A Spirited Perfect Ten

[flynnibus]

Agreed. I'd prefer actual attendance numbers but nobody is gonna give those up.....

which is why we don't try to post them... or make claims based on them. Don't extrapolate so much.

 

[PhotoDave219]

which is why we don't try to post them... or make claims based on them. Don't extrapolate so much.

I'm just saying that it's busier now than it was last year… I don't think that's an extrapolation.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I never said anything about inefficiencies or about the real reason myMagic was developed.
I just said the thing works in engineering standpoint.
It lets you manage your stuff, your reservations..etc..
But when it crashes.. it crashes spectacularly (and most of the time.. server side which is worse)

All of which is completely unrelated to my comments or point.

 

[Cesar R M]

Cesar... what is your source on this or is it just an opinion. I have not heard of everything crashing every time it gets busy. Lately it is always busy so, ergo, the place would be closed down by now.

its by experience.ergo facts. not "opinions". and many people can provide proof (who have complained and reported the same).

President's day in my case.. is a fine example, MyMagic crash affected even the systems of the hotels.
Magicband readers were failing a lot in the hotel I was and my last day at Magic Kingdom was a "free for all" (since the MyMagic system app crashed completely)

That was the initial idea behind Fastpass.
I think a lot of the push behind FastpassPlus was to increase guest satisfaction by ensuring that families would get to do their favorites and to lower the learning curve needed to use the paper fastpass system to obtain passes to the super high-demand attractions like Midway Mania and Soaring. Plus it was just one part of a larger infrastructure overhaul to all guest services and reservations in general.

but in the end, it only created and empowered the "commando" visitor.. who rushed all the attractions and bought little imho.

 

[Cesar R M]

Removing the notion of cash being spent increasing sales is a well documented fact.

to resume, its a gimmick to fool people into thinking they are not expending money. When in reality they are.
Similar to the famous techniques of using trap prices in the middle to force people to buy the "jumbo" sized products ( Cinema theatres are a fine example of this).

Crowd manipulation scares the hell outta me.

I wonder when the first commercial will air that features families asking the CM if they can go to the bathroom.

I think this joke was already used a lot of times lol.
having to reserve fp+ 3 months in advance to use the themed potties.

 

[Cesar R M]

All of which is completely unrelated to my comments or point.

I quote you:

I'm more inclined to think that the predicted inefficiencies are there, thus resulting in the long expected increases in crowding (which Disney also anticipated with the interactive queues

Aka, I'm just saying that whatever Jay rasulo o predicted inefficiencies of people from this forum.. MyMagic as its points and its drawbacks. And based on the engineering point. It works when its not overloaded.

sorry for not being clear.

 

[Shaman]

its by experience.ergo facts. not "opinions". and many people can provide proof (who have complained and reported the same).

President's day in my case.. is a fine example, MyMagic crash affected even the systems of the hotels.
Magicband readers were failing a lot in the hotel I was and my last day at Magic Kingdom was a "free for all" (since the MyMagic system app crashed completely)


but in the end, it only created and empowered the "commando" visitor.. who rushed all the attractions and bought little imho.

The commando visitor has always existed. The obsessive planner has always existed. System crashes have always existed. The clueless visitor still exists.

I live 3hrs away. I visit often. Sometimes I plan. Sometimes it's impromptu. Sometimes I run into system issues at reservation or park entry or FP scan. Doesn't annoy me more than the issues I would run into before the next gen stuff. I know it's anecdotal, but I've never encountered major issues with the new systems.

My visits are impacted by cost and crowds. Wearing a band is better than reaching for tickets. The biggest plus for me is changing FPs on the go. I don't usually use my band for paying. I'll confess that I buy band-its...ok maybe I'm biased.

I'm one of those AP holders/FL residents that refuses to step into a park in July or August. I'm waiting for at least better weather, but hoping for smaller crowds. I know Disney might not like this, but I actually like that with this system (if I wanted) I can spend less time in the crowded park and more time chillin at the resort.

I admit, I haven't been in or attempting to enter a park during a systems crash. But a small setback shouldn't ruin a trip.

(I need more band-its.)

 

[Goofyernmost]

its by experience.ergo facts. not "opinions". and many people can provide proof (who have complained and reported the same).

President's day in my case.. is a fine example, MyMagic crash affected even the systems of the hotels.
Magicband readers were failing a lot in the hotel I was and my last day at Magic Kingdom was a "free for all" (since the MyMagic system app crashed completely)

OK, I can except that it happened to you on your trip. However, that isn't what you said. You said that it crashes every time it gets busy. That, is misleading. I said that it has happened to some, but, it wasn't the normal situation. Perhaps more often then we would like to see, but, it isn't business as usual. Many people, I'm sure can provide proof, but, there are hundreds of thousands using it every month. We are not hearing about hundreds of thousands having problems.

 

[Ariel1986]

but in the end, it only created and empowered the "commando" visitor.. who rushed all the attractions and bought little imho.

Well... I'm not a "commando" visitor, and FP+ works great for me. I'm a laid back, likes to have a lie in on vacation person, who likes now being able to have 3 rides ready and booked for the (usually afternoon) without worry, for when we get up and go.
I don't have to now get up at the crack of dawn to be there at opening- like with the old system- to get the FP before the kiosk is out for the day. I had no chance of going on those rides with the old system unless I was up early. I also don't have to run around grabbing FP's later in the day- once the three are up I can select another at the nearest FP+ kiosk. No, there doesn't tend to be really popular selections left, but there weren't after the morning rush with the old system. There are still quite a lot of options available with FP+ in the afternoons, in the experiences I've had.

Also everyone always says 6 months in advance- that's ADRs. FP+ is 60 days. And people talk like it's some massive planning marathon. It takes like ten minutes to choose a ride and tweak the times. It's not like you've got to spend months on end planning your holiday. Plus... unless you're looking for something like an Anna and Elsa meet or SDMT, if your plans change, you can just change the FP+! I've done that day of and still been able to get the Mountains, RnRC, ToT.

 

[Prince-1]

Disney earnings tomorrow. Expect the Mouse to crush expectations yet again. Don't expect a huge, permanent stock price increase, maybe a little one, I would guess within the .25-.50 cent range. The big one will come when the new Star Wars film becomes the highest grossing film of all time and all the products it sells because of it. Believe the hype machine.

All true except it won't become #1 of ALL time. Like my wife says, "Its going to be big...just not the biggest thing she has seen."

 

[ChrisFL]

Epic Rap Battles of History has a bit of a surprise this episode....Walt Disney appears in the end (sort of):

 

[BrerJon]

All true except it won't become #1 of ALL time. Like my wife says, "Its going to be big...just not the biggest thing she has seen."

It will do very well, and will become the top grossing film of all time *not* adjusted for inflation, but adjusted I don't think it will top the original, let alone Avatar or Gone With The Wind, and I suspect the stock already has the movie priced in so anyone expecting a huge surge the day after it opens will be disappointed, and all it will take is for the movie to not *quite* have the opening weekend expected, and Disney stock could be in for a bumpy time.

 

[cdd89]

I have to say I've really settled in to enjoying MM+. This is more due to a change in my touring style, not a change in the system. If I were a short-length vacationer trying to do as many attractions as possible, there is no disputing that the system sucks.

But that's not how I tour the parks. Like Ariel1986, I don't have that inclination any more to get up at 7AM and spend half the time I would have been in ride queues anyway walking back and forth on "boring" trips to fastpass ticketing machines. Being relieved at that chore at WDW is a weight off the shoulders.

This is why I've said before - and I'll say it again - that FP+ really benefits locals more than anyone else. Not because they get more rides than anyone else - they don't, in fact they get less selection (due to short notice of booking) - but because most locals have done the rides 1000 times... and they've gone from having to turn up at the crack of dawn for Soarin FP's to just reserving them for the evening on their phone (along with two other attractions if so desired) half way through the day. And similarly, they benefit from the phenomenon of "pointless" rides (like Haunted Mansion) being on the grid. Whereas tourists are bottlenecked, wanting to do more than the 3 rides permitted, a local might not want to do more than three - meaning for an entirely line free Disney trip.

Part of me wonders if that is actually some of the reason why FP+ isn't at DL yet. Common speculation is that it is because the locals would "never accept it"... but the fact you have to arrive at park opening and join a significant line for RSR tickets is actually a fairly good way of ensuring that irregular visitors willing to make that sacrifice/commitment (and not locals visiting in their spare time) get the reservations. With MM+, there's nothing to stop a determined local planning to game the system from simply reserving RSR every day for 7 days in advance on a rolling period, to the exclusion of tourists and irregular visitors.

I really hope the rumours that Paris will be the next resort to get this are true, because I would love this to be the case at my home resort. Going back and forth just in case Thunder Mountain's FP tickets have ticked around to an appropriate return time yet, and park hoping solely in order to pick up Tower of Terror FPs, is one of the less enjoyable aspects of my trip when I simply don't have the need for that efficiency. I'd happy take the trade of 3 attractions of my choice (at useful times of my choice) in return for having a more relaxing time on property.

 

[Bairstow]

Well... I'm not a "commando" visitor, and FP+ works great for me. I'm a laid back, likes to have a lie in on vacation person, who likes now being able to have 3 rides ready and booked for the (usually afternoon) without worry, for when we get up and go.
I don't have to now get up at the crack of dawn to be there at opening- like with the old system- to get the FP before the kiosk is out for the day. I had no chance of going on those rides with the old system unless I was up early. I also don't have to run around grabbing FP's later in the day- once the three are up I can select another at the nearest FP+ kiosk. No, there doesn't tend to be really popular selections left, but there weren't after the morning rush with the old system. There are still quite a lot of options available with FP+ in the afternoons, in the experiences I've had.

Also everyone always says 6 months in advance- that's ADRs. FP+ is 60 days. And people talk like it's some massive planning marathon. It takes like ten minutes to choose a ride and tweak the times. It's not like you've got to spend months on end planning your holiday. Plus... unless you're looking for something like an Anna and Elsa meet or SDMT, if your plans change, you can just change the FP+! I've done that day of and still been able to get the Mountains, RnRC, ToT.

I would add Soarin' and Midway Mania to that list, but yeah, for the most part you can still get what you want on the day of.
One thing that's not often discussed is that if you're persistent, you can make the system do a lot of things that aren't widely known. We were at EPCOT 2 weeks ago and had scheduled a full slate of FastPassPlus appointments the week before, but the only one we really needed to use was Soarin. We switched parks to the Studios in the afternoon, and using the kiosks were able to swap the rest of our reservations for Studios attractions. Midway Mania was gone, of course, but everything else was still available, and by continually accessing the kiosks we were able to use FastPassPlus a total of 5 times over the course of the day. So yeah, by re-selecting or editing choices once you're in the parks you can get around the "only one park" and "only 3 per day" rules.

Well... I'm not a "commando"

We are. And if you ever want to get down you'll need to gear up.
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...theme-park-commandos-serious-business.900003/

 

[invader]

This is why I've said before - and I'll say it again - that FP+ really benefits locals more than anyone else. Not because they get more rides than anyone else - they don't, in fact they get less selection (due to short notice of booking) - but because most locals have done the rides 1000 times... and they've gone from having to turn up at the crack of dawn for Soarin FP's to just reserving them for the evening on their phone (along with two other attractions if so desired) half way through the day. And similarly, they benefit from the phenomenon of "pointless" rides (like Haunted Mansion) being on the grid. Whereas tourists are bottlenecked, wanting to do more than the 3 rides permitted, a local might not want to do more than three - meaning for an entirely line free Disney trip.

Part of me wonders if that is actually some of the reason why FP+ isn't at DL yet. Common speculation is that it is because the locals would "never accept it"... but the fact you have to arrive at park opening and join a significant line for RSR tickets is actually a fairly good way of ensuring that irregular visitors willing to make that sacrifice/commitment (and not locals visiting in their spare time) get the reservations. With MM+, there's nothing to stop a determined local planning to game the system from simply reserving RSR every day for 7 days in advance on a rolling period, to the exclusion of tourists and irregular visitors.

I can't believe I just read all of this. Nope.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I would add Soarin' and Midway Mania to that list, but yeah, for the most part you can still get what you want on the day of.
One thing that's not often discussed is that if you're persistent, you can make the system do a lot of things that aren't widely known. We were at EPCOT 2 weeks ago and had scheduled a full slate of FastPassPlus appointments the week before, but the only one we really needed to use was Soarin. We switched parks to the Studios in the afternoon, and using the kiosks were able to swap the rest of our reservations for Studios attractions. Midway Mania was gone, of course, but everything else was still available, and by continually accessing the kiosks we were able to use FastPassPlus a total of 5 times over the course of the day. So yeah, by re-selecting or editing choices once you're in the parks you can get around the "only one park" and "only 3 per day" rules.



We are. And if you ever want to get down you'll need to gear up.
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...theme-park-commandos-serious-business.900003/

Commando? Oh please.

I'm the worlds greatest secret agent.

 

[Cesar R M]

OK, I can except that it happened to you on your trip. However, that isn't what you said. You said that it crashes every time it gets busy. That, is misleading. I said that it has happened to some, but, it wasn't the normal situation. Perhaps more often then we would like to see, but, it isn't business as usual. Many people, I'm sure can provide proof, but, there are hundreds of thousands using it every month. We are not hearing about hundreds of thousands having problems.

Are you insinuating my point doesn't apply because it was a single weekend event and ignoring other people who had crashes on other busy days??
There plenty of people sharing their experiences of their travels every day in this forum.

Also. I never said it was "the normal". if it was the normal then it would be crashing 24/7 which I never insinuated nor said that.

Also, You know who are the first most person group that hates MyMagic with fury? the castmembers in charge of fixing the issues in the parks.

I have a friend who is a CM Epcot, and tells me that almost every single CM.. hates MyMagic+.
I feel sorry for them. Why? because they have to face the brunt of insults and rude customers when they(theCMs) are completely powerless to fix a systems issue.

As for "hundreads of thousands having problems". Where would they complain? this forum? the Disney online blog where these kind of posts gets deleted faster than Trump flipflops? I dunno where you want to pull the metric of complains.
After all, people have said about people complaining right in the parks to the castmembers. Not online.
Also, pretty sure the majority will be just facepalming (or eyerolling) at the failures as they try to continue their travel around the park in the old fashioned way.


*edit*

Spoiler: Addendum.

Addendum.I write this long post because, I'm not a fan of big guys always defending Disney on this case and blasting the person with the issue.
Every time someone complains about MM+ there must be some snarky comeback almost at the levels of Apple's Steve Jobs "You're holding it wrong!" or the famous"Relax, you're supposed to be happy and relaxed at Disney".
I wouldnt relax if I notice that my dinning reservations somehow disappeared from the system 3 days before I am about to arrive from another country and some CMs tell me theres nothing they can do for now.

My job is not to blast Disney.. I want to have fun and enjoy it. I have done so many times. But some of their enforced stuff gets in the way.
I complain because I want them to FIX their issues. Not to have an army of fanboys telling me that I'm the one in the wrong!

Theres so many times that "Hypothetical wrongs" actually happen to real people who we know. And we still get the "lol, it doesn't happen to everyone" type comments.
Thats akin of saying that Airplane crashes are ok(So airlines are not forced to make security upgrades to flawed planes), because "it doesn't happen to everyone". I mean.. seriously?

rant mode off! you can continue with your scheduled spirited conversation!

 

[Cesar R M]

Well... I'm not a "commando" visitor, and FP+ works great for me. I'm a laid back, likes to have a lie in on vacation person, who likes now being able to have 3 rides ready and booked for the (usually afternoon) without worry, for when we get up and go.
I don't have to now get up at the crack of dawn to be there at opening- like with the old system- to get the FP before the kiosk is out for the day. I had no chance of going on those rides with the old system unless I was up early. I also don't have to run around grabbing FP's later in the day- once the three are up I can select another at the nearest FP+ kiosk. No, there doesn't tend to be really popular selections left, but there weren't after the morning rush with the old system. There are still quite a lot of options available with FP+ in the afternoons, in the experiences I've had.

Also everyone always says 6 months in advance- that's ADRs. FP+ is 60 days. And people talk like it's some massive planning marathon. It takes like ten minutes to choose a ride and tweak the times. It's not like you've got to spend months on end planning your holiday. Plus... unless you're looking for something like an Anna and Elsa meet or SDMT, if your plans change, you can just change the FP+! I've done that day of and still been able to get the Mountains, RnRC, ToT.

TO clarify, my comment about "it only created and empowered the commando visitor". Was about the creation of FP and FP+. Which didnt actually help in making people expend more time in the shops(as the MyMagic executives keep repeating ). They(the visitors) just changed patterns and just went to other attractions, not the stores.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Are you insinuating my point doesn't apply because it was a single weekend event and ignoring other people who had crashes on other busy days??
There plenty of people sharing their experiences of their travels every day in this forum.

Also. I never said it was "the normal". if it was the normal then it would be crashing 24/7 which I never insinuated nor said that.

Also, You know who are the first most person group that hates MyMagic with fury? the castmembers in charge of fixing the issues in the parks.

I have a friend who is a CM Epcot, and tells me that almost every single CM.. hates MyMagic+.
I feel sorry for them. Why? because they have to face the brunt of insults and rude customers when they(theCMs) are completely powerless to fix a systems issue.

As for "hundreads of thousands having problems". Where would they complain? this forum? the Disney online blog where these kind of posts gets deleted faster than Trump flipflops? I dunno where you want to pull the metric of complains.
After all, people have said about people complaining right in the parks to the castmembers. Not online.
Also, pretty sure the majority will be just facepalming (or eyerolling) at the failures as they try to continue their travel around the park in the old fashioned way.


*edit*

Spoiler: Addendum.

Addendum.I write this long post because, I'm not a fan of big guys always defending Disney on this case and blasting the person with the issue.
Every time someone complains about MM+ there must be some snarky comeback almost at the levels of Apple's Steve Jobs "You're holding it wrong!" or the famous"Relax, you're supposed to be happy and relaxed at Disney".
I wouldnt relax if I notice that my dinning reservations somehow disappeared from the system 3 days before I am about to arrive from another country and some CMs tell me theres nothing they can do for now.

My job is not to blast Disney.. I want to have fun and enjoy it. I have done so many times. But some of their enforced stuff gets in the way.
I complain because I want them to FIX their issues. Not to have an army of fanboys telling me that I'm the one in the wrong!

Theres so many times that "Hypothetical wrongs" actually happen to real people who we know. And we still get the "lol, it doesn't happen to everyone" type comments.
Thats akin of saying that Airplane crashes are ok(So airlines are not forced to make security upgrades to flawed planes), because "it doesn't happen to everyone". I mean.. seriously?

rant mode off! you can continue with your scheduled spirited conversation!

I can identify with your concerns. However, to overstate a problem simply because you had a problem or you know a CM that doesn't like it is not anymore justified then someone blindly defending it. It's the same thing, but, just on the other end of the argument. You, like myself, are not at WDW everyday that is busy or not busy. What I do know is if it were that awful it would have been pretty common knowledge by now. I would also think that you, being an IT guy would understand the problems with any new, startup system. I would think that you, of all people, would not only see that it is common to have problems, but, that the enormity of this system is a nightmare for everyone involved, especially those that have to deal with the problems. That alone does not make it a system that cannot work, it is a system that is a work in progress. WDW was chosen as the site to institute this plan simply because it is the largest, most complex setup that this design will ever see.

The problems in the beginning were much more prevalent then they are now and you know that as well as I do. I wasn't at all advocating that people stop complaining about the problems that show up as they show up, but, to overall condemn it because it isn't liked or didn't work for you when you first tried it is far more irresponsible to me then taking a let it work itself out approach. It isn't going away, they have to much invested to scrap it and if they did what would they replace it with? If it was as terrible as it is made out to be we sure as hell would have heard about it from more then just the few people that repeatedly issue that dire prediction. Take time off this site or specifically this thread and look at the remarks of others that have not had the problems and try and understand that it is working for most of the people and not just the select few that post on this particular thread who have been against it since the beginning and have no intention of saying anything good about it .

 

[Cesar R M]

. I would also think that you, being an IT guy would understand the problems with any new, startup system.

Except its not new? its been tested since 2013.
its almost 2 years since it was released to public and 1 year and half since almost all the main promised features were enabled.
for a IT standpoint, The tech is already old and should have been ironed already.

They should have ironed most of the issues already... yet they fired a lot of IT staff and they even tried to have a big group of them replaced by Indian IT.

Also, I never said that MyMagic+ needs to be destroyed and burned or even removed. They just didnt plan it very well. and IT SHOWS.

There is a huge issue here because on one side.. groups says Disney overspent in this IT project.. Yet its clearly its far from finished and be 100% stable.
The fact that CMs still need to call the ITs, to make changes in the backend (or database) to fix certain issues( that seems simple).... makes me wonder they didn't even plan the interaction very well.

Every system should always be planned not for "average" loads.. but for maxed loads (with a path to expansion in sight).
After all, the need for internet and the need for data will not stop growing. Not now that they want you to manage all of your vacations in a centralized system that is on the cloud.