MyMagic+ Efficiency Update

[WDWYankee15]

I had placed it here because I thought it was news and current events regarding MyMagic+. And frankly, Disney has covered their faults with pixie dust and legacy long enough. They have had their chances. The only way things will get better is if enough guests oppose this ridiculously overblown and complicated system.

I'm sorry if you feel this is anti-MM+, but from experience, I can't find anything good about this system. And the word should be able to be out there.

I agree it belongs here. It is not general bashing of the program. It in not the typical bashing that exists without firsthand experience. You reported on YOUR experience and encouraged a discussion of that. I hope others are encouraged to post their expirences (both GOOD and BAD). There are plenty of threads on general baching of MM+. This is not one and I hope it stays that way.

 

[asianway]

Oh absolutely. I can't really blame the cast members if upper management does not train them properly for this testing. I had even spoken to two cast members individually at the front desk. One of which, it was her first time on the job, and was just thrown into the tsunami of confusion known as MyMagic+. That's so pathetic for Disney to do that. She's like a punching bag at the front desk because she has to listen to all the complaints of testing guests regarding the technology. The other cast member, said that they were not properly trained for these troubleshooting problems with the system, and only the hyper tech workers had a better understanding of it. They said the cast members were learning on the fly.

This is what we pay top dollar for? It's embarrassing for WDW to do this to their guests. I don't blame the cast members. I even feel bad for some of them, because they are overwhelmed and have no idea what they are doing because the people who implemented this technology have no idea what they are doing. And believe me, a letter is being written to Guest Relations as we speak.

Did you get an exit survey? Im interested to know how much room they are leaving to give the feedback you are describing. Thanks

 

[SONNYDNY]

I feel your pain. Stayed at Boardwalk last week. Took over an hour to check in. Our cards never worked right for over 5 days. Sometime i could get in the park other times no. DDP would work for counter service then stop working for dinner. I went to the front desk and complained eveyday and just got soory we are having problems. finally after calling DVC i talked to a IT person. The explaind the upgrade to the new bans system had failed, they tried rollong it back. Now that night they would shut eveything down and reload the system. What a pain. Hopefully they will get it figured out before my next vist.

 

[spacemt354]

Although I'm sure it was maddening, I am also sure that this isn't the first time in your life that having the same name as dad has been an issue. My dad and brother share a name, so I know about screw-ups with drug stores, banks, etc. It can suck.

I appreciate hearing about the tracking band progress (and lack of), but I admit that when I read all the complaints (yours and others') that I'm thinking, "Well, if you weren't willing to put up with headaches, why did you agree to be part of a test?" The whole point of testing things is to find out what problems come up. The are always problems in test phases. Everyone knows that. It could not have been a surprise to you guys. Could it? (Maybe it could. Maybe you all went in not understanding?)

I made it clear that we went into this test knowing that not everything was going to be perfect. And we were fine with that. That is not the issue.

If we knew that not one process of MyMagic+ would actually work, we would have never accepted.

There's a difference between those two things. And in regards to the same name. We made our reservations 5 months ago, specifically placing initials on each name. (We were even in separate rooms!) Upon check-in my Magicband did not allow me access to the room. We had to re-book the whole room (more aggravation) However after the re-booking process, the system did not have the initial on our names.

Screws ups at a drug store are nothing compared to paying thousands of dollars for theme park tickets, and not even being allowed in because a computer says that you're already inside.

We knew problems could occur, that's not a surprise. The extent of the problems though, especially with the sugar-coated benefits that we were apparently supposed to have according to the letters we received regarding this test, that was just sad and needs to be fixed.

 

[GLaDOS]

Did you get an exit survey? Im interested to know how much room they are leaving to give the feedback you are describing. Thanks

No room for feedback outside of "Strongly Agree/Somewhat Agree/Disagree/Etc" questions and the like.

 

[spacemt354]

Did you get an exit survey? Im interested to know how much room they are leaving to give the feedback you are describing. Thanks

We didn't formally receive one. There were stations set up in the resort where throughout your stay you could have sent in your feedback, asking very generic questions. (We did that once on the first night)

Also our first day there they had a greeter out front asking us questions about the new website. Then after our check-in we had a uniformed surveyor approach us asking questions regarding check in.

We are opting to send a letter about our issues too. I was actually surprised they didn't give an exit survey. Perhaps it will come by email later.

 

[luv]

I made it clear that we went into this test knowing that not everything was going to be perfect. And we were fine with that. That is not the issue.

If we knew that not one process of MyMagic+ would actually work, we would have never accepted.

There's a difference between those two things. And in regards to the same name. We made our reservations 5 months ago, specifically placing initials on each name. (We were even in separate rooms!) Upon check-in my Magicband did not allow me access to the room. We had to re-book the whole room (more aggravation) However after the re-booking process, the system did not have the initial on our names.

Screws ups at a drug store are nothing compared to paying thousands of dollars for theme park tickets, and not even being allowed in because a computer says that you're already inside.

We knew problems could occur, that's not a surprise. The extent of the problems though, especially with the sugar-coated benefits that we were apparently supposed to have according to the letters we received regarding this test, that was just sad and needs to be fixed.

I am sorry that you had problems during your vacation. I hope that your post will help others to see that signing up to be part of the test phase might be a bad idea.

 

[Kev1417]

How is it possible for ALL cast memebers to know the inner workings of the system? If they say it's a known issue and it's being worked on that's all they probably know. If they knew you were upset don't you think they would tell you ANYTHING that may have helped the situation? Or maybe they just liked getting yelled at and withheld information they had. Not everyone works in IT or specifically with Magic + and knows the inner workings of the system. When something goes down on my car i know it's broken and take it to a mechanic to work on it. I know of the issue and know it's being worked on, but i don't know the details on what is being done. I also don't care about the details as long as it gets fixed. Let's say this CM told you the details on how it's being fixed. Would that even had made a difference? The system still wouldn't have worked for you and you would still be upset.

I'm happy you are sharing your experience so others may know of the issues.

 

[mnrlblue]

I made it clear that we went into this test knowing that not everything was going to be perfect. And we were fine with that. That is not the issue.

If we knew that not one process of MyMagic+ would actually work, we would have never accepted.

There's a difference between those two things. And in regards to the same name. We made our reservations 5 months ago, specifically placing initials on each name. (We were even in separate rooms!) Upon check-in my Magicband did not allow me access to the room. We had to re-book the whole room (more aggravation) However after the re-booking process, the system did not have the initial on our names.

Screws ups at a drug store are nothing compared to paying thousands of dollars for theme park tickets, and not even being allowed in because a computer says that you're already inside.

We knew problems could occur, that's not a surprise. The extent of the problems though, especially with the sugar-coated benefits that we were apparently supposed to have according to the letters we received regarding this test, that was just sad and needs to be fixed.

Your experience is the exception, not the norm. We know that challenges have occurred for some reservations, but your case is not the typical guest experience. And rest assured these challenges are documented and passed to IT and talked in conference calls. 95% of guest test experience smooth results and that's more than acceptable for a test of a system that integrates several different computer systems and affects most lines of business at WDW. It sounds like there were challenges between the linking of your resort reservation to MDX. Previously the only fix was to rebook, there is already a "relink" function rolling into the live system as a result of testing.

 

[Minthorne]

I completely agree with the bold. We had been sent email and letters as well, both of which presented MyMagic+ with bullet points of all the ways our vacation would be simplified and enhanced with fastpasses, bands, etc.

It is not fair to the agreeing guests that they don't know the cast members are not trained prior to your test, and are instead learning on the fly. It's not fair that there are known issues that cannot be fixed because nobody is trained and nobody wants to take responsibility for the failure.

I wish you good luck with your test. Hopefully yours goes smoothly. And maybe I didn't make this clear earlier, but going into my vacation, I was hoping for the best. I knew there may be some hiccups, but not a giant disaster. If they don't fix these bugs by 2014, it's not going to be good.

I agree with this the most. I too was part of the test (aug 4-11 at Pop) and when things when wrong we were at front desk/guest services for over an hour on 3 different occasions trying to get it resolved. They did remind us we agreed to be in the test. The third time we asked to back out and then CM in the suit with a iPad bent over backward to keep us in the test. At that point they offered us "compensation" for the "interruption to our vacation." Had the invitation to the test clearly stated that there were the possibility of long amounts of investigation and research that would require me to stand in guest services or the front desk, I may not have wanted to participate. It's all about managing expectations and in this case, I think they dropped the ball some. Plus there was wild variances in what different CMs were telling us was the problem\solution. Finally, a exceptional CM named Jeffery at pop Century fixed everything and from that point we had a great time with the MM+. He clearly knew the system better than any other CM we interacted with (he even has the shirt with the new MM+ logo!). He was super patient and really won us back over to staying with it.

 

[WDWYankee15]

I agree with this the most. I too was part of the test (aug 4-11 at Pop) and when things when wrong we were at front desk/guest services for over an hour on 3 different occasions trying to get it resolved. They did remind us we agreed to be in the test. The third time we asked to back out and then CM in the suit with a iPad bent over backward to keep us in the test. At that point they offered us "compensation" for the "interruption to our vacation." Had the invitation to the test clearly stated that there were the possibility of long amounts of investigation and research that would require me to stand in guest services or the front desk, I may not have wanted to participate. It's all about managing expectations and in this case, I think they dropped the ball some. Plus there was wild variances in what different CMs were telling us was the problem\solution. Finally, a exceptional CM named Jeffery at pop Century fixed everything and from that point we had a great time with the MM+. He clearly knew the system better than any other CM we interacted with (he even has the shirt with the new MM+ logo!). He was super patient and really won us back over to staying with it.

What was the "compensation" they offered?

 

[merry68]

Wow, what a mess. And that would be a nightmare for us as all of my husband's family have the exact same initials and very similar names! I never even gave that a thought.

I appreciate your comments OP. I cannot imagine the frustrations, but now I am left to ponder my own family names. Sorry you encountered the bad situations you did.

Again, I am so relieved we are NOT part of the test when we go down in the coming days. At first we wanted to try it, now..not so much. It's a quick trip, so I don't need to be wasting time trying to get things fixed.

When we were down in Late April, the Touch to Tap for Park Entry and Purchases worked ok for us. Not sure I want to fool with anything more than that at this point.

 

[WDWYankee15]

Wow, what a mess. And that would be a nightmare for us as all of my husband's family have the exact same initials and very similar names! I never even gave that a thought.

I appreciate your comments OP. I cannot imagine the frustrations, but now I am left to ponder my own family names. Sorry you encountered the bad situations you did.

Again, I am so relieved we are NOT part of the test when we go down in the coming days. At first we wanted to try it, now..not so much. It's a quick trip, so I don't need to be wasting time trying to get things fixed.

When we were down in Late April, the Touch to Tap for Park Entry and Purchases worked ok for us. Not sure I want to fool with anything more than that at this point.

Ponder this...
All five of George Foreman's sons are named George Foreman. The boxing legend and famous grill salesman George Foreman named all of his sons after him: George Jr, George III, George IV, George V, and George VI. He also has a daughter named Georgetta.

Hope he doesn't plan a trip to WDW any time soon!

 

[disney4life2008]

I can not wait until this garbage of a mess officially rolls out and becomes a $2 billion embarrassing financial nightmarish failure for Disney execs, LOL.

 

[cbsav]

Your experience is the exception, not the norm. We know that challenges have occurred for some reservations, but your case is not the typical guest experience. And rest assured these challenges are documented and passed to IT and talked in conference calls. 95% of guest test experience smooth results and that's more than acceptable for a test of a system that integrates several different computer systems and affects most lines of business at WDW. It sounds like there were challenges between the linking of your resort reservation to MDX. Previously the only fix was to rebook, there is already a "relink" function rolling into the live system as a result of testing.

Really? I'd like to see where these stats are coming from, because in the first hand accounts I've read on boards like this and twitter (granted they are more qualitative and limited in nature, and may not project to the entire universe) I've only seen a handful of people that didn't need to take multiple trips to the front desk or guest relations to figure out issues with their accounts. It almost appears that those that have a relatively smooth trip are against the norm. I'll find out first hand in a week how well this roll-out is going, and if all goes smooth i'll come back and say as much, if not i'd love to chat with you and find out if my issues were against the norm as well.

 

[merry68]

I can not wait until this garbage of a mess officially rolls out and becomes a $2 billion embarrassing financial nightmarish failure for Disney execs, LOL.

What bothers me about that price tag is how is Disney going to pass that cost unto us consumers. Because we ARE the ones paying for it in the end.

 

[devoy1701]

How is it possible for ALL cast memebers to know the inner workings of the system? If they say it's a known issue and it's being worked on that's all they probably know. If they knew you were upset don't you think they would tell you ANYTHING that may have helped the situation? Or maybe they just liked getting yelled at and withheld information they had. Not everyone works in IT or specifically with Magic + and knows the inner workings of the system. When something goes down on my car i know it's broken and take it to a mechanic to work on it. I know of the issue and know it's being worked on, but i don't know the details on what is being done. I also don't care about the details as long as it gets fixed. Let's say this CM told you the details on how it's being fixed. Would that even had made a difference? The system still wouldn't have worked for you and you would still be upset.

I'm happy you are sharing your experience so others may know of the issues.

You make a valid point. It's unreasonable to think that all front line CMs would have extensive training on the inner workings of the new systems. But that does not excuse not having people well versed in the system (including current bugs and fixes) at key locations around the resort. Guest Services in each of the parks is an example of a key position which should have someone who has been extensively trained on the front-end workings and responsibilities of the system stationed at all times. Not all of the CMs, but at least one per shift. The same should apply to Bell Services and/or the Concierge Desks in the resorts. I think it's pretty inexcusable to never have the ability to be directed to someone who can give you some real answers, or at least be able to opt you out of the Beta Test should you choose to.

At the prices Disney charges, losing a few hours each day whether it be because you can't get into the park, can't get into your hotel room, or what have you, to deal with IT issues on a system not ready for prime time is not ok.

 

[Minthorne]

What was the "compensation" they offered?

I was traveling with friends on a separate reservation and it was their magic bands that were having all the issues. (Actually with the exception of one day where I couldn't make purchases with the band mine always worked as expected)
They gave them a room credit of one night's room rate, comped a meal in the everything Pop food court for all of us and when validating that the magic band could do a purchase allowed their daughter to keep the item they use to test for free. (it was a $8.95 magic band tinker bell "bling" 3 pack.)

Again, the CMs were really great to us despite our frustration and we did appreciate it.

 

[spacemt354]

Your experience is the exception, not the norm. We know that challenges have occurred for some reservations, but your case is not the typical guest experience. And rest assured these challenges are documented and passed to IT and talked in conference calls. 95% of guest test experience smooth results and that's more than acceptable for a test of a system that integrates several different computer systems and affects most lines of business at WDW. It sounds like there were challenges between the linking of your resort reservation to MDX. Previously the only fix was to rebook, there is already a "relink" function rolling into the live system as a result of testing.

Hm, 95%? I don't pretend to be an insider, but just a sweep of online communities, social websites, and talking with people in Disney this past week, I highly doubt 95% of guests have had completely successful experiences.

Sure, maybe some guests have had better experiences comparatively to say, myself, but I don't think that number of 95% success rate has any validity whatsoever. Even the Cast members themselves commented on the well known troubleshooting difficulties throughout these tests.

Let's stop pretending Disney knows what its doing with this technology, and let's stop giving excuses. Enough is enough.

When there is a good chance that well earned family vacations could being tampered with if families participate in MyMagic+ testing, that should be noted clearly and boldly in the testing brochure. But Disney isn't going to do that. They will sugar coat their letters and emails and hide what these tests truly are, then incessantly remind you when you complain that you signed up for a test.

Please, Disney, don't patronize us. Take responsibility for your actions and take the fault when your technology fails, even in testing phases. Disney should be thanking us for participation, not treating us like lab rats who just have copious amounts of money to waste while we stand around a front desk with cast members that cannot solve our issues.

 

[Longhairbear]

Your experience is the exception, not the norm. We know that challenges have occurred for some reservations, but your case is not the typical guest experience. And rest assured these challenges are documented and passed to IT and talked in conference calls. 95% of guest test experience smooth results and that's more than acceptable for a test of a system that integrates several different computer systems and affects most lines of business at WDW. It sounds like there were challenges between the linking of your resort reservation to MDX. Previously the only fix was to rebook, there is already a "relink" function rolling into the live system as a result of testing.

So, you work for Disney I assume, and can help explain everything to us.