Since there is no better thread for generalized brain dumps about the state of things in Orlando, I'll share my thoughts after returning from an 8 day stay at the beginning of June in the Fleeciest Place on Earth - Orlando. Please excuse the non-Readers Digest version below.
A bit of a preface in that this trip marks the first time I've visited the Orlando area during the summer season since I was a child. My normal pattern of visiting is in the November - February time frames. This is to keep my disabled wife away from the heat as much as possible; but, since we were taking my niece for her first WDW/Uni visit - we had to do this around her school schedule.
When I've hit Disney during the Halloween/X-mas seasons, I've had a few days were I've got to experience near peak level crowds. During our visit during the 2nd week of June, hours were extended for MK and they were way over their projections. It was definitely as busy as I've ever seen any of the parks. Seeing this side of the resort further cements my feelings at how much of a mess WDW is at this point. The park's streets are filled to the brim with herds of the walking dead mindlessly ambling along trying to figure out what to do next. Some of them are trying to get to their next FP+ and some trying to figure out how to enter a Standby line only to be frustrated by the entrance being blocked by those returning for their FP and then be stuck in a slow moving line. Say what you will about the disadvantages of being in a standby line; but, at least when you were in one - you weren't congesting the streets. Add to this the lack of places to sit (benches? who needs them?) and you just see masses of people wandering aimlessly. During my stay at WDW, I talked to no less than 5 different families (while setting up my camera for fireworks, so I got ample opportunity to chat) that stated they were frustrated to no end about getting their 3 FP+ attractions done and then either couldn't get a return time for anything decent or they would try to get on an attraction that historically would have minimal wait only to encounter very lengthy ones instead. Each of these 5 different groups of people understood that it was FP+ that was the difference maker on this trip for them. I think some of the more seasoned Disney guests are starting to understand the impact MM+ is having on their enjoyment.
Speaking of FP+, this was the first trip where I tried using it as much as I could for my niece's benefit (her quest to ride Splash as many times as possible). On previous visits when it was just my wife and I, we wouldn't need to visit the FP+ kiosks as she would rarely be in the parks long enough to make use of extra rides (she's disabled, more on that topic in a moment). With my wife heading back to the room during the heat of the day, I would use the kiosk to get extra Splash return times. An interesting thing I noticed was that on several trips to the kiosk, Splash wouldn't show any available times for us. It would show for other guests however. I would then ask a Cast Member and they would come over and say the issue was due to our party size (2) and they would back out of the transaction and then re-enter it using their card (assuming with RFID) and then our band and it would then appear. I wonder if some of the "steering" logic behind the system tries to discourage repeat rides by not showing return times? Very interesting to say the least.
On the topic of Splash, it was in great shape and is holding up very well after its last extended refurb. Surprisingly, effects that were broken on one day actually got repaired overnight. I know... I was shocked too.
Another surprise for me was that even attractions that were in bad shape from a show perspective in late January were in much better condition on this trip. Pirates being the most improved. Believe it or not... even the cloud projections in the burning village scene were working on the day before the attraction went down for its refurb. I still got wetter on it than on Splash; but, for the abbreviated version of the ride that it is, it was in as good of condition as I've seen it in a long time.
Hub 2.0 is still being worked on. Progress is being measured by the glacier like steps they seem to be making. At least the Partner's statue came out of its box late in the week. Walt and Mickey are now able to stare out at the concrete wasteland that is the Hub. Since this is the first time I've seen the south side unwrapped completely, one thing that I haven't noticed many complaining about is all the horrible angles the refurb work as now allowed on the backside of Main Street. This is especially noted on the east side of the park. If you think the view of the back of the show building on Everest is bad from the parking lot of AK, you will loathe what this project has done to the viewing angles here. Since I spend a lot of time standing around the Hub for fireworks photography, the whole plaza feels very airy and exposed. While the small trees and fountains are nice touches, there is just too much open space to tie the land together. Also, the new Castle turrets seem much taller and closer to the Castle than I first imagined. It will be interesting to see how they look when they are completed and if they overwhelm the north side of the plaza.
Now on to the meat of my discussion, the MM+ version of the Disability Access service Card (DAC). Since our last visit in January, this was the first time we've gotten to use the new Orlando flavor of disability access using the ubiquitous MagicBand in lieu of a paper card. For those that aren't familiar with how the concept of DAC works in the US Disney Parks, the basic premise is that a guest with a disability visits Guest Relations in one of the parks and they can be provided a card that defines the type of alternate access a guest should be provided to an attraction. For some, like my wife, this means a member of your party visits an attraction's FastPass+ entrance and receives a "return time" which is more or less commensurate to the current Stand-by wait time. The previous incarnation of this program used a form with the disabled guest's photo on a piece of card stock in which the Cast Member would write the arrival and return times for access along with an attraction stamp of the day. When we were visiting in January, we were told this system would soon be paperless and using the MM+ system and take advantage of the MagicBand.
Upon our arrival this trip, the Cast Member at Town Hall in MK explained the new system and it sure sounded like it was going to offer much improved efficiency over the old paper system. Simply send a member of your party to the attraction's FP+ entrance and they can use their MagicBand to reserve a time slot for the entire party by simply having the CastMember use their mobile device to tap the Band. As with most things MM+, the theory of the concept sounds much more promising than the actual execution.
The reality of the paperless DAC is an exercise in the best intentions of Man (or Mouse) to take something and uncomplicate them only to fail in such a way that the machinations of the whole effort is comical. I knew we were in trouble the first time I walked up to get a return time and saw the Cast Member take out their Apple mobile device (iPhone) and the first words they spoke were "Ok, it may take a few minutes, it's been acting up today". I look over and the device is trying to connect. This pattern repeated with almost every attraction we visited, with attractions at the Magic Kingdom (especially in Fantasyland) being more prone to either slow, slow booting or failing to connect. On average, I would say it would take more than a minute for the mobile device/app to connect to begin the reservation process. So, after connecting to the MM+ app/network - I'm sure it would be smooth sailing from there right?
Once connected, the Cast Members would often (more than 50%; but, less than 75% of the time) would struggle to maintain a connection long enough to get the reservation made on the first attempt. They would often have to back out of the process and start over.
One stumbling block of the system appears to be trying to use the handheld devices to cancel unused return times and replace them with another. We had a few occasions where we would get a return time for an attraction and then decide to change to another one and I would visit the new destination only to have the Cast Member unable to cancel all the members of the party out of the previous reservation and make the new one. Using my IT superskills, I provided Disney some unpaid troubleshooting as I think I figured out the source of the problem. The issue seems to stem from issue of linking the bands of the disabled party members to the non-disabled persons in the group. while the system is designed to allow anyone in the party to serve as the "runner" to handle the Magicband transactions, the changing of an existing reservation seems to be contingent on the Band of the actual disabled party member. I figured this out by seeing that it was consistently my wife that couldn't be removed from the previous reservation, so after a couple of attempts at this - I went and grabbed her MagicBand and then it would work. Hopefully, this has been passed along to the outsourced team that is working on the DAC system within MM+.
In addition to the various issues with not connecting, I did encounter several attractions where the handheld device was displaying an overheated message and simply couldn't be used. Overheat? In Florida? What are the chances of that happening?
All of these issues result in an increased time to process each transaction. We need some Six Sigma defect tracking here please. Every Cast Member when asked said that it was taking them longer to use the paperless DAC than the paper version. The issues they were having weren't based on unfamiliarity of the new process. It was the issues with the actual process that were causing delays. When working properly, the paperless system could provide a return time in perhaps the same amount of time the paperless system allowed. However, when the tech fails... the time to process goes through the roof. The real problems start when what happens when the time to process goes up.
By design, the guests are supposed to be directed to the FP+ entrance. So, a person that knowingly needs to engage with a Cast Member for a few minutes at an entry point that is already overly congested with people attempting to return to the attraction. Usually the Cast Members at this location are already busy with other guests - either trying to resolve their FP+ issues or trying to explain the system to them. So, the paperless DAC is adding more scar tissue build up to an already congested artery. To get around this, I noticed several of the attractions have taken matters into their own hands and simply turned over the handheld device over to the Cast Member stationed at the Stand-by entrance. Although this isn't supposed to be the operating procedure, they've found this allows for easier ingress/egress for the person needing to get a return time. I agree with the Cast Members that have done this as it does make the process of getting to the handheld device much easier for the person doing the "running" for the DAC. The problem is this isn't standard operating procedure and guests are instructed by Guest Relations to go to the FP+ entrance. Seems like a simple fix is on order; but, as we've learned with MM+ - nothing that is simple or that makes common sense gets quickly adopted.
So, after the DAC party arrives at the starting point to get the return time - the real fun begins on whether the MM+ gods will allow the handheld device actually work. Here is where the true comedy of our visit comes into play. On our visit at an about 40% rate, the Cast Member would simply give up on trying to use the paperless DAC to issue a return time. At this point, the fall back plan for any tech issue with the system (can't make a connection, overheating, or trying to cancel a previously scheduled reservation) is resolved by the poor CM doing one of the following: letting the DAC party ride immediately, issuing a paper card return time, or in lieu of paper card (because they were out having issued so many since the paperless system is down) simply writing your party's name down and telling you to come back when you want and have them refer to the notes or reference their specific Cast Member name.
Needless to say, every Cast Member I spent time talking to working the handheld device HATES the new system.
As a guest that is well versed with every flavor of disability access on both coasts over the years at Disney Parks, I can easily say this is the worst implementation of the system yet. It's confusing to the guest - which entrance do I head to on this attraction to get to the handheld device? It's frustrating to the guest - the amount of time it takes to get the reservation is extremely variable and totally dependent on the tolerance of the specific Cast Member using the hand held on how many tries they want to make in connecting to the network. The longest delay I had in trying to get a return time with a Cast Member we 10 minutes and while I was waiting, eventually another CM came over and told the person to simply issue a card as the device hadn't been working all day.
The worst part of the new system is that in its current format, a guest can very easily "game" the system and get concurrent return times issues for multiple attractions. As I mentioned earlier, Fantasyland in particular seemed to be the worst offender in the handheld devices failures. On one afternoon, I was curious to see how widespread the issue was and I visited every attraction in both classic and new Fantasyland to find out if any handheld device would connect. Not a single one did over the course of several hours that afternoon. I could've had paper/verbal/or immediate return times to all the attractions if we wanted (I didn't).
My unpaid professional IT troubleshooting opinion is a guess that the MM+ infrastructure (in particular the wireless access points and the local area processing of the data routing through them) in the most attraction dense section of all of WDW is getting oversaturated. Since these widespread/area specific handheld device issues didn't occur in any other parks or even in other sections of the MK at any point of weeklong stay, I think that this is a very likely root cause.
I chalk the current state of the paperless DAC to another great idea in theory that falls far short of reaching the expectation in reality.
For what it's worth, Disneyland Resort DAC system is by far the most efficiently run and fair to all that any theme park we've visited. It's basically the same as the previous WDW paper incarnation; but, instead of visiting the specific attraction entrance to get return times - you visit one of several kiosks located around the parks. This allows the disabled party to get not only consistent interactions; but, pulls the time consuming process away from the already congested ride entrances. Another example of the One Disney initiative's failures. They can get so much right on one coast and drop the ball completely on the other when they are supposed be doing the same best practice.
Just to show that I'm not just biased against the fine folks at TDO - my critical eye also falls further down I-4 to Universal Orlando. I've been stating for the last several years that for as much progress Universal has made in the operations and quality of their theme parks, they have continued to fail in spectacular ways when it comes to their disability policies and practices.
I'm very nonplussed to report that things are more or less the same as they have been for the last decade with the way they deal with their disabled guests. There are things that are somewhat better and there are things that are unchanged.
Attractions at Universal are continuing to be designed to not allow for ECV access and in some situations (the two headlining Potter attractions) not even wheelchair accessible through the primary queue line all the way to load. While the wide and winding queues of WDW (thanks to its blessing of size) may not be possible in the more space constrained Universal, the need to transfer to a wheelchair is understandable; but, there in lay Universal Orlando Resort's #1 continued issue with guests with disabilities - attractions typically don't have anywhere near enough transfer wheelchairs for all the guests. It is very common to arrive at a Universal attraction and to be informed that they are out of wheelchairs. We have visited Uni enough over the last several years that we've learned that even an attraction that is a capacity monster (like Forbidden Journey) can sometimes only have 2-5 chairs at the opening of the attraction for the day. For rides that consume 2000 guests per hour, only assuming 5 of those people may be disabled is ridiculous. That being said... for our 3 days on property this trip (in which my wife was only out in the parks for a max of about 4 hours a day) we ONLY encountered the lack of wheelchairs about 4 times total over whole stay. This was down significantly from previous trips where we would have this happen more than 4 times a day.
The most frustrating part of visiting Universal with a disabled person was the inconsistency of the operations. One visit to a ride you are told to go here... the next visit, you are told to wait there. One visit you need to transfer to a chair... the following they let you go through.
I'm a very patient person and I don't anger very easily. On each visit to Universal Orlando, I stop by Guest Relations and offer my input on ways to improve their disability policies and practices. I've done this on every trip with the number one topic being the inconsistent way each visit to an attraction brings. Not once did anyone ever tell me that there was a way to help alleviate the inconsistency - until this trip. A very understanding employee at Gringotts suggested stopping by one of their guest relations kiosks and getting the Attraction Assistance Pass (Universal's version of DAC). It's amazing that after 20 plus visits to the resort and almost equal trips to the main Guest Relations at each park, nobody even mentioned this an option to help standardize the process. Again, an example of how consistent the inconsistency at Universal can be.
For everything they are doing right... they have a long way to go in this regards.
The good news is that the metal detectors are fully functional at all outdoor roller coasters. With the extra bit of TSA-esque love we are all getting, I'm sure we are only a few days away from the announcement of Dragon's triumphant return to dueling status... right?
All in all, this trip has taught me that scheduling a visit to the Orlando area has far less to do with trying to avoid crowds these days at Disney as we are nearing a time where it simply doesn't matter. Even traditional non-peak times are steadily increasing. Our traditional end of January/early February visits look more and more like Oct/Nov/Dec visits from just a few years ago. Scheduling WDW now is all about planning around the weather and any special events you want to hit. Universal visits also can benefit from that logic; but, they still offer the "get out of jail free card" in the form of the unlimited Express Pass offered at their deluxe resorts. With that perk, they remain the best deal in town and when armed with that card you can visit Universal any time of the year and still have a great time... except if you are disabled... or don't like getting patted down before coaster rides.
Oh wait..........
