Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[luv]

It's been a daily thing at all of the Guest Relation locations. You have a perfect storm of:

DAS
MagicBands
FastPass+
Food and Wine at Epcot
MNSSHP at MK
And all the other hats the Cast in plaid already had on their plate...

When the line is that long, I have to assume that something isn't right, lol. It's too bad that the people who put this stuff in place don't have to deal with the frustration from the customers' end...or the Cast in Plaid's.

Can you imagine if Bob Iger didn't get something he paid for and was then told to stand in line, outside in the heat, for all that time? He'd flip his lid. He wouldn't do it. He'd make a phone call and say he was Bob Iger and get out of it. Or he'd have someone make the call. But he'd be ed about it.

Yet, that is how his company is run.

 

[Bairstow]

When I was in the Utilidoors last month I recall seeing a couple motivational banners and signs related to the MagicBand rollout.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Clearly, to me, anyone booking through a travel agent is not familiar with WDW and possibly a first time guest, and not a seasoned Disney vacationer.

A travel agent doesn't cost you any more than booking everything yourself, and it gives you an advocate looking out for you. You just haven't ascended to this higher plane of WDW existence yet.

 

[Longhairbear]

A travel agent doesn't cost you any more than booking everything yourself, and it gives you an advocate looking out for you. You just haven't ascended to this higher plane of WDW existence yet.

Actually I am quite the seasoned guest, and book all my own trips myself. That is why, and as a seasoned guest have had friends( who haven't been to WDW) ask my advice, and then use a travel agent. After a few trips they "get it", and book their own trips. But you are missing my point about travel agents.
As I read on other sites that guests are canceling WDW vacations over frustration with MDE, and asking their travel agents to book them into UNI, or Seaworld. I wanted to know what travel agents see, or don't see as to how many are canceling Disney trips, and replacing with trips to the other resorts. Also if a guest is willing to cancel a Disney trip over MDE, they just might not be a seasoned guest, but a first timer. The greater point that I did not make, is that perhaps frustration over getting MDE to work as intended, might actually be scaring off first time guests...and that's not good. A travel agent would be good source for this information.

 

[PhotoDave219]

The line at Epcot's Guest Relations had about sixteen different groups of people waiting OUTSIDE the doors yesterday. I don't even know how many inside.

Never saw that before and wondered if it was the Magic Bands. (I don't know, though. I didn't go ask people why they were in line.)

I have a magic band. Its set up properly. It works exactly as advertised and I have zero issues, much to the amazement of several CM friends who work with that on a daily basis.

I wanted to hate it but the idea of booking a FP+ while on the monorail or sitting at a traffic light for an hour from now? Love it.

 

[PhotoDave219]

It's been a daily thing at all of the Guest Relation locations. You have a perfect storm of:

DAS
MagicBands
FastPass+
Food and Wine at Epcot
MNSSHP at MK
And all the other hats the Cast in plaid already had on their plate...

Plus people wanting to eat at Chef Mickeys/Be Our Guest/Le Cellier.....

 

[luv]

I have a magic band. Its set up properly. It works exactly as advertised and I have zero issues, much to the amazement of several CM friends who work with that on a daily basis.

I wanted to hate it but the idea of booking a FP+ while on the monorail or sitting at a traffic light for an hour from now? Love it.

I have seen them in use. The only mild problem I've seen is people having to twist their wrists funny on some of the circle thingies...which really isn't a problem. I thinking they're working well for most people. But I believe the people who say they've had issues, too. Again, I didn't ask people why they were standing in that line. I just couldn't help but notice it. If you leave Epcot to the right of the ball, you just notice a big line where you never saw one before. (I did purposely check out the ball, though, and t looked fine to me!)

Are you able to book FPs when you aren't staying in a WDW hotel? I still think that regular AP people won't be able to use them, so make me happy and prove me wrong!

Also, how flexible was it? Could you shove it in a pocket and have it flatten down? They don't look that flexible. Do you think you could cut it up, poke a hole through it and add it to your key chain, kind of like those little plastic things you get from the gym or Winn Dixie?

I know I could ask this on the board devoted to it, but I want YOUR opinion, not a bunch of people I don't "know", if that makes sense. No BS.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I have a magic band. Its set up properly. It works exactly as advertised and I have zero issues, much to the amazement of several CM friends who work with that on a daily basis.

I wanted to hate it but the idea of booking a FP+ while on the monorail or sitting at a traffic light for an hour from now? Love it.

I was hoping for a day-of system like this coupled with the paper FP. It sounds good, but I worry that the availability won't be there to let people book anything but the least-popular attractions an hour before.

 

[sparky03]

Which inadvertently worsens another problem, that of artificially making even less to do in a park that already has far too few attractions. Instead of three rides on ToT and two on TSMM, if you get just one of each, for a total of two ride experiences instead of five.

And this is my single biggest complaint about the new FP system. What if there's only one or two attractions in a park that you enjoy? I have 3 or 4 attractions that I dearly love and always try to ride multiple times per visit. My trips are usually short so I don't have the luxury of spending more than one or two days in a single park, nor would I really want to since usually all I do is walk around, soak up the atmosphere, and ride only the rides I specifically enjoy. Soarin' and SE? Yes please. Nemo or Ellen's Energy Disaster? No thanks.

I usually travel solo, which in the past has made it easy for me to zip around and use a combo of paper FP tickets plus standby at select times in order to experience just the attractions I like more than once or twice (or even 3, 4, maybe 5 times) in a single day's visit.

My impression is that's going to be harder to do with FP+ which is a huge disadvantage for the way I normally experience the parks.

 

[unkadug]

...

My impression is that's going to be harder to do with FP+ which is a huge disadvantage for the way I normally experience the parks.

Disney wants you to experience the parks their way.

 

[fbb]

Plus people wanting to eat at Chef Mickeys/Be Our Guest/Le Cellier.....

Plus the people who get into a line simply because there's a line.

 

[wogwog]

The line at Epcot's Guest Relations had about sixteen different groups of people waiting OUTSIDE the doors yesterday. I don't even know how many inside.

Never saw that before and wondered if it was the Magic Bands. (I don't know, though. I didn't go ask people why they were in line.)

My Guest Relations contacts tell me it is very much the majority of the reasons guests are lined up at GR.
some of teh GR people I know are actively looking to transfer to another position. Not surprisingly they believe the requests are not being processed as they would expect/

 

[71jason]

I have a magic band. Its set up properly. It works exactly as advertised and I have zero issues, much to the amazement of several CM friends who work with that on a daily basis.

And I spent $100 more for my ticket than you and I can't get a MagicBand or even log into the system.

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

Also, how flexible was it? Could you shove it in a pocket and have it flatten down? They don't look that flexible. Do you think you could cut it up, poke a hole through it and add it to your key chain, kind of like those little plastic things you get from the gym or Winn Dixie?

Just be careful with cutting around the RFID chip. Someone that I know (and have distanced myself from since) had hole punched their green ticket media and damaged it causing a lengthy replacement procedure.

 

[tissandtully]

I have a magic band. Its set up properly. It works exactly as advertised and I have zero issues, much to the amazement of several CM friends who work with that on a daily basis.

I wanted to hate it but the idea of booking a FP+ while on the monorail or sitting at a traffic light for an hour from now? Love it.

Agreed, used ours for our trip this past weekend and it was great. Haters gonna hate.

 

[tissandtully]

I have seen them in use. The only mild problem I've seen is people having to twist their wrists funny on some of the circle thingies...which really isn't a problem. I thinking they're working well for most people. But I believe the people who say they've had issues, too. Again, I didn't ask people why they were standing in that line. I just couldn't help but notice it. If you leave Epcot to the right of the ball, you just notice a big line where you never saw one before. (I did purposely check out the ball, though, and t looked fine to me!)

Are you able to book FPs when you aren't staying in a WDW hotel? I still think that regular AP people won't be able to use them, so make me happy and prove me wrong!

Also, how flexible was it? Could you shove it in a pocket and have it flatten down? They don't look that flexible. Do you think you could cut it up, poke a hole through it and add it to your key chain, kind of like those little plastic things you get from the gym or Winn Dixie?

I know I could ask this on the board devoted to it, but I want YOUR opinion, not a bunch of people I don't "know", if that makes sense. No BS.

Right now you can get into the AP system of having FP+ available for the next couple months by having a resort reservation. That's the only way I know now, but if it's working that way, I assume there will be a way to make it work without a reservation eventually. Just doesn't make any sense why it wouldn't.

 

[GymLeaderPhil]

My Guest Relations contacts tell me it is very much the majority of the reasons guests are lined up at GR.
some of teh GR people I know are actively looking to transfer to another position. Not surprisingly they believe the requests are not being processed as they would expect/

Turnover is very high in that department. Some locations are denying transfers and even promotions. They've had more postings for that role in the last year than ever before. Compensation doesn't match the level of responsibility and stress.

 

[nor'easter]

Agreed, used ours for our trip this past weekend and it was great. Haters gonna hate.

Yes, all those haters in line at guest relations. It's a dumb, dismissive phrase. Could just as easily say pixie-dust addicts gotta snort.

 

[marni1971]

Agreed, used ours for our trip this past weekend and it was great. Haters gonna hate.

No. Those disadvantaged over the previous system are gonna complain. Rightly so.

 

[tissandtully]

No. Those disadvantaged over the previous system are gonna complain. Rightly so.

You mean those who haven't tried it yet?