POLL: Disney My Magic Experience

[CaptainAmerica]

It was early October 2014. The system seemed to be fully operational, but with a lot of problems. I do know that each time we went to a FP+ kiosk there were other people who were having issues.

Just curious why you were using the kiosks? I think you mentioned the app in a previous post so it sounds like y'all have at least one smartphone in your party.

 

[Rutt]

I really hope that it was an exception. I'd love to go back and find that all the problems have been ironed out of FP+. I was very frustrated during the most recent trip, but that was nothing compared to my husband. He was REALLY unhappy with FP+ and it definitely had an impact on our vacation!

Well, it's computer based so there's always gonna be something. I've been twice in the last 12 mos and both times it was working extremely well, and from most of those I have spoken to, it's been the same. I was honestly shocked by the results of this poll based on what I read here.

 

[Rutt]

Just curious why you were using the kiosks? I think you mentioned the app in a previous post so it sounds like y'all have at least one smartphone in your party.

You have to after your first three do you not?

Also, they mentioned already they were having issues with the app, so it's possible that's the reason.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

It was early October 2014. The system seemed to be fully operational, but with a lot of problems. I do know that each time we went to a FP+ kiosk there were other people who were having issues.

That is weird, since we went in May of 2014, with a party of 6, 3 separate couples, linked in MDE, and had zero problems with our FP+. I know that wasn't your experience, but it seems like you were the exception, and not the rule. We have also gone since then, and again, zero problems with FP+ or ADRs, or any part of the MDE app. I guess we're just lucky people.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

Well, it's computer based so there's always gonna be something. I've been twice in the last 12 mos and both times it was working extremely well, and from most of those I have spoken to, it's been the same. I was honestly shocked by the results of this poll based on what I read here.

The poll above says that 73% say it's an improvement. I'm willing to bet that a lot of the 16% that prefer the old paper fastpass are those that gamed the system and used a bunch during the day to ride just a few rides.

 

[J_Carioca]

You have to after your first three do you not?

Also, they mentioned already they were having issues with the app, so it's possible that's the reason.

Yup. We were at the kiosk because, as mentioned, on a couple of occasions our FPs disappeared from our MDX (even though they were still in the system - but we didn't know that until we went to the kiosk). Also, on several occasions our MDX just went down - we would get an error message and couldn't do anything in the app.

 

[Rutt]

The poll above says that 73% say it's an improvement. I'm willing to bet that a lot of the 16% that prefer the old paper fastpass are those that gamed the system and used a bunch during the day to ride just a few rides.

I know, that's why I'm shocked. I would have expected it to be much lower. I would bet that the general public ( the non obsessed) number is actually much higher based on this. Sounds like it may be a rather big success for Disney, contrary to the disaster it's portrayed as here.

 

[J_Carioca]

There are two separate criticisms that I think we should separate. Your original argument seemed to be you not liking how the system is supposed to work, but now you're leveling criticisms about how the system has had hiccups and glitched in practice. On the latter, I absolutely agree. A system built on an app and a website needs to have an app and a website that function in harmony with one another.

What does that have to do with MDX? Same-day reservations are still broadly available at resort locations. Park locations and other exceptionally popular restaurants were about impossible to get into both before and after MDX.

I don't question your experience, I question your definition of the word "spontaneous." I can't wrap my head around how crisscrossing from Frontierland to Tomorrowland all day long to acquire paper Fastpasses and then returning to the exact same locations to actually use those Fastpasses at a time dictated to you by a computer is in any way "spontaneous" just because you didn't have to decide that your crisscrossing and backtracking would be at the Magic Kingdom until the night before. I'd muchmuchmuch rather pick "which park, which day" in advance and then have time to be spontaneous within that day that I would spontaneously picking a park just to be a slave to the almighty return window and "your next Fastpass is available at..." time.

I guess I have two issues: one is the fact that there were big hiccups in the system during our trip. I really hope everyone who's saying that what we experienced was the exception is right.

The other issue is, as you say, how the MDX is supposed to work. I think whether you like or dislike the new system will come down to what kind of traveler you are. If you're the kind of person who plans the trip a year in advance and can't wait for the 180-day mark so you can make ADRs, then yeah, you're probably gonna like MDX. If you're the kind of person who wakes up and says "I know we talked about doing HS today, but I could really use a day at Blizzard Beach" then you're probably not going to like it as much. I fall into the latter group.

Maybe we're just lucky, but paper FPs always worked incredibly well for us. We never felt that we had to do a lot of criss-crossing the park; we'd get a FP and then do the less-busy stuff nearby, then go back during the FP window. In contrast, when we used FP+ on our last trip, we either couldn't get the rides we wanted, or the times offered were really inconvenient.

I would be interested to know the percentage of overall park goers who used the paper FPs versus the percentage who use FP+. FP+ is being heavily marketed in ads and on all promotional material, in a way that the old FP wasn't. It stands to reason that if there are more people using FP+ than there were people who used paper FPs, it's harder to get "good" FP+ reservations on short notice.

 

[Rutt]

I really hope that we were the ex


Yup. We were at the kiosk because, as mentioned, on a couple of occasions our FPs disappeared from our MDX (even though they were still in the system - but we didn't know that until we went to the kiosk). Also, on several occasions our MDX just went down - we would get an error message and couldn't do anything in the app.

I hope so too. I hope the next time you go it works as planned. It may not make you like it, but at least see the usefulness of it.

 

[Rutt]

I guess I have two issues: one is the fact that there were big hiccups in the system during our trip. I really hope everyone who's saying that what we experienced was the exception is right.

The other issue is, as you say, how the MDX is supposed to work. I think whether you like or dislike the new system will come down to what kind of traveler you are. If you're the kind of person who plans the trip a year in advance and can't wait for the 180-day mark so you can make ADRs, then yeah, you're probably gonna like MDX. If you're the kind of person who wakes up and says "I know we talked about doing HS today, but I could really use a day at Blizzard Beach" then you're probably not going to like it as much. I fall into the latter group.

Maybe we're just lucky, but paper FPs always worked incredibly well for us. We never felt that we had to do a lot of criss-crossing the park; we'd get a FP and then do the less-busy stuff nearby, then go back during the FP window. In contrast, when we used FP+ on our last trip, we either couldn't get the rides we wanted, or the times offered were really inconvenient.

I would be interested to know the percentage of overall park goers who used the paper FPs versus the percentage who use FP+. FP+ is being heavily marketed in ads and on all promotional material, in a way that the old FP wasn't. It stands to reason that if there are more people using FP+ than there were people who used paper FPs, it's harder to get "good" FP+ reservations on short notice.

This is where I disagree with you. My wife prefers to decide the day of what park we are attending. In most cases you can still do that and get your fps. Some of the most popular are nearly impossible to get fps for, but that was no different for me in 2013 before MDE.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I would be interested to know the percentage of overall park goers who used the paper FPs versus the percentage who use FP+. FP+ is being heavily marketed in ads and on all promotional material, in a way that the old FP wasn't. It stands to reason that if there are more people using FP+ than there were people who used paper FPs, it's harder to get "good" FP+ reservations on short notice.

Well, we are people who go there on multiple trips every year (being DVC members makes that possible), and we very rarely used the old FP system. We love FP+ as it allows us to decide when to go, as opposed to a paper FP that may have had a return time during lunch or dinner, or just later than we wanted to stay at a particular park. We have APs, so park hop all the time, and usually end up at EPCOT in the evenings.

Now I would agree that getting FP+ for the more popular rides on short notice is not easy or even impossible. But unless you are traveling at a much slower time of the year, then paper FP for many major rides are gone by 10am anyway. We hadn't ridden TSMM in a few years because of this, but we rode it on our last trip with FP+.

As far as being spontaneous goes, we always schedule a few down days when we are there. We woke up one morning, decided to go to HS, made a lunch reservation at 50's Prime Time via the app that morning, and had a great day. While we didn't ride TSMM or RRNC that day, we rode other things, enjoyed Mulch, Sweat, and Shears twice, and had a few refreshing beverages. Our FP+ for that day were in the evening at EPCOT, so we got to ride Soarin' at 6pm without having to worry about it. Awesome for us!! That's one of the reasons that we love FP+.

 

[AVeryDifferentDisneyDad]

We were there end of March-first of April. Absolutely LOVED the My Magic Experience. Had not a SINGLE issue. As an aside, LOVED the Magic Bands, too. So incredibly easy!!

Only issue we had was my son's (10 yrs old) finger print not reading. Finally on the second day, they took a picture of him and that's what the Gate Keeper used to let him in gor the rest of our visit.

 

[Lord_Vader]

Yup. We were at the kiosk because, as mentioned, on a couple of occasions our FPs disappeared from our MDX (even though they were still in the system - but we didn't know that until we went to the kiosk). Also, on several occasions our MDX just went down - we would get an error message and couldn't do anything in the app.

We take screenshots of our reservations before we leave, share them on iPhoto Photo Sharing and save a copy on Dropbox just in case something happens including unforeseen issues like my phone dies/breaks/is lost, the network including LTE/WiFi is down, or MDE goes down.

Things happened, systems crash (MDE should be much better than it is) so it is always better to take five minutes of spare time (I do it while watching TV before we leave) and then can rest easily knowing all my reservation information including resort stay, dining & FP+ are all available from any of three phones or a MBP I bring to backup photos onto nightly.