With all the Disney NextGen stuff going on with MagicBands and FASTPass+ and everything else…Disney is putting new technologies and trials into motion all the time. That includes some new trials at Disney restaurants that accept the Disney Dining Plan.
One of those restaurants is Mama Melrose’s Ristorante Italiano over at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
As everyone that dines at Disney World knows, servers will first ask you if you are on any sort of Disney Dining Plan. At that point, they’ll advise you to give them your Key to the World or Tables in Wonderland card at the end of the meal.
Well, during a recent trip to Mama Melrose’s, the server had what looked like a large iPhone with a card reader on it. She asked if there any Disney Dining Plans at the table, and the answer was “no,” but I inquired about the contraption.
The server said it is a new test being run at Mama Melrose’s and one location in Disney’s Animal Kingdom for now. She believed it to be Tusker House, and it’s to make sure that this new program is working.
Apparently, when asked if guests have a Disney Dining Plan…if they do, the server will scan their Key to the World cards with the reader, before the meal even begins. It will at that point, let them know how many credits are left, how many to take, and the like.
Here’s the thing though…it is going to run off of the “My Disney Experience” app. In a nutshell, Disney is prepping its new technology at the parks so that in time, everyone will have to set up a “My Disney Experience” account and have it in place for their trips.
While the system isn’t fully operational yet and still has a lot of bugs in it; Disney is indeed working on it and wants this Next Generation of technology to take over.
