Disney's Over-Reliance on Smartphones

Is Disney relying too much on smartphones

  • Yes

    Votes: 90 80.4%

  • No

    Votes: 22 19.6%
  • Total voters
    112
DavidDL

DavidDL

Well-Known Member
@el_super ; I’ll respond to this fully when I actually have the time to. While I see some of your points in regards to capacity, it’s going to end up being a moot point. Because as I have said over and over again, the core issue I have with the mobile order system and Disney’s pushing of it is that it creates the scenario where Guests either have to a) preplan or know what they are going to want to eat (-and at what time) all day in the morning, then order/pay in advance (something most folks don’t normally know or do) or b) endure longer than previously average queues created by not being able to see the future and know what you and your party/family would be in the mood for later. In the scenario of adding more registers and dedicating less to mobile orders, you remove some of that burden from Guests shoulders in the morning and allow for them to feel less helpless/aggravated when the time comes that they actually get hungry, in regards to their decision making abilities. -and while certain options with mobile order may technically still be available to them, I’m sure they’d take the average 20 to 30 minute waits from before over the hour plus experience myself and others have been having. Just because we weren’t sure what we wanted for dinner at 8am.

Additionally, people filling up the available food time slots and usage of the mobile order system doesn’t always mean it’s the more popular option. It just means they know it’s increasingly becoming the only option in some scenarios as Disney purposefully makes the alternative more and more inconvenient or inaccessible (in certain scenarios). Saying the mobile order system is a more popular or more “Guest friendly” choice just because people are using it is like saying having to walk the tram route from Mickey and Friends is more popular to Guests than taking the tram itself.
 
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Diamond Dot

Diamond Dot

Well-Known Member
I'm not smartphone savvy, I really hardly use mine. My UK phone is useless in Disney, it's only a cheap one and I don't know how to use a US sim card in it. I ended up going to Walmart and buying a PAYG phone, which I have since learned is a 'burner phone', but, as I couldn't get an account set up, being a Brit to top up online, I have to buy a top up card when I'm over there. I really could live without all the smartphone stuff Disney expect us to have.
 
Magenta Panther

Magenta Panther

Well-Known Member
When I visited the Disney parks, I positively cheered every time someone opened their phone during performances of Philharmagic. And you can't beat people staring down at their phones and tapping on them during the intros to the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror. The only thing more magical was the nonstop yapping during all of those things.

Yes, sarcasm.

So thank you, Disney/Iger for encouraging all this classless disruptive behavior with your virtual queues and making the use of "smart"phones necessary to actually experience a ride or attraction. And all at double the prices from last year!
 
Vegas Disney Fan

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
I love the convenience of the app when it works but it’s horribly unreliable. We just got back from a week at WDW and I must have opened and closed my app a hundred times because it froze, that alone wouldn’t be so bad but a half dozen times a day it would have to send me a code to verify my phone, the same one I used the entire time. It became very annoying.
 
CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DavidDL said:
@el_super ; I’ll respond to this fully when I actually have the time to. While I see some of your points in regards to capacity, it’s going to end up being a moot point. Because as I have said over and over again, the core issue I have with the mobile order system and Disney’s pushing of it is that it creates the scenario where Guests either have to a) preplan or know what they are going to want to eat (-and at what time) all day in the morning, then order/pay in advance (something most folks don’t normally know or do) or b) endure longer than previously average queues created by not being able to see the future and know what you and your party/family would be in the mood for later. In the scenario of adding more registers and dedicating less to mobile orders, you remove some of that burden from Guests shoulders in the morning and allow for them to feel less helpless/aggravated when the time comes that they actually get hungry, in regards to their decision making abilities. -and while certain options with mobile order may technically still be available to them, I’m sure they’d take the average 20 to 30 minute waits from before over the hour plus experience myself and others have been having. Just because we weren’t sure what we wanted for dinner at 8am.

Additionally, people filling up the available food time slots and usage of the mobile order system doesn’t always mean it’s the more popular option. It just means they know it’s increasingly becoming the only option in some scenarios as Disney purposefully makes the alternative more and more inconvenient or inaccessible (in certain scenarios). Saying the mobile order system is a more popular or more “Guest friendly” choice just because people are using it is like saying having to walk the tram route from Mickey and Friends is more popular to Guests than taking the tram itself.
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That poster is a troll. Best to ignore them.
 
el_super

el_super

Well-Known Member
mickEblu said:
I agree, you re not. But you are the biggest Disney apologist and sympathizer of all time with contrarian and troll like tendencies.
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I know it may seem that way at times, but seriously how much money have you given them this year? I've probably spent less than $20 there this year.

There is a bizarre disconnect here between this board being their staunchest critics and also the ones handing money to them hand over fist, every single year. At this point a lot of criticisms being levied just aren't really based on what's going on in the park, but more like a personal beef.

Like complaining that the cell phone usage is causing long lines. Or thinking that Disney is going to ditch the mobile app anytime soon. It just won't happen.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
el_super said:
I know it may seem that way at times, but seriously how much money have you given them this year? I've probably spent less than $20 there this year.

There is a bizarre disconnect here between this board being their staunchest critics and also the ones handing money to them hand over fist, every single year. At this point a lot of criticisms being levied just aren't really based on what's going on in the park, but more like a personal beef.

Like complaining that the cell phone usage is causing long lines. Or thinking that Disney is going to ditch the mobile app anytime soon. It just won't happen.
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I agree. Their is a disconnect. I think for me I’ve pinpointed why that is. Disneyland, the place, is still great. Annual Passes still have good value. Chapek, the company and all their “recent” bone headed decisions can’t change that over night. They can’t undo the classic attractions, the beautiful landscaping, the music etc. (I mean they can but they haven’t yet). I can still take the kids on Casey Jr. Ride Splash Mountain. Hear the music as Tea cups glide. Walk around and enjoy the sights and smells.

I do feel the mystique is being diminished though.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
BeentoallDParks said:
The fact that so many people have said they don’t like the increased reliance on smartphones proves that it’s unpopular with a significant segment. There’s no denying it. The voices are clear.

Whether the world is moving that way is not the same question. The question is whether you don’t like it. And there’s clearly a significant portion that doesn’t. No question. And that matters.
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I don’t mean this in a negative or positive way but I wouldn’t take the Disneyland section of this board as representative of people as a whole.
 
RobWDW1971

RobWDW1971

Well-Known Member
Magenta Panther said:
When I visited the Disney parks, I positively cheered every time someone opened their phone during performances of Philharmagic. And you can't beat people staring down at their phones and tapping on them during the intros to the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror. The only thing more magical was the nonstop yapping during all of those things.

Yes, sarcasm.

So thank you, Disney/Iger for encouraging all this classless disruptive behavior with your ******* virtual queues and making the use of "smart"phones necessary to actually experience a ride or attraction. And all at double the prices from last year!
Click to expand...

This is so true. Disney's reliance on phones is having a noticeable impact on the park experience. I have always been reasonably accepting of people taking flash pictures on Pirates, reciting spiels, etc. as they are just excited and into the experience.

But experienced something on my last visit I truly couldn't believe. In line for Haunted Mansion Holiday, a family of four with two young kids were trying to figure out where to eat lunch and order online so they could eat after the ride. As they scrolled through the options and selected a restaurant we entered the lobby.

The mother continued trying to coordinate the mobile order THROUGHOUT the entire elevator sequence.

Phone on full brightness, staring down, and continuing to pepper the young kids with lunch questions "Billy, do you want chicken nuggets or a hot dog?", "Sally, do you want chocolate milk or a Coke?" As the spiel got louder, she just increased her volume. "Honey, do you want a burger or chicken sandwich?!", etc.

The whole family missed the entire opening act and were totally focused on what Disney has now required them to do to simply grab lunch in an amusement park. That was the Haunted Mansion Holiday experience for these two young kids.

Felt terrible for them and the future of the park experience. So blessed none of this existed when I was a kid.
 
Dear Prudence

Dear Prudence

Well-Known Member
I have a lot of rare food allergies (berries 😭😭😭😭), so I always just bring my own food and then pick up an occasional snack. Keeps me off my phone and way less stressed.
 
CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
RobWDW1971 said:
This is so true. Disney's reliance on phones is having a noticeable impact on the park experience. I have always been reasonably accepting of people taking flash pictures on Pirates, reciting spiels, etc. as they are just excited and into the experience.

But experienced something on my last visit I truly couldn't believe. In line for Haunted Mansion Holiday, a family of four with two young kids were trying to figure out where to eat lunch and order online so they could eat after the ride. As they scrolled through the options and selected a restaurant we entered the lobby.

The mother continued trying to coordinate the mobile order THROUGHOUT the entire elevator sequence.

Phone on full brightness, staring down, and continuing to pepper the young kids with lunch questions "Billy, do you want chicken nuggets or a hot dog?", "Sally, do you want chocolate milk or a Coke?" As the spiel got louder, she just increased her volume. "Honey, do you want a burger or chicken sandwich?!", etc.

The whole family missed the entire opening act and were totally focused on what Disney has now required them to do to simply grab lunch in an amusement park. That was the Haunted Mansion Holiday experience for these two young kids.

Felt terrible for them and the future of the park experience. So blessed none of this existed when I was a kid.
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Wow that is really bad. This is exactly what things have become now. You need the app to do basic functions and have to plan a lot in advanced.
 
John park hopper

John park hopper

Well-Known Member
RobWDW1971 said:
This is so true. Disney's reliance on phones is having a noticeable impact on the park experience. I have always been reasonably accepting of people taking flash pictures on Pirates, reciting spiels, etc. as they are just excited and into the experience.

But experienced something on my last visit I truly couldn't believe. In line for Haunted Mansion Holiday, a family of four with two young kids were trying to figure out where to eat lunch and order online so they could eat after the ride. As they scrolled through the options and selected a restaurant we entered the lobby.

The mother continued trying to coordinate the mobile order THROUGHOUT the entire elevator sequence.

Phone on full brightness, staring down, and continuing to pepper the young kids with lunch questions "Billy, do you want chicken nuggets or a hot dog?", "Sally, do you want chocolate milk or a Coke?" As the spiel got louder, she just increased her volume. "Honey, do you want a burger or chicken sandwich?!", etc.

The whole family missed the entire opening act and were totally focused on what Disney has now required them to do to simply grab lunch in an amusement park. That was the Haunted Mansion Holiday experience for these two young kids.

Felt terrible for them and the future of the park experience. So blessed none of this existed when I was a kid.
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Sorry but you have more patience than I would have --I would have told them to turn the gd phone off didn't come here to listen to you!!!!!!!!! Disney's just at fault for pushing this crap phone business
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
We just hit 100 people tonight who have voted in this poll. The results thus far are:

Is Disney relying too much on smartphones:
81% = Yes
19% = No

You can claim that it's a skewed poll because the respondents are all Disney theme park customers, but that would seem to me to be a reason why these stats are even more troubling.

The over-reliance on wonky, patchy, overly-rules-based App processes to get lunch or a Dole Whip or a ride on an E Ticket is a huge problem. Not to mention the fact that this is a business aimed at families on vacation, and Disney seems to want the adults with smartphones to ignore their family while they desperately tap and reload and swipe right to try and get a Dole Whip three hours from now.

Again I say, it's now clearly obvious that Disney's theme parks are being run by people who have no idea what their core product is, how their customers use that product, or why they use that product.

In short, the people running Disney's theme parks in the 2020's are boneheaded idiots.
 
TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Dear Prudence said:
I have a lot of rare food allergies (berries 😭😭😭😭), so I always just bring my own food and then pick up an occasional snack. Keeps me off my phone and way less stressed.
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I don't have food allergies (unless someone tries to serve me haunch of long-haired cat), but it sounds like you and I are alike in that we often visit the parks on our own. Sometimes I do the big Family Visit! and attack Disneyland like a monster with a big group, but often I just Uber over for a few hours and wander around and laugh at stuff for a fun day out.

We have to remember that our way of going to Disneyland is not the norm. Most people pay big bucks to take the kids to Disneyland, they plan and save months in advance, and they are only there for two or three days. It's like planning the invasion of Normandy, but with churros instead of M1 Rifles.

What the Disney executives have done to that basic park experience, basing it so heavily on Apps and rules and fine print and upcharges, is that it's really damaged the entire experience.
 

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