Disney Erased All my FP+ and Won't Reinstate Them

[luvthemouse71]

How do you know she WAS given incorrect info? And I hardly "blamed" the OP. I gave two completely different possibilities:

"The OP just got bad info, or didn't understand."

Bottom line is, there is no "mystery" that their FP+ disappeared.

It's a touchy subject around here. just as supposedly there are people who say that Disney does no wrong, there are those that think Disney can't do anything right. They hate the new system and if someone has had positive experiences with it, they are thought to be "drinking the Kool-Aid".

I have seen that mistakes tend to happen when people make changes to their reservation. So, if I do so, I make sure to be clear with the CM on the phone. And that isn't a guarantee, I know. Customer service isn't always 100% and that's any business.

 

[luvthemouse71]

What exactly would you expect a CM to do? They are being told by Management to do things a certain way and the public getting mad at them doesn't change that fact. If they can't accept a print out (or just your word) then they can't accept a print out and all of the indignation in the world doesn't change that.

While I don't think CMs should be threatened or treated like crap for decisions not of their making, they also need to not be rude to guests. I haven't had too many rude CMs thankfully. We had one last December( not FP related) and I got his name and on the way out, I stopped at GS and filed a complaint.

A little consideration and kindness on both ends would be a good thing.

Regarding FP+ and phones- we had a FP+ for Wishes and they were using phones to verify entry. But, you had to pull up the app right there and then in front of them. I don't think this would work for a ride though, would take too much time.

 

[Suvadoo]

Regarding FP+ and phones- we had a FP+ for Wishes and they were using phones to verify entry. But, you had to pull up the app right there and then in front of them. I don't think this would work for a ride though, would take too much time.

Are you saying that Disney made the guests use their personal phones and pull up the app to verify their FP+ reservation to Wishes?

If so, what happened to guests that did not have iphones?

If this is in fact what happened, it's outrageous!! Disney should have to use their own devices to verify FP+ at all attractions and shows.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

I think by now there have been enough reports that even the most diehard Disney apologists should recognize that there are real problems.

To say that the system is working just as it is supposed to is ludicrous.

Disney is losing FP+ reservations. They have acknowledged this by having a policy in place for front line CMs.

Many people are reporting one person in their party not having the correct FP.

A few people like the OP have lost all of their FP+.

There have been reports of magic bands losing info and tickets.

We have all been behind people who are herded to the Guest Relations line at the turnstiles to get their bands tapped or rebooted or whatever.

These kinds of issues should not be issues. period.

Last trip my dad and my sister's bands somehow got swapped and my dad's name was coded into my sister's band with my sister's credit card info and my sister's name in his band with my dad's credit card. After 2 visits to the Beach Club Concierge the problem could not be resolved.

For my next trip I am already having issues with my dad and my sister's bands.

Dealing with this stuff is a pain.

When they work the bands are great. They do work most of the time. IMHO most of the time is unacceptable.

 

[igk]

Are you saying that Disney made the guests use their personal phones and pull up the app to verify their FP+ reservation to Wishes?

If so, what happened to guests that did not have iphones?

If this is in fact what happened, it's outrageous!! Disney should have to use their own devices to verify FP+ at all attractions and shows.

I agree.
Useful to help verify if there's a problem but to require it??

 

[elaine amj]

Really curious for an update from the OP. hope your day went well!

 

[FlipHipster]

No one probably cares, but I'll inconvenience a few million electrons and photons.

Some of us care
If this is all true, no reason to doubt it really, it points to a massive management failure. The person(s) paid to do the integration should have known there were incompatibilities between systems. If nothing else, testing should have revealed these issues way before they were released to the customers. Adding/modifying reservations with a dining plan is a pretty typical use case, how would they not realize there was a problem unless nobody tested it?

And TWDC is hardly unique - this kind of "silo" approach with bare-minimum integration is pretty common in the enterprise because the latest management theories favor letting business units run their own show and the mothership acting like a holding company. It's partially how you attract talent; "As president of XYZ division, you'll full run of the show. No external party to impair your profit / bonus making potential."

Very true. Unfortunately IT has become a camp ground for execs that know jack about IT. It's way to easy to baffle your peers with rants about the "complexity" of IT systems and dazzle them with technical mumbo jumbo until they run away screaming "Just fix it whatever it takes!". Yet it never seems to get fixed.....

One of my favorite slides from a consulting company we were hiring to integrate a new HR system, said "It will cost more than you ever imagined, and take longer than you ever dreamed. Everyone will hate you and the system by the time you are done."
And shockingly enough they still bought it.......
And the consultants were right.
And the execs keep saying, we had no idea this would happen, its just so complex.....

 

[AngiTN]

Some of us care
If this is all true, no reason to doubt it really, it points to a massive management failure. The person(s) paid to do the integration should have known there were incompatibilities between systems. If nothing else, testing should have revealed these issues way before they were released to the customers. Adding/modifying reservations with a dining plan is a pretty typical use case, how would they not realize there was a problem unless nobody tested it?

I think one of the underlying issues are you have divisions within companies that act as if they are competitors instead of co-workers. They do not want to share data, they want to control their data and keep their division vital. If they share their information with others someone may think that other group is unneeded. I worked in big corporate for a while and figured out real quick I couldn't handle the mine, mine, mine mentality. No one understood the argument that it was still the same company that needed information, not a competitor trying to steal info. I had to run screaming and have worked in small business ever since.

So I suspect no one ever even realized there was a problem to be tested since Division A won't talk to Division B.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Agree 100% that the reservation would have to be cancelled if you "switch" from room only to a package, this has always been the case. However the OP had an existing MYW package it just did not include dining.

Good point. I think it must do something for even a split second when the CM changes it from room+tickets to room+tickets+dining, that drops the tickets off even for a second and then the FPs get dropped.

 

[alicia080979]

We had a somewhat similar thing happen before our June trip a few weeks ago. I called to add the dining plan and was informed that our trip, ADR's & FP+ reservations had all been cancelled. I got online...gone. I almost lost my mind. I hung up on the not so helpful CM (not proud of it but they were NOT helpful at all so I muttered, "forget it" and hung up) and called back again to try and get someone in IT. Before I could get to IT the CM asked me to explain again and I did and she was able to find everything and get it back. She said that for some reason on their main screen it was showing up cancelled and that she just needed to go back further (no idea what that meant) and was able to get everything working again. I hadn't even gotten off the phone with her yet and I logged out and back into MDE and everything was there.

It really is nerve wracking when you spend so much time planning and money on a vacation for these glitches to happen.

OP I hope they found everything and you had a good trip!

 

[jsutherin1]

I must admit it would be very helpful if the OP would update this and let everyone know if or how this was fixed.

 

[JoeA]

I must admit it would be very helpful if the OP would update this and let everyone know if or how this was fixed.

They're probably at the parks and not on-line!!

 

[surferdave]

I hung up on the not so helpful CM (not proud of it but they were NOT helpful at all so I muttered, "forget it" and hung up) and called back again to try and get someone in IT.

I wouldn't feel bad about that. My #1 piece of advice to anyone dealing with Disney phone CMs is that the moment you realize one is being unhelpful, claiming you can't do something you know you can, or providing you with information you know is bad, tell them "sorry, I gotta go see a guy about a thing," hang up, call back and try another one. Life is too short and vacation planning is too hectic already (especially for WDW these days) to waste your time in all the trite ceremonious stuff they want to talk about once the call is off course and they aren't going to help you with the thing you called them about.

 

[mom2rtk]

tell them "sorry, I gotta go see a guy about a thing,"

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Although not OP this did happen to me and as stated before they did help but it was a pain. I booked everything I could but I could not rebook a Soarin and 4 times on the Mine train different days .

They gave us a yellow voucher for these rides that I had to stop by on the days we were riding and pick up at Guest Relations. These were set up ahead of time on our first day in with an incident number that we presented when we picked up the voucher. It was a pain going by guest relations so much and our initial day at Guest relations was hours. I hope OP post when they get back and see how they fixed it for them.

 

[bumbershoot]

So I suspect no one ever even realized there was a problem to be tested since Division A won't talk to Division B.

I've actually lost track of when they started messing with the website to begin the agonizing process of driving us bonkers. Late 2012 I believe. It's been a long time. In the process they've lost all ADRs for some people. They've seemed to lose them for others but then they came back. Other people had no losses at all. Phantom tickets (I have old ones on MDE that I just ignore and treat as an experiment or curiosity). Weird thing happening all the time. They have ha ample opportunity to see that they have to have departments talking to each other.

But they hire new HS grads as interns in their it dept in Seattle. Those people aren't going to talk back when they see silly things happening, and they don't have the direct life experience to understand the impact on a big family vacation.

 

[Dizfan4life]

I'm sorry, but the "system" includes the human element of implementing it. One cannot divorce the techno part of the equation from the human part of the equation. If the CM said that nothing would be affected, and that turned out to be false, then the "system" failed.

Mission Control to Spacecraft: "Go ahead and press the blue button for re-entry"

Spacecraft to Mission Control: "I did that and we are now in irreversible self-destruct mode. We're doomed."

Mission Control to Spacecraft: "Oops. Sorry. I meant to say the green button. You're right. You are doomed. But look on the bright side. The system worked exactly as it was supposed to and the blue button performed flawlessly."

In this scenario, did the "system" work?

and

 

[larryz]

Or lack thereof at the rate they are going.

Reminds me of the Dilbert cartoons about the "Battling Business Units."

Woe to thee if thou shalt become a cost center!!!

 

[NMK62303]

If you upgrade a ticket to an AP in the middle of your trip, do you think this would happen as well?

Sounds crazy, but this DID happen to my parents last October. Luckily we were with them and still had all our fp+, they lost theirs. They were reloaded each day with 3 use anytime/any park but only after 11AM and had to go each day. I will probably renew ours on site and check the fast passé before and after to be sure they are still there!!

 

[Kricketnp]

Hey everyone....just got home from the trip which was FANTASTIC. However, we just rebooked all of our own Fastpasses after getting nowhere with Disney. I was able to score one trip on the 7 Dwarves so I decided it wasn't worth the hassle and quality time to go to guest services and complain about it. So simply pit, everything worked out but with zero help from Disney. Haha.