FP+ System is Buggy and has serious issues.

[rsimon]

This is the second trip that we have used the FP+ system and while the first time worked okay, we also had regular fast passes so I was not too worried about glitches in the system.

This trip has been a real pain. You can make the reservations okay initially, but if you are like me and you use a combination of their Web site and the mobile app, you are asking from trouble if you want to make changes to anything.

We had fast passes initially for Epcot today but we wanted to change the attraction from Soarin to Test Track. Okay, did that through the mobile app and it gave us a time of 1:30PM which was fine. However, it dropped a person from the reservation even though everyone was selected. So, we tried adding that person, couldn't do it. Copied the person, and that worked giving them the same time but as a separate entry in the itinerary which was okay. However, it now removed 2 of us from the other FP+ reservations that weren't even modified.

Finally after everything was a mess, we could see there were still lots of times from 12:30-4:00PM listed for test track if we went to change the time on what we had. So we cancelled all the reservations and started with a new selection to get all 4 of us back on there. This time, it gave us the same times for all the attractions except Test Track, which it gave us 4:00-5:00PM!! Keep in mind, all of this was going on at 4:00am here in Orlando (early riser) so I know those times were not snatched up. No matter what, we can't get it to show times earlier than 4:00 now.

Here's the best one, the web site shows one set of reservations and the mobile apps show another set of reservations and they are all intermingled and not synced up The IT group here in Disney has to be one of the Healthcare.gov contractors. This is just stupid, you don't know what to trust and it is useless to make changes if the information is not accurate.

Just BEWARE before making changes to something you have because you can have the whole day screwed up before you know it without doing anything wrong on your part.

Really not a fan of FP+ if this is the quality we can expect. I have never spent so much time trying to get something done that should be so simple.

 

[3happydancers]

This is the second trip that we have used the FP+ system and while the first time worked okay, we also had regular fast passes so I was not too worried about glitches in the system.

This trip has been a real pain. You can make the reservations okay initially, but if you are like me and you use a combination of their Web site and the mobile app, you are asking from trouble if you want to make changes to anything.

We had fast passes initially for Epcot today but we wanted to change the attraction from Soarin to Test Track. Okay, did that through the mobile app and it gave us a time of 1:30PM which was fine. However, it dropped a person from the reservation even though everyone was selected. So, we tried adding that person, couldn't do it. Copied the person, and that worked giving them the same time but as a separate entry in the itinerary which was okay. However, it now removed 2 of us from the other FP+ reservations that weren't even modified.

Finally after everything was a mess, we could see there were still lots of times from 12:30-4:00PM listed for test track if we went to change the time on what we had. So we cancelled all the reservations and started with a new selection to get all 4 of us back on there. This time, it gave us the same times for all the attractions except Test Track, which it gave us 4:00-5:00PM!! Keep in mind, all of this was going on at 4:00am here in Orlando (early riser) so I know those times were not snatched up. No matter what, we can't get it to show times earlier than 4:00 now.

Here's the best one, the web site shows one set of reservations and the mobile apps show another set of reservations and they are all intermingled and not synced up The IT group here in Disney has to be one of the Healthcare.gov contractors. This is just stupid, you don't know what to trust and it is useless to make changes if the information is not accurate.

Just BEWARE before making changes to something you have because you can have the whole day screwed up before you know it without doing anything wrong on your part.

Really not a fan of FP+ if this is the quality we can expect. I have never spent so much time trying to get something done that should be so simple.

So sorry you are going through this! Agreed that this should be a simple task. May I suggest when you can, to write guest communications to let them know of your real time experiences!

 

[mom2rtk]

The system really is not ready for prime time.

So sorry you're having to spend valuable vacation time messing with that.

 

[sonofanarchy]

You have no right to complain. It's still in testing. Your money isn't as good as is those who will be visiting when the system is no longer in testing.

 

[5Hfan]

I'm sorry, how utterly frustrating on what is supposed to be a *magical* vacation! Hope things progress more smoothly from here for you!

Resisting the urge to say anything snarky lest I be labeled someone who just doesn't like change either.

 

[crostorfer]

Thank you so much for being willing to spend thousands of dollars on your frustrating vacation experience so that future generations may have a great vacation, benefiting from your misery during this "test". The visiting families of 2016 owe you a debt of gratitude, as their vacations are more important than yours now.

 

[flutterby3744]

Did you contact someone about the issue? It's possible they have been experiencing this issue, and have a fix.

But holy frustration at 4 am. Early riser or not, that's NOT the time to have tech issues. Eek! Sorry about that!!

 

[JanaDee]

I am sorry you are having to waste vacation time and be frustrated with a system that is supposed to work.

Every time I hear accounts like this, it makes me a little more irritated that people are having to deal with this BS on their very expensive vacations.

 

[2Tiggies]

Just BEWARE before making changes to something you have because you can have the whole day screwed up before you know it without doing anything wrong on your part.

Really not a fan of FP+ if this is the quality we can expect. I have never spent so much time trying to get something done that should be so simple.

Yes, it's just not on. This system was supposedly to enhance the guest experience by reducing the times spent in line and being easy to use and allowing you to tailor your day to suit (suggesting flexibility in there somewhere). Honestly I'm starting to think that the good old trusted and proven getting in at rope drop and zig zagging back and forth across the parks to do standy and FP combinations actually burned less energy.

Every time I hear accounts like this, it makes me a little more irritated that people are having to deal with this BS on their very expensive vacations.

Agreed.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thank you so much for being willing to spend thousands of dollars on your frustrating vacation experience so that future generations may have a great vacation, benefiting from your misery during this "test". The visiting families of 2016 owe you a debt of gratitude, as their vacations are more important than yours now.

2016?

Loving the optimism!

 

[Jennasis]

Instead of spending your time waiting in line, you can look forward to spending time in front of our computer...angry and frustrated.

My first real experience with MDE a few days ago, just trying to link my DVC resort reservation to my account was maddening.

 

[FlipHipster]

We experienced the same type of issues in Nov. and all of summer leading up to our trip. The fact that they haven't been addressed is disheartening. I could go on and on with my suspicions of why this is but not sure it is necessary. I am a veteran of many, many rollouts of some pretty complicated systems. Everything I saw in Nov. pointed to a very poorly run project. Disney will eventually have to bite the bullet and make the changes necessary to get the project back on track, but it will happen. It may be painful but it will happen.

Despite all the marketing hype, nothing they are doing is revolutionary. Maybe for the theme park industry and maybe for Disney, but its a web based reservation system. 1000's of these on the web being run with considerably less resources than Disney has available. MB are cool but its just KTTW card on your wrist. Tracking? we were doing that in the late '90's early 2000's. Analytics? Decades ago it was called Reporting, then it was "data mining", now it is Business Intelligence or Analytics. Same game different sales people, different spin.

Still a Disney fan and that's part of the reason I was so disappointed in Nov. What they rolled out in the fall was clearly not ready for user acceptance. I know their windows for implementation are tight and seasonal and don't move but they know this better than anyone and should have been prepared.

 

[sonofanarchy]

Instead of spending your time waiting in line, you can look forward to spending time in front of our computer...angry and frustrated.

My first real experience with MDE a few days ago, just trying to link my DVC resort reservation to my account was maddening.

I've been trying to get it done for 3 days now. I just gave up last night. I was on the phone with one of the IT wizards at Disney, and they promised me the last person on my reservation would be linked up within the hour. Nothing. I really don't care anymore. I can't wait for the Universal part of our vacation, but have just accepted that the $2,000 we spent on Disney tickets is money down the drain, and we will make the best of it at the pool, playing golf, horseback riding, and possibly renting a car to venture off property. If I could get back the money I spent on renting DVC points, I'd do it in a second.

 

[3Gsandme]

OP, what did it look like when you went in to edit your FP+? Was everyone there then? I noticed something similar and panicked, but when I went in to edit, everything was correct. It didn't show on the home screen of the app (for instance, dh and oldest dd had FP+ for something and I had FP+ with the little girls for something else. If I amended a FP+, it didn't show DH's selection and when I freaked out and went to edit, it was there all along).

 

[FlipHipster]

Finally after everything was a mess, we could see there were still lots of times from 12:30-4:00PM listed for test track if we went to change the time on what we had. So we cancelled all the reservations and started with a new selection to get all 4 of us back on there. This time, it gave us the same times for all the attractions except Test Track, which it gave us 4:00-5:00PM!! Keep in mind, all of this was going on at 4:00am here in Orlando (early riser) so I know those times were not snatched up. No matter what, we can't get it to show times earlier than 4:00 now.

Sounds a lot like the dining reservation system actually. I spent a lot of time last summer setting up ADR's and moving them around. For example I noticed that selecting "Breakfast" as a time slot gave you different available times than selecting "8:00AM". So by alternating between the 2 options I could usually get the times I wanted even if they didn't show up before.

 

[redrosesix]

The system really is not ready for prime time.

So sorry you're having to spend valuable vacation time messing with that.

Agreed! We had the same kinds of issues 2 weeks ago. For the last week of our trip I could only select myself in the app when setting or changing FPs, etc, etc, etc -- like the OP said, there are a lot of issues. So rather than mucking it up even more, I went to the Concierge desk and they were able to fix things properly. Most people at the desk were there to fix issues, although some were there to set up FPs, but it's a great place to go because they don't have to deal with the app or wifi issues.

 

[ktlm]

We had the same type thing happen in October. We barely could get MDE to work at all when we were in the parks, but at least we could access it and get it to "work" while we were at the resort. We were at BC, and the evening before we left we decided to change our departure day from MK to EPCOT. This was before Soarin and Test Track were tiered. The only times it would give me when it set the 3 for the next day were in the evening, which did me no good as we were getting on Magical express around 3:00. So after much repeat and messing with it (FYI- we discovered that each time you pulled things up it would give you different FP+ times), I finally just booked it at the bad times and then went in to try to change them individually. Again, after much exiting out and repeating because it would give me different times each time I tried I was able to get the Soarin FP+s moved where I wanted them and then after more exiting out and repeating for the next FP+ I was trying to individually move, Test Track, it finally showed the time I was trying to get for Test Track. I had all 3 of us selected- but then it only changed 2 of us and dropped DH entirely. So only 2 of us had FP+ for Test Track and DH was totally left out. So, I had to go back in and attempt to set DH's individually, which involved several attempts, and then finally it gave me a time that was 10 minutes later than ours started, but at least it overlapped. All in all, I wasted an hour at the pool messing with MDE and trying to get our FP+ changed instead of playing with DD in the pool, which did not make me very happy.

I hate to hear that 5 months later this glitch still has not been fixed.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

We had the same type thing happen in October. We barely could get MDE to work at all when we were in the parks, but at least we could access it and get it to "work" while we were at the resort. We were at BC, and the evening before we left we decided to change our departure day from MK to EPCOT. This was before Soarin and Test Track were tiered. The only times it would give me when it set the 3 for the next day were in the evening, which did me no good as we were getting on Magical express around 3:00. So after much repeat and messing with it (FYI- we discovered that each time you pulled things up it would give you different FP+ times), I finally just booked it at the bad times and then went in to try to change them individually. Again, after much exiting out and repeating because it would give me different times each time I tried I was able to get the Soarin FP+s moved where I wanted them and then after more exiting out and repeating for the next FP+ I was trying to individually move, Test Track, it finally showed the time I was trying to get for Test Track. I had all 3 of us selected- but then it only changed 2 of us and dropped DH entirely. So only 2 of us had FP+ for Test Track and DH was totally left out. So, I had to go back in and attempt to set DH's individually, which involved several attempts, and then finally it gave me a time that was 10 minutes later than ours started, but at least it overlapped. All in all, I wasted an hour at the pool messing with MDE and trying to get our FP+ changed instead of playing with DD in the pool, which did not make me very happy.

I hate to hear that 5 months later this glitch still has not been fixed.

We also had similar issues in October, and I am equally disappointed that these issues still exist all these months later. I'm not sure about you, but we received one of the post-trip FP+ surveys and detailed our technical issues in that. It shouldn't take all this time to resolve bugs in the system, and IMO, they shouldn't keep expanding the "test" until problems found early in the test are resolved. What's the point in testing if they're not going to resolve issues before moving on to the next phase?

 

[DVCFan1994]

OP, what did it look like when you went in to edit your FP+? Was everyone there then? I noticed something similar and panicked, but when I went in to edit, everything was correct. It didn't show on the home screen of the app (for instance, dh and oldest dd had FP+ for something and I had FP+ with the little girls for something else. If I amended a FP+, it didn't show DH's selection and when I freaked out and went to edit, it was there all along).

I agree with this, before anyone panics, go to another section of the app and then go back in and try to edit. I had a couple times last week were I went to double check a time for a FP and someone from our group of 8 had disappeared. But, when I left the reservations page and then went back in to edit everyone was there properly. I had this happen at least 3 times, I think it was always the same person who disappeared, though I'm not positive about that.

Aside from those glitches, our MBs worked first time, every time for FP entry (as well as room and park entry). There are still glitches to work out, but some problems seem to be self correcting to me. I had a heck of a time linking all our passes and MDE accounts (3 families in total). Took an entire day and multiple calls to Disney, but once that one messy day was over (back in January for a late February trip) MDE has worked fine for me. I've just finished making all my April FP+ choices. Time will tell how it goes next trip. But I am hopeful based on my first experience.

The two negatives I noticed about FP+:
1) The lines for offsite guests. Holy cow, the ones I saw were silly. I'm on the fence (as a selfish onsite guest I guess) about whether offsiters should get the same 60 day window as onsiters, but I see no reason why they should not get a pre-arrival window of some sort (30 days?), and at the very least, ability to use MDE in the park to make reservations and changes. The app knows you are there.

2) Lines getting through FP+ entry. The mickey heads can be finicky. Lines formed to get by, some are too close to the SB line entrance and there was confusion who belonged where. On the plus side, it seemed like once you get through the first checkpoint it was very quick to the next (meaning no waiting at all in the FP+ line as I have experienced in FP- the past) and the same back up did not seem to happen at the second checkpoints.

 

[MickeyChix]

Here's a thought ---I wonder if after you've made changes on your app via your smartphone or whatever device you are using, that you then have to power off the phone completely and then power it back on forcing a sync to happen. I have an itouch where some of my apps are fussy-so then I have to power the touch off then turn it back on and that usually works. The other thought I have is that apps often appear much different on a small device vs a larger one. So, I wonder too if all the information is there but you can't see it all.

Either way very frustrating. Sounds like the software that Disney is using for the websites is having many issues interacting with the App version.

Hopefully, Disney is working out these software glitches.