Fortune Magazine: Disney's tech innovation is my nightmare

[Disneyhead'71]

What are you upset about, then? The comments here are primarily aimed at the article, not you -- and should not be regarded as a personal affront.

When any poster on this forum makes an error like that, they are flamed for it -- in good fun, of course. I have been corrected and flamed (in a joking manner) on numerous occasions for all kinds of stuff and we all just laugh about it.

Why put up an article when no one is allowed to critique it? Overall, it's a really bad article and some of the poorest writing I have ever seen -- but, that is what also makes it so funny, IMO. Again, that has *nothing* to do with you, no one is laughing at you or judging you-- stop looking for little things to get offended about.

I disagree.

http://fortune.com/2014/12/29/disney-ceo-bob-iger-empire-of-tech/

http://fortune.com/2014/12/29/millennium-falcon-bob-iger/

1. http://fortune.com/2015/08/30/disney-infinity-critics/
2. http://fortune.com/2015/08/26/star-wars-toys/
3. http://fortune.com/2015/08/02/5things-july-employment-disney/
4. http://fortune.com/2015/05/26/disney-walking-robot/
5. http://fortune.com/video/2014/12/19...l&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

There's plenty more -- but, you get the point.

Disney should take a page from the high end fashion designers. If any fashion publication goes out of their way to insult the designer or the models they will be banned from attending the shows and previews the next season.

Disney and Bob Iger have been so kind to Fortune Magazine -- granting them exclusives and previews. The article doesn't reflect poorly on Disney at all, it reflects poorly on Fortune.

I know Disney PR isn't going to ban them but I would, which is why I am not in PR. LOL.

Agreed.

The wait times for the smaller rides have slightly increased while the wait times for the popular E tickets rides have substantially decreased -- it's a nice trade off.

It hasn't for me. OMG, I *love* FP+ so much -- way more than legacy fp.

Very well said and I couldn't agree more.

LOL. Funny post.

Wow, this post made me throw up a little.

 

[Ulysses McGill]

I remember when 7DMT first opened and didn't have a FP queue, I was in shock at how fast the line actually moved. Mind you, we were lined up nearly back to Dumbo, but we were able to get on the ride in less than an hour.

It really made me think, are fast pass lines the problem to begin with?

Think about it - If 300 people are in line, is it be better to have a consistent flow from one line, or constantly interrupting the line to let 40-50 people cut every 20 minutes or so?

 

[networkpro]

I would add that slowing down the resort and DVC cash cow expansions would also help to ease the crowding. If you continue to add room capacity with the same amount of things to do within the parks then....well, the math is not all that hard to figure out.

Not necessarily, if their aim is to remove competition from the off-site hotels then it could be more of zero sum gain.

 

[copcarguyp71]

Not necessarily, if their aim is to remove competition from the off-site hotels then it could be more of zero sum gain.

Yes...that is good for their bottom line but I see no way in hades that it can do anything but complicate matters more with regard to logistics, crowding and the need to have to overplan every bit of minutiae of a vacation...which makes it much less of a vacation. Offsite hotels will continue to exist..there is no way Disney is shutting them down by adding room capacity so it is more of the snake chasing its' tail with regard to crowds. Again I reiterate that at some point their bottom line greed (or call it whatever you will) is taking over for overall guest satisfaction and may ultimately be the undoing of the attendance of many long time or past visitors who realize what once was and will never be again.

 

[Matt_Black]

You know how I post and what little tolerance I have for people who want to split every hair…

At least they have hairs to split!!!

 

[Lucky]

I remember when 7DMT first opened and didn't have a FP queue, I was in shock at how fast the line actually moved. Mind you, we were lined up nearly back to Dumbo, but we were able to get on the ride in less than an hour.

It really made me think, are fast pass lines the problem to begin with?

Think about it - If 300 people are in line, is it be better to have a consistent flow from one line, or constantly interrupting the line to let 40-50 people cut every 20 minutes or so?

As long as there's a consistent flow from one line boarding the ride, it doesn't matter what's happening at the merge point upstream.

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I like the FastPass+ system and Magic Bands.

 

[Bluewaves]

I dislike the current system as well the dining plan options.

I have been traveling to WDW for the better part of the last 25 years. So I had been to Disney even before there were paper Fast Passes or Dining Plan.

The paper fast passes or fast pass in general works well when the rides and attractions have enough capacity, however TDO has spent billions on next gen tech that does not increase overall capacity at the parks while at the same time increasing available hotel space, and continuing to experience increases in attendance.

What does that mean? That means that fast passes that can now be booked 60 days in advance are swallowed up for popular attractions as soon as they are available, yes for some and some in this tread that is awesome as they want to schedule and plan every moment of their trip 6 months in advance are more than happy to do that.

For me I could care less. When I plan a trip its generally less than a couple months ahead of time, more likely weeks ahead just based upon work and can I actually get that week. I get that some people like to plan at 10:30 am on day 2 of my vacation 2 years from now I'll ride 7DMT and visit whatever princess of the month flavor at 12:30 blah blah blah, for most people its not how life is lived and kills the magic of a Disney vacation in order to experience what happens organically.

I blame this on the total lack of capacity growth and in fact decline with one park nearly completely shut down at the moment and no serious expansion any where near being completed at others.

Now Dining, I could honestly care less about eating on property. Since the Dining Plan the food across all the parks and especially the service has been horrid. I can remember a couple trips ago not having the dining plan and eating at a sit down restaurant, one that used to have an extensive menu of high quality items, to find that it had been completely dumbed down to a super simple menu of sub par food served by a waiter that was annoyed he would have to actually work and not just run whatever or stipend was out to us. A waiter who was annoyed that I mentioned the food used to be good here. Forcing what were once good restaurants into a turn and burn as many tables as they could mentality.

The lack of capacity is what kills me about the current system and Disney seems perfectly happy to make us all fight for whatever scare resources there are instead of using the ridiculous admission prices they charge to expand and improve in a timely fashion.

Easiest way to start fixing it would be to tier release fast passes and ADR's like some places already do.

50% released and 60 days, 30% released at 30 days, 15% released at a week and 5% held for the day of would be a better option for most and similar situations with Dining.

I know since the start of the dining plan I no longer do sit down meals at Disney, the quality is just not there any more nor could I justify the price of a substandard meal.

 

[jakeman]

Nice to see the narrative of FP+ limiting availability of ADRs and attractions is still going strong around here.

ADRs for a family of 4 tonight: 67 of 113 dining experiences are available (the 113 is just the raw list, so a sizable chunk of the unavailable items is Food and Wine stuff listed that isn't available).

FP+: MK has everything but Frozen M&G and 7DMT available. Epcot everything available except for the M&G. DHS everything available except TSMM and the Frozen singalong. DAK everything is available. So if you're counting out of the whole resort, 5 "attractions" (two of which are meet and greets) are unavailable for FP+ as of 10:30 in the morning the day of.

Now it's time for folks to say, blah blah Monday, blah blah school is in. Every single time I've done this, which is several at this point, a vast majority of the restaurants are available and almost all the attractions are available day of. There are outliers sure, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Disney needs more capacity, but FP+ isn't this vacation crippling evil that folks make it out to be.

 

[PhotoDave219]

At least they have hairs to split!!!

So you're saying that even under your.... Wait nvm.

 

[Master Yoda]

Nice to see the narrative of FP+ limiting availability of ADRs and attractions is still going strong around here.

ADRs for a family of 4 tonight: 67 of 113 dining experiences are available (the 113 is just the raw list, so a sizable chunk of the unavailable items is Food and Wine stuff listed that isn't available).

FP+: MK has everything but Frozen M&G and 7DMT available. Epcot everything available except for the M&G. DHS everything available except TSMM and the Frozen singalong. DAK everything is available. So if you're counting out of the whole resort, 5 "attractions" (two of which are meet and greets) are unavailable for FP+ as of 10:30 in the morning the day of.

Now it's time for folks to say, blah blah Monday, blah blah school is in. Every single time I've done this, which is several at this point, a vast majority of the restaurants are available and almost all the attractions are available day of. There are outliers sure, but they are the exception and not the rule.

Disney needs more capacity, but FP+ isn't this vacation crippling evil that folks make it out to be.

but, but, nerd rage and FP+ is the devil and all that stuff.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This isn't good press for Disney Parks and Resorts. A financial magazine read mostly by Wall Street types giving a bad review to the multi-billion dollar system brought in by Disney.

Except Wall Street types don't read "screens and schedules" as a scary thing. They read it as a smart and efficient way to predict guest behavior and manage costs.

The fallacy of this article is the implication that Disney didn't require advanced planning prior to FP+. That's garbage, of course it did. Just take a look at the touring plans in the back of The Unofficial Guide. People were still saying "okay, we'll run to Frontierland to get our Fastpass for Big Thunder, then cross the park to Tomorrowland and ride Space Mountain and Buzz, then return to Fontierland (depending on our return window) to use our Fastpass and get a second for Splash and..." months in advance. The only difference now is that you can secure those plans ahead of time and not need to crisscross the Magic Kingdom twelve times to physically retrieve and use paper FP tickets.

 

[Master Yoda]

Except Wall Street types don't read "screens and schedules" as a scary thing. They read it as a smart and efficient way to predict guest behavior and manage costs.

The fallacy of this article is the implication that Disney didn't require advanced planning prior to FP+. That's garbage, of course it did. Just take a look at the touring plans in the back of The Unofficial Guide. People were still saying "okay, we'll run to Frontierland to get our Fastpass for Big Thunder, then cross the park to Tomorrowland and ride Space Mountain and Buzz, then return to Fontierland (depending on our return window) to use our Fastpass and get a second for Splash and..." months in advance. The only difference now is that you can secure those plans ahead of time and not need to crisscross the Magic Kingdom twelve times to physically retrieve and use paper FP tickets.

But I remember the good old days before Fastpass where you would have no other choice but to wait an hour or more to ride Space Mountain during the summer. Why can't we go back to that?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

But I remember the good old days before Fastpass where you would have no other choice but to wait an hour or more to ride Space Mountain during the summer. Why can't we go back to that?

You're not being creative enough. We could go back to the days when crowds were half the size! All TDO would have to do is raise prices. I'm thinking $1,000 for a five-day hopper should do the trick. I'm sure nobody would complain then.

 

[PhotoDave219]

You're not being creative enough. We could go back to the days when crowds were half the size! All TDO would have to do is raise prices. I'm thinking $1,000 for a five-day hopper should do the trick. I'm sure nobody would complain then.

I'm all for the days of the 30,000 person crowd at MK.

 

[Matt_Black]

So you're saying that even under your.... Wait nvm.

I try to keep sharp objects away from certain areas.

 

[BrerWayne]

While you are correct, you can sometimes get FP+ for things semi last minute, but I see it a bit differently. If I am going to fork over that kind of cash for a trip to Disney, I am not going to chance getting a FP+ or place to eat for what I want. So the answer is make sure to do it ASAP so you don't miss out. I have had both situations, 30 days out and NO mine train, Anna/Elsa, toy story... I've also checked and there have been passes available 30 or so days out. I just can't agree with the argument from some "if you want to be spontaneous or not plan way ahead, go ahead, you don't have to." At best I have 1 shot a year at Disney and you bet I'm not leaving that to chance because I don't want to plan that far out, not for that amount of money. So I don't think it's over-blowing it at all. Yea, you could go and be spontaneous or wait until you have a month or so to go to plan things. But all you would really be doing is putting yourself at a severe disadvantage, especially if you are not a "Disney pro". Just my opinion.

Your experience is similar to mine. I worked a 12 hour shift on the day that I could book fast passes. I dozed off and woke up at 12:20 am. All my four year old really wanted was to meet Anna and Elsa. We spent two days in Magic Kingdom. The first day we planned to be there I couldnt get any Fastpasses, the second day I got Fastpasses at 11:00 pm for Anna and Elsa and 9:30 pm for 7DMT. You snooze, you loose.

 

[slappy magoo]

First 2 times I, as an adult, paying my own way, went to WDW, were May of 1996 and November 1997 (before, not during Thanksgiving week). Pre-Fastpass. Both times, I experienced wait times of 90-minutes plus for certain rides. Both times, I missed parades and/or fireworks because I was on lines so long the festivities began and I was still waiting, tempted to say "screw it, I'll come back" only to see how many people were still on line behind me and thinking "I don't want to wait on this line all over again."

Since then all subsequent trips have been in an age of FP or FP+, and the only times I've waited on crazy lines, was when I could not get a Fastpass. It's afforded me the peace of mind of knowing I won't screw up a meal reservation, or I can hit a ride right after eating. It makes it easier to slow down and enjoy the scenery.

Now that I have kids old enough to really soak in the ol' pre-fabricated Disney magic, the FP+ affords me a better chance of doing more things they will like without having to wait on longer lines, perhaps missing a designated nap time (important to insure the rest of the day doesn't stink). They don't necessarily know or care about all the time I put in making the reservations, as far as they know, we're walking left, walking right, and hey, look at that, let's go see if we can meet Anna and Elsa...

I can't help but wonder, if these innovations were never developed or utilized at WDW, would we see guys like this author writing pieces about how out of control the lines are at WDW, and for all the money you spend on a Disney trip can't they do SOMETHING about making the lines a little shorter? Indeed, I'd bet if those same people tried to come up with a way to get guests to have more chances to pack more things to do in a WDW trip, the result would be...Fastpass or Fastpass Plus.

 

[Dead2009]

"Disney Is Wrong" says everyone who wants everything handed to them.

 

[Dukeblue1227]

Nice to see the narrative of FP+ limiting availability of ADRs and attractions is still going strong around here.

ADRs for a family of 4 tonight: 67 of 113 dining experiences are available (the 113 is just the raw list, so a sizable chunk of the unavailable items is Food and Wine stuff listed that isn't available).

You mean to tell me... I can pay what to go on vacation and have 60% of the restaurants available to me? Sign me up!!!!

Sure, a sizable chunk are things unavailable anyway... Another sizeable chunk is in that 67 that... Who really wants to make a reservation to have dinner at while on vacation...

Also in there are the more popular restaurants with reservations at 4:10 or 9:05...

I'm not one of the people who complain about it because the fact is, it is what it is... But at the same time this is just blind acceptance of something that's really not all that wonderful, because it has become the norm. Going on vacation and taking into consideration when people traditionally enjoy having dinner, only having about 30% of the options available to you is pretty bad.