Magicband admission system issue today?

[WDWVito]

So if more than two parks have the same issue I guess it can't be server related.

I have no inside knowledge of WDW, but it sounds it could have been infrastructure (LAN/wan)
While two parks may not be on the same server, data may travers the same switch/router.....and so on.
You would think however that infrastructure redundancy would be in place.
....Or someone was playing Galaga

 

[cspencer96]

A Guest Relations CM assisted me with an issue I had today with the kiosks and other touch points giving a message to "See Guest Relations," yet nothing was apparently wrong as far as they could tell. They said they were having issues with random guest accounts and the entry/admission system, and they were working furiously on it. We didn't have any trouble getting in, everything turned green, just the Cast Member holding the iPod touch told me it said I needed to see a GR Cast Member.

 

[Jakester]

I blame e-bay

No, It's obviously that evil cast member didn't want to let anybody in.

 

[Kman101]

Yeah, I was attempting to use my MB at the Epcot entrance today, it didn't work (I had my card out as well), touched the card, worked just fine. Went to Magic Kingdom and the MB worked fine. This was between 11ish (when I entered Epcot) and 2:40 (when I entered the MK). I used my MB for two FP+ and worked fine.

 

[cw1982]

No, It's obviously that evil cast member didn't want to let anybody in.

I bet it was you ... just using the other CM as a scapegoat!

 

[Master Yoda]

I have no inside knowledge of WDW, but it sounds it could have been infrastructure (LAN/wan)
While two parks may not be on the same server, data may travers the same switch/router.....and so on.
You would think however that infrastructure redundancy would be in place.
....Or someone was playing Galaga

 

[omurice]

Started limited roll-out to the resorts in Aug-2013, nine months ago. All the resorts were issuing MB since Oct 23, exactly seven months ago. No KTTW cards since mid-January, over four months. I hear the word "test" less often but it seems like we are still in Test Mode... So when is this "Test" gonna end?

Are Blue people on stilts going to announce the end of this Test in Animal Kingdom, in 2018?

 

[castlecake2.0]

whether a system is in a test mode or not doesnt mean it cant go down. Attractions that have been opened since 1971 will go 101 sometimes, it just happens.

 

[some guy]

Having a backup means admitting things can go wrong.

 

[wogwog]

MK cast I converse with tell me it is a continuing problem. Often happening a few times a week from a few minutes to much longer. As bad as this sounds it is improving. It used to go down more often and for longer periods. Still called a test as a way to cover the mess I guess.

 

[castlecake2.0]

Yes, that's going to happen with a RIDE. But when Total Admission is DENIED - it's fair to ask, what is the back up plan? It's a Business Critical System - any one with High School competence would have implemented a BACK UP PLAN - even if it's "revert to paper". In this case, I see NO BACKUP PLAN - except "cease doing business".

As I work in Food and Beverage and not Main Entrance Operations, I dont have all the details for what steps are taken in the event the touch points are experiencing difficulties. From what I understand the first step is that Main Entrance Host/esses will use their handheld devices to validate admissions media and continue to allow Guests to enter.

 

[GrumpyFan]

If the system is down though, they can't validate electronic media.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Yes, that's going to happen with a RIDE. But when Total Admission is DENIED - it's fair to ask, what is the back up plan? It's a Business Critical System - any one with High School competence would have implemented a BACK UP PLAN - even if it's "revert to paper".

Except, there is no paper to revert to. Seems to me the only way to do this would be similar to how stores sometimes have to revert to calling someone and validate credit cards/checks over the phone. If this is even possible with MBs, CMs at the gates would have to do something similar with someone who has system access and the ability to look up band numbers to validate admission. Aside from that, the other (preferred) solution is redundant systems and networks. Regardless, there is no foolproof way to ensure this never happens again.

 

[Rob562]

If the system is down though, they can't validate electronic media.

Validate, no. But they could conceivably "queue up" the validations locally for processing by the network once the system is back up and running. That processing would then subtract the day from the tickets, mark those tickets as currently being in the park for FP reasons, etc. You might not catch some people entering when they shouldn't (invalid ticket, no Hopper, etc) but from a business paperwork standpoint it's better to at least *try* to get things processed instead of either closing the gates completely and angering Guests or flinging them open and letting everyone go in free angering the accountants.

I have no knowledge of how the WDW system is set up, but that was essentially the process with the cash register system at my first job in high school at a pizza/pasta/sandwich place. As long as there wasn't a complete system crash, you could still enter orders locally into the register, collect money, make change, etc. (Though you had to write out orders for the cooks because the networked order-slip printers weren't working) Once the network came back up, the register would then dump all of the locally-saved orders to the network and all would be right again. Presumably this is an industry standard way of doing things.

-Rob

 

[Kman101]

Considering yesterday that the parking attendants computers were down and then they were scanning everyone in with pads at the entrance ... of course it was 5:50 in the morning, so I don't know and am not saying things were "down" but you'd think they'd be able to have things running?