TSM standby-less test Oct. 6-9

[Angel Ariel]

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But even breathe the notion that there should be extra benefits added for on site and off site guest have a cow over it. Just take a look at the uproar over BOG fp. Sorry, but it's about time on site got something for their money besides transportation to the resorts.
t.

You.seriously think it is ok to make an entire restaurant in the parks only available to onsite guests?

I AM an onsite guest in November, and o have an issue with what they are doing at BOG.

 

[cakebaker]

Yes. And apparently the condition they set is "We're going to do whatever the heck we want, guests be damned."

That's certainly not how everyone feels, but if I did feel that way, I'd stop going. All the foot stomping and ranting about it isn't going to change it. What will change it is people walking away. I don't see that happening at all right now.

 

[cakebaker]

You.seriously think it is ok to make an entire restaurant in the parks only available to onsite guests?

I AM an onsite guest in November, and o have an issue with what they are doing at BOG.

It's only for lunch, dinner is still open for ADR's.

And yes, I do think it's ok. I'm shocked they did it, but I'm fine with it.

 

[Angel Ariel]

That's certainly not how everyone feels, but if I did feel that way, I'd stop going. All the foot stomping and ranting about it isn't going to change it. What will change it is people walking away. I don't see that happening at all right now.

And yet, Disney execs have specifically said that changes to fp+ program,.like adding the 4th and beyond FP, came about directly due to guest feedback, and not just surveys.

 

[Lucia_27]

I know this is supposedly just a test, and they wouldn't be changing the MDE app for this, but it really stinks but if you go into MDE and try to get a fast pass for TSM it says "none available standby only". So if you have no idea about this test and you do what you're supposed to, which is check the app to see if there are fast passes, you could still get to the park today thinking you can ride standby.

 

[ArwenMarie]

That's certainly not how everyone feels, but if I did feel that way, I'd stop going. All the foot stomping and ranting about it isn't going to change it. What will change it is people walking away. I don't see that happening at all right now.

I agree with you, I think the only thing that will change things is people pulling back their money. If one doesn't think something is a good value anymore, you shouldn't buy it anymore. But there are different ways to do that though, and it doesn't mean giving up the Disney parks 100%. I admit, I still enjoy the parks. I still think the base tickets are worth the price. As of now anyway. Things keep changing, I don't know, maybe one day I won't feel that way.

But I will never stay onsite again due to various issues we have run into. We've minimized our meals onsite due to some food quality issues we've perceived at more than a few places. And we've started to split our weeks with Universal. These are just examples. There are lots of other examples on here of people doing the same thing...spending less on merch because they don't see anything original, etc.

I guess my point is that customers can pull back what they spend at Disney without giving it up entirely.

 

[Angel Ariel]

It's only for lunch, dinner is still open for ADR's.

And yes, I do think it's ok. I'm shocked they did it, but I'm fine with it.

Um...onsite guests still get 180+10 on offsite guests, and adrs are gone within minutes of the onsite window opening. I was online when my window opened, looking for the latest possible day in my trip, and as an onsite guest I couldn't get ADRS because those who had 180+10 before me booked them all. It took me 4+ months of stalking the cancellation thread here to get an adr there for our trip. I still haven't found one for my friends' trip a week after ours.

So if onsite guests can't get ADrs for BOG, how can it be said that is a viable, generally available option for offsite?

Essentially BOG is onsite only during this test. Restaurant access is a part of park.admission, not your resort stay. You couldn't eat there by staying onsite without also having park admission. Park admission is, the way they have it set up, all access. What they are currently doing with BOG is not all access.

 

[mesaboy2]

Um...onsite guests still get 180+10 on offsite guests, and adrs are.gone within minutes of the onsite window opening. I was online when my window opened, looking for the latest possible day in my trip, and as an onsite guest I couldn't get ADRS because those who had 180+10 before me booked them all. It took me 4+ months of stalking the cancellation thread here to get an adr there for our trip. I still haven't found one for my friends' trip a week after ours.

So if.onsite guests can't get ADrs for BOG, how can it be said that is a viable, generally available option for offsite?

Essentially BOG is.onsite only during.this test. Restaurant access is a.part of park.admission, not your resort stay. You.couldnt eat there by staying onsite without also having park admission. Park admission is, the way they have it set up, all access. What they are currently doing with BOg is.not all access.

Out of curiosity, is your '.' key sticking or are you making some kind of "point"?

 

[Angel Ariel]

Out of curiosity, is your '.' key sticking or are you making some kind of "point"?

Sorry...the "."s happen a lot when I hit my spacebar on my phone. I was trying to type faster than I should have

Fixed it

 

[mesaboy2]

Sorry...the "."s happen a lot when I hit my spacebar on my phone.I was trying to type faster than I should have

No worries, I just haven't seen that before.

 

[cakebaker]

Um...onsite guests still get 180+10 on offsite guests, and adrs are.gone within minutes of the onsite window opening. I was online when my window opened, looking for the latest possible day in my trip, and as an onsite guest I couldn't get ADRS because those who had 180+10 before me booked them all. It took me 4+ months of stalking the cancellation thread here to get an adr there for our trip. I still haven't found one for my friends' trip a week after ours.

So if.onsite guests can't get ADrs for BOG, how can it be said that is a viable, generally available option for offsite?

Essentially BOG is.onsite only during.this test. Restaurant access is a.part of park.admission, not your resort stay. You.couldnt eat there by staying onsite without also having park admission. Park admission is, the way they have it set up, all access. What they are currently doing with BOg is.not all access.

Well we can get all up in arms about it if they make it a permanent thing, which I don't expect they will.

As far as what you get included with a park ticket- You get nothing guaranteed except for entrance into the park. What you think you ought to get is another story. But Disney is in no way violating the terms of your ticket by restricting access to a restaurant. They have the right to do it and we have the right to like it or not.

There are 2 camps on the what is included in your resort stay. Some people believe parks are completely separate from on site resorts. Others (I'm in this camp), think an on site stay is all inclusive. Disney certainly is encouraging the latter and as a strictly on site guest, I'm all for it.

Either that, or they need to reduce the price of their rooms because the only thing that justifies the prices is getting some significant perks.

 

[JoshuaShaw]

As far as what you get included with a park ticket- You get nothing guaranteed except for entrance into the park. What you think you ought to get is another story. But Disney is in no way violating the terms of your ticket by restricting access to a restaurant. They have the right to do it and we have the right to like it or not.

No one has said Disney doesn't have the right to do it, we've simply said we don't like it, as you just admitted we have the right to do.

 

[mesaboy2]

I listened to the weekly podcast yesterday and Pete went on one of his rants regarding the TSM no-standby situation. He was rather clear on his feelings about it.

I don't disagree, and think the idea of removing them on a permanent basis for any ride is beyond ridiculous and absurd. )) Making a CS restaurant FP only (and resort-guest only) is even dumber. I find the defense of these tests in the name of some "greater good" weak and amusing to say the least.

 

[Laketravis]

The only question in my mind is whether it will be installed on all the most popular rides or if they are just researching how to handle the onslaught in Norway.

Or the upcoming holidays. Last year, legacy FP was still around beyond Thanksgiving and things didn't go so smoothly when they started taking out the FP machines. I wonder if they are simply preparing (and testing) a plan in case the holidays swamp the most popular attractions?

 

[disneyholic family]

I find that hard to believe to be honest. At 3 months out, even with free dining, you should be able to get ADR's at all save the most coveted dining establishments. You may not get your ideal time but there should be some spots open.

I've never had trouble booking ADR's at 90 days out for park restaurants during free dining season.

yes it was at 90 days (95 to be exact):
at MK - no restaurants at all (none...not one) ...so where should she eat?
at DHS - no restaurants at all (none...not one, not even brown derby) ....so where should she eat?
at AK - yak&yeti and tusker house were both booked at 90 days but i just checked again now and i see that they've come open for 2 of their 3 days at AK - so she'll book those..

so she's supposed to take 4 hours out of her day each day to go to DTD?
and 4 hours is probably being generous...
how long does it take to get to DTD by bus from the parks?
half a lifetime if not more?..

and this was at 90 days...

When I worked in restaurants in the States there was always a table to be found somewhere.Might be a no show, might be unbooked ext. My sister went with us a few years back to WDW and her family got tables everyday. There was a board up in the MK near City Hall that told you which restaurants had tables for that day. There is also DTD she can try for tables. Once she checks in she could ask the concierge for help.
I should point out it was during free dining.

this is during free dining....she's hoping there will be a walk up possible...
it's just the two of them...
i hope it works out for her....
what with the ADR situation and FP+, i'm less than optimistic about her trip...but i'm keeping that to myself...

Nothing has changed in our plans to go during this same week next year for Fall Break 2015. But other stuff going on at WDW (losing Maelstrom and the Fife & Drum Corps in World Showcase for instance) has made us less excited about it, and I'm honestly fearful of whatever "test" stunts Disney decides to pull (without warning) while we're there during this same week.

My wife and girls fortunately don't frequent Disney boards like this or the Disney site like I do, so they don't know about this. Frankly, I'm afraid to tell them because it might be enough of a blunder for them to say, "Please cancel this and let's go to a beach somewhere instead." I do want to go still and hope Disney shows more regard for its guests between now and then, so I feel justified continuing to pay for our reservation. I have to admit that right now I feel like a sucker for making the payments after reading about stuff like this.

But if I read much more about these kinds of things going on at WDW, without much in the way of truly positive news (there's been a dearth of that lately), I may have to finally say, after 40+ years of going to WDW and mostly being happy with it, "We're done with it."

this is me..you described my feelings perfectly!!

 

[Angel Ariel]

Well we can get all up in arms about it if they make it a permanent thing, which I don't expect they will.

As far as what you get included with a park ticket- You get nothing guaranteed except for entrance into the park. What you think you ought to get is another story. But Disney is in no way violating the terms of your ticket by restricting access to a restaurant. They have the right to do it and we have the right to like it or not.

There are 2 camps on the what is included in your resort stay. Some people believe parks are completely separate from on site resorts. Others (I'm in this camp), think an on site stay is all inclusive. Disney certainly is encouraging the latter and as a strictly on site guest, I'm all for it.

Either that, or they need to reduce the price of their rooms because the only thing that justifies the prices is getting some significant perks.

So now you agree they are restricting BOG to onsite only with this test.

As I have said many times, I have no issue with offering onsite guests more. I have an issue with degrading the offsite guest's experience in order to do so. It is possible to offer perks without taking things away from others.

 

[vacationer1954]

But I can see them making that idiotic decision to go along with all the other idiotic decisions they seem to be making lately.

For the last thirty years at least going back to the replacement of 'A' through 'E' tickets with POP, which some people surely weren't happy about because it would lead to just the kind of crowding problems that FP+ is addressing.

 

[Laketravis]

And yet, Disney execs have specifically said that changes to fp+ program,.like adding the 4th and beyond FP, came about directly due to guest feedback, and not just surveys.

Which only validates how full of sh!t those execs are

 

[sharadoc]

Sorry...the "."s happen a lot when I hit my spacebar on my phone. I was trying to type faster than I should have

Fixed it

LOL, I usually hit the v or n instead of space on my phone.

Anyway, I think that Disney will always have a TON of first or second time visitors who are fine with all of the new rules and regulations. It's the folks, like us here on the DISboards, who have been going forever (I have since '86) who will drop off. And Disney doesn't care. We don't spend as much $$ as first timers, we tend to take different style trips and don't just throw our bank account at them. We talk about being content with hanging at the pool, making picnic lunches, or strolling the Boardwalk, instead of dinner at Narcoosee's, or renting a boat, or taking an Illuminations Cruise.

So, we suffer but they don't care. I am sad that this next trip is possibly our last because of all of this latest FP stuff. I am just sad that it has turned into this so fast, even a year ago it was a fun place to visit that felt like home. Now it feels like I'm going into the spooky forest full of wolves.

 

[minnie-apple-mouse]

But how many have already been told that all the fps are gone? They did that on other days so who's to say the same isn't happening today. And what about those that have fps for this evening in mk. Should they have to give those up to ride tsmm?

But that's looking at the current test as if nothing will change.

Maybe they will stop saying they are gone for the day when we have seen they are not.

I'm just saying gathering this information should lead to future decisions.

In the future some of these extremely popular attractions "could" be treated differently. If you have the MK reserved for the evening-you would know that TSM is not available as SB before you go, or they may offer TSM in advance-then 2 at MK (or more) after that to increase park hopping. They have talked about offering at more than one park. Or they may allow you to drop one at MK if a TSM is available-as long as you have time between of course.

Not saying I agree with any of this/what their doing-but reports are all over the map, must be gathering some kind of info I would hope.