The Spirited 11th Hour ...

[Cosmic Commando]

That's..... Well that's interesting.

You're assuming the MVP is one of those two people.

7 out of the last 9 MVPs were QBs, so...

Also, if they're cutting out the NFL, they'll have to dance around mentioning the Super Bowl, anyway. They may not care about getting the actual MVP.

 

[shernernum]

AK day went pretty uneventful. Other than staffing seems to be so thin that things don't get refilled when empty. The same thing happened at DHS in actuality. So in the bathrooms most paper towel dispensers were empty and ketchup pumps you had to try multiple which is annoying at Flame Tree because they're so spread out.

No my big problem today was MDE. Since I'm the only one who knows what you have to do to get overlapping FP for Mine Train for 5 people with less than 24 hour notice I took it upon myself to get it setup. One person at a time, then walk the times until they work. Going alright until the person I mentioned in my previous post...it suddenly said I didn't have permission to edit her fast passes. But only for tomorrow and only on the app. I could edit it just fine on the computer, and I could set up Wed FPs for her from the app.

The whole process took 2 hours constantly refreshing for any availability and then to adjust the times. Both working the app (because on the computer you can't take a group of 7 and change the ride for 1 person only) and the computer (because its easier to change the times for 5 separate slots on the computer than the app). All to avoid a 50 min wait... And I'm not even riding the ride. I did this just so my friends could ride but the times I could get are after my Dad and I might have left already.

I'm not a MDE defender by any means, but you're major complaint is that you were trying to work the system to get 5 overlapping fp's on the most difficult ride in the park to do so, less than 24 hours out and it took too long to do it? Wow.

 

[StageFrenzy]

I worked at Universal when they fused F&B and Merch into "Revenue Operations." It was an unmitigated disaster in my opinion. I can't even begin to think how adding Ride Ops to the equation will work.

I would love to hear some details of that. When was it, how long did it last and did they undo the move after?

 

[hopemax]

I'm not a MDE defender by any means, but you're major complaint is that you were trying to work the system to get 5 overlapping fp's on the most difficult ride in the park to do so, less than 24 hours out and it took too long to do it? Wow.

No, my major complaint is in the middle of doing it, I lost the ability to make changes for one person in my party. Someone I have been linked to since 2014, and was able to edit yesterday, and I can edit for tomorrow. And it only fails from the app not the website.

These are exactly the type of issues that you need advanced IT to solve. I know enough to know that the app and website operate differently and to use both if one fails. But did you? Does some random guest from Iowa? But apparently those IT people are getting eliminated.

So these random glitches will continue and make guest's lives more difficult and forum people will blame the guest for not making FPs earlier and not Disney for making such a glitchy software package.

But yes there is some editorial about the silliness that spending 2 hours on a computer to save 50 min in line is somehow a better system. I would have loved to make FP earlier but some people in our party didn't understand how necessary it was to have figured out your tickets in advance.

 

[GrammieBee]

people nowadays do not sprint.. they roll or chug in their scooters

Now that's not cute, that's nasty. Rather than roll in my scooter, I, for one, would certainly still sprint if I could. Fast pass or not. Wait and see what you have to say when your are 83 and/or have a physical disability. (Which I prefer to call an inconvenience.)

By the way, as far as we're concerned, fast passes really mess up our day. It's very difficult to come up with any type of logical touring plan rather than jumping from one part of the park to another. Plus needing to get them ninety days in advance is ----supply your own word.

 

[Rodan75]

I can attest that my brother and I were those (while not sprinters) "brisk walkers". It felt like the Wolf of Wall Street the way we were able to weave our fast passes. Now I feel like I've been shot in the leg once I use my first 3

I for one enjoy my time at WDW with FP+ compared to FP. I never really embraced FP and felt like I was always chasing my tail with it.

 

[wdisney9000]

I was paying attention. And anybody not wanting to read this response about MM+, please just skip past it and save me the "can we get back on topic" garbage. Just skip past this please.

Ill start with this:

You would send a representative to get FP's while everyone else was enjoying the park.

We were a family of 6 and we visited 2 to 4 times per year when I was younger. The whole "everyone else is off enjoying the park" claim is always over exagerated.. The amount of time it took my bother and I to go and retrieve FP's for the whole family was about 20 minutes avg. Thats hardly enough time for the rest of the family to have some miraculous time or even to ride anything at all unless a family was idiotic and sent a person for FP's at Space Mountain while the rest of the family headed towards BTMRR. If my brother and I went to Space Mtn for FP's, the family would perhaps go to Toon TOwn or ride the People Mover and meet us. It only took a little common sense

It also didn't allow you to get the time that you wanted at all. You either had to change your plans or try and swap with someone that were OK with your time and had one that fit your schedule.

All FP+ does is bind you to a schedule. Unless your day goes 100% as planned, you worse off than you were with LEgacy. Even if it does go perfectly, you get your 3 FP+ then your back to a kiosk. So lets say you make your FP+ selections for MK in the morning. The times are spread out enough that your stuck in MK until at least 1 pm. Thats not so bad, but once youve used them all, your back to a kiosk and the chances of getting an E ticket at another park or at MK are virtually 0. Especially on a busy day. Or if you decide to switch parks on the morning of, forget about on a busy day. Your not going to get anything worthwhile.

It couldn't be simpler. Walk up at your time, scan your card or band and the thing lights up and turns green and, just like that you're all set.

I could say the same with LEgacy. "Walk up, hand them a ticket, and boom, your in", Sans the potential of a computer error or a system wide crash, or a band malfunction, or any other of the myriad of issues that com with an extremely heavily computerized, wireless system.

Surely, you can't blame the computer system because people are not smart enough to read when their time is there.

Im not blaming the system for people being idiots. The system has created more possibilities for potential errors and/or scammers. Thats all. I bet you any CM that worked there when Legacy FP was around found it so much easier to deny a person entrance because they could just show them the ticket with the time on it, not have to call an IT person over and get on the Ipad and have the person whip out their phone to get on MDE.

it's just that our memories are cloudy when we think that something doesn't work exactly to our benefit. It does work for many others, me included.

My memory isnt clouded. You think Im saying MM+ is garbage. Im not. Im just saying Legacy was less prone to errors, didnt cost $3 billion dollars, and was simple. Its downside was that if you if showed up to the park at 1 pm, there was chance that all the FP's for a ride like Soarin might be gone. Note that I said Might be gone, not definitely gone, which is how it is now on most days.

 

[DVC91]

I for one enjoy my time at WDW with FP+ compared to FP. I never really embraced FP and felt like I was always chasing my tail with it.

I'm not saying I don't like it, but I enjoyed having 2 at all times throughout the day. I have this feeling like i don't know what to do with all of this time I spent weaving through zombies and lost parents with their z̶a̶m̶b̶o̶n̶i̶s̶ strollers. I'm all:

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

AK day went pretty uneventful. Other than staffing seems to be so thin that things don't get refilled when empty. The same thing happened at DHS in actuality. So in the bathrooms most paper towel dispensers were empty and ketchup pumps you had to try multiple which is annoying at Flame Tree because they're so spread out.

Sigh...they're still doing this Mickey Mouse nonsense of not adequately staffing to clean/replenish basic park needs?

No excuse for that.

 

[wdisney9000]

I for one enjoy my time at WDW with FP+ compared to FP. I never really embraced FP and felt like I was always chasing my tail with it.

Seems like another over-exaggeration. How are you not "chasing your tail" once youve used your three FP+ and you go to a kiosk to get a fourth?

 

[wdisney9000]

These are exactly the type of issues that you need advanced IT to solve. I know enough to know that the app and website operate differently and to use both if one fails. But did you? Does some random guest from Iowa? But apparently those IT people are getting eliminated.

This is whats crazy. The system has so far been fully operational for less time than it was in "testing phase" and they are beginning to eliminate key personnel already? How does that make any sense? And people still find a way to excuse the mess it has created. Im not saying its a train wreck either, but on a good day, you can still walk into guest relations at any park or front desk at any resort and there are several people with MB or MDE issues. Just read the Trip Reports. Most of them have a brief story about going to front desk to get MB fixed, and usually more than once.

ETA: 74' and others said long ago to keep in mind that the budget for all this would need to include IT personnel and system updates for years to come.

 

[Mike S]

I was paying attention. And anybody not wanting to read this response about MM+, please just skip past it and save me the "can we get back on topic" garbage. Just skip past this please.

Ill start with this:

We were a family of 6 and we visited 2 to 4 times per year when I was younger. The whole "everyone else is off enjoying the park" claim is always over exagerated.. The amount of time it took my bother and I to go and retrieve FP's for the whole family was about 20 minutes avg. Thats hardly enough time for the rest of the family to have some miraculous time or even to ride anything at all unless a family was idiotic and sent a person for FP's at Space Mountain while the rest of the family headed towards BTMRR. If my brother and I went to Space Mtn for FP's, the family would perhaps go to Toon TOwn or ride the People Mover and meet us. It only took a little common sense


All FP+ does is bind you to a schedule. Unless your day goes 100% as planned, you worse off than you were with LEgacy. Even if it does go perfectly, you get your 3 FP+ then your back to a kiosk. So lets say you make your FP+ selections for MK in the morning. The times are spread out enough that your stuck in MK until at least 1 pm. Thats not so bad, but once youve used them all, your back to a kiosk and the chances of getting an E ticket at another park or at MK are virtually 0. Especially on a busy day. Or if you decide to switch parks on the morning of, forget about on a busy day. Your not going to get anything worthwhile.


I could say the same with LEgacy. "Walk up, hand them a ticket, and boom, your in", Sans the potential of a computer error or a system wide crash, or a band malfunction, or any other of the myriad of issues that com with an extremely heavily computerized, wireless system.


Im not blaming the system for people being idiots. The system has created more possibilities for potential errors and/or scammers. Thats all. I bet you any CM that worked there when Legacy FP was around found it so much easier to deny a person entrance because they could just show them the ticket with the time on it, not have to call an IT person over and get on the Ipad and have the person whip out their phone to get on MDE.

My memory isnt clouded. You think Im saying MM+ is garbage. Im not. Im just saying Legacy was less prone to errors, didnt cost $3 billion dollars, and was simple. Its downside was that if you if showed up to the park at 1 pm, there was chance that all the FP's for a ride like Soarin might be gone. Note that I said Might be gone, not definitely gone, which is how it is now on most days.

I love posts I don't find worth reading. I love to wave at them as I scroll by.

 

[rael ramone]

No, my major complaint is in the middle of doing it, I lost the ability to make changes for one person in my party. Someone I have been linked to since 2014, and was able to edit yesterday, and I can edit for tomorrow. And it only fails from the app not the website.

These are exactly the type of issues that you need advanced IT to solve. I know enough to know that the app and website operate differently and to use both if one fails. But did you? Does some random guest from Iowa? But apparently those IT people are getting eliminated.

So these random glitches will continue and make guest's lives more difficult and forum people will blame the guest for not making FPs earlier and not Disney for making such a glitchy software package.

But yes there is some editorial about the silliness that spending 2 hours on a computer to save 50 min in line is somehow a better system. I would have loved to make FP earlier but some people in our party didn't understand how necessary it was to have figured out your tickets in advance.

I wonder if they see all this mess and say:

Do we get what 'we' (as in 'TDO') need from it? Are we getting the raw data that helps us keeping staffing, maintenance, and supplies at the absolute bare levels? If we are, then what's the problem?

 

[rael ramone]

*sniff* That just made all my posts over the years worthwhile! It just gets me all emotional to know you appreciate me like that! *fans face rapidly with hands*

More seriously, you have a point about some of those other boards. They really can descend very quickly into a rabbit hole of gibberish. Even with the amount of spirited snark that often manifests itself on these boards, it seldom reaches the point of unreadability. And don't get me started on the grovel fest that is the Disney Parks Blog....

I've posted this before, but there is plenty of groveling on the Seeking Alpha comments section anytime there's an article on $DIS. (I recall one person actually called an article or message that was against The Mouse 'offensive'). I wonder how many commenters are actually Zenia's Minions...

 

[Rodan75]

Seems like another over-exaggeration. How are you not "chasing your tail" once youve used your three FP+ and you go to a kiosk to get a fourth?

I never go to the Kiosk. So in the old days...I never got more than 1 or 2 FP. Now I like that I get 3 regularly and plan towards that schedule, so for me personally I feel FP+ has been a net improvement. However, that doesn't mean that I love the whole FP process, I much prefer no FP(+). but I prefer FP+ to FP.

 

[Mike S]

I never go to the Kiosk. So in the old days...I never got more than 1 or 2 FP. Now I like that I get 3 regularly and plan towards that schedule, so for me personally I feel FP+ has been a net improvement. However, that doesn't mean that I love the whole FP process, I much prefer no FP(+). but I prefer FP+ to FP.

I wonder if Disney would've been better off just sticking to FP+ and not trying to tie absolutely everything together.

 

[wdisney9000]

I never go to the Kiosk. So in the old days...I never got more than 1 or 2 FP. Now I like that I get 3 regularly and plan towards that schedule, so for me personally I feel FP+ has been a net improvement. However, that doesn't mean that I love the whole FP process, I much prefer no FP(+). but I prefer FP+ to FP.

Fair enough. Thanks for the response.

plenty of groveling on the Seeking Alpha comments section

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the Seeking Alpha comments section?

 

[ford91exploder]

Fair enough. Thanks for the response.


Pardon my ignorance, but what is the Seeking Alpha comments section?

Seeking Alpha is a technical financial market website

 

[wdisney9000]

I wonder if Disney would've been better off just sticking to FP+ and not trying to tie absolutely everything together.

Do you think on some level that its 99% about collecting the data and 1% for guest satisfaction and the tie it all together part was simply an effort to make guests feel like it was for them and to hide its true intention?

And I dont care if they collect all this data if it helps them to know how much food should go where and how much beer is needed in WS or how many paper towels they need to stock. But if thats the case, when will we start to see a big improvement? Will the savings they gain be passed on to us in any fashion? Do they even want it to benefit the guest or is it just a way for them to save money and still increase prices?

 

[ford91exploder]

I wonder if they see all this mess and say:

Do we get what 'we' (as in 'TDO') need from it? Are we getting the raw data that helps us keeping staffing, maintenance, and supplies at the absolute bare levels? If we are, then what's the problem?

Remember MM+ was NEVER about improving things for guests it was about being able to minimize staff utilization.