MDE App Update & Recent “Refresh” Changes Discussion (we’re not doomed!)

[huey578]

My daily trip plans no longer shows also only one of my resorts show. Doing split stay

 

[MinnieMSue]

As to over-distributing fast passes I just watched a Tim Tracker where he and Adam The Woo rode all mountains presumedly yesterday. The FP line for thunder mtn went almost to Country Bears. How is that possible unless there were a bunch of anytime passes d/t ride closures. I have seen a long FP line for that but nothing that completely left that area! I also am scratching my head because they somehow had passes for the 3 mtns in MK and Everest and returned to MK to FP 7D. That’s some serious good luck for the crowd level they had (unless Adam was staying club level and had the extra ones to book or possibly they don’t have to announce if someone gives them stuff that is normally free even if they got it for being who they are)

 

[StacyStrong]

Can someone link me to the refreshing info or a brief summary? Scrolled through a couple pages, but can't find what the title relates to quickly.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Can someone link me to the refreshing info or a brief summary? Scrolled through a couple pages, but can't find what the title relates to quickly.

We’re doomed...what more needs to be said

Seriously though, refreshing is just repeatedly refreshing the MDE app in hopes of finding a valuable FP. (This is typically done in the parks for a 4th FP and beyond). Disney has changed how it works behind the scenes (at this point we’re unsure if it’s a glitch or intentional) where it is potentially harder to do this effectively. Basically you’ll be presented options that won’t be available to you by the time you actually click thru. This repeated action can be very frustrating.

 

[StacyStrong]

We’re doomed...what more needs to be said

Seriously though, refreshing is just repeatedly refreshing the MDE app in hopes of finding a valuable FP. Disney has changed how it works (at this point we’re unsure if it’s a glitch or intentional) where it is potentially harder to do this effectively.

Haha I know what refreshing meant, I just meant an explanation of what the issue people are having is.

 

[StacyStrong]

Anywho I found the pages that describe it more in detail so nevermind.

Well this sucks for my trip starting Friday.

Also, my app hasn't updated or forced me to yet.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Haha I know what refreshing meant, I just meant an explanation of what the issue people are having is.

You refresh........are offered a FP for a ride at some specific time in the future today, and when you click on it, the next screen says that time for the ride is no longer available. (and it happens over and over again)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Anywho I found the pages that describe it more in detail so nevermind.

Well this sucks for my trip starting Friday.

Also, my app hasn't updated or forced me to yet.

Unfortunately it has nothing to do with the app version. This issue is based on the back end system so everybody is experiencing the issue no matter how they access MDE. I’d stay tuned in here in advance of your trip to see if anything changes further or improves.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Also, my app hasn't updated or forced me to yet.

It’s not specific to the app, it’s happening on the website too, just FYI.

 

[elle101me]

They need to change the phrase you see when you’re trying to modify, from “checking for FP+ availability” to “checking for what may be available, but you probably won’t get”

 

[fractalpotato]

You refresh........are offered a FP for a ride at some specific time in the future today, and when you click on it, the next screen says that time for the ride is no longer available. (and it happens over and over again)

I have a really hard time believing that's intentional behavior, that sounds like a horrible user experience. I'm usually pretty cynical, and I don't for one second believe Iger's cronies aren't out to get every last cent of mine, but this is a rotten way to do it. If they wanted to restrict supply artificially, they would just not show available times, limit the amount distributed for each time bucket, things like that. There is no benefit to making the flagship app experience frustrating, especially when it already has a bad reputation. Moreover, this sounds like a really typical kind of bug/regression from an optimization. My guess is the old approach did a database transaction that searched for slots meeting the criteria and in the same operation tagged them as "held", then when you selected/confirmed it, the others were released. Someone probably said "these are unnecessary and put too much load on the server, let's just make the search read only", or perhaps they restricted it to a read only version of the database (often faster for searching) and inadvertently changed the behavior. That sort of thing happens with a hilariously high frequency even in well run software departments.

This is a hilarious, but actually extremely accurate portrayal of software bugs / testing: https://twitter.com/brenankeller/status/1068615953989087232

Matt

 

[chiisai]

Sad. Just tried playing around with this for this evening. Although all MK mountains showed up with times as I tried for about 5 min, I could not actually snag any. I’ll be there in 2 weeks, ah, that lovely week before Easter. I was counting on this.

 

[Violetspider]

I have a really hard time believing that's intentional behavior, that sounds like a horrible user experience. I'm usually pretty cynical, and I don't for one second believe Iger's cronies aren't out to get every last cent of mine, but this is a rotten way to do it. If they wanted to restrict supply artificially, they would just not show available times, limit the amount distributed for each time bucket, things like that. There is no benefit to making the flagship app experience frustrating, especially when it already has a bad reputation. Moreover, this sounds like a really typical kind of bug/regression from an optimization. My guess is the old approach did a database transaction that searched for slots meeting the criteria and in the same operation tagged them as "held", then when you selected/confirmed it, the others were released. Someone probably said "these are unnecessary and put too much load on the server, let's just make the search read only", or perhaps they restricted it to a read only version of the database (often faster for searching) and inadvertently changed the behavior. That sort of thing happens with a hilariously high frequency even in well run software departments.

This is a hilarious, but actually extremely accurate portrayal of software bugs / testing: https://twitter.com/brenankeller/status/1068615953989087232

Matt

Agree 100%! I just can't imagine any scenario where Disney would intentionally and continually disappoint every single guest using the app. Talk about the worst business decision ever. I foresee some fixes coming.

 

[cmwade77]

As to over-distributing fast passes I just watched a Tim Tracker where he and Adam The Woo rode all mountains presumedly yesterday. The FP line for thunder mtn went almost to Country Bears. How is that possible unless there were a bunch of anytime passes d/t ride closures. I have seen a long FP line for that but nothing that completely left that area! I also am scratching my head because they somehow had passes for the 3 mtns in MK and Everest and returned to MK to FP 7D. That’s some serious good luck for the crowd level they had (unless Adam was staying club level and had the extra ones to book or possibly they don’t have to announce if someone gives them stuff that is normally free even if they got it for being who they are)

It is spring break, but I agree, it didn't make sense to me, especially for all three to have than long of a return line. I get after ride reopens after being down for a while it may have that long of a return line, but all three? That seems excessive.

 

[DavidNYC]

Agree 100%! I just can't imagine any scenario where Disney would intentionally and continually disappoint every single guest using the app. Talk about the worst business decision ever. I foresee some fixes coming.

This is the key point. Most changes that we’ve all complained about were “well - this sucks but I understand why they’re doing it because it benefits so and so”, or it closes an exploit, etc, or it makes the overall experience more fair for everyone etc. This benefits no one. It harms you whether you refresh or not. The only possible justification, would be to completely destroy the 4th+ fast pass market. I don’t buy the argument that they’re intentionally causing pain, in order to create a justification for paid fast pass. That just doesn’t make sense.

 

[RachaelA]

I emailed wdw communications and George K’s office about how terrible this ‘update’ is. I figure might as well get the complaint in wherever I can. It’s not going to matter but it made me feel better lol

 

[cmwade77]

I emailed wdw communications and George K’s office about how terrible this ‘update’ is. I figure might as well get the complaint in wherever I can. It’s not going to matter but it made me feel better lol

Actually, the best way I have ever found to voice a complaint is the send George K a message on LinkedIn, he often personally replies to those messages and having met him in person when he was president at Disneyland, I can say he truly does care about what guests think about things.

 

[orangecuse]

Just an FYI- if you WANT the new version of the app and can’t get an update:

I uninstalled and left uninstalled for several hours and redownloaded. The redownloaded version was magically the updated version. I basically had to do this because the old version of the app locked up on my phone so I couldn’t click on any plans without getting errors. (Can’t say for sure if its related to the update causing issues with the old version of the app, but since it was now useless it needed to get deleted). New app doesn’t seem to be having that problem and I can click through my plans.

On that note- yeaaaa its basically like a giant ad now. Much less convenient to access what you’d actually want.

 

[cakebaker]

What seems slightly odd is that this only seems to happen (at least in my tries) with SDMT, FOP and SDD. At some point today, I’ve gotten all of these, some multiple times, but not able to confirm any. I realize these are the 3 toughest tickets, but still, even with rides where only 1 time has been available ( Navi, Aliens, Everest etc), I can always get the confirmation page. I’m not talking about rides that show multiple available times. And I have yet to get the screen that offers me an alternative time to what I chose. It’s either available or it isn’t.

What this tells me, if anything, I have no clue.

 

[Randomsoulshine]

How do I tell if I have the new updated app? I have the + sign at the bottom but don’t see bus wait times or Minnie van anything.