Big update to My Disney Experience app will bring navigation capability

[Kman101]

I like that as well. A lot. I love the idea of relaxing somewhere else while ordering and going to pick it up.

Me too. Especially when they have one or two registers open and a long line of confused guests who have no idea what they want.

 

[AEfx]

Me too. Especially when they have one or two registers open and a long line of confused guests who have no idea what they want.

Precisely. We use online ordering all the time at home. It's perfect because I'm very boring and know exactly what I want before I even walk in the door, and on the other hand my boyfriend is at once picky and experimental, so he likes to have time to really read a menu and decide what he wants. It's so easy to just bring something up on my phone, punch my order in, and then hand it to him so he can take his time figuring out what he wants while I do something else. I'm curious to find out the details about how it works at WDW.

 

[JoeCamel]

So this is almost a year old, do they have the bus locations yet? I mean they are tracked so do they port it to this app?

 

[Kman101]

So this is almost a year old, do they have the bus locations yet? I mean they are tracked so do they port it to this app?

I don't but know why they haven't done this.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I don't but know why they haven't done this.

The issue continues to be that their tracking is awful. They still have those comical-if-it-wasn't-your-vacation minute-by-minute adjustments to arrival times that render the arrival boards almost useless. I don't know why they can't fix the technology. Somehow bus systems in every major city manage to maintain a set schedule.

If I'm at Wilderness Lodge and the next MK bus first appears as arriving at 8:40 am and it continually adjusts until it arrives at 8:59 am (actual experience of mine), it was never going to arrive at 8:40 and the software is useless.

 

[peter11435]

The issue continues to be that their tracking is awful. They still have those comical-if-it-wasn't-your-vacation minute-by-minute adjustments to arrival times that render the arrival boards almost useless. I don't know why they can't fix the technology. Somehow bus systems in every major city manage to maintain a set schedule.

The problem truly is the wheelchair and EVC loading

 

[ToTBellHop]

The problem truly is the wheelchair and EVC loading

I don't see how that can explain sometimes 15+ minute delays over the originally posted time. If I were programming such a system, the time wouldn't appear until the bus was dispatched from its previous location (I thought that's what Disney was doing, honestly). It would be foolish to post before the bus even departs. Further, if they are posting while a bus is ostensibly loading guests in ECVs, why do we often arrive to find no time posted yet? There clearly is some point at which an arrival time is sent out.

 

[peter11435]

I don't see how that can explain sometimes 15+ minute delays over the originally posted time. If I were programming such a system, the time wouldn't appear until the bus was dispatched from its previous location (I thought that's what Disney was doing, honestly). It would be foolish to post before the bus even departs.

Well every wheelchair/ECV load easily adds 5 minutes to the trip. I think you are correct that the time does not appear until the bus is dispatched but there are often stops in between. This is why I've found the bus times much more accurate at resorts such as art of animation where the bus is only making one stop.

If a bus is dispatched to the grand Floridian from Disney springs an approximate arrival time is displayed at the GF. Let's say traffic/lights delay things slightly and the arrival falls back 2 minutes. Then the bus arrives at the Polynesian first where an EVC is waiting. Now the arrival time at GF has fallen back 7 minutes.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Well every wheelchair/ECV load easily adds 5 minutes to the trip. I think you are correct that the time does not appear until the bus is dispatched but there are often stops in between. This is why I've found the bus times much more accurate at resorts such as art of animation where the bus is only making one stop.

If a bus is dispatched to the grand Floridian from Disney springs an approximate arrival time is displayed at the GF. Let's say traffic/lights delay things slightly and the arrival falls back 2 minutes. Then the bus arrives at the Polynesian first where an EVC is waiting. Now the arrival time at GF has fallen back 7 minutes.

Yes. Still don't think that explains the literal minute-by-minute changes that occur until the bus arrives. FWIW, my last two trips have been Kidani and Wilderness Lodge, which are typically the first stop if they are combining. Interesting that you've seen improvement at places with just one stop. It still boggles my mind that NYC can have a bus arrive at 7:58 am each day but not WDW.

 

[Lita]

The Bus system has two different ways buses are Dispatched, In the Mornings prior to 11 am, The Buses are Dispatched from the closest Theme Park Location, (Meaning for instance, Magic Kingdom Bus Area dispatches all the park routes going to and from the MK Area Resorts), , After 11 am the buses are Dispatched by the Location itself so a Bus going to Animal Kingdom would come from the Animal Kingdom area when picking up at the Contemporary, Poly, Grand or Fort Wilderness. Magic Kingdom doesn't handle the Dispatch for routes going to other parks from the MK Area Resorts after the 11 am time. What happens though, is there is a Transition time from when MK drops the route and the AK picks up the responsibility to send the Bus and many times there are Delays during that time.

 

[ToTBellHop]

The Bus system has two different ways buses are Dispatched, In the Mornings prior to 11 am, The Buses are Dispatched from the closest Theme Park Location, (Meaning for instance, Magic Kingdom Bus Area dispatches all the park routes going to and from the MK Area Resorts), , After 11 am the buses are Dispatched by the Location itself so a Bus going to Animal Kingdom would come from the Animal Kingdom area when picking up at the Contemporary, Poly, Grand or Fort Wilderness. Magic Kingdom doesn't handle the Dispatch for routes going to other parks from the MK Area Resorts after the 11 am time. What happens though, is there is a Transition time from when MK drops the route and the AK picks up the responsibility to send the Bus and many times there are Delays during that time.

Ok but I only ever get on a bus prior to 9, between 1 and 5, and at park close.

Isn't it wonderfully-clever when a staffing shift occurs right when the fireworks end? Definitely the best time to have a switch-over.

 

[Cesar R M]

Agree SO much! To be able to yell at my kids and say "Hurry up! The bus will be here in 5 minutes!" or, conversely, say "the bus is still 20 minutes away, we can walk at a bit more relaxed of a pace" when we're heading into the park each morning would be SO nice!

Or even better, have tracking the buses in real time, just like you can track planes now.

 

[ABQ]

Or even better, have tracking the buses in real time, just like you can track planes now.

Yup, just like the Uber app. I want to see where my bus, plus a photo of the prone to incorrect info, driver and plate #. Honestly, this can and should be done now.

 

[COProgressFan]

Isn't it wonderfully-clever when a staffing shift occurs right when the fireworks end? Definitely the best time to have a switch-over.

Sort of like how NYC cabs have a shift change at 4pm. Geniuses at work.

 

[RSoxNo1]

FYI, app now only shows Satu'li Canteen has mobile ordering

 

[Cesar R M]

Yup, just like the Uber app. I want to see where my bus, plus a photo of the prone to incorrect info, driver and plate #. Honestly, this can and should be done now.

And considering they might have some sort of tracking already. I do not see the issue other than add better infrastructure to support the hitload after adding it on the app.

 

[matt9112]

Glad to hear they updated it to order food. I think I'll really like having that option.

I agree