How MyMagic+ handles attraction closures with FASTPASS+

[muteki]

No. It wil be up to operations to determine if a closure at 1pm is going to impact your 3pm FP+...

This seems like an improvement over what we had previously, but it sounds like a lot of effort will be going on behind the scenes to keep it running. Not sure how much faith I have in their ability to estimate downtime when it comes to technical issues or weather. It seems like it would get really complicated really quick.

And I'd love to see the selections for alternates if my FP+ reservation falls though. I don't understand why if it is tomorrow I can pick whatever I want, but if it is today I have to choose from a list. Why not anything left that is available?

 

[devoy1701]

This seems like an improvement over what we had previously, but it sounds like a lot of effort will be going on behind the scenes to keep it running. Not sure how much faith I have in their ability to estimate downtime when it comes to technical issues or weather. It seems like it would get really complicated really quick.

And I'd love to see the selections for alternates if my FP+ reservation falls though. I don't understand why if it is tomorrow I can pick whatever I want, but if it is today I have to choose from a list. Why not anything left that is available?

Redistribution of the crowds. Artificial increase in demand for less popular rides. Less strain on the headliners. More appearance that Magic Kingdom doesn't need another E-ticket. Fake perks of using NextGen.

 

[orky8]

Yes.. the world can be boiled down to that one thing and that dictates the answer to every decision ever.

With Disney, these days, yes. Behind that one thing are gigantic spreadsheets with hundreds of variables but "crude" is not one of them. Disney wants to know how little is has to do to extract as much money as possible. You said it yourself - satisfy vs placate. BUT, that's not how it used to be. Placate never used to be the preffered option. Moreover, Disney has been grossly overestimating the return rate of a placated customer. That's the problem with placating, if your spreadsheets are wrong, or the competition ups its game, you lose customers. On the other hand, if you run a business with the model that customer satsifaction is job number 1, you may not be able to achieve the highest profit margins, but your calculations are a bit simpler.

Five or so years ago, TDO sat around a big conference table and said what should we do now to get more customers. They asked if they were maxed out and whether they had plateaued (not that plauteauing with a high profitability is bad, as long as you can maintain it). Some folks raised their hands and said they could build amazing new attractions, and guests will come back even faster then before. But some other folks (probably MBAs) raised their hands and said we could do that, but our customers will come back either way, so lets invest that money instead in a data mining project that will allow us to extract even more money from our customers. Those folks believed that many of the more expensive aspects of P&R could be cut and relatively few guests would stop coming. That a placated customer was less expensive than a satisfied (or, perish the thought, impressed) customer. And, for many years, their theory proved true. Guests come coming, and cuts kept proceeding with relatively few new attractions built.

So yes, it all boils down to the almighty Dollar. But, more importantly, a rather short-sighted view on how to attain the most of these dollars.

 

[muteki]

Redistribution of the crowds. Artificial increase in demand for less popular rides. Less strain on the headliners. More appearance that Magic Kingdom doesn't need another E-ticket. Fake perks of using NextGen.

"Sorry your last FP was screwed up, here's something else you may not want to do to make you feel better."

You can still change your FP+ reservations day-of before using them right? I wonder what the pool of alternates looks like when you choose to change it yourself, vs. if it gets canceled on you automatically.

Thinking about it, I guess if their estimates were wrong and the ride opens up during the window when all the FPs are cancelled, that would be a good time to go in and wait standby.

 

[SirLink]

So you are proposing that because there is a new FP system - your ability to complain/escalate and get comps will disappear? Your example will still hold true if you go and complain... Disney will buy you off as they did last time.

Nope I know I can complain ... but there just simply isn't the amount of E-tickets in the MK compared to Disneyland to allow for any notion of FP+ improving or benefiting anyone.

 

[flynnibus]

I was not suggesting that they make it a crap shoot. I would never expect them to offer a new FP time before they knew if the ride was coming back online

But there in lies the problem. Not only do they not know when the attraction will come on line, they may not even know when they will know when the attraction will come back online.

So to put it in an example... Let's assume the attraction goes down at 11am, and you had a FP for 11:30am and are notified at 11am that the attraction is down. The ride system is down, and they can't figure out why.. and they need to get the mechanics involved. They work at it for awhile before they know the root cause. Finally at 6pm, they figured out the problem, and know the ride will reopen at 6:30.

So what happened in your example? You were forced to wait for 7.5hrs before you knew what you could do with your valuable FP+ allocation. You are forced to wait in limbo with this 'valuable' 1 of 3 allocation you have for the day. Complicating that, at what point should the system decide 'if we don't reallocate you now, you will lose out entirely because it can't practically be applied elsewhere and your FP+ will have no value'?? Because it's an unknown time when they will know the answer.. you have a second decision 'when do I punt and just give up on the wait'?

So by offering you the ability to reallocate your FP+ earlier.. you are no longer forced to wait in limbo. This is the customer value in this solution.. it frees up your FP+ to be reused.

Now, maybe the downtime is much shorter.. and you're willing to wait it out to try to reschedule. But you probably don't want that to be the default behavior... because the more people that do that.. the harder it is to fit them back in... the longer the downtime, the more people displaced and the less time to fit them in.

This is why (again) I said earlier.. I wonder if the block is not being able to rebook while the attraction is down, or if they will block rebooking entirely for the same attraction. The latter would be the situation where you want to 'wait it out'... but you don't want 'wait it out' to be the default in alot of scenarios as I outlined above.

 

[flynnibus]

Nope I know I can complain ... but there just simply isn't the amount of E-tickets in the MK compared to Disneyland to allow for any notion of FP+ improving or benefiting anyone.

So your complaint about this system and its options has zero impact on being able to complain.. or the possible outcomes from doing so. In other words... irrelevant.

 

[devoy1701]

But there in lies the problem. Not only do they not know when the attraction will come on line, they may not even know when they will know when the attraction will come back online.

So to put it in an example... Let's assume the attraction goes down at 11am, and you had a FP for 11:30am and are notified at 11am that the attraction is down. The ride system is down, and they can't figure out why.. and they need to get the mechanics involved. They work at it for awhile before they know the root cause. Finally at 6pm, they figured out the problem, and know the ride will reopen at 6:30.

So what happened in your example? You were forced to wait for 7.5hrs before you knew what you could do with your valuable FP+ allocation. You are forced to wait in limbo with this 'valuable' 1 of 3 allocation you have for the day. Complicating that, at what point should the system decide 'if we don't reallocate you now, you will lose out entirely because it can't practically be applied elsewhere and your FP+ will have no value'?? Because it's an unknown time when they will know the answer.. you have a second decision 'when do I punt and just give up on the wait'?

So by offering you the ability to reallocate your FP+ earlier.. you are no longer forced to wait in limbo. This is the customer value in this solution.. it frees up your FP+ to be reused.

Now, maybe the downtime is much shorter.. and you're willing to wait it out to try to reschedule. But you probably don't want that to be the default behavior... because the more people that do that.. the harder it is to fit them back in... the longer the downtime, the more people displaced and the less time to fit them in.

This is why (again) I said earlier.. I wonder if the block is not being able to rebook while the attraction is down, or if they will block rebooking entirely for the same attraction. The latter would be the situation where you want to 'wait it out'... but you don't want 'wait it out' to be the default in alot of scenarios as I outlined above.

I think you misread my original post. I want a +1 allocation if one of my 3 FP+ picks goes down. I want a "Sorry for the inconvenience" FP and I want a "redistributed for original choice attraction if possible" FP. So if I don't get to ride it, yes, I still got 3 FPs to use, but if it does come back online, i have the ability to still experience the attraction i wanted in the first place, and I was given an extra bonus for my troubles of having to reschedule my plans that I painstakingly set up 3-6 months ago.

 

[luv]

I think that is terrible. If their ride is closed, people should get to ride it when it opens.

It is also terrible that if it closes, you now have to cross the park, go stand in line at Guest Services and deal with that.

Once again, I think this new system will lead to a lot of inconvenience and disappointment. Maybe I'm wrong and it will all be sorted out and work beautifully. But it really sounds to me like it will stink.

 

[rioriz]

I see this as a plus cause I know I have spent many a day wasting time checking to see if TT opened again...and usually it hadn't. At least I can have the option of a ride at another park. This before was a question of whether we could reserve FP+ in different parks on the same day.

Honestly I have not seen one review about those who have used the FP+ or Magic Bands that has been all negative...

 

[luv]

This also means that nobody can count on these new FPs. No reason to get a FP for Space Mountain if there is doubt about whether or not you'll be able to actually ride it.

If I were planning, I'd go back to planning as if they didn't exist at all, since I couldn't count on them.

 

[wdwmagic]

This also means that nobody can count on these new FPs. No reason to get a FP for Space Mountain if there is doubt about whether or not you'll be able to actually ride it.

If I were planning, I'd go back to planning as if they didn't exist at all, since I couldn't count on them.

The same problem exists with current FP. Is you have a FP for Space Mountain tonight at 9pm, and the park closes at 10pm, and it breaks down at 9pm for the rest of the night you will not ride Space Mountain. Under the new system you will get an alternative FP. Isnt that a benefit?

 

[flynnibus]

I think you misread my original post

No, I said earlier in the thread the compensation FP would be a nice gesture... see this post

I think offering another FP in the meantime as a form of guest recovery would be nice.. but there is only so much capacity.. which much of has already been promised to someone else.

What I've been trying to illustrate to you why the "redistributed for original choice attraction if possible" FP isn't something that necessarily can be done within a reasonable time... and spending more money on it won't necessarily change it. You're limited by human factors and customer expectation.

 

[flynnibus]

Here's another factor about simple 're-ride' problems.

If an attraction re-opens - and you have a large # of people with a token that allows them to re-ride at any time. What happens when all those people surge back because the ride is open now! Lethargic lines.

The only way to counter that is not let all the FP people return at the same time.. so you have to ration them out. The longer the attraction is closed, or the closer to the end of the day - the harder it is to do that.

 

[muteki]

This also means that nobody can count on these new FPs. No reason to get a FP for Space Mountain if there is doubt about whether or not you'll be able to actually ride it.

If I were planning, I'd go back to planning as if they didn't exist at all, since I couldn't count on them.

Yeah, I would be really hesitant to reserve SM early in the morning, as I usually find it opens later than the rest of the park (just my own experience). Perhaps FP+ reservations will be more incentive to get the thing running earlier, who knows.

It certainly seems though that if there is any doubt that the FP+ might not be usable, that you are better off putting that one later in the day, as the replacement for that seems more valuable. Who knows 60 days out though?

 

[SirLink]

So your complaint about this system and its options has zero impact on being able to complain.. or the possible outcomes from doing so. In other words... irrelevant.

Hardly irrelevant, there are more attractions at Disneyland which are E-tickets - if I booked an E-ticket and I get offered anything other than E-ticket anybody is going to ed off. Therefore seen as there is a lack of E's and to reduce queues of existing attractions the correct response would of been to invest $1billion in each park, with real E's

 

[devoy1701]

No, I said earlier in the thread the compensation FP would be a nice gesture... see this post

Sorry about that.

What I've been trying to illustrate to you why the "redistributed for original choice attraction if possible" FP isn't something that necessarily can be done within a reasonable time... and spending more money on it won't necessarily change it. You're limited by human factors and customer expectation.

And to that I say try harder because Disney is going to have a lot of unhappy guests who are having to book their FPs 3 months in advanced and aren't able to utilize some of them because a ride goes 101. It goes back to where I said if i see that the attraction is opened back up later and i no longer have a FP for it, I'm going to be very upset. Because the thousands of other people who also made their reservations 90 days out got to ride the attraction with minimal wait, but it was "too complicated" to try to make my reservation work and find a way to fit me back into the schedule.

 

[flynnibus]

Hardly irrelevant, there are more attractions at Disneyland which are E-tickets - if I booked an E-ticket and I get offered anything other than E-ticket anybody is going to ed off.

Be sure to queue up in Guest Relations to let them know of this tragedy...

 

[luv]

The same problem exists with current FP. Is you have a FP for Space Mountain tonight at 9pm, and the park closes at 10pm, and it breaks down at 9pm for the rest of the night you will not ride Space Mountain. Under the new system you will get an alternative FP. Isn't that a benefit?

As an end-of-the-day scenario, it's not bad.

As a "Ha! Ha! We punked you!" scenario earlier in the day, it's terrible. Family thinks they're going to ride Space Mountain, but then can't. Being given another FP (that they've already learned they cannot count on) will not be a huge bonus.

If the ride breaks down, I think people should be able to ride it when it comes back up.

I really think that if these FPs can't be relied upon, it will totally backfire for Disney.

And if I were planning and knew that they couldn't be counted on, I'd plan like they didn't exist, with Space Mountain first, Splash second, etc. no way I'd take a chance on missing Space or having to wait 80 minutes for it.

Also, knowing that they can't be relied on, it would never be seen as a perk to staying in a wdw hotel. For me, anyway.

 

[flynnibus]

And to that I say try harder because Disney is going to have a lot of unhappy guests who are having to book their FPs 3 months in advanced and aren't able to utilize some of them because a ride goes 101. It goes back to where I said if i see that the attraction is opened back up later and i no longer have a FP for it, I'm going to be very upset. Because the thousands of other people who also made their reservations 90 days out got to ride the attraction with minimal wait, but it was "too complicated" to try to make my reservation work and find a way to fit me back into the schedule.

I think people need a perspective check here tho... are we talking about losing a limb? Are people equally emotionally scarred from the past when they walked by an attraction.. opt'ing to skip it.. and then finding out when they came back later that the attraction was closed? Or that after years of waiting to goto Disney.. they find out their favorite attraction is closed during that time.

At the end of the day.. we're talking about waiting in a shorter line. If something happens and we can't do that.. I hope people keep some perspective before they storm City Hall as if Donald had just stolen their wallet.

If something is that critical to someone... just wait in line. Obviously that is the lesser of emotional evils than missing the attraction.