"Disney, what has to happen for you to decide that MDE does not work?"

[AngiTN]

My MDE was rebuilt about a month ago, also. The reason I was told it was necessary was I had "too many indicators". Of course I asked what an indicator was or how did I get too many. I was told because I came to the World too much and "it" builds up?! Go figure.

Yep. Indicators are what break them.

This might be related to the number of MBs you had associated with your account. I just had the front desk remove a bunch from our accounts when we were there in August.

MB are but 1 indicator.
Indicators are essentially entries in a database.
Think of Guest as a subset of the huge MDE database and each FP, ADR, Resort Stays, Phone Numbers, ETC as an entry in the database.
Those entries NEVER go away. They just keep adding to the database, letting it grow and grow and grow. When it gets too many entries the system can't handle the database anymore and it fails.

Anyway, MB are an easy escape goat. Too many of those are usually an indicator of too many trips which relates to too many of everything else. So it's easy to blame MB

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Yep. Indicators are what break them.


MB are but 1 indicator.
Indicators are essentially entries in a database.
Think of Guest as a subset of the huge MDE database and each FP, ADR, Resort Stays, Phone Numbers, ETC as an entry in the database.
Those entries NEVER go away. They just keep adding to the database, letting it grow and grow and grow. When it gets too many entries the system can't handle the database anymore and it fails.

Anyway, MB are an easy escape goat. Too many of those are usually an indicator of too many trips which relates to too many of everything else. So it's easy to blame MB

Mine should blow up any second, then... ...

 

[Klayfish]

What we don't know is what overall percentage of people have issues. It can be a bit deceptive to assume that people on Disboards constitute the majority of opinions or that their experience is in the majority. I have not personally ever experienced any issues with MDE in my visits and missed it when I was at DL last year; I felt like they were in the dark ages. Am I the majority or are those experiencing problems the majority? None of us know. So, yes, tell Disney the specifics of the issues, so that they can determine if it's a widespread problem or limited to some minority/specific technology issue. Either way, it's best to provide them the explicit details so that they can either fix it or provide information on technology limitations (or say that they aren't going to fix it).

I'm with you 100%. I go against the grain of complaining here and honestly really like MDE. Have I had an issue or two over the course of my trips in the past several years? Sure. But given the number of people that use it, the abilities it gives you and what I imagine to be a mind boggling complex and massive app, I think the fact that it exists and does what it does is fantastic. Just like the rest of us, I'm only speculating, but my guess is they're fully aware of the issues that come up and work really hard to fix them, upgrade, etc... I don't believe for one second that they sit back and say "The system sucks, we know it, we don't care, we just want people's money". Sorry, I don't.

It's a big piece of technology. Look at Apple. How many software glitches do you hear about with their products? Yet people flock to their stuff like a moth to a flame.

It's just my opinion, but I quite like MDE.

 

[AngiTN]

Mine should blow up any second, then... ...

One piece of advice I was given (too late for my original account)
Don't deactivate older MB, mark them as lost.
Supposedly (I say that because who truly knows with MDE) this moves the entry out of your account where just deactivating them doesn't.

 

[monkyby87]

My app hasn't been working too great lately, but when I logged into the actual website this morning, it seemed to be fine. So maybe people should trying going through the actual website instead of the app itself?

There are also a lot of people that don't keep accessing MDE and changing/looking at stuff. They make their selections and reservations and they're done. They don't know about refresh or changing times or anything. So to them, it works just fine.

 

[AngiTN]

I'm with you 100%. I go against the grain of complaining here and honestly really like MDE. Have I had an issue or two over the course of my trips in the past several years? Sure. But given the number of people that use it, the abilities it gives you and what I imagine to be a mind boggling complexity, I think the fact that it exists and does what it does is fantastic. Just like the rest of us, I'm only speculating, but my guess is they're fully aware of the issues that come up and work really hard to fix them, upgrade, etc... I don't believe for one second that they sit back and say "The system sucks, we know it, we don't care, we just want people's money". Sorry, I don't.

It's a big piece of technology. Look at Apple. How many software glitches do you hear about with their products? Yet people flock to their stuff like a moth to a flame.

Individual problems I'm accepting of actually. Those don't bother me, even though having my account rebuilt was a pain. It's better now.
It's the entire failures that are getting too common and are less acceptable.
We were on property during the one in July (that even got ESPN). There was another a few weeks back, then about 48 hours ago, another one. Just the recent ones. They have several every year. It's like each update crashes their entire software property wide. That shouldn't happen every time. I get that sometimes things are going to happen (see Delta airlines) but no one else has it as much as Disney.
Their "magical enhancements" that take the system off line, leaving guests with no way to use FP, ADR, Dining Plan Credits, MB, etc. That is what is unacceptable and happening too often.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Their IT is absolutely shameful. I had the chance to do the survey on the app last week and I held nothing back. I experienced many issues for my September trip. I couldn't book ADRs for length of stay, it took me 3 hours to book my FPs at 60 days, missing plans, missing photos, etc. It was enough to make me want to tear my hair out.

Unfortunately, I don't think it will ever be what it should. It's a monster that has gotten out of their control.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

One piece of advice I was given (too late for my original account)
Don't deactivate older MB, mark them as lost.
Supposedly (I say that because who truly knows with MDE) this moves the entry out of your account where just deactivating them doesn't.

Hmmm... I was told that there's nothing we can do on our end to remove them in any meaningful way -- that only they can do that. Who knows?!

 

[AngiTN]

Their IT is absolutely shameful. I had the chance to do the survey on the app last week and I held nothing back. I experienced many issues for my September trip. I couldn't book ADRs for length of stay, it took me 3 hours to book my FPs at 60 days, missing plans, missing photos, etc. It was enough to make me want to tear my hair out.

Unfortunately, I don't think it will ever be what it should. It's a monster that has gotten out of their control.

It does seem to be too many incohesive parts that have grown too big to ever go together. Like a Frankenstein software that was built in separate pieces and tried to be assembled too late.

 

[AngiTN]

Hmmm... I was told that there's nothing we can do on our end to remove them in any meaningful way -- that only they can do that. Who knows?!

Which is why I say supposedly. And yes, they aren't gone from the account totally but gone from an accessible, active portion of my accounts database and hopefully, held in an area that won't contribute to another failure of my account.

 

[tlmadden73]

The thing is .. the app is a convenience. It's not their business .. the parks (and attractions within) are.
The downside is they have structured their park use to practically REQUIRE the app.

 

[Babsy]

My app hasn't been working too great lately, but when I logged into the actual website this morning, it seemed to be fine. So maybe people should trying going through the actual website instead of the app itself?

There are also a lot of people that don't keep accessing MDE and changing/looking at stuff. They make their selections and reservations and they're done. They don't know about refresh or changing times or anything. So to them, it works just fine.

.

I don't know about the app, but the website still won't let me book a resort for early December. I'm getting worried about availability anywhere. I started this in mid August. I have been trying for weeks now and still get the message "We had to duck out....." UGH! I really want to get this settled - at least before the 60 days for FP+ comes around. I just don't have time to spend hours on the phone trying to sort this all out.

 

[chris benton]

It does seem to be too many incohesive parts that have grown too big to ever go together. Like a Frankenstein software that was built in separate pieces and tried to be assembled too late.

This should ring a bell with anyone that is familiar with IT outsourcing. I'm not saying that this is the reason for these frequent issues, but I do know that there are plenty of times at other companies where too many cooks are spoiling the stew. The issue with some of the cooks is that they do not know they are making stew, they just think they are creating the sliced carrots, and don't even know what they are for. Ever had a stew with giant pieces of carrots, but everything else is cut in such a way that they will cook evenly in harmony? Some times, it's a giant carrot, but what about a hunk of uncooked potato sitting in a bowl of stew? A whole head of garlic? A bone with no meat? A person much wiser than me once told me that he figured out why companies outsource their IT. It's because the execs are more familiar with money than IT or contracts, so the outsourcing companies have become brilliant at displaying cost savings, and writing rock-solid contracts. IT is an afterthought. Some laugh all the way to the bank.

 

[SaintsManiac]

The thing is .. the app is a convenience. It's not their business .. the parks (and attractions within) are.
The downside is they have structured their park use to practically REQUIRE the app.

It is not just the app. Their website is just as bad.

 

[wcw57]

Until the masses stop complaining on this site and start emailing and calling directly to Disney, it will continue to happen. If every person that has come to the dis and liked, responded, commented about MDE has gone directly to Disney, maybe just maybe it would make a difference.

but I was told that Disney people are constantly monitoring this site.....or was THAT self-promoting propaganda?

 

[HopperFan]

I have mostly love with a little frustration for it. My love seems to be what most hate about it .... FP+. Yesterday I arrived at the MK parking lot around 10:30 am and made my 3 FP+. After I used first I rolled one backwards to only a few minute wait, then used it and rolled the 3rd. I had the 4th booked within my first hour at the park. We rode 9 rides in 3 hours, plus visited a character, went in some shops. We normally have great success with FP+ and roll it all day long on the app.

I also have no trouble booking ADR on it, even standing at the restaurant because they won't seat me without one.

Photos have been VERY slow to load this week, and sometimes I have to back up and search again for things when it gives me a roadblock ... but overall the only issue I have had is Mobile Ordering has not worked all week. It either tells me that the restaurant is closed, when not, or it just spins forever searching.

There are always the moments where the system won't pull up, but I usually find I'm back on WDW wifi and once I jump off I can get on the system. I can't explain why some have problems and some don't, it seems strange for sure. PS I have too many MB on my account, I need to clean that up since we use the same few over and over. I feel like that might be a bigger issue for hotel room doors.

 

[kappyfamily]

Ok.
And I never, ever said the answer was to come here to complain. At least I'm pretty dang sure I didn't type that out. I did say they know dang well their product is lacking.
I do say they are not going to do a dang thing about MDE based on calls from customers complaining about it. There have been massive amounts of complaints about it. Even when it's running great.
It's been the way it is too long for them to change anything. They've made that perfectly clear. For your example, we were at Disney December 2014 when MDE first rolled out and it was a massive failure at that time. The entire system crashed and guests couldn't check in, using dining plans, nothing. Sound familiar. In 2014! Nothing, not one single thing has changed with it since then. In those 4 years, you really don't think they haven't had millions of complaints about it? What's been fixed in all that time? What happened yesterday is pretty much what happened in 2014. Heck, we had the same issue happen during our trip in July this year.
Enough people have complained and nothing has given.
But If you honestly believe they will ever listen to the guest and change MDE based on it, great. Call them. Hope you have free long distance.
I do give them my 2 cents each time I need to call. Heck, I'm one of the first that had to have an entirely new MDE account built because the first one fritzed out so bad it couldn't be repaired. So they heard plenty from me

Sweet.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I think the other thing to consider is that we don't know if Disney is working on a new system in the background as we speak. Moving to another platform that can hopefully handle the volume of transactions handles every single second is a HUGE project that will involve hundreds of people and months/years to properly install!! For all we know they are doing something like that in the background and we are none the wiser.

I will say that for 99+% of the time I find the system works really well and I am very happy with MDE. It can get glitchy for sure but normally my experiences are great with MDE.

 

[tex1989]

I am not sure about the size of the problem. The reason I say this is because my Son and Daughter in Law go to WDW the same amount we do, 2 to 3 times a year. I did have problems booking our FP+'s for the latest trip but that problem consisted of it taking 1 1/2 hours to do something that had taken me 20 minutes to do previously. I was upset, posted here about it and was really frustrated. But..... I got everything I wanted, pretty much when I wanted it and have since been able to adjust non headliner rides easily. Never had a problem with ADR's (other than not getting the tough ones all the time) and online check in, getting more FP+'s same day while we are there or any of the other features on MDE. So I complain to my Son and he looks at me and says what are you talking about? He has never had an issue booked his FP+'s for his October trip in 15 minutes at 7:00 AM CDT and has seen no issues at all. Now I agree with most here that the system should work better, but have become somewhat accepting of the fact that a lot of apps I use seem to be spotty at times.

So the way I look at it is what is the real percentage of users are having issues and are reporting those issues to Disney? How many folks who use it are like my Son and have not had issues? I consider the posters on this board as "power users" and if I was a software developer designing an App for Disney and wanted to stress test the sucker, this is the group I would want to test it with. But given that is the issue as big as we see it, or are we a unique group? I mean what percentage of MDE users do DIS posters represent? If the numbers are not big enough then no matter how much you yell you may never be heard. I understand Disney has a reputation of being very accomidating to it's Guests but in this case it is a small enough group to not warrant their attention?

Not trying to dismiss the issue or downplay it, but just really curious as to the size and perception of the problem within Disney.

 

[AngiTN]

I am not sure about the size of the problem. The reason I say this is because my Son and Daughter in Law go to WDW the same amount we do, 2 to 3 times a year. I did have problems booking our FP+'s for the latest trip but that problem consisted of it taking 1 1/2 hours to do something that had taken me 20 minutes to do previously. I was upset, posted here about it and was really frustrated. But..... I got everything I wanted, pretty much when I wanted it and have since been able to adjust non headliner rides easily. Never had a problem with ADR's (other than not getting the tough ones all the time) and online check in, getting more FP+'s same day while we are there or any of the other features on MDE. So I complain to my Son and he looks at me and says what are you talking about? He has never had an issue booked his FP+'s for his October trip in 15 minutes at 7:00 AM CDT and has seen no issues at all. Now I agree with most here that the system should work better, but have become somewhat accepting of the fact that a lot of apps I use seem to be spotty at times.

So the way I look at it is what is the real percentage of users are having issues and are reporting those issues to Disney? How many folks who use it are like my Son and have not had issues? I consider the posters on this board as "power users" and if I was a software developer designing an App for Disney and wanted to stress test the sucker, this is the group I would want to test it with. But given that is the issue as big as we see it, or are we a unique group? I mean what percentage of MDE users do DIS posters represent? If the numbers are not big enough then no matter how much you yell you may never be heard. I understand Disney has a reputation of being very accomidating to it's Guests but in this case it is a small enough group to not warrant their attention?

Not trying to dismiss the issue or downplay it, but just really curious as to the size and perception of the problem within Disney.

When it's a system wide outage, like they had in July, or yesterday, every single user is impacted.

ETA - Even on site CM at the resorts are impacted. They were "dead in the water" too