Anyone know when WDW is going to fix their website?

[AngiTN]

Rivers of Light will be up and running long before the website is solid.

LOL.... you win!

 

[AngiTN]

Disney has had for many years, probably from whenever they started a web presence, the absolute worst web technology of any major company that I know of.

It is truly baffling to me. What is it about the needs of their website that make it harder to maintain than say, Amazon, Nordstrom, Holiday Inn, or any other website that has rare crashes or outages?

 

[Piglet]

I have been waiting all week for the website to be fixed to make final payment. Decided to day to just call and do it. I was able to pay over the phone without waiting for an agent. It's all automated. Now that was all fine and good, but my call just went out in the middle of it all. Completely dropped and I called from a landline. So frustrating!!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Amazon

If they were like Amazon, I know I would spending a lot more money with them.

 

[Geoff_M]

I don't know about that. DH has some former colleagues there and the head of my alumni association works there and as far as I know they are doing well.

Well, perhaps that's true for the part of Disney's IT department that hasn't been outsourced to H1-B visa holders.

 

[TeamEvansGo]

I don't think anyone is faulting Disney for not making great efforts to get a faulty system back up and running. I think the outrage is when their faulty system does fail, it fails in BIG ways that cripples their operations.

This!!!

I've been booking WDW vacations for my family since 2007 (7 trips at this point) and I have always encountered some sort of problem using the site. I get that these things break down and glitch out, but I've never had a single problem with the Universal Site, or any other major companies site, so...

 

[Piglet]

So I paid my balance due yesterday. Never received an email and can't find on the website any proof of that. Besides calling to confirm, will I get an email receipt?

 

[perditax]

Pretty sure I've been reading the title of the post for at least 20 years . =D

 

[Dug720]

So I paid my balance due yesterday. Never received an email and can't find on the website any proof of that. Besides calling to confirm, will I get an email receipt?

I got an email confirmation for my deposit made yesterday in my inbox sometime between 11pm when I went to bed and 5:30am when my cat attacked my feet. Maybe yours will come tonight?

 

[Micca]

If they were like Amazon, I know I would spending a lot more money with them.

Yes! As @AngiTN pointed out, there are hotel chains with hundreds (thousands?) of units all over the globe. I could only guess how much web traffic Amazon must deal with. And what about iTunes? For most Disney customers, the website is the gateway to the entire experience, and they're cutting corners there?

I'm generally pleased with Disney--trips, merch, movies, etc. But the website sitch is just embarrassing for a globally respected company.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Still waiting, Disney.
PC browser version worked this morning to see MDE but mobile and app still thinking about whether or not I have a hotel reservation or ADRs. Wanted to get some planning done today. Guess I do need a spreadsheet with ADR times, etc. sigh.

 

[AppleSister1]

I'm so annoyed. I was in the middle of checking out my intinerary, etc, a few minutes ago and the whole thing crashed. Everytime I try to get back in I get that annoying Stitch graphic saying "someone ate the page."

 

[_auroraborealis_]

A lot of companies deal with complex web ecosystems. Now, Disney's is particularly messy, and I suspect it looks a lot like a government set of systems, where somewhere in the background something critical is running on an NT server from 2002 and there's no clear migration path and a lot of duct tape.

There are multiple databases built at different times, likely on different platforms, with fields that have to be reconciled, almost for sure.

When looking at this sort of ecosystem, it's not "fix the website!" it's really "fix everything on the back end, because the website is just a front-end interface to all the back end chaos." It is a huge, expensive undertaking with the potential for a lot of downtime, and one that is likely only going to be budgeted and planned when the issues are more expensive than the prospective fix.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

My weekend trip starts on Thursday. The 30 day renewal for my AP ends today and I haven't been able to get in to renew.

I guess I'll keep trying. I knew I shouldn't have waited so long to get it done.

 

[Micca]

I suspect it looks a lot like a government set of systems, where somewhere in the background something critical is running on an NT server from 2002 and there's no clear migration path and a lot of duct tape.

I have a hunch you have nailed it! They probably need to build something current and upgradable then take the old system off line. Big corporations sometimes get stingy with capital improvements during belt tightening time. It's very short-sighted, and can bite the biz in the butt.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I suspect it looks a lot like a government set of systems, where somewhere in the background something critical is running on an NT server from 2002 and there's no clear migration path and a lot of duct tape.

Ahhh, Win NT. That was my company's operating system of choice for like ten years. Here's hoping Disney doesn't have anything stuck in that level of dark ages.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Ahhh, Win NT. That was my company's operating system of choice for like ten years. Here's hoping Disney doesn't have anything stuck in that level of dark ages.

I have a friend working in government who has a VAX system she still relies on.

 

[Geoff_M]

I have a friend working in government who has a VAX system she still relies on.

I loved VAX sysytems. I cut my teeth on a DEC-10.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I loved VAX sysytems. I cut my teeth on a DEC-10.

But modern they are not. They are pretty indestructible, though.

 

[perditax]

My first real tech job in the 90s still had PDP-11-based systems hanging around.

*drops mic*