MDE/FP+ fiasco

[MelissathePooh]

I am trying to keep an open mind abou this whole thing, but it is getting harder and harder. We were at WDW over MLK Weekend and hated the new FP+ system - crazy long lines, app woudn't work on our phones. That is a holiday weekend though (even though we go then every year) so we were willing to cut some slack.

Fast forward to now and I'm ready to sell my DVC points just about. We have AP's and DVC reservations for 2 weeks starting May 26. Another family and my aunt are joining us the second week. My husband painstakingly went through and worked out (micromanaged) our trip and all was well until the MDE system said we had reached our FP limit and couldn't add anything after June 1st. So dh called DVC last Thursday and they did something to fix it.

In the fix, however, Disney managed to removed my family from EVERY fp+ (including Frozen) we had made. My aunt and our friends were all set, but we were dropped completely on every day except June 1st. Even our fp+ reservations prior to June 1st are gone.

DH is on hold with DVC right now and they are trying to see what happened, but basically came back to say that we are out of luck on Frozen and they can try to copy as much as possible on the others. We have a printed PDF file showing everything we had prior to (from the "print your itinerary" function on the website and they don't care. They said even their supervisors are "locked out" of Anna and Else.

We did everything we were supposed to do - as complicated and micromanaging as it is - which took hours to figure out and plan for a large party. We were trying to get beyond that and go with they flow - do what we are supposed to do and this. If a 2 week trip with adding a second family on the second week is too complicated - Disney needs to figure out something better. Down to the fact that by my husband checking things via the app on his phone and the system automatically changed his log on to the email address that is linked to his phone and not his permanent email that he uses for our regular accout.

Everything we spent all those hours pre-planning is gone and after about an hour on the phone with DVC they said they will have to just "call us back"... On one hand I'm glad that at least our friends fp+ reservations are still there, but this is completely unacceptable. It stunk back in January and I have zero faith in it now. I know everyone is trying to love it and hates these disapprovals of the new system, but after 40 years of going to WDW I've just about had it. I'm not even excited about this next trip because I've been so worried that the system would screw up what we spent so long to do when we got down there. I didn't even have to wait until we go down there for Disney to screw it up.

 

[DiscoMinnieMouse]

What a disaster! Hope u get some pixie dust when u get there!

 

[photo_chick]

It sounds like their fix was to remove your existing fast passes. I have read that AP holders can only make 7 at a time... was this the case with you?

 

[MelissathePooh]

No - we had the full 2 weeks initially. He went to adjust someting and the system told him we had reached out limit. Initially we had everything done and I've got the pdf listing it. It could be they switched to the 7 day limit and we just got caught in the middle, but some of our days prior to are missing too.

 

[cgattis]

I think this "feature" of the system is what bothers me most. They continue to tout the "locking in" of these attractions, and yet you're really not--if the system "blips" (that's the error message I got...grr), then it can just be GONE! And once you plan your ADRs (many now guaranteed by credit card--we guarantee to pay, they guarantee NOTHING WRT ride reservations) around those rides, your itinerary is somewhat locked in. They want that to sound like a good thing, but when the system "blips" and now the only FP+ you can get is for Carousel of Progress and the line for the TTA starts over by Buzz, it doesn't FEEL like a good thing!! There is absolutely no excuse IMO for not having a way to go into the system and replace someone's FP that were lost. Keep x amount per day back somewhere for recovery issues. Or write them a "no strings attached" on the spot. Period.

 

[MelissathePooh]

I'm just really sore about the whole thing right now. DVC called back and said they are working on trying to recover what happened. They said they are going to have to have someone call us back at the end of the day today. I would think they should be able recover whatever they need to to since all calls are recorded and surely there are notes in their system from when my husband called. I mean its called Disaster Recovery in the rest of the world and pretty much every other legitimate business has a plan in place for it that doesn't say "Sorry our managers are just locked out"??? The bad part is all they seemed concerned about is Anna & Elsa...honestly that is a pain because of how hard they are to get, but the issue is WAY bigger that just trying to see those characters. Fix your dang system!

 

[morethananyonex]

I'm sorry you have to deal with this garbage trying to plan your vacation.

It's completely unacceptable that this is still happening. Even one person dealing with this is too much. Nobody should be trying to untangle the mess made by IT for a Disney vacation, it's nuts. It doesn't matter what someone's opinion is about FP+, this stuff isn't okay and is a huge issue with the switch from FP- to FP+ and MDE.

 

[Eastern]

There is absolutely no excuse IMO for not having a way to go into the system and replace someone's FP that were lost. Keep x amount per day back somewhere for recovery issues. Or write them a "no strings attached" on the spot. Period.

I totally agree.

 

[MelissathePooh]

On one hand I think our family is the ultimate test group. When we went in Jan we were some of the first AP holders to get bands and we stayed at a regular disney resort and not DVC. They told us to use the bands for our tickets instead of our tickets and so we left our tickets behind. Tried to get an AP discount for some merchandise and completely wigged out the little retiree at the store. They tried to "fix" it and we couldn't charge anything from that point on...

Now we are back to AP tickets and DVC reservations, but 2 different resorts over 2 weeks and adding guests the second week. It really isn't that complicated or unusual of a trip for many families (particularly DVC), but it has thrown Disney for a loop.

I get we don't do Disney like most people and haven't for many years now so the changes impact us differently than other families. That is the issue - those of us who don't like the new system don't want it to fail and we are glad when it works for other people. When it works it may be great, but once you get bitten by it - it can ruin your very expensive vacation. I don't think there is much middle ground. It has changed how we have to plan our trips and for us it is not an improvement. Add in the computer system glitches and it is a fiasco.

 

[preemiemama]

Sorry you are dealing with this. It sounds incredibly frustrating!

Have you tried copying your friend’s FP+ reservations to you and your husband on your own? I know at this point you don’t want to make things worse, but wondered if it would work?

Hopefully the person who calls you back will be able to fix it and give you some extra pixie dust as well.

 

[DebbieB]

It sounds like their fix was to remove your existing fast passes. I have read that AP holders can only make 7 at a time... was this the case with you?

It's 7 days for AP holders unless you have an onsite reservation for longer. I have 8 days worth for later this month.

 

[larryz]

And once you plan your ADRs (many now guaranteed by credit card--we guarantee to pay, they guarantee NOTHING WRT ride reservations) around those rides, your itinerary is somewhat locked in.

As many have pointed out on other threads, once you pay your admission, the only guarantee is that you'll get into a park... not necessarily the park you planned on visiting.

 

[MelissathePooh]

It's 7 days for AP holders unless you have an onsite reservation for longer. I have 8 days worth for later this month.

We are there May26 - June 6 onsite. We had everything for the whole time and DVC screwed it all up.

 

[saskdw]

Love the new system. Worked 100% perfect for us.

 

[Missyrose]

Love the new system. Worked 100% perfect for us.

Good for you, I guess? Doesn't really help the OP's frustrations right now. I'm sure the system has worked wonderfully for thousands of people, but for the few hundred that have dealt with serious issues, it's made a wreck of their vacations.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I'm sorry. Yes, it often feels like once something breaks at Disney with this system, there is often no way to fix it. So it's great when everything works peachy, but good luck if it doesn't.

 

[Luckybee]

I'm sorry. Yes, it often feels like once something breaks at Disney with this system, there is often no way to fix it. So it's great when everything works peachy, but good luck if it doesn't.

Absolutely agree with this. It just took me 10 phone calls this week between Dis and the Dolphin to sort problems with linking our reservation. Every time one thing got fixed it created another problem. We were lucky, we're not going until Sept. so we had plenty of time to fix it. I wouldn't have wanted to be within our 60 day window and have had this happen.

To the OP...be persistent...I kept having problems with tech support until I found a lovely CM who seemed to know what she was doing. She took the problems on, promised to correct them. Said I shouldn't have to be going back and forth between D and the Dolphin, and said she'd email me the next day. She did everything she said she would and that none of the other people were seemingly able to do. I cant help but think there are training issues happening since no one else was able to fix it until she stepped in.

 

[buckeev]

OP..sorry y'all are having to deal with this, hopefully y'all will get acceptable resolution.
I also served as a test "guinea pig" during our Christmas/New Years trip...doing so with fair-to-mixed-to-disastrous results. My AP admittance ability failed on days 3-6, they finally made me another Magic Band with that info on it. Lots of others issues to with FPs disappearing and such.
Screen shots salvaged an problem with our BOG disappearing, but it was rare when they would fix the FP+ that vanished...even with the screenshots.
Wi Fi issues supposedly have been improved since we left. Hope so.
When the band works, it's pretty cool. But many folks agree, it wasn't ready to roll out when they did, and many CMs are completely overwhelmed/undertrained, and a few that we dealt with we're totally incompetent.
We love Orlando..WDW & US, and we will be back.
We're trying to plan our next trip, but I sure am hoping they get a grip on these problems.

 

[Sammie]

For whatever reason, it does not seem to like changes. And of course they are being reactive to the fact that some people will say something happened when it didn't.

Wishing you good luck with sorting it out.

For others, always take names, and dates and exact times you speak to someone when you contact them for help with the system. Especially if you need to change something.

 

[Luckybee]

Obviously the system doesn't like changes, but in our case it wasn't a change that started the spiral but rather the manner in which we booked our hotel.
We had booked using airline miles, which made it a starwood preferred guest ressie on points. Our res number was valid, MDE accepted it but we could only get 1 guest to show. Then the changes came in. Everytime someone tried to add a 2nd guest, or tried to add dh's name it got more bizarre. At one point we had "multiple reservations" all with the same res. number but showing a total of 6 guests with no names but mine(there are only 2 of us) and no one could correct it . Until the last cm stepped in it was " call the other guy" and " pass the buck" .
This is why I said what I said earlier. It seems that the training focused on "the usual" and ignored the potential pitfalls. Either that or the system just wasnt created in a manner that would meet the needs of Disney and their customers. (for their sake I hope it is the former and not the latter since the former is fixable...the latter not so much )