MyMagic+ getting better?

[TheMouseFan]

Oh, and when checking to see how well everything linked to the MDE app on my iPhone (which it did perfectly)...I noted something odd...

I can still make FP+ reservations...even though I am not at Disneyworld (and haven't been since August).

I was intrigued it even gave me the option, and sure enough, it went all the way through and even added it to my itinerary...for TODAY...Dec 30.

Here's proof.

You can add the FP because you still have the 1 day tickets that don't expire until tomorrow. Somehow they didn't use 1 day of my husband's ticket when we had trouble entering AK and I could make FP ressies for him until it expired even though we had already flown home.

 

[englanddg]

You can add the FP because you still have the 1 day tickets that don't expire until tomorrow. Somehow they didn't use 1 day of my husband's ticket when we had trouble entering AK and I could make FP ressies for him until it expired even though we had already flown home.

Nope. That's not what Disney said. I just got off the phone with their MDE Tech Support.

It shows the one day ticket from the package when I bought it, it shows that the 1 day ticket was used for admission to Magic Kingdom, but for some reason, MDE is still showing that the ticket is unused.

They had no explanation (but were very courteous and I was told this was something they are certainly going to delve into)...and I was told to bring my bands or KTTW cards from that trip (I still have both) to Guest Services at one of the parks and they may be able to get into the ticketing system and give me more information.

So...out of curiousity...I will do so on my next trip.

Second, while on-site booking for FP+ is allowed, they confirmed that I don't meet any of the qualifiers. I should not have been able to do this.

Here's why (according to them)...

1) The ticket technically shouldn't even be there...
2) Even if it was there, or a leftover, since it was shown that it was used, but doesn't have the no expire option, the 14 day window should have kicked in (even if it thought I had extra days for some reason)...
3) Assuming the system thinks I'm an "offsite" guest due to the ticket glitch (possible) then I shouldn't be able to make FP+ reservations at all...
4) If, it thinks I'm an "offsite" guest due to the ticket glitch (again, possible) and it now lets me do it because I have a valid reservation in may at an on-site resort, I still shouldn't be able to do it, because a) It's outside my on-site stay 60 day window and b) shouldn't be valid for this ticket (even if it were valid).

Also, look at the date of expire...that's Dec. 31...2030! Not 2013...

These tickets were from August 2nd! And I haven't been back to the world since Aug 19!

 

[ford91exploder]

It took an IT professional 3 hours to get a reservation to a state to which it was usable for making MDE reservations.

This system is supposed to drive revenue and customer satisfaction Somehow I don't think so

 

[Ben_since_1971]

It took an IT professional 3 hours to get a reservation to a state to which it was usable for making MDE reservations.

This system is supposed to drive revenue and customer satisfaction Somehow I don't think so

Well stated. I too am an IT pro and while I did not have the same level of complexity (just a ressie for me and my wife) it took me a phone call to support to get the accounts such that we could see each other's plans.

This new system, while I think it is pretty impressive, just seems way too complicated for Joe Tourist. I have always thought that Disney's computer systems were behind the times. With MM+, seems like they went too far to the other side.

I mentioned this on another thread - either this is just the initial bumps in the road of something 5 years from now we will look back and see how genius they were at the end of 2013, or this is going to turn into one huge boondoggle.

I am starting to think that they are going to be driving the revenue by making it so people who stay on property will get more advanced opportunity for making FP+ reservations and/or options for having more than 3 (level of resort hotel; package add-on a la Park Hopping; etc.). It's almost like they are trying to price out anyone who wants to stay off site or the locals. I hope it's the former (future genius) and not another New Coke.

 

[ford91exploder]

Well stated. I too am an IT pro and while I did not have the same level of complexity (just a ressie for me and my wife) it took me a phone call to support to get the accounts such that we could see each other's plans.

This new system, while I think it is pretty impressive, just seems way too complicated for Joe Tourist. I have always thought that Disney's computer systems were behind the times. With MM+, seems like they went too far to the other side.

I mentioned this on another thread - either this is just the initial bumps in the road of something 5 years from now we will look back and see how genius they were at the end of 2013, or this is going to turn into one huge boondoggle.

I am starting to think that they are going to be driving the revenue by making it so people who stay on property will get more advanced opportunity for making FP+ reservations and/or options for having more than 3 (level of resort hotel; package add-on a la Park Hopping; etc.). It's almost like they are trying to price out anyone who wants to stay off site or the locals. I hope it's the former (future genius) and not another New Coke.

My thought is New Coke.

The new system has achieved the impossible, As I write this I am in Orlando and I have no desire to visit WDW ordinarily I would have gotten a room at WDW and enjoyed some park time. Now I'm simply staying at the Airport Hyatt and will visit with family there and fly back.

The last two visits I was part of NGE 'test' and experience was so bad i never want to go back, It was more stressful than going to work.

 

[AndyLL]

My thought is New Coke.

The new system has achieved the impossible, As I write this I am in Orlando and I have no desire to visit WDW ordinarily I would have gotten a room at WDW and enjoyed some park time. Now I'm simply staying at the Airport Hyatt and will visit with family there and fly back.

The last two visits I was part of NGE 'test' and experience was so bad i never want to go back, It was more stressful than going to work.

Well... I guess it will be less crowded for those of us that don't seem to have problems with it.

 

[ford91exploder]

Well... I guess it will be less crowded for those of us that don't seem to have problems with it.

As time wears on I suspect it will be much less crowded wait times will be down as well

 

[englanddg]

Well... I guess it will be less crowded for those of us that don't seem to have problems with it.

I hate the term "pixie dust snorter"...but this comment reeks of it.

I spent enough to buy a new car at Disney this year between Disneyland, Disneyworld and a Disney Cruise, and am tracking to do the same next year. I love Disney, I love going...I even love the CONCEPT of MDE. But, it's just not there. And, I really hope it doesn't get to a point where I have to vote with my dollar (right now, it's not there...but I won't get into all the other reasons why at some point, it may)...

Will they get it worked out? I certainly hope so...but there really is no reason for you to be so snarky about it.

With your comment you:

1) Dismiss the issues I've now had with the system after TWO uses (some of which is just bad system design, evidenced by my daughter having two profiles (and, that should worry anyone who has actually done system design, because something like profile management isn't an overnight fix or finding a typo in the code...most likely. Rather it's a systematic issue.)

2) Then, you dismiss others whom have had similar or even different issues with the system.

Look, here's the deal. I write similar (though smaller scale) systems like this for a living (including iPhone and Droid apps). I know within a very close margin exactly what Disney is doing because to anyone who works at a certain level of IT and follows it, it's glaringly obvious.

Add to that that my background isn't actually computers, it's operations management of an entertainment venue...

Therefore, I can see what they are doing right. Example? Knowledgeable, polite and readily available (until 11p) helpdesk staff. I also see what they are doing wrong, like cruddy and unresponsive UI, poor resource utilization and spread (explain to me why the whole system needs to go down again? Why should I see Donald at all?), and most importantly, crappy systems integration and poor internal communications and operations (to include Disney Travel) training.

Why would I feel a bit indignant about this? They have teams of programmers, systems designers, etc, not to mention internal resources from operations and management to reach out to for design and implementation.

There is no reason this should be happening outside of management thinking they can design an IT system, instead of calling in and trusting qualified people who have done these sorts of systems before.

Period.

 

[ford91exploder]

I hate the term "pixie dust snorter"...but this comment reeks of it.

I spent enough to buy a new car at Disney this year between Disneyland, Disneyworld and a Disney Cruise, and am tracking to do the same next year. I love Disney, I love going...I even love the CONCEPT of MDE. But, it's just not there. And, I really hope it doesn't get to a point where I have to vote with my dollar (right now, it's not there...but I won't get into all the other reasons why at some point, it may)...

Will they get it worked out? I certainly hope so...but there really is no reason for you to be so snarky about it.

With your comment you:

1) Dismiss the issues I've now had with the system after TWO uses (some of which is just bad system design, evidenced by my daughter having two profiles (and, that should worry anyone who has actually done system design, because something like profile management isn't an overnight fix or finding a typo in the code...most likely. Rather it's a systematic issue.)

2) Then, you dismiss others whom have had similar or even different issues with the system.

Look, here's the deal. I write similar (though smaller scale) systems like this for a living (including iPhone and Droid apps). I know within a very close margin exactly what Disney is doing because to anyone who works at a certain level of IT and follows it, it's glaringly obvious.

Add to that that my background isn't actually computers, it's operations management of an entertainment venue...

Therefore, I can see what they are doing right. Example? Knowledgeable, polite and readily available (until 11p) helpdesk staff. I also see what they are doing wrong, like cruddy and unresponsive UI, poor resource utilization and spread (explain to me why the whole system needs to go down again? Why should I see Donald at all?), and most importantly, crappy systems integration and poor internal communications and operations (to include Disney Travel) training.

Why would I feel a bit indignant about this? They have teams of programmers, systems designers, etc, not to mention internal resources from operations and management to reach out to for design and implementation.

There is no reason this should be happening outside of management thinking they can design an IT system, instead of calling in and trusting qualified people who have done these sorts of systems before.

Period.

In my case I've had TWO really bad experiences with system and with my background, I do not see things improving in the short to intermediate term, I also have spent new car type money in the past year and have had two ruined vacations to show for it, Now rest of family had good time while I tried to fix the issues with vacation.

As such I've come to conclusion that it's time to vote with dollars, Interestingly enough DW received a survey today about NGE and it has NO opportunity to rate negatively one's NGE experience other than a few questions have 'other' as a response.

My background is in design and support of very large scale IT systems, with 7 figure operations budgets at the low end. My specialty is recovering failed IT initiatives although I am primarily involved with Wireless systems these days.

As @englanddg points out Disney is doing a few things right, However the profile management issues point to severe design flaws which will take significant time and treasure to rectify.

The frequent total 'system down' states speak to insufficient modularity in the system design, ie systems are too closely coupled so a failure in any subsystem causes all other subsystems to fail, In a properly designed system subsystem component failures should degrade service but not at a level customers can see unless it's during peak utilization and even then good design should keep any transaction at under 10s with most transactions at subsecond levels.

Donald should NEVER be seen unless system has totally failed.

As @englanddg points out this is a system where executives did not trust or allow professionals to make the design decisions and the faults are all 'rookie mistakes' that a CS-101 student would not make. But TWDC executives fancied themselves 'Technology Experts' and NGE is the result of amateurs attempting to build a large scale IT system.

 

[AndyLL]

I hate the term "pixie dust snorter"...but this comment reeks of it.

..snip...

Sorry you didn't like the comment.

But I mean it.

It's not just MM+.

For years on all the Disney forums... not just this one... there's a group of people that do nothing but at just about everything Disney does.

I left these forums for over a year and I come back and guess what... it's pretty much the same people at Disney.

I keep wondering when these people are going to give up on Disney and move on.

If you are not going to go to Disney anymore that is your choice. But if that is the case why are you still here whining about it?

As for my own experiences...

I took 2 trips to WDW this year. I didn't know what to expect with MM+ but keep an open mind. I was pleasantly surprised about how much I liked it.

There are issues... FP+ over multi-parks, entertainment FP and being limited to only 3 per day all need to be addressed.

There are still technical issues... there will be for a while. Those are solvable.

I can't wait until they roll this out to Disneyland... my home park. Heads will explode when that happens.

 

[englanddg]

I can't wait until they roll this out to Disneyland... my home park. Heads will explode when that happens.

Yes, heads will explode, and I'll enjoy watching that happen while you snark about how upset I am that YOUR crappy park (DCA) got an overhaul around the same budget they spent on this needless system...and how that the DCA overhaul is amazing (I went in Feb, and it is...amazing), yet we're sitting on two underdeveloped parks (AK and HS)...

Or that YOUR characters still walk the streets, not relegated to specific meet and greet areas, and how YOUR park still has main street vehicles aside from the horse drawn cart, and how YOUR park, while Main Street is mostly a large shopping district, at least some consideration was put to keeping the general themes of the facades...I could go on.

So, yes, I will sit back and watch the explosion, as YOUR park turns into MY park...because that is what is coming. And as it happens, I'll sit back and smile and think that all your Disneyland "home park" people who laugh at WDW "home park" people...and what they are doing to MY park right now, and how silly we all are...how we were WRONG...and how we hate Disney...

Pfft...just wait...

With respect to MDE, glad you had a great experience with it. I have had a decent one (the initial test) and a not so decent one (so far). I'll have my third for the October trip.

But, none of that relates to your post. Your post was just snot on a platter.

"Well, sorry you couldn't figure it out, leaves more room for me! You must be a neanderthal idiot that it didn't work for you, because it did for me!"

That's what you said, with different words.

So, yeah, sorry, didn't like your post. Doesn't mean I don't like chattering with you about all this though!

Cheers!

 

[Wikkler]

Did you seriously just write, "from the GECKO"!??!

The Gecko is love. The Gecko is life.

 

[Wikkler]

MyMagic bad.
Disney World bad.
Disneyland good.
Disney Sea good.
Universal Orlando good.
Much yes.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

Sorry you didn't like the comment.

But I mean it.

It's not just MM+.

For years on all the Disney forums... not just this one... there's a group of people that do nothing but at just about everything Disney does.

I left these forums for over a year and I come back and guess what... it's pretty much the same people at Disney.

I keep wondering when these people are going to give up on Disney and move on.

If you are not going to go to Disney anymore that is your choice. But if that is the case why are you still here whining about it?

As for my own experiences...

I took 2 trips to WDW this year. I didn't know what to expect with MM+ but keep an open mind. I was pleasantly surprised about how much I liked it.

There are issues... FP+ over multi-parks, entertainment FP and being limited to only 3 per day all need to be addressed.

There are still technical issues... there will be for a while. Those are solvable.

I can't wait until they roll this out to Disneyland... my home park. Heads will explode when that happens.

You are correct that there are some on here who look for any and every opportunity to and complain about everything Disney. From placing the mustard packets to the left of the ketchup instead of the right to what hours the parks are open, these people complain ad nauseum. And you are correct they should pack it in, why bother, etc.

But englanddg and ford91exploder are not those types of people. They (and I) care passionately about WDW. As such, we are apt to have opinions both good and bad in regards to what is going on. MM+ is a game changer as it pertains to every aspect of the vacation, from planning to experiencing. Outside of my initial confusions over setting up the ids for my wife and I, I had ZERO problems with MM+. In fact I loved it. I won't go into the details - read my previous posts. But I am looking forward to my next trip to see how I can more efficiently use the system.

So am I a pixie dust snorter? Far from it. As I have previously posted, this system raises a lot of questions. We are just asking them and having a civilized discussion about them. Joe Average Tourist wouldn't know Bugs Bunny from Mickey Mouse. We have 3 IT pros on this thread alone who have had issues of some kind in dealing with the system. I think it's too complex and can definitely see why some people would not like it.

I do not know of ford's issues (and I am really sorry they were as bad as you say), but England is not doing anything a normal hotel system should be able to handle. But for some reason Disney has problems with it. Why? They just spent buckets of money on infrastructure and they couldn't do something to handle this?

So you before you go off on your high horse about people always complaining, why don't you take the time to really read the threads and the posts before going into full snark mode.

 

[Ralphlaw]

Just got back, and our experience was pretty good. The CM's are also quick to point out that the system is still in the testing phase, so guests in general seem rather forgiving of any goofs. The system will get refined over time, but it is indeed a game changer. Coming to a particular park with the idea of being able to ride everything you want through the judicious use of standby and fastpasses is probably not achievable as easily anymore. Getting fastpasses for attractions that rarely have lines seems exceptionally silly right now, but that's the way that Disney seems to be redistributing the crowds.

I also liked how our change in plans were able to work out. We switched the night before Christmas to go to Epcot instead of Animal Kingdom. Within minutes on our cellphone, we had fastpasses for Test Track, and the next morning I scored paper fastpasses for Soarin'. Yeah, there's more people glued to their cellphones now, but that's the direction of life, I guess.

 

[ford91exploder]

You are correct that there are some on here who look for any and every opportunity to and complain about everything Disney. From placing the mustard packets to the left of the ketchup instead of the right to what hours the parks are open, these people complain ad nauseum. And you are correct they should pack it in, why bother, etc.

But englanddg and ford91exploder are not those types of people. They (and I) care passionately about WDW. As such, we are apt to have opinions both good and bad in regards to what is going on. MM+ is a game changer as it pertains to every aspect of the vacation, from planning to experiencing. Outside of my initial confusions over setting up the ids for my wife and I, I had ZERO problems with MM+. In fact I loved it. I won't go into the details - read my previous posts. But I am looking forward to my next trip to see how I can more efficiently use the system.

So am I a pixie dust snorter? Far from it. As I have previously posted, this system raises a lot of questions. We are just asking them and having a civilized discussion about them. Joe Average Tourist wouldn't know Bugs Bunny from Mickey Mouse. We have 3 IT pros on this thread alone who have had issues of some kind in dealing with the system. I think it's too complex and can definitely see why some people would not like it.

I do not know of ford's issues (and I am really sorry they were as bad as you say), but England is not doing anything a normal hotel system should be able to handle. But for some reason Disney has problems with it. Why? They just spent buckets of money on infrastructure and they couldn't do something to handle this?

So you before you go off on your high horse about people always complaining, why don't you take the time to really read the threads and the posts before going into full snark mode.

Thanks for great post,

On doing a quick poll of people I know who have done Disney post NGE it seems that those with packages or normal tickets have had flawless experiences with MM+, On the other tentacle people with 'Premium' tickets AP's and the like have had difficulties of varying magnitudes.

As RFID devices the bands work OK, Ergonomics have been ignored in some places for lefties especially at cash registers where if you are a lefty you had better start Yoga exercises so you can reach reader.

 

[Ben_since_1971]

Thanks for great post,

On doing a quick poll of people I know who have done Disney post NGE it seems that those with packages or normal tickets have had flawless experiences with MM+, On the other tentacle people with 'Premium' tickets AP's and the like have had difficulties of varying magnitudes.

As RFID devices the bands work OK, Ergonomics have been ignored in some places for lefties especially at cash registers where if you are a lefty you had better start Yoga exercises so you can reach reader.

Now that you mention it, I have noticed that same division between good/bad experiences. And I am also not a huge fan of the wrist gymnastics needed to work the bands.

Despite my good experiences, from reading all the comments about the bands and the entire MM+, I continue to be baffled by the system and how relatively poorly designed it is (cost to implement, features, even communication about future plans for MB).

 

[Lord_Vader]

I wore my band on both wrists through the vacation with little to no impact either way. There are readers at various heights and on one or both sides virtually everywhere. The biggest issue I had was at registers when I did not wait long enough for the band to read correctly.

At some point during the two weeks I missed my watch enough to wear it on my left wrist and the MagicBand on my right wrist which was not really noticeable in general.

All in all my experience with MB was good, not flawless but good or better than the KttW cards in general. Before anyone asks, we had three APs and one PH attached to our bands for our family of four.

Moving FP+ reservations around was generally a very nice surprise, adding and subtracting individuals from the FP+ was GREAT! I cannot stress enough how convinient it was to move a ride time back or up depending on last minute decisions. A fifth party had to cancel at the last moment and my daughter was not on all the FP+ reservations but was easy to add to ALL our reservations throughout the 14 day vacation with only 5 minute variances occasionally for Premier/E-Ticket rides. The ability to change a FP+ reservation during the day was perhaps my favorite enhancement out of everything!

We had only a single glitch the entire stay when my daughter's band "errored out" and had to be reset a GR on 12/23 but did it after all our FP+ reservations so did not impact our park activities and we stopped by, GR fixed the issue and we left the park for the night with no further issues at all.

Memory Maker/PP+ worked well for the most part except a single ride photo was "lost" and not retrievable due to some glitch and our photo from Ohana was "lost" as the number on the receipt given to us had another families photo and not ours. I will miss the CDs that we used to get but I can burn my own for pennies and even use one of our images for the label image with LightScribe so it is no big deal and I really like the option to immediately download them all now without having to wait the four-six weeks the old ones used to take. There did seem to be fewer photographers this Christmas than last year and this past summer too, but I will hold that thought until our next trip as it may have been a perception item more than reality.

 

[jlsHouston]

Thanks for great post,

On doing a quick poll of people I know who have done Disney post NGE it seems that those with packages or normal tickets have had flawless experiences with MM+, On the other tentacle people with 'Premium' tickets AP's and the like have had difficulties of varying magnitudes.

As RFID devices the bands work OK, Ergonomics have been ignored in some places for lefties especially at cash registers where if you are a lefty you had better start Yoga exercises so you can reach reader.

Yes, how the BWI front desk manager explained it to me and he was not an IT person just had been dealing with MB issues and MM+ issues for various registered guest....depending on how you book and how your info is coming into the reservation system at the resort there may or may not be issues with your MB doing all the things it is suppose to do. For instance our reservation was through DVC. I had them change our room location. MB never worked right at the resort. But the MB always worked right at the parks.
My conclusion was the technology and software is/was an enormous undertaking and rolled out much to fast and for what ? This is a guest enhancement experience ? People really think having the ability to do more trip planning and not carry a KttW card is better than more rides, cleaner facilities, better refurbs....etc ? I mean I don't even do the parks that much when I am on property but I think the entire MM+ crap was a total waste. I might be dense but I don't see what I am gaining with a band and a FP+ option that is significant to the point it has value. And trust me I love planning out little WDW vacations too, making ADR's, picking our resort, planning park days, etc...when it get's to the detail level of FP+ and the limitation of it...any benefit of MM+ just shot out the window for me.