MM+ Feedback from Recent Stay

[maxime29]

Just got back from visiting the World for 8 days. Wanted to give some of my thoughts regarding MM+

• I did like having the ability to select FP ahead of time before our trip. This saved me a whole lot of walking getting a FP for one ride on one end of a park and then run to the other to get in line (i.e.: TT and Soarin').
  
  • It was not that easy to get the specific times I wanted for my FP selections. MDX gave me some generic times for what I wanted for option A, B and C. Even when I went with the "best option" it still told me that one or two out of my party of five had a conflict (something to do with no time available for that FP). All I did was hit the back button and selected it again until I got everyone selected.
  • It was tedious to change the times. We prefer going to the parks in the morning and leaving by 1pm to enjoy our resort, go to the pool, take a nap, and get ready for our ADR. We were able to re-arrange our FP times to go at 9am, 10am and 11am for each day. It did take some time since they all had to be individually done.
• MDX does provide a good amount of information, but it still needs work on speed and stability. Encountered a number of "our server is busy" messages with Donald appearing.
• The mobile app was slow to update too. Took some time to get updated wait times. I wish the mobile app would provide alerts saying what FP is ready to use or a reminder about your dining reservation.
  
• The magic bands seemed to work fine. Main problems were trying to make direct contact with the room key pad, QSR pad, etc. Sometimes took 10 seconds to make exact contact. Having it on the wrist like a watch can be a bit awkward.
  
• We were given the old card keys as backup. Did not have to use them.
  
• We had to replace one person's magic band. The little nibs that keep the bracelet on broke off. The new one seemed to work fine.
  
• I think the lines entering the park went through slightly faster than the old ticket/turnstile system. It was nice that we could push our wheel chair through any line. It is difficult when you have a wheel chair and a stroller side by side though (meaning I enter on the left side while the stroller is on the right).
  
• The wi-fi in the park is still iffy. A few of the sit down restaurants said they had wi-fi connectivity issues when they scanned our magic bands for our dining plan. Said that Disney is still working out the kinks in their system.

This is what I can think of so far. Let me know if anyone has any specific questions on what I experienced.

 

[lostpro9het]

• The mobile app was slow to update too. Took some time to get updated wait times. I wish the mobile app would provide alerts saying what FP is ready to use or a reminder about your dining reservation
• ...
• The wi-fi in the park is still iffy. A few of the sit down restaurants said they had wi-fi connectivity issues when they scanned our magic bands for our dining plan. Said that Disney is still working out the kinks in their system.

We returned yesterday from a trip too. The mobile ap was out of commission for us between 12/25-12/28, the wifi in the park was terrible and the MDX site through our mobile device constantly gave us "server busy issues"

 

[disney4life2008]

MM+ = FAILURE

 

[Soarin2u]

Just got back from visiting the World for 8 days. Wanted to give some of my thoughts regarding MM+

• I did like having the ability to select FP ahead of time before our trip. This saved me a whole lot of walking getting a FP for one ride on one end of a park and then run to the other to get in line (i.e.: TT and Soarin').
  • It was not that easy to get the specific times I wanted for my FP selections. MDX gave me some generic times for what I wanted for option A, B and C. Even when I went with the "best option" it still told me that one or two out of my party of five had a conflict (something to do with no time available for that FP). All I did was hit the back button and selected it again until I got everyone selected.
  • It was tedious to change the times. We prefer going to the parks in the morning and leaving by 1pm to enjoy our resort, go to the pool, take a nap, and get ready for our ADR. We were able to re-arrange our FP times to go at 9am, 10am and 11am for each day. It did take some time since they all had to be individually done.
• MDX does provide a good amount of information, but it still needs work on speed and stability. Encountered a number of "our server is busy" messages with Donald appearing.
• The mobile app was slow to update too. Took some time to get updated wait times. I wish the mobile app would provide alerts saying what FP is ready to use or a reminder about your dining reservation.
  
• The magic bands seemed to work fine. Main problems were trying to make direct contact with the room key pad, QSR pad, etc. Sometimes took 10 seconds to make exact contact. Having it on the wrist like a watch can be a bit awkward.
  
• We were given the old card keys as backup. Did not have to use them.
  
• We had to replace one person's magic band. The little nibs that keep the bracelet on broke off. The new one seemed to work fine.
  
• I think the lines entering the park went through slightly faster than the old ticket/turnstile system. It was nice that we could push our wheel chair through any line. It is difficult when you have a wheel chair and a stroller side by side though (meaning I enter on the left side while the stroller is on the right).
  
• The wi-fi in the park is still iffy. A few of the sit down restaurants said they had wi-fi connectivity issues when they scanned our magic bands for our dining plan. Said that Disney is still working out the kinks in their system.

This is what I can think of so far. Let me know if anyone has any specific questions on what I experienced.

Thanks for the info, a part of my family has been offered the magic bands and they were all concerned for previous reports of major issues. Stories such as not getting them in on time, not working at all or, any of the new fast pass concerns with feeling as if you are planning ahead of time. You showed a few benefits I had yet to here. Thank you.

 

[surfsupdon]

You had to individually change your FP times, by person. I hear a lot of people have to do that. We did too. Very tedious, very slow, very cumbersome, very ineffective. MM+ is a failure, well said disney4life.

I also guess I'm in the minority of enjoying walking around the parks grabbing Fastpasses. Seems most never liked the back tracking (Soarin: TT, BTMRR: SM). I liked it. Gave an advantage to stay ahead of the crowds for those who physically could, and enjoy, staying ahead of the crowds.

 

[DisneyDad0056]

Just to throw my two cents in:

(By the way, first post, so hello to all)

Just returned yesterday from the World 12/25 through 12/28. We had the bands with Annual Passes linked. We also used the phone app. All of these things worked without a problem the whole time. The fast passes on the magic bands allowed access about 5 minutes early. Any earlier and we were denied. The room access and payment all worked perfectly the whole trip. I was really happy with the experience.

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

Just to throw my two cents in:

(By the way, first post, so hello to all)

Just returned yesterday from the World 12/25 through 12/28. We had the bands with Annual Passes linked. We also used the phone app. All of these things worked without a problem the whole time. The fast passes on the magic bands allowed access about 5 minutes early. Any earlier and we were denied. The room access and payment all worked perfectly the whole trip. I was really happy with the experience.

Welcome aboard.

 

[maxime29]

You had to individually change your FP times, by person. I hear a lot of people have to do that. We did too. Very tedious, very slow, very cumbersome, very ineffective. MM+ is a failure, well said disney4life.

I also guess I'm in the minority of enjoying walking around the parks grabbing Fastpasses. Seems most never liked the back tracking (Soarin: TT, BTMRR: SM). I liked it. Gave an advantage to stay ahead of the crowds for those who physically could, and enjoy, staying ahead of the crowds.

I should clarify that I was able to make the time changes for our entire party at one time for each FP. It was not one person at a time for this. They have a "select all" button where you mark which party members want to change their times/experiences. It was very slow going from step 1 > step 2 > step 3 > etc..

I don't mind the walking on a non-peak day. During peak season (i.e.: Christmas week), an extra 10 minutes spent going over to TT to get a FP could mean an additional 30 minutes added to the wait time in Soarin'.

Two more important points to make:

• We were about 5-10 minutes late for one of our FP times (Living with the Land). The system still accepted our FP. I was under the impression that once the FP time expired then you were out of luck.
• If you by chance have two rooms and want to change your FP at one of the kiosks or with a CM then you must have one person from both rooms present. For some reason, the system on site did not see our entire party like we saw on MDX. We had to go to a CM because one of our FP acted up. They only showed the parties in one room but not in the other. Yes, we did link everyone up online.

 

[Rob562]

Two more important points to make:

• We were about 5-10 minutes late for one of our FP times (Living with the Land). The system still accepted our FP. I was under the impression that once the FP time expired then you were out of luck.

I believe the actual window in-practice is 5 minutes early through 15 minutes late.

-Rob

 

[Ben_since_1971]

MM+ = FAILURE

Care to elaborate? Failure how? I am not saying it is an overwhelming success, but that short of a statement is a little broad.

Regarding system capacity and peak times, the issues related here are no different than Wi-Fi systems at many other establishments (i.e. hotels, airports, coffee shops). I can't count the number of times I have had to say 'screw it' and boot up my broadband card because of a slow or ineffective Wi-Fi spot in a public place. I found Disney's system to be quite capable, although I did find a few instances where the connection slowed. If it did, I turned off the Wi-Fi on my phone and used the cellular signal. After a while I reconnected and everything was fine.

 

[lostpro9het]

I found Disney's system to be quite capable, although I did find a few instances where the connection slowed. If it did, I turned off the Wi-Fi on my phone and used the cellular signal. After a while I reconnected and everything was fine.

But there's the thing, I received "server busy" messages and "failed to load" messages using the MDE via the website and the ap using the cellular network and not disney Wi-Fi during half my stay Christmas week. To me this says Disney's system, both Wi-Fi and back end systems, isn't capable of handling a significant load which they will many times a year.

 

[englanddg]

But there's the thing, I received "server busy" messages and "failed to load" messages using the MDE via the website and the web using the cellular network during half my stay Christmas week. To me this says Disney's system isn't capable of handling a significant load which they will many times a year.

Ah Donald!

 

[lostpro9het]

Ah Donald!

I never hated him more than Christmas Day while trying to CHECK my FP+ times, forget about modifying them then it want happening.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

But there's the thing, I received "server busy" messages and "failed to load" messages using the MDE via the website and the ap using the cellular network and not disney Wi-Fi during half my stay Christmas week. To me this says Disney's system, both Wi-Fi and back end systems, isn't capable of handling a significant load which they will many times a year.

Point taken and I did miss that part of the post earlier - my apologies. And I do agree that those types of errors are inexcusable. I will be the first to say that Disney's computer systems have been woefully inadequate for the size of the company and their end users for years. MM+ has been a tremendous improvement though over years past, though it should definitely be better.

 

[DisneyDad0056]

The more post I read about this, the luckier I feel. It seems we lucked out Christmas week as our MM+ experience was without a hitch.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

The more post I read about this, the luckier I feel. It seems we lucked out Christmas week as our MM+ experience was without a hitch.

Everyone's experiences are different, and from what I have read, there is more good than bad to the overall reception of MM+. There is definitely question about the amount of money that Disney has pumped into this system for what seems (as of right now) minimal benefit (again your perceptions of these benefits is completely subjective). What a lot of people fail to realize is that this is MM+ 1.0. How often has Microsoft come out with a new version of Windows and have it go off without a hitch??

I am glad to hear you had a positive experience with it.

 

[disney4life2008]

Care to elaborate? Failure how? I am not saying it is an overwhelming success, but that short of a statement is a little broad.

Regarding system capacity and peak times, the issues related here are no different than Wi-Fi systems at many other establishments (i.e. hotels, airports, coffee shops). I can't count the number of times I have had to say 'screw it' and boot up my broadband card because of a slow or ineffective Wi-Fi spot in a public place. I found Disney's system to be quite capable, although I did find a few instances where the connection slowed. If it did, I turned off the Wi-Fi on my phone and used the cellular signal. After a while I reconnected and everything was fine.

i will post my own report during my trip

 

[StarWarsGirl]

The fast passes on the magic bands allowed access about 5 minutes early.

Thank you; that's really good to know.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

I never hated him more than Christmas Day while trying to CHECK my FP+ times, forget about modifying them then it want happening.

Did you look like this when you saw him?

 

[englanddg]

Did you look like this when you saw him?

This is the error, if you hadn't seen it.

I've seen it all to many times...and, when all I have to do is say "Did you see Donald" to someone whom has used MDE and they know EXACTLY what I'm talking about (or in this case..."Ah, Donald."...that says something.

Anyhow, here is the error...