The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

TP2000

TP2000

Well-Known Member
DonaldDoleWhip said:
The biggest frustration of the evening was IT/infrastructure. If we're going to be reliant on our phones to get value out of Genie+, the internet in the park needs to actually work (WiFi wouldn't let me connect either), and the app needs to stop logging everyone out for no reason. Guest Relations helped me get back to square 1, but then my decision to get in line for Indy blew that as well.
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You deserved a free Dole Whip just for staying so calm through repeated tech failures and poor management.

Disney's IT Department, if they even have one any more, is a failure for that sort of experience to play out over and over again. Shame on them.

CaptinEO said:
I always tell people that I love technology, but Disney just doesn't implement it right at all. Themeparks shouldnt require you to use technlogy to plan out your day and enter each ride.

It's like Disney invented a solution for a problem that never existed in the first place.
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That's a really good way to put it. Disney invented a mess, then demands that all its customers pay for an upcharge, and then spend their park time staring at phones and swiping and reloading just to get their family on the ride that Disney said they could go on.

The mind boggles at how the highly paid TDA executives in charge of this type of customer experience go home and think they did a great job each week. Idiots. :rolleyes:

Phroobar said:
That is what happens when the entire program is outsourced, rushed and there is no inhouse testing first. I'd hate to be on call for that department. Heck, they probably don't have anyone on call for programming problems outside of Bob's spreadsheets. Priorities.

The app itself should never access an external web site. It should be self contained and simified. There is too much advertising and too little functionality. It's architecture is chaotic. I bet it is really easy to hack.
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More good points. Which gets me back to my Thesis for the 2020's; Disney's theme park executives don't use their own product as a customer, and they don't understand their customers needs when using their product.

That's a classic recipe for management failure. Imagine if Henry Ford didn't like cars. Or William Boeing took the train.

When you are a TDA exec who gets free admission to the park, free valet parking at the Grand Californian, free reserved seats for parades and spectaculars, and free Lightning Lane downloads onto your App from a suck-up middle manager, why the heck would you care what those idiot paying customers have to deal with?!? Your family's day at Disneyland as a TDA executive is free, easy, and seamless. Fun!

Those pesky customers who actually pay for this crap are too needy! Why won't they just shut up?!? 🤔
 
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DrAlice

DrAlice

Well-Known Member
Sailor310 said:
A Christmas hotdog/churro
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The fact that you typed two very different foods means this is a fail, right? haha...

I legit had to stare at the picture for a minute to understand that it was a corn dog. I initially thought it was a green cake/cookie with oddly-colored pudding filling. But that still didn't seem right. 🤷‍♀️

Smooch said:
See, that's the unique innovation you could only find in Disney Parks!
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The Disney Difference!! 🤣
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
These 70 year olds were 28 in 1980 when computers and online services (compuserve) started to be seen in the home. They are even young enough to have one of the first iphones. They spent their entire adult life with these technologies, one would think they would've known how to use technology by now. Sorry but being technologically literate doesn't get a free pass.
 
Californian Elitist

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Communicora said:
It's sad that Disneyland couldn't figure out a way to work things out for these people. I feel like they have lost their way.

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This is truly awful. But we saw potential situations like this coming from miles away.

If I was a CM, especially if knew that reservations were still available, I would have hopped on my phone, a computer, or anything to help them book a reservation.
 
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PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
The same thing almost happened to my mother last October in Florida.

The day before I planned to go to Magic Kingdom, she decided to join me on impulse. She bought her ticket, and I tried to talk her through the reservation process over the phone. She was sure she did it correctly, and that was that.

Next day: apparently my Mom didn't do it correctly because according to their system she didn't have a park reservation. They weren't going to let her into the park or even onto the ferry boat to get from the TTC to the actual park. The only reason they budged was because she was able to convince them she had a dinner reservation in the park (thankfully they didn't check this-it was a reservation for two but it didn't specifically have her name on it). Otherwise they wouldn't have let her in and she would have thrown $150 down the toilet (since our schedule wasn't flexible and the WDW 1 day ticket expiration window is now literally four days).

Which begs several questions:
1. Why doesn't the system require you to make a reservation before you are allowed to buy the ticket, ESPECIALLY if it's a one day ticket, ESPECIALLY if it's literally for the next day?
2. Why are they so stringent on enforcing this, ESPECIALLY if the day before there was clearly no danger of running out of park reservations?
3. How can a company still smarting about its superior customer service continue to enforce such a policy so strictly (and in direct contradiction to how they tend to enforce their other rules) and talk about how awesome their service is with a straight face?

I'm sure it's helping Disney from a cost saving and staffing perspective, and that's why it's in place. But do they really think that choosing park reservations as the one hill they will die on is in their best interest as a business? Do they really think that these people who are turned away after they spent the money will ever go back to Disney after that ordeal, and that those people's takeaway will be "lol whoopsie I guess I'll do better next time" and not "I will never give this business money again"? It beggars belief.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
PiratesMansion said:
The same thing almost happened to my mother last October in Florida.

The day before I planned to go to Magic Kingdom, she decided to join me on impulse. She bought her ticket, and I tried to talk her through the reservation process over the phone. She was sure she did it correctly, and that was that.

Next day: apparently my Mom didn't do it correctly because according to their system she didn't have a park reservation. They weren't going to let her into the park or even onto the ferry boat to get from the TTC to the actual park. The only reason they budged was because she was able to convince them she had a dinner reservation in the park (thankfully they didn't check this-it was a reservation for two but it didn't specifically have her name on it). Otherwise they wouldn't have let her in and she would have thrown $150 down the toilet (since our schedule wasn't flexible and the WDW 1 day ticket expiration window is now literally four days).

Which begs several questions:
1. Why doesn't the system require you to make a reservation before you are allowed to buy the ticket, ESPECIALLY if it's a one day ticket, ESPECIALLY if it's literally for the next day?
2. Why are they so stringent on enforcing this, ESPECIALLY if the day before there was clearly no danger of running out of park reservations?
3. How can a company still smarting about its superior customer service continue to enforce such a policy so strictly (and in direct contradiction to how they tend to enforce their other rules) and talk about how awesome their service is with a straight face?

I'm sure it's helping Disney from a cost saving and staffing perspective, and that's why it's in place. But do they really think that choosing park reservations as the one hill they will die on is in their best interest as a business? Do they really think that these people who are turned away after they spent the money will ever go back to Disney after that ordeal, with those people's takeaway being "lol whoopsie I guess I'll do better next time" and not "I will never give this business money again"? It beggars belief.
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Why can’t picking days just be part of buying the ticket? You don’t buy a ticket to a movie theater and then pick the showtime during a completely separate interaction. If people want to pre-buy tickets for undetermined dates then it should be an opt-out system, not an opt-in system.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Why can’t picking days just be part of buying the ticket? You don’t buy a ticket to a movie theater and then pick the showtime during a completely separate interaction. If people want to pre-buy tickets for undetermined dates then it should be an opt-out system, not an opt-in system.
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Because Disney has to make things as Goofy and Mickey Moused as possible.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A silver lining when it comes to Genie + is that wait times for non Genie + rides have not been increased. In fact they are lower than when fastpasses existed. For example Peter Pan was hovering at 35 min today on a Saturday. Casey Junior only took us 20 minutes and they were only running one train (not sure why as they have been running 2 since the park reopened). Jungle Cruise was hovering around 25 min. Genie+ users are obviously trying to get the most value out of their purchase and focusing their day on the 11-17 rides that are included. Doesn’t leave much time for the non Genie rides. When fast passes were free people might get a few but still dabble with the non Genie rides as they didn’t feel the need to get their moneys worth.
 
DrAlice

DrAlice

Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o said:
Why can’t picking days just be part of buying the ticket? You don’t buy a ticket to a movie theater and then pick the showtime during a completely separate interaction. If people want to pre-buy tickets for undetermined dates then it should be an opt-out system, not an opt-in system.
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This. This this this!!!! x1000!!!

Disney can't blame the customer when the company has created a system that makes no sense. Especially when the parks operated without this nutjob system for the past SIXTY years. Disney should be more accommodating of people misunderstanding their policy instead of turning people away. I'm no business expert, but it seems pretty obvious that the last thing you want to do is turn away cu$tomer$ at the door. Especially when they've already paid!
 
W

wdrive

Well-Known Member
Anyone think the Red Car Trolley is done for? Seems odd it isn’t back yet and no mention of it from what I have seen. Issues having it go through the Avengers Campus?
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
DrAlice said:
I'm no business expert, but it seems pretty obvious that the last thing you want to do is turn away cu$tomer$ at the door. Especially when they've already paid!
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This is the same company that often ignores its own dress codes for restaurants because it can't bear to turn away a paying customer.

That someone with valid theme park admission wouldn't be let in because they didn't make a park reservation (when space is still available) is insane.
 

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