Ticketing/Entry System Crash

[monothingie]

The other option is to wait 2 1/2 hours in the sun. It definitely sucked for these people but I imagine WDW will be compensating them as necessary. It is unfortunate that is happened, but it did. Hopefully lessons have been learned on how to better handle in the future

After the hours they waited to get in, they were compensated by having to wait in line an hour or two to reach guest services CM.

 

[xdan0920]

After the hours they waited to get in, they were compensated by having to wait in line an hour or two to reach guest services CM.

Listen buddy. Read the thread. It’s the guests responsibility to figure this out. Go buy a $19 drink at Trader Sams. That’s the reasonable thing to do if you purchased a one day ticket that turns out to be useless. Make the best of it!

 

[Andrew C]

After the hours they waited to get in, they were compensated by having to wait in line an hour or two to reach guest services CM.

As I said, it was definitely a crappy situation and I hope WDW has learned to better handle similar situations in the future...as well as work to prevent it from happening again.

 

[monothingie]

Listen buddy. Read the thread. It’s the guests responsibility to figure this out. Go buy a $19 drink at Trader Sams. That’s the reasonable thing to do if you purchased a one day ticket that turns out to be useless. Make the best of it!

Yesterday we got our scheduled FP's in, had lunch, did some shopping, gave up on the crowds and went to Disney Springs. TBH I didn't even know there was a problem until by friend saw the WESH story on the problem. I just assumed it was a very busy summer day.

But to your point, we are AP holders, and honestly encountering a MDE issue has become so common place we just move on. IF we were only there for 1 or 2 days total, I imagine I would be considerably more upset. Considerably.

 

[Kingtut]

but to expect that kind of redundancy to keep a bar code reader operating is irrational. SMH

If it's important enough to keep people standing there for hours then there should be a backup system. Doesn't need to be a real time/hot swap / switchover/ multiple voting system. But a second system which can be brought online in a few minutes is not unreasonable. If the failure is such that you can't bring the backup on line - then you let the people in. I don't have hard data but I suspect the number of people who show up at the MK gates after parking/ monorail or ferry/ going through security without valid admission media ( just in the hopes that the system will be down) is rather small on any given day ( and will not materially affect the stock price)

 

[monothingie]

As I said, it was definitely a crappy situation and I hope WDW has learned to better handle similar situations in the future...as well as work to prevent it from happening again.

This incident shows the main problem is that MDE has become a gigantic unwieldy monolith within WDW. It was created with the best of intentions, but in reality is a complicated, buggy, and unreliable platform which everything depends on. (And it's only getting worse the more it branches out into other things).

 

[ImperfectPixie]

This incident shows the main problem is that MDE has become a gigantic unwieldy monolith within WDW. It was created with the best of intentions, but in reality is a complicated, buggy, and unreliable platform which everything depends on. (And it's only getting worse the more it branches out into other things).

 

[Animaniac93-98]

IF we were only there for 1 or 2 days total, I imagine I would be considerably more upset. Considerably.

Yeah, but only dumb dumbs go to Disney World for two days. I mean TWO DAYS? Do they not know how to Disney? lol

[/sarcasm]

 

[Andrew C]

I have a paper eticket for WDW that I am going to use in October. It says go directly to park entrance and you will be provided with a "real" ticket. Wish me luck!!!

 

[HoldenC]

WDW vacations are so scheduled now that they tend to be just the opposite

That's simply not true. Every vacation we have taken the last few years has been more flexible than ever. Clearly you suck at planning if you think everything has to be minute by minute. But hey anything that pushes the "Disney is a piece of trash company who hates their guests agenda"

 

[HauntedPirate]

If they shared that information they'd be idiots since it would help hackers develop exploits. Did you read the news this week regarding the breach of one of Capital One's S3 buckets? How did the attackers even know that data was there, much less in a misconfigured bucket?

Oh, I know those things wouldn't be made publicly available for precisely that reason. I've been going through those things for years, which is why I'm curious about them. I was particularly amazed by the Delta Airlines outage a few years ago due to an alleged fire at a data center, since I was somewhat familiar with their DR/BC plans.

Capital One sounds like an inside job.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

FYI. I have a paper eticket for WDW that I am going to use in October. It says go directly to park entrance and you will be provided with a "real" ticket. Wish me luck!!!

At least with a paper ticket you'll have a physical, proof of purchase confirmation in case of any tech problems.

I strongly believe in having paper backups for all reservations and bookings related to a trip (flight, hotel, restaurants etc).

 

[Kingtut]

No, there's no reason to expect a back up plan/system for something so trivial that it's used for park admission...

Your risk analysis may show you don't need to invest in a backup system - but you better have a procedure to deal with it in case it happens. Do you just keep running the monorail and the ferry dumping people at the gate until they can't get off anymore?

 

[eliza61nyc]

At least you were inside! Hope YOU took personally responsibility to make YOUR inconvenience better

Lol Once we figured out we weren't going anywhere for a couple of days we did. Gotta tip my hat to our distant cousin across the pond, they were the definition of hospitality. The airport folks really stepped up. Also helps to have an American Express card

 

[HauntedPirate]

That's simply not true. Every vacation we have taken the last few years has been more flexible than ever. Clearly you suck at planning if you think everything has to be minute by minute. But hey anything that pushes the "Disney is a piece of trash company who hates their guests agenda"

You are a comedic gift that keeps on giving! Please, regale us with more tales of how wrong us plebs are and how wonderful and right you are!!

 

[HoldenC]

You are a comedic gift that keeps on giving! Please, regale us with more tales of how wrong us plebs are and how wonderful and right you are!!

You're equally an amazing gift.

 

[Monty]

If they shared that information they'd be idiots since it would help hackers develop exploits. Did you read the news this week regarding the breach of one of Capital One's S3 buckets? How did the attackers even know that data was there, much less in a misconfigured bucket?

The hacker had previously worked at a Cloud solutions company that dealt with Capital One, so, yes, she was familiar with their configuration.

Capital One sounds like an inside job.

Not quite, but close. See above.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

That's simply not true. Every vacation we have taken the last few years has been more flexible than ever. Clearly you suck at planning if you think everything has to be minute by minute. But hey anything that pushes the "Disney is a piece of trash company who hates their guests agenda"

Apparently stating that WDW vacations involve a lot of planning and scheduling means:

-I suck at planning.

-I think everything has to be scheduled down to the minute.

-I'm pushing an agenda.

-The specific agenda I'm pushing is that Disney is trash and hates their guests.

Extrapolating all that from my comment is quite something.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

I laughed way too hard at this one...

 

[lazyboy97o]

I saw the twitter/Instagram screenshots saying, "waited three hours in blistering heat", "kids in tears, giving up." Why wouldnt you just walk to Contemporary or hop on the monorail and go to one of the resorts to relax while they fix the problem instead of standing in the heat with crying kids? Or just go to another park. Im sure Guest Relations at the other parks were well aware of the problem and would have helped in some way.

And yeah, yeah, im sure it could have been a one day trip, or the last day of a trip, or the kids reall wanted to go to MK. Either way, from the looks of the reports, they didnt fix the problem until 1 or 2 pm, so most of the day was wasted and by the time they got in, they were hot, sweaty and uncomfortable.

These issues are typically not localized and the other parks are typically experiencing the same issue. Going to a different park also means going to one for which a party has no FastPass+, dining or other experience reservations.

MaxPass is also based in Florida, so wide enough system problems can and do impact the Disneyland Resort.

Wondering when the last time something like this occurred...anyone know?

It happens at least a few times a year. The typical solution is to just assume that tickets are valid and let people enter the parks. The issue of people finding out on social media and entering for free is not really a concern because the issue is typically resolved within a few hours. In order for someone to get in for free they would have to be someone watching Disney-focused social media and be in a position to get to the park quickly enough. The $100 you miss on that one person is less than the cost of just listening to guest complaints.