Can Disney admit that FP+ and MDE are a fail?

[Bluegrrl]

OK, the wording of the post is a little weird, so if anyone has a better wording, let me know and I will change it.

Is there a possibility that Disney will just give up at one point and say that MDE and FP+ are an epic fail? For example, Coke gave up on New Coke, even after pouring $$ into it. McDonalds has given up on many new products even after massive testing and promos.

Do you think Disney will just man up and say that guests are plain unhappy and angry about this system? That commandos, one-timers, off-sites, APs, and locals are all pretty upset? (OK, some loved it, but then again, some people loved New Coke.) That its sucking $$ from other needed projects?

Will Disney backtrack on FP+ and MDE, or will they keep steamrolling the product and telling us that we must love MDE. It's so high-tech and how Walt always wanted to be innovative; that he would love this idea.

 

[2Tiggies]

I've been wondering along similar lines but not quite as big a question as you are posing.

See I don't think MDE is a fail at all. I think it's something perhaps ahead of its time, but it's cutting edge and will eventually function extremely well.

The FP+ element is the part of MDE that I do believe is a fail. Others will argue with me, and that is fair, since I really have nothing solid to base my statement on, but I believe Disney made a mistake replacing the previously existing and very efficient FP system. There may have been room for improvement on it, but this current system is not it.


As for Disney admitting it as a mistake, that, again in my own opinion, will never happen. If they think they got it wrong and decide to change it, they may do so - but not under admission in any way that their design was a mistake.

 

[momof2n2]

I loved New Coke.
Not willing to give FP+ a try.

I wish they'd use the technology to have the bands work like old FP. No pre-booking. Just walk to the ride, look at the time, tap if you want the FP. Sure, eliminate paper, use your new technology, but work it the old way.

But I'm not holding my breath.

 

[JimmyV]

In the board room and the meeting rooms, heads may roll, people may get "reassigned" and others might leave for "other opportunities in the entertainment industry". But there will never come a day when defeat will be conceded. Instead, there will be "improvements" coupled with new, flashy videos. There will be "enhancements" designed to make your experience "even better". But there will never be surrender unless a new CEO were to come in and pivot away from past programs. But I do not see that happening.

 

[Redcon1]

Exactly what I was thinking. Instead of inserting your ticket or KTTW Card into the FP machine, just scan the band and either a paper FP would pop out or a virtual FP would be stored on the MB. There was no need for the amount limitations and tiering of FPs or even pre-booking.

To me, this seems like a logical usage of the MBs since they are basically programmed to do everything else the old KTTW card was used for.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

No, because it is not a failure.

 

[Jennasis]

Even if it was a failure, they will never admit it.

 

[2Tiggies]

In the board room and the meeting rooms, heads may roll, people may get "reassigned" and others might leave for "other opportunities in the entertainment industry". But there will never come a day when defeat will be conceded. Instead, there will be "improvements" coupled with new, flashy videos. There will be "enhancements" designed to make your experience "even better". But there will never be surrender unless a new CEO were to come in and pivot away from past programs. But I do not see that happening.

^^^ There you go. You just said it so much better than I did!

 

[eb021]

I have been saying for quite a while now that I do not see why this could not have been an addition to the old system.

Disney could very easily replaced the keys to the world cards with magic bands and installed the same tap to pay system to the existing fastpass machines and had it stored on the rfid chip inside the band. This could have all been done to work with the MDE website and app. They could have even still had online reservations 60 days out with the limit of 3 reservations per day.

In the interest of full disclosure I have not yet been in the parks since testing began and have not fully experienced the new system. I am reserving my judgement on the system until I have used it. We have a trip coming up in 45 days and have ordered our magic bands and made our fastpass+ selections. We'll see how it goes in the parks.

I am cautiously optimistic that it will still be a great experience for us, but even if it is I sincerely hope that Disney will at least take customer feedback and the existing displeasure with the new system to reinstall the old fastpass machines for day of use and interface that system with ability to reserve 3 attractions/shows/etc per day in advance.

 

[shalom]

Is there a possibility that Disney will just give up at one point and say that MDE and FP+ are an epic fail? For example, Coke gave up on New Coke, even after pouring $$ into it.

New Coke was around for more than a decade and essentially accomplished its goal -- Pepsi had been creeping up on Coke for years; once Coke put Classic Coke back on the shelves, between Classic and New Cokes they reclaimed some of the ground Pepsi had taken and Pepsi hasn't gotten as close to first since. Coke did not "give up on" New Coke, and they did get their money's worth out of it.

I don't think there's any evidence that MDE and FP+ are an epic fail. And I don't think FP+ will be an epic fail, because at any time, Disney can reconfigure FP+ to work the way legacy FP worked. If they end up doing that, whether there's an announcement or not, it'll be pretty clear that FP+ as it is right now, at any rate, was indeed a failure. But it won't be an epic fail because Disney can change it so easily.

If it really is an epic fail, Disney might admit it as part of an ad campaign to draw people back into the parks -- "you were right, so sorry, we're going back to what Disney should be" -- but, personally, I don't see that happening. Coke did it because they were thrilled with the revival of interest in Coke Classic; the people who fought for the return of Coke Classic gave the company a huge boost and kicked sales up. I don't see Disney having quite the same attitude toward the people who hate FP+, even if the legacy FP lovers turn out to be a majority.

 

[summermac]

I agree that IMO the entire MDE project is not a fail. In fact, I think it ROCKS - seeing everything online, everything all linked up, the ability to see it on my smartphone is amazing. Honestly even my mother has a smartphone these days and I think more and more people have at least an ipod or other wifi device they can use while at WDW. Disney has to evolve and in fact MDE probably should have been around even 3-4 years ago. Yes MDE is currently glitchy and hopefully they will fix that. Think of how glitchy the online ADR system was when it first went live a few years ago. These days I think that system run pretty well, aside from the issues it has as part of MDE that is. LOL!

FP+ and it's current setup is so far a fail. How or even if they plan to fix it remains to be seen.

 

[PeterPanic]

OK, the wording of the post is a little weird, so if anyone has a better wording, let me know and I will change it.

Is there a possibility that Disney will just give up at one point and say that MDE and FP+ are an epic fail? For example, Coke gave up on New Coke, even after pouring $$ into it. McDonalds has given up on many new products even after massive testing and promos.

Do you think Disney will just man up and say that guests are plain unhappy and angry about this system? That commandos, one-timers, off-sites, APs, and locals are all pretty upset? (OK, some loved it, but then again, some people loved New Coke.) That its sucking $$ from other needed projects?

Will Disney backtrack on FP+ and MDE, or will they keep steamrolling the product and telling us that we must love MDE. It's so high-tech and how Walt always wanted to be innovative; that he would love this idea.

Here's the problem. Guests are NOT just plain unhappy and angry about this system. It's only the huge minority that live, eat and breath Disney that have any vested interest in it at all. I was at WDW last week. I never saw anyone delayed, upset or even concerned about it other than trying to figure out exactly how to work with it. Most figured it out quickly and easily. I used it in the form of a card. I stayed offsite and changed over my old paper 10 day, non-expirational, park hopper for it. I had 6 days left, no problem and it went without a snag at all. I arrived at the Parks around 11 AM fully expecting the FP's to be gone. Went to the kiosk, listed my requests, they were punched in and I got each one I asked for and they were all no more than 1 hour of each other. The card worked smoothly at the FP entrances and I thought they were great.

Even if there were massive complaints, they have too much invested to just drop it. They will find a way to make it work, even if it isn't exactly how they originally planned it. There is way more to this system then just FP+. That's just one module of it. So, I would have to say that the answer to your question is... no... they will not ever say it was a fail. I'm not sure that it is! Troublesome start up perhaps, but what new system doesn't have a few bugs to work out.

Also, please don't kid yourself about it "sucking money" from other needed projects. That was a separate allocation of money that was never, ever going to see the light of day in a Theme Park. It's a capital, operational investment, not connected with any specific park. It may be taking away from some of the Disney Company reserve, but, that wasn't going to be spent unless the sky decided to fall.

 

[Lizard Valley]

No, because it is not a failure.

Have you looked at their Facebook page?

Yes, there will be people who are unhappy about change. And it's expected.

In this case, I think the number of people who are dissatisfied with FP+ is overwhelming.

ETA: Just to be clear - I am talking specifically about FP+ here.
I believe that MDE and the technology side of things is quite interesting and I can see the potential. I do believe that glitchy and user unfriendly interfaces will be updated/fixed.

 

[saskdw]

OK, the wording of the post is a little weird, so if anyone has a better wording, let me know and I will change it.

Is there a possibility that Disney will just give up at one point and say that MDE and FP+ are an epic fail? For example, Coke gave up on New Coke, even after pouring $$ into it. McDonalds has given up on many new products even after massive testing and promos.

Do you think Disney will just man up and say that guests are plain unhappy and angry about this system? That commandos, one-timers, off-sites, APs, and locals are all pretty upset? (OK, some loved it, but then again, some people loved New Coke.) That its sucking $$ from other needed projects?

Will Disney backtrack on FP+ and MDE, or will they keep steamrolling the product and telling us that we must love MDE. It's so high-tech and how Walt always wanted to be innovative; that he would love this idea.

No, because it isn't a failure.

The overwhelming majority of WDW potential customer love it. The couple hundred haters on DIS boards that keep starting these threads are in a very small minority.

We loved everything about the new system during our 12 night stay in December.

 

[Ravenne]

Is there a possibility that Disney will just give up at one point and say that MDE and FP+ are an epic fail?

Maybe, but is it really a fail yet? FP+ has only been live for about a month. Less than that at some parks. Technically they're still in the testing phase with some demographics. I think the ideas and intentions for FP+ are good, but no, it's not running smoothly...yet. Very few if any new programs and technology ever gets launched without issues or bugs. I'm not ready to call FP+ a fail yet after just one month and I'm pretty sure Disney, who has invested millions into this program is ready to call it quits. No, it's not pleasing everyone, it never will, but at least they're trying something new to address the concerns guests have been complaining about for years. FP+ might end up being an expensive fail for them. It might not. But I think it'll take a while...a few years, possibly, before any of us, Disney included can truly assess its true impact and value. FP+ is in its infancy right now and we're all expecting this infant to get up and run. That's just not realistic.

 

[surferdave]

Several years ago my company implemented a comprehensive work process management system that was developed by our own IT department that cost a ton of money and turned out to be a disaster. Management stood by it hard, as hard as Disney is standing by NextGen. They never admitted that it was a failure, but they only made us live with it in production for about a year, or long enough to meet whatever legal definition there was that allowed it to be written off as a capital loss so it could be replaced by a product bought from a major developer.

The discussions here the last few months have been hauntingly familiar to me. Especially how every concern for the new system is met with a dismissive "some people just don't like change".

 

[Lizard Valley]

No, because it isn't a failure.

We loved everything about the new system during our 12 night stay in December.

Can you see a need for improvement?

 

[JimmyV]

It's only the huge minority that live, eat and breath Disney that have any vested interest in it at all.

The New York Times restaurant critic is a "huge minority" also, and if he says that the soup is awful, yet hundreds of other patrons don't seem to be sending the soup back to the kitchen, the chef/owner of said restaurant will be looking into the situation and will consider making changes. Don't kid yourself about the power of a huge minority. Those are the guys who threw tea into Boston Harbor. Some day, when park hopping and a 4th FP are added to FP+, you would do well to thank that huge minority, for without their persistence, corporate Disney would assume that everything is aces.

Also, please don't kid yourself about it "sucking money" from other needed projects. That was a separate allocation of money that was never, ever going to see the light of day in a Theme Park.

That may be true for the first half-billion in budgeted costs. But the almost-billion in overage was sucked out of other areas. They didn't just print the money needed to cover the cost overruns. It was "borrowed" from other projects.

 

[Lizard Valley]

Don't kid yourself about the power of a huge minority. Some day, when park hopping and a 4th FP are added to FP+, you would do well to thank that huge minority, for without their persistence, corporate Disney would assume that everything is aces.

Well said!

 

[Pooksie]

In case you missed the post that I just bumped....

I bumped it so that these threads would finally end. It's not going away. It will be adjusted, but it's reality time for some people...

"From the HUB
Beginning Monday, Feb. 10, construction walls will go up around the legacy FASTPASS machines at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Toy Story Midway Mania! and at the Tip Board/Hollywood junction area. This work is scheduled to last approximately four weeks.
During this time, FAM will be removing all of the legacy FASTPASS machines (The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Toy Story Midway Mania! only) and installing additional FastPass+ kiosks at each location
Tip Board specific information:

•The braille map will be accessible from the Starring Rolls side during construction.
•The two existing FastPass+ kiosks at the Tip Board will be accessible during construction.
•The current Tip Board will be placed on the construction wall during construction. "