Disney Dining assistance services hit with Cease and Desist

[dkrauss]

So how does Touring Plans get around that issue? or have they changed in the last few months?


Touring Plans?

..............I believe the term that's used is "estimated wait time"

Doug

 

[Princess Jes]

..............I believe the term that's used is "estimated wait time"

Doug

Their app says "reported wait times"

 

[dkrauss]

They use "Expected" and "Posted"............

Doug

 

[Princess Jes]

They use "Expected" and "Posted"............

Doug

Who does?
I'm looking at TP app now and it says "Reported Wait times" obvs the park is closed now so can't actually check it, but all I'm seeing is reported wait times

 

[dkrauss]

Who does?
I'm looking at TP app now and it says "Reported Wait times" obvs the park is closed now so can't actually check it, but all I'm seeing is reported wait times

go into the Park (MK for example.........) 7 Dwarfs Train in the list (and yes the park is closed........but there's still a line for 7DMT ) its showing Expected 37 min and just below in a smaller font Posted 45 min........

Doug

 

[Princess Jes]

Gotcha!
Anyway, semantics aside, it's the same thing right?

 

[doconeill]

It's been a while since I've used it, but Touring Plans uses TWO methods - their own predictive modeling based on past info, and guests using the app to report the posted and actual wait times. I don't think they were feeding off the data that MDX was presenting, but that may have changed.

I know there was one site that was scraping the MDX info somehow and posting it "live". Don't know if it still does. But even then, it's a bit of a different beast - in IT terms, the data is not "time sensitive" - I don't really need to update it every few seconds, forcing a query of the server and thus more load on it. I could grab it every 5 minutes, say, and then everyone else gets the info from me. That's only 12 hits to the servers an hour. Not even noticeable to worry about. And it was probably a "cheap" query - just getting the data already gathered in a cache table (at least if I designed it), as opposed to having to query the various systems for their current data.

But with the dining reservations, they were VERY time sensitive. The data changes by the second. So they'd have to query more often, with more complicated queries (limit the time range, etc.). Those queries were likely far more intensive, and far more frequent.

And regardless of all that, was an unauthorized use of the web site.

 

[chartle]

It's been a while since I've used it, but Touring Plans uses TWO methods - their own predictive modeling based on past info, and guests using the app to report the posted and actual wait times. I don't think they were feeding off the data that MDX was presenting, but that may have changed.

I know there was one site that was scraping the MDX info somehow and posting it "live". Don't know if it still does. But even then, it's a bit of a different beast - in IT terms, the data is not "time sensitive" - I don't really need to update it every few seconds, forcing a query of the server and thus more load on it. I could grab it every 5 minutes, say, and then everyone else gets the info from me. That's only 12 hits to the servers an hour. Not even noticeable to worry about. And it was probably a "cheap" query - just getting the data already gathered in a cache table (at least if I designed it), as opposed to having to query the various systems for their current data.

I think the issue was that the data stream had two wait times. The Time that was posted and the what Disney thought the real wait time was. So it reinforced the rumor that Disney manipulates posted wait times.

 

[doconeill]

I think the issue was that the data stream had two wait times. The Time that was posted and the what Disney thought the real wait time was. So it reinforced the rumor that Disney manipulates posted wait times.

But Touring Plans still does it as far as I know - just through different means.

 

[AndyPok1]

Wait times are a complicated beast. The "real" time isn't something that mathematically exists. Yes, everyone knows about the red tags, but as Kevin and John always say in their reviews, "That's a moment in time." If you're given a red tag at 1:00PM, and you wait 35 minutes... then the "real" time at 1:35 is 35 minutes... but actually that was the wait time at 1:00PM. The wait time at 1:35 can be significantly less or more, so simply posting that "real" time wouldn't benefit anyone.

 

[wilkeliza]

Looks like Dis Dinng Agent got hit. They have a we will be back up next week letter on their home page. WDW Table Finder is still up and acting like nothing it happening.

 

[rlduvall]

Looks like Dis Dinng Agent got hit. They have a we will be back up next week letter on their home page. WDW Table Finder is still up and acting like nothing it happening.

Same for Disney Dining Scout apparently. They just "snagged" someone a B&C reservation today.

 

[Pally]

Table Finder is saying no texts or notifications are being sent out since yesterday morning. Although, it looks like you can still do a search on their site.

 

[Accident]

This place and WDW Table Finder are really not the problem. DiS Dining Agent is the one they need to get.

The hoarders that get a dozen ADRs for 1 day and don't cancel anything until the day before is the other thing they need to crack down on.

 

[purplegirl1818]

While the notification service those sites provide is a little more innocuous than DIS Dining Agent...they have to be using bots to constantly search the site for availability. That puts a lot of strain on Disney's servers/IT infrastructure (which we know isn't the greatest to begin with), causing lots of legitimate users to have trouble searching - regularly timing out and getting error messages.

Came here to say just this. It's not super difficult to set up a script to constantly ping the Disney servers. Whether you agree with the service these people provide or not, they made the servers response slower for all of us. That makes me happy they're going away.

 

[Pally]

I have sympathy for those who have to work or live in different time zones. For those people it can be a real challenge to get any popular ADR.

 

[doconeill]

Table Finder is saying no texts or notifications are being sent out since yesterday morning. Although, it looks like you can still do a search on their site.

The post they made on Facebook Tuesday morning says they are honoring Disney's request to shut down. The main web site is still up and doesn't say anything yet though.

 

[Pally]

The post they made on Facebook Tuesday morning says they are honoring Disney's request to shut down. The main web site is still up and doesn't say anything yet though.

Yes, there is no statement on their site but you can no longer do searches now.