. We're at 29.2% this month, down from a little over
31% last month. And looking at the past handful of months or so, it seems like we're just on a little
bit of a downward trajectory here. I don't think 29% is bad; it's still pretty close to the 30%
mark I want to be at. But it is a little bit of a bummer to look at it over time, and see this slope
downward. Watch time from those not subscribed this month was increased, which is worse; we are
at 78.2%--almost 80% of my watch time is coming from people who are not subscribed to the channel.
Incredibly frustrating. But it is what it is. But in better news we did get 49 new subscribers
this month! So birthday month pulled through with having a good month for new subscribers. This is
not quite a record, but definitely a super strong month for me. I'm really happy about that. Over
on Twitter I am following 1,136 accounts, and 967 are following me. And on Instagram I am following
514 accounts and 368 are following me. So in both cases slow but steady gains. And I still remain
not super active on Instagram, but I am posting a little bit more than I usually do. I am a little
surprised I haven't hit 1,000 followers on Twitter yet as I am actually quite active on there,
and I interact with people a lot. But I don't know… I guess maybe the people who like my
style have already found me and everyone else is not enthused? Moving to lifetime analytics.
We are now at over 112,000 views lifetime for the channel, so we did break 110,000 this month, which
is pretty cool. And that's resulted in over 9,200 total watch hours. So again, we broke 9,000; I was
pretty sure that would happen since we didn't even need 400 more hours from last month to hit 9,000.
But to be at 9,200 is very great. Like I said, this month was really really good for watch hours.
The channel has over 1.3 million impressions now, and lifetime we're at 28.7% from YouTube--a 0.1%
gain over last month. Watch time from those not subscribed is now at 71.3%; so lifetime of the
channel, over 70% of the watch times from people not subscribed. But again, what are you gonna
do? But hey, we're at 945 total subscribers! So the 1,000 subscriber mark definitely feels more
within reach now. And I'm just super pumped about that. Even if we have a few bad months in a row,
we should hit 1,000 by the end of the year. Overall comparing this month--month 30--to
last month, which was month 29, it was pretty great. Views, watch hours, percent view duration,
and impressions were all improved this month compared to last month. And even the number
of subscribers was better. We did dip a little bit in impressions from YouTube, and those not
subscribed was a little worse, but that's not too bad… only two stats being worse, I'll take it.
And for a lifetime the percent view duration did go down lifetime this month compared to lifetime
last month; same with those not subscribed. But at least the impression from YouTube is
still very slowly but steadily going up. Looking ahead to the month 31 content, again, we have
that Genie+ video that just got posted on August 10th, so technically that is part of month 30.
But I mean the impact of it will be felt in month 31. Then my partner and I have a series where we
talked about sort of our least magical moments and our most magical moments from our recent trips;
so those will probably get posted this month. I offhand sort of mention my Hilton American Express
Honors credit card in these videos sometimes, and I've gotten a few DMs asking me to sort of go over
that in more detail, and particularly how I use it for Disney. So that video I'm pretty sure will
be coming up this month. We'll go over the credit card in general, but also really with a focus on
how it works for us at Walt Disney World. And then surprise! We are going to Paris, and this will
include Disneyland Paris. So we'll have a video that is dual purpose: it will be the Disneyland
Paris trip announcement, plus some venting because honestly I've had a really terrible time planning
this trip, and I just needed to vent. Plus it's kind of under the guise of like if I tell
you what problems I'm running into, hopefully they're less frustrating for you. With that
in mind, I am planning on filming while we're in Disneyland Paris, but I'm really interested
to know if you all are interested in just overall Paris? We will be spending significantly more time
in actual Paris than Disneyland Paris. Regardless of anything, I'm definitely taking all my touristy
photos in Paris. But vlogging is a little bit different for sure. So if you're interested in
that let me know. It'll definitely influence how much I do or do not film while we're in Paris
proper. Looking past month 31 we've got some other good content coming up. I don't really know the
order, but this is sort of what I'm thinking. I have my Disneyland trip cost video that is already
pretty ready to go, so that'll probably come up in month 32. Then I'll walk you through booking the
Disneyland Paris hotel and ticket package. We will probably have a pack with me for Disneyland Paris;
again, I just like pack with me videos so why not? I have finally filmed the Old Key West compared
to Saratoga Springs Resort DVC video. I haven't edited it yet, so I don't know if it'll come in
month 32, but it is at least making progress. We are getting there, friends. My partner and I will
film a video sort of reflecting on our favorite Quick Service spots in Walt Disney World--both
for actual meals as well as snacks. I've been in a little bit of a mood apparently lately,
so we are also going to talk about--my partner and I will talk about sort of, you know, don't
be this person when you're in the parks. Like rude guests, things that really get on our nerves,
and, you know, behavior to avoid. And then of course we'll have some Disneyland Paris Vlogs
coming up as well. Past that I'm not too sure. As always if you have ideas please leave those
in the comments down below. I am thinking about doing a follow-up to my Disability Access Service
video because I have gotten a lot of private message questions, and there are some themes.
So I think there's some FAQs I can probably answer in a separate video. But otherwise,
I'm really looking forward to taking a vacation--in general and especially finally getting to Paris.
We've been trying to get out there since like 2019, but obviously life has gotten in the way.
And tacking Disneyland Pairs onto that as well. I'm super excited. I can't wait. Mostly I'm
excited to eat all of the pastries though. I hope you've all been well! Again, if there's other
Disney news you want to talk about let me know in the comments down below. And I would love to hear
thoughts on MagicBand+ as well as the park pass reservation system. And let me know
what you think about vlogging Paris proper--not necessarily Disneyland Paris. Is that something
that interests you or not so much? I really appreciate you being here, thanks again for all
the support. May the rest of your day be magical, and we'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD!