Magic Band Nightmare

[ford91exploder]

I may be misunderstanding the current state if magic bands but I thought the testing was only being done with new bookings and not including anything like annual passes or premier passports. Either way sorry to hear your experience was a bad one. I understand that there are some issues.


The website has been working fine for me all week and I just booked FP+ on Tuesday or Wednesday. So the issue they know about is not affecting everyone. They may be pushing it out too quick but part of that is our society today. Most people expect the next great thing as soon as possible. Thats why video games/systems, smart phones, software, etc all come out containing plenty if bugs. If a company waits too long to finish developing something then some else has already released something before them that even though it may have bugs it was out first and caught everyone's attention.

This is the problem - It's a 'test' that's not really a test - when I went in August being DVC and Premier Passport holder - got stuck with the Grey 'Mouse Arrest Band' anyhow even though the only thing it could reliably do was open the door to room - 'Premier Passport' == 'Known Issue' and it's STILL a Known Issue DVC linkage a 'known issue' once again still a known issue. But you will have to use NGE and MDE anyway see the problem developing here.

The Premier Passport worked to get conventional FP's but nothing worked for NGE and since in December NGE will be fully rolled out - bugs and all with no KTTW card for charging etc. I expect it will be a thoroughly unpleasant experience and since I am IN the software industry I don't see how they are going to get today's backlog of bugs fixed for the holiday season.

 

[GeekDad]

This is the problem - It's a 'test' that's not really a test - when I went in August being DVC and Premier Passport holder - got stuck with the Grey 'Mouse Arrest Band' anyhow even though the only thing it could reliably do was open the door to room - 'Premier Passport' == 'Known Issue' and it's STILL a Known Issue DVC linkage a 'known issue' once again still a known issue. But you will have to use NGE and MDE anyway see the problem developing here.

The Premier Passport worked to get conventional FP's but nothing worked for NGE and since in December NGE will be fully rolled out - bugs and all with no KTTW card for charging etc. I expect it will be a thoroughly unpleasant experience and since I am IN the software industry I don't see how they are going to get today's backlog of bugs fixed for the holiday season.

What would you have used to get into your room in the past? If it wads KTTW were you able to link your premier pass to it? If the magic band does the se thing for you as the KTTW then I don't see a big difference but if it does less and you were forced into it while in testing then yes Disney dropped the ball.

Also the full roll out in December is still a test. I just got an email yesterday saying my family was selected to participate in the test for our December trip, I had already seen this on the MDE site and started customizing our bands. Yes granted I think everyone is being picked and probably forced into it but Disney is still calling it a test so hopefully they are getting the feedback they need to fix the issues.

 

[ford91exploder]

What would you have used to get into your room in the past? If it wads KTTW were you able to link your premier pass to it? If the magic band does the se thing for you as the KTTW then I don't see a big difference but if it does less and you were forced into it while in testing then yes Disney dropped the ball.

Also the full roll out in December is still a test. I just got an email yesterday saying my family was selected to participate in the test for our December trip, I had already seen this on the MDE site and started customizing our bands. Yes granted I think everyone is being picked and probably forced into it but Disney is still calling it a test so hopefully they are getting the feedback they need to fix the issues.

In the past you have never been able to link 'Special' tickets (AP's Premier, Event, etc) to KTTW, On the other hand you never needed to either because possession of the ticket media gave you access to all entitlements, You carried 2 cards + Drivers license and that was all you needed.

Now Disney creates a system where you are REQUIRED to link your ticket media to your room key so you can access the ride reservation system - the physical ticket media is no longer sufficient. But many types of Disney ticket media cannot be linked. Hence the problem. Compounding that the ticket media is the most expensive that Disney sells.

 

[Cesar R M]

In the past you have never been able to link 'Special' tickets (AP's Premier, Event, etc) to KTTW, On the other hand you never needed to either because possession of the ticket media gave you access to all entitlements, You carried 2 cards + Drivers license and that was all you needed.

Now Disney creates a system where you are REQUIRED to link your ticket media to your room key so you can access the ride reservation system - the physical ticket media is no longer sufficient. But many types of Disney ticket media cannot be linked. Hence the problem. Compounding that the ticket media is the most expensive that Disney sells.

sorry to burst into your conversation, but what is "KTTW" ?
It doesn't appear to be in the acronym list.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

How is this the risk we take? If they didn't choose MagicBands on MDE, a set of default grey ones would have been waiting for them at check-in at their resort! That is not the risk we take, that is the risk Disney is taking. I would have flipped if they told me that!

My sister and her husband are there right now. They arrived Sunday 10/27 and they had problems at their very first park.. they went to enter Epcot and my Brother in law's band did not work and they spent an hour at Guest Relations. They were not so happy. What ever was wrong, was fixed and they haven't had problems since but still. I understand it is a test, but the negatives are starting to outweigh the positives with this new system.

We arrive next Wednesday and I was so excited for the Bands and FP+ but now I am not so excited because I fear that ours will have problems also.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

sorry to burst into your conversation, but what is "KTTW" ?
It doesn't appear to be in the acronym list.

Key to the World room key!

 

[ford91exploder]

sorry to burst into your conversation, but what is "KTTW" ?
It doesn't appear to be in the acronym list.

Key To The World card

 

[Cesar R M]

Key to the World room key!

Thank you!

 

[GeekDad]

In the past you have never been able to link 'Special' tickets (AP's Premier, Event, etc) to KTTW, On the other hand you never needed to either because possession of the ticket media gave you access to all entitlements, You carried 2 cards + Drivers license and that was all you needed.

Now Disney creates a system where you are REQUIRED to link your ticket media to your room key so you can access the ride reservation system - the physical ticket media is no longer sufficient. But many types of Disney ticket media cannot be linked. Hence the problem. Compounding that the ticket media is the most expensive that Disney sells.

But can you still use your premier passport to get regular fast pass? If so the only current difference is that instead of a second card to carry around you have to wear a wrist band. Disney has stated that this would be the case for premier passports and ap holder until they roll out that part of the system. My understanding is that will be some time next year.

 

[GeekDad]

How is this the risk we take? If they didn't choose MagicBands on MDE, a set of default grey ones would have been waiting for them at check-in at their resort! That is not the risk we take, that is the risk Disney is taking. I would have flipped if they told me that!

The key question here is wether or not that was actually said to the OP or if the OP was even in WDW recently. I know there are issues such as the one your sister and her husband ran into but the usually aren't as catastrophic as the OP claims thier issue was. It sucks when things go wrong on vacation but it happened even with the old system. Heck my wife got sick on our two trips together which caused her to spend a day or two just resting in the hotel room. So even if a system works perfectly there are always other things that will cause issues.

Is it better that they try to create a new and hopefully improved system or should they just sit on what they have?

 

[ford91exploder]

But can you still use your premier passport to get regular fast pass? If so the only current difference is that instead of a second card to carry around you have to wear a wrist band. Disney has stated that this would be the case for premier passports and ap holder until they roll out that part of the system. My understanding is that will be some time next year.

Regular FP's run out within 1 hour of park opening, Some rumors that no regular FP will be available around holidays when 'full rollout' is complete.

 

[stevehousse]

No where has Disney stated that a full roll out is coming for December! Where is everyone getting this? CMs r finally getting to test MB with no KTTW cards in December/January. Not to mention that they will have to do tests for photopass and also test the system as a regular day guest. These things will go into the new year an I don't expect to see a complete and full roll out until probably the summer of 2014 when EVERYONE is using the new system and all the links are straightened out...testing takes time, I don't see them rushing this with all the problems people seem to be having with it, and that's just resort guests only...

 

[DVCOwner]

I am just starting planning for a trip in April. I linked my new reservation using DVC points to my on line account and all was going fine. Then some meal reservations started not showing up. Call the IT department today and they found an old DVC account that I have not used in years and it was picking up my reservations. They did away with that account and so far everything is working like it should.

 

[GeekDad]

Actually? Not the case - not for close to a decade...

It's fairly simple to load test a new launch. The basic concept is to use a heavier infrastructure (usually banks of computers) to simulate anticipated real world load by banging the HELL out of the new launch, measuring response times, observing network traffic load, back end DB connectivity delays. It's so simple that it's frightening - the superior system (which may be distributed) acts just like THOUSANDS of very impatient humans . It's even possible to farm this job out - whole companies exist for stress testing.

You missed one of my other replies where I said stress test is not the right term to use. The point I was trying to make is that there are always issues that wont come up till you have actual users on the system.

Regular FP's run out within 1 hour of park opening, Some rumors that no regular FP will be available around holidays when 'full rollout' is complete.

The regular FP's always ran out quickly for the popular rides. Are they running out quicker for all rides now?

 

[Cesar R M]

You missed one of my other replies where I said stress test is not the right term to use. The point I was trying to make is that there are always issues that wont come up till you have actual users on the system.


The regular FP's always ran out quickly for the popular rides. Are they running out quicker for all rides now?

fully agree on bugs not appearing in stress test a lot of times.
lets remember that most tests are standarized and have a limited amount of actions the ¨bots¨ will do.
Most of these actions are supposed "normal" behavior a client will do.
Humans can be pretty unpredictable.. they could be ordering something, then cutting the page load (sending incorrect or incomplete data) then sending another thing...

specially if you have people who dont know anything of computers and start pressing and pushing stuff they shouldnt.

 

[ford91exploder]

fully agree on bugs not appearing in stress test a lot of times.
lets remember that most tests are standarized and have a limited amount of actions the ¨bots¨ will do.
Most of these actions are supposed "normal" behavior a client will do.
Humans can be pretty unpredictable.. they could be ordering something, then cutting the page load (sending incorrect or incomplete data) then sending another thing...

specially if you have people who dont know anything of computers and start pressing and pushing stuff they shouldnt.

Agree fully on all points, One of my key responsibilities is making test systems more reflective of the real world which involves inserting randomness.

However it looks like a lot of cases were overlooked - ie Devo's concentrated on Disney packages forgetting there are other types of reservations where member has a room reservation Cash, DVC or Other (convention etc) and other ticket media

 

[Master Yoda]

Agree fully on all points, One of my key responsibilities is making test systems more reflective of the real world which involves inserting randomness.

However it looks like a lot of cases were overlooked - ie Devo's concentrated on Disney packages forgetting there are other types of reservations where member has a room reservation Cash, DVC or Other (convention etc) and other ticket media

I am not sure if they were overlooked if they simply fell down on the priority list. I do know that APs are in an entirely different database than every other kind of ticket media. APs also make up a much smaller percentage of the tickets at WDW. It is quite possible that they elected to get regular ticket media working correctly and then take what they have learned through that and apply it to the APs, hence the delay.

 

[ford91exploder]

Actually? Not the case - not for close to a decade...

It's fairly simple to load test a new launch. The basic concept is to use a heavier infrastructure (usually banks of computers) to simulate anticipated real world load by banging the HELL out of the new launch, measuring response times, observing network traffic load, back end DB connectivity delays. It's so simple that it's frightening - the superior system (which may be distributed) acts just like THOUSANDS of very impatient humans . It's even possible to farm this job out - whole companies exist for stress testing. Generally, the objective is to intentionally overload the target system to the point of failure - failure being defined in the initial system specifications (assuming anyone bothered to write any).

Caw's 'Web Avalanche' (now from Spirent) does exactly this along with dozens of other similar systems, And of all the major public facing systems I've been in charge of building I've insisted that systems like this be used so we know where EXACTLY the system is going to break and can communicate that to system owner. ie System can handle 10000 registrations per second. not 10001 registrations per second.

It defies belief that Disney did not do this but knowing TDO's legendary cheapness it does not surprise me as Web infrastructure has never been a strong point of Disney IT, From another thread it appears that you cannot register for MDE with an iPad - you need a 'real' computer Madness, simply madness

 

[ford91exploder]

I am not sure if they were overlooked if they simply fell down on the priority list. I do know that APs are in an entirely different database than every other kind of ticket media. APs also make up a much smaller percentage of the tickets at WDW. It is quite possible that they elected to get regular ticket media working correctly and then take what they have learned through that and apply it to the APs, hence the delay.

If true that's really bad software engineering because they have not solved the general case of 'ticket media' and now will be forced to create a separate execution chain for each type of ticket media which will propagate bugs and additional OPEX as well as load.

 

[Cesar R M]

If true that's really bad software engineering because they have not solved the general case of 'ticket media' and now will be forced to create a separate execution chain for each type of ticket media which will propagate bugs and additional OPEX as well as load.

Do you think they could be still using the old servers and old databases and just linked (hooked) to the new system to save costs?

I know that they need the system to be stll up at all times to keep handling requests..
but I wonder if they went the cheapest way (keep all the old stuff) vs mirroring the databases to the new system as they expand.. and then shutdown the older one when everythings ready.