EPCOT gate trouble?

gmajew

Premium Member
It is sad as the place was really empty today. I would bet it had to have some sort of tech issues as the pic showed is busy then anywhere in the park today.
 

Cmdr_Crimson

Well-Known Member
Disney needs a backup plan.
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ewensell3

Well-Known Member
They lost positions with the budget cuts, so later in the day there is only one touch point in operation.

Need to borrow a couple pages from the retail playbook. Almost everyone is trained on cash registers so the can fill in during a rush. Grab a few custodials, have them wash up, put on a vest , give them a handheld, and start working the crowd.

Heck, it'd be really cool to have some characters running the turnstiles. "Minnie want a new car so I'm picking up extra hours. Ha ha!"
 

roj2323

Well-Known Member
Ok I was a park greeter at Epcot so here's the deal. Between 3-5pm park greeter positions are dropped as the openers go home and the closers come in. There's also mid shifters but typically there's only like 4 of those. At the end of this shift change there's typically 3 V's open with 2-4 additional cast members floating between maps, super greeting and extras. If there's a combination of call ins for closing shifts and ER's from the morning crew it's possible to get a staff shortage especially since there's also Union mandated breaks every 2hrs (15's) and lunch for park greeters is 45 minutes. Anyway coordinators and leaders will fill in usually when there's a shortage but obviously something happened here and 3 V's became one much earlier than the normal 7pm or so.

As for the devices the park greeters were holding they are iPhones or iPods which are what the greeters use to reset the magic band / pass readers. If you are an AP holder your name will also appear. Since I left the job they have also implemented a photo system for guests who have issues with the finger readers but I'm not sure if the photos appear on the iPhones or if that's a guest relations thing.
 

fosse76

Well-Known Member
No backup plan, when magic bands can't be read?

Disney needs a backup plan.
Exactly. This is the problem with technology. When I worked at Six Flags, there was this one time when the system crashed, so they couldn't scan the tickets. So they simply stopped admitting guests. On Broadway, they tear the bar code off the ticket and scan it later if the system fails or crashes. Six Flags could've done that too, but I guess that shows the problem-solving skills of the Operations director at the time. Disney obviously can't do that based on the way ticket media is used. I guess the guests should just be grateful it's not Jurassic Park, or they'd be running for their lives!
 

fosse76

Well-Known Member
I'm sure glad that the world busiest and most popular theme park resort in the world didn't feel it necessary to reduce costs by cutting staff, hours, and entertainment to plump numbers for a new park that's around the world from here.

Like the Spirit says, they act like they are going out of business. At the worst, it would lower the profit margins, but the profits would still be insanely high. But Wall Street downgrades any stock that sees a decrease in profits, regardless of the reasons. It really is disgusting that consumers suffer price increases and decreased service simply because a company made (for example) $2 billion in profits last year but will only make $1.8 billion in profits this year.
 

BAChicagoGal

Well-Known Member
In Chicago, when the system for scanning bus passes goes down, I am allowed on the bus anyway. Of course, no way Disney is going to allow all those guests inside the parks, until they fix the system. They'd be giving away free park days, and guests would not be able to make additional fast passes, and what else would get messed up that I haven't thought of?

Computers. Great when they work. Not so great, when they don't.

I most likely would have left, rather than stand out there in the hot sun.
 

roj2323

Well-Known Member
No backup plan, when magic bands can't be read?

Disney needs a backup plan.
there is a backup plan and actually there's 2 backups. The first backup is the iPhones as they are not dependent on WiFi. The secondary backup plan is the iPhones with the readers attached (I forget the actual name but they are far more bulky and look like a black brick) they use which essentially does the same thing as the magic band readers but it bypasses the permeant infrastructure (the V's) in favor of a secured internet link directly with the server. If all of this fails guests get in on the honor system but I've only seen this happen once and only for about 10 minutes.
 

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