Reservation expansion

[MrPromey]

Don’t be so paranoid. It’s not like WDW is going to make guests wear a tracking bracelet and then have their every movement recorded by a multi-billion dollar computer system. That’s just nutty.

They tried but according to knowledgeable sources, they were either too incompetent to make use of that information, somehow lost it, or as it turns out, were unable to effectively collect it in the first place. (I think it was the third)

That level of apparent stupid happened before this but remember, this is the company that laid off talented, skilled and experienced software engineers so they could exploit the H-1B visa program to bring in inexperienced foreign tech workers on the cheap and then had the gall to require that the people being let go train their incompetent replacements as a requirement for getting their severance.

This isn't a company that values their IT departments.

Just like everywhere else within the organization these days, they love their golden eggs but damn aren't those geese a bunch of worthless good-for-nothing freeloaders!*



*feels like they're really mastering the art of killing geese.

 

[MrPromey]

What’s sad about this is with ALL this data they still have failed in using it properly. This type of $$$ and dedication to knowing your every move should end up with near perfection when it comes to guest satisfaction yet here we are…

Yeah, they screwed up big time but don't think for a second their goal with that was, or current goal is, guest satisfaction.

It's guest optimization.

When you're squeezing a dollar bill to see if you can get pennies to fall out of it, do you really care how the dollar bill feels?

If you somehow think you'll always have an endless supply of them, apparently you don't.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

Yeah, they screwed up big time but don't think for a second their goal with that was, or current goal is, guest satisfaction.

It's guest optimization.

When you're squeezing a dollar bill to see if you can get pennies to fall out of it, do you really care how the dollar bill feels?

If you somehow think you'll always have an endless supply of them, apparently you don't.

Eh, yes and no. I can guarantee you that it is a significant priority of theirs right now to solve dissatisfaction issues regarding Park Pass, 2pm hopping restrictions, Genie+ and inability to purchase APs. The timeframe I am hearing is to settle all of the Park Pass and AP stuff by the end of the summer and Genie+ early next year. There's a chance they do the Park Pass stuff in two phases but I'm crossing my fingers it'll happen all at once as people are really getting fatigued with the frequent and drastic changes at the parks.

Edit: And the reason I say "yes and no" is because I think some of us are going to be very, very happy with the final iteration of these things and others not so pleased.

 

[Jrb1979]

Eh, yes and no. I can guarantee you that it is a significant priority of theirs right now to solve dissatisfaction issues regarding Park Pass, 2pm hopping restrictions, Genie+ and inability to purchase APs. The timeframe I am hearing is to settle all of the Park Pass and AP stuff by the end of the summer and Genie+ early next year. There's a chance they do the Park Pass stuff in two phases but I'm crossing my fingers it'll happen all at once as people are really getting fatigued with the frequent and drastic changes at the parks.

It's great they are going to fix all of it. IMO it should never have taken this long. I understand they are the highest attended parks but it still doesn't need to be this complex. Universal is near them in attendance and you hear few complaints about visiting or waiting in lines.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

It's great they are going to fix all of it. IMO it should never have taken this long. I understand they are the highest attended parks but it still doesn't need to be this complex. Universal is near them in attendance and you hear few complaints about visiting or waiting in lines.

In fairness to them, they are juggling 1,000 different pieces that most people can't even conceive. Park Pass first started out as a way to limit capacity for public health reasons. If we were going back to the good ole free for all days, they could just lift it right now.

But, they've made the decision that, for example, the Magic Kingdom capacity is no longer 100,000. It's significantly less, by choice. Which means instead of 2-3 days where the parks hit "capacity" (fire code), there will be 10-20x the number of days where the new capacity is hit.

The revenue generated by letting 100,000 people in vs letting only 75,000 (made up number) is just not significant because the number of orders in restaurants, quick service options and shops is unchanged. All that extra capacity does is degrade the guest experience.

That being said, with the changes coming by summer's end is an increase in capacity as well; likely the final increase (or close to it).

 

[crazy4disney]

Eh, yes and no. I can guarantee you that it is a significant priority of theirs right now to solve dissatisfaction issues regarding Park Pass, 2pm hopping restrictions, Genie+ and inability to purchase APs. The timeframe I am hearing is to settle all of the Park Pass and AP stuff by the end of the summer and Genie+ early next year. There's a chance they do the Park Pass stuff in two phases but I'm crossing my fingers it'll happen all at once as people are really getting fatigued with the frequent and drastic changes at the parks.

Edit: And the reason I say "yes and no" is because I think some of us are going to be very, very happy with the final iteration of these things and others not so pleased.

you keep preaching that YET they refuse to do anything until 2023 as you continue to tell us bc they are worried about refunds.... so yea tough to buy into the story they care about guests satisfaction let leave a system in place for whats gonna be effectively probably 3/4 of a year until we see any significant changes. i would LOVE to know what these "changes" are that you speak of as you again constantly defend the wait and say that some will be happy others may not be... So the waiting to fix this shows they dgaf imo and the other cryptic message to me means they are contemplating some high priced skip the line system which in theory is NO fix to a current horrendous system. (granted the last part is pure speculation on my part)

 

[MrPromey]

It's great they are going to fix all of it. IMO it should never have taken this long. I understand they are the highest attended parks but it still doesn't need to be this complex. Universal is near them in attendance and you hear few complaints about visiting or waiting in lines.

To be fair, on a park-by-park basis, neither Universal park comes anywhere near close to MK and in situations like Hollywood Studios where capacity is already lower to begin with, it's not a reasonable 1:1 ratio, either.

There is stuff Disney needs to do long-term to add capacity to deal with this. It's stuff they should have started a long time ago - but the comparison to Universal isn't a good one unless you want to say Universal is doing a tremendously better job of staying ahead of their capacity problems.

Building the third park is, I'm sure, more about adding an extra day or two to guest visits than it is to spreading people out but in the long run*, as long as they continue to invest in the existing two as well, it'll help create that effect.*

*I expect Escape will be swamped the first few years but I don't think there's any avoiding that. Hopefully, as the only modern ground-up theme park being developed in Central Florida, they'll be a little prepared for it with the design and layout of the new park from what they've learned with the others.

 

[Disney Glimpses]

you keep preaching that YET they refuse to do anything until 2023 as you continue to tell us bc they are worried about refunds.... so yea tough to buy into the story they care about guests satisfaction let leave a system in place for whats gonna be effectively probably 3/4 of a year until we see any significant changes. i would LOVE to know what these "changes" are that you speak of as you again constantly defend the wait and say that some will be happy others may not be... So the waiting to fix this shows they dgaf imo and the other cryptic message to me means they are contemplating some high priced skip the line system which in theory is NO fix to a current horrendous system. (granted the last part is pure speculation on my part)

When I appear defensive, make no mistake I am in defense of the people working hard on these issues; not the parent company who is placing handcuffs on these people. The people on the ground in the offices behind Magic Kingdom and in Hollywood Studios are good, smart people who care about the experience. This isn't their fault.

That aside, I assume you are talking about Genie+ (since you mentioned refunds). You have to consider the impact it would have to have to untangle Genie+ costs from already paid for vacations not only through Disney but travel agents, online travel agencies, etc. It would be incredibly complicated and simply not worth it when they can just wait another 5 months. That being said, they should be partially suspending ILL (as they are now through Aug 6) until that time to at least make the current service tolerable.

 

[crazy4disney]

When I appear defensive, make no mistake I am in defense of the people working hard on these issues; not the parent company who is placing handcuffs on these people. The people on the ground in the offices behind Magic Kingdom and in Hollywood Studios are good, smart people who care about the experience. This isn't their fault.

That aside, I assume you are talking about Genie+ (since you mentioned refunds). You have to consider the impact it would have to have to untangle Genie+ costs from already paid for vacations not only through Disney but travel agents, online travel agencies, etc. It would be incredibly complicated and simply not worth it when they can just wait another 5 months. That being said, they should be partially suspending ILL (as they are now through Aug 6) until that time to at least make the current service tolerable.

you have your opinion i have mine... they managed to handle refunds etc during covid short staffed w Ap refunds etc at a much more complex way imo calculating how many days were used/left etc..... this has been a known issue for months i believe you mentioned this in May? dk exactly but they literally KEPT selling and basically forced people like myself to buy it and now ADD to the problem lol... so again yes im sure people who work there are not the problem and i get handcuffed heck i worked for major IB for a decade so i understand but in same respect they cant expect no heat either.... listen bottom line is capacity we KNOW that but in same respect thinking genie was gonna work bc people wouldnt buy it has to be the biggest miscalculation ive seen by this company in a LONGGG time... so whats the solution try and price people out yet again.. Good Luck with that bc if they truly do cap it it would still sell out... as ive stated before i actually hope they do it bc it would imo still create LONG stand by lines and once and for all prove FP was NOT the reason lines are long and existed.

 

[mysto]

you have your opinion i have mine... they managed to handle refunds etc during covid short staffed w Ap refunds etc at a much more complex way imo calculating how many days were used/left etc..... this has been a known issue for months i believe you mentioned this in May? dk exactly but they literally KEPT selling and basically forced people like myself to buy it and now ADD to the problem lol... so again yes im sure people who work there are not the problem and i get handcuffed heck i worked for major IB for a decade so i understand but in same respect they cant expect no heat either.... listen bottom line is capacity we KNOW that but in same respect thinking genie was gonna work bc people wouldnt buy it has to be the biggest miscalculation ive seen by this company in a LONGGG time... so whats the solution try and price people out yet again.. Good Luck with that bc if they truly do cap it it would still sell out... as ive stated before i actually hope they do it bc it would imo still create LONG stand by lines and once and for all prove FP was NOT the reason lines are long and existed.

Please be nice. This guy is not Disney itself, you are arguing with him as if he were.

 

[crazy4disney]

Please be nice. This guy is not Disney itself, you are arguing with him as if he were.

not arguing at all just have a difference of opinion on what we feel the company genuinely wants to do..... i feel all the reasons explained are nothing more than excuses.... a billion dollar company admitting a product absolutely stinks yet refuses to due anything about it in a reasonable time is NOT a company that cares to resolves issues.

 

[dreday3]

Edit: And the reason I say "yes and no" is because I think some of us are going to be very, very happy with the final iteration of these things and others not so pleased.

oh my god, would you just say what it is you know that's not for certain?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

oh my god, would you just say what it is you know that's not for certain?

My guess? No clue what’s gonna happen

 

[Jrb1979]

you have your opinion i have mine... they managed to handle refunds etc during covid short staffed w Ap refunds etc at a much more complex way imo calculating how many days were used/left etc..... this has been a known issue for months i believe you mentioned this in May? dk exactly but they literally KEPT selling and basically forced people like myself to buy it and now ADD to the problem lol... so again yes im sure people who work there are not the problem and i get handcuffed heck i worked for major IB for a decade so i understand but in same respect they cant expect no heat either.... listen bottom line is capacity we KNOW that but in same respect thinking genie was gonna work bc people wouldnt buy it has to be the biggest miscalculation ive seen by this company in a LONGGG time... so whats the solution try and price people out yet again.. Good Luck with that bc if they truly do cap it it would still sell out... as ive stated before i actually hope they do it bc it would imo still create LONG stand by lines and once and for all prove FP was NOT the reason lines are long and existed.

In all honesty that is really the only solution for any system they bring in. It needs to have limited availability.

Yes Genie+ doesn't work as planned but at the same time it makes no sense to bring back FP+ temporarily only to switch the new system. It makes things more complicated for guests when you keep changing rules.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

you have your opinion i have mine... they managed to handle refunds etc during covid short staffed w Ap refunds etc at a much more complex way imo calculating how many days were used/left etc..... this has been a known issue for months i believe you mentioned this in May? dk exactly but they literally KEPT selling and basically forced people like myself to buy it and now ADD to the problem lol... so again yes im sure people who work there are not the problem and i get handcuffed heck i worked for major IB for a decade so i understand but in same respect they cant expect no heat either.... listen bottom line is capacity we KNOW that but in same respect thinking genie was gonna work bc people wouldnt buy it has to be the biggest miscalculation ive seen by this company in a LONGGG time... so whats the solution try and price people out yet again.. Good Luck with that bc if they truly do cap it it would still sell out... as ive stated before i actually hope they do it bc it would imo still create LONG stand by lines and once and for all prove FP was NOT the reason lines are long and existed.

The “forced me to buy it” makes all the other words in this post irrelevant.

 

[UNCgolf]

The revenue generated by letting 100,000 people in vs letting only 75,000 (made up number) is just not significant because the number of orders in restaurants, quick service options and shops is unchanged. All that extra capacity does is degrade the guest experience.

They could fix that by buildings more shops and restaurants, of course, but they don't seem to have much interest in that.

They'd also have to hire more staff, which is difficult to do at the moment and they also probably don't really want.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

In all honesty that is really the only solution for any system they bring in. It needs to have limited availability.

Yes Genie+ doesn't work as planned but at the same time it makes no sense to bring back FP+ temporarily only to switch the new system. It makes things more complicated for guests when you keep changing rules.

The smart plan is to limit it…where the make money…and then actually expand park capacity to ease the strain and bring more people in over time to make more money.

That’s it. Any other “plan” doesn’t get the problem.

It’s not a defunct lazy internet pre-booking system that mathematically didn’t work. Because it did not.

 

[Chi84]

oh my god, would you just say what it is you know that's not for certain?

Please don’t discourage someone who may actually know something but isn’t able to reveal it just yet.

It’s much better than reading repetitive, inane comments from people who truly are clueless.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

They could fix that by buildings more shops and restaurants, of course, but they don't seem to have much interest in that.

They'd also have to hire more staff, which is difficult to do at the moment and they also probably don't really want.

Their problem is they have made the restaurants/shops less attractive because they gutted unique out of them decades ago and dumped it on their awful shopping app…

And that is the fallout for bad ops decisions…many more have followed.

 

[Jrb1979]

They could fix that by buildings more shops and restaurants, of course, but they don't seem to have much interest in that.

They'd also have to hire more staff, which is difficult to do at the moment and they also probably don't really want.

It's funny you say that cause that's what a lot of Cedar Fair parks are doing just that.