Need some advice re: HDDR

[vicb]

Thanks. I will do this on our arrival day because we plan to spend a half day in Epcot then walk back to the Dolphin after Illuminations so I can zip into the BWI lobby and see if it works. HDDR is on our last night so I'll have a couple of days to see what happens.

 

[joelkfla]

Minnie Van is part of the Lyft app. If you open the Lyft app while on Disney property, you will only see the normal Lyft options. However, if you stay at a participating resort, then a new option appears in Lyft for Minnie Van. They originally said a code was required to get the Minnie Van option to appear in Lyft. While we were in the Kidani lobby, I opened the Lyft app. Minnie Van now appeared. I did not need to type in a code, or link a reservation number. It just appeared. This could have been a fluk, but I think it is the just the way it works.

Once I left Kidani, the Minnie Van option continued to be available, regardless of where I was on property.

So, a day or two in advance, walk over to BWI, and open the Lyft app. See if the Minnie Van option appears. If not, it can't hurt to ask someone. I would be interested to know if this works all the time, or maybe we were just a oddity.

Were you a Guest at AKL, or one of the other participating resorts? What's been said on this board is that the act of staying at a resort is what does it, not just being physically at a resort. Lyft somehow gets the signal from Disney. Sometimes it unlocks automatically, and sometimes you need to get the code. Once its been unlocked, you presumably have it for life anywhere on WDW property.

 

[thegales]

Were you a Guest at AKL, or one of the other participating resorts? What's been said on this board is that the act of staying at a resort is what does it, not just being physically at a resort. Lyft somehow gets the signal from Disney. Sometimes it unlocks automatically, and sometimes you need to get the code. Once its been unlocked, you presumably have it for life anywhere on WDW property.

Yes, I was a guest. But there was nothing to link my reservation to Lyft. I had never logged onto Lyft, so no e-mail. Potentially, Disney sends the mobile phone number of every guest to Lyft to see if there is a match. Experiencing how Disney IT works, I don't think they would be able to do that. And my daughter with a different phone number was also able to get Minnie Vans on her Lyft account (so no e-mail, nor phone connection).

Now, this could have been a fluke for us. I would really like to know if it still works this way.

 

[joelkfla]

Yes, I was a guest. But there was nothing to link my reservation to Lyft. I had never logged onto Lyft, so no e-mail. Potentially, Disney sends the mobile phone number of every guest to Lyft to see if there is a match. Experiencing how Disney IT works, I don't think they would be able to do that. And my daughter with a different phone number was also able to get Minnie Vans on her Lyft account (so no e-mail, nor phone connection).

Now, this could have been a fluke for us. I would really like to know if it still works this way.

Everything Disney knows about you is maintained in a monstrous database. If you have MDX installed on your smart phone, Disney probably has your cell phone number. All Disney IT needs to do is define a query for Lyft to send your cell phone number, and get a reply back with a 1 if you're staying at a participating resort, or a 0 if you're not.

Or they could, as you say, go old school and run a nightly job to send to Lyft a file containing the known cell numbers of all eligible Guests. Lyft would just need to do a quick lookup on the latest file whenever they detect a request within WDW property. It's not at all a big deal. Companies have been exchanging data files for dozens of years.

 

[goofy4tink]

I can't imagine all this angst over how to get to HDDR! Two hours to get there? Not my experience. Getting from resort to resort is always a chore, so you need to allot enough time. When I'm going to FtW, I always take the bus to MK, then the boat to FtW. Maybe an hour unless I just miss the bus and then just miss the boat. But, that's never happened.
I'm not sure what types of transport are allowed into FtW...many are not. Which means you have to get to the front of FtW, get dropped off and then take the internal bus to HDDR.

 

[Dayzy]

I don't know if it was a special circumstance or whatever, but when we did HDDR last April there were 2 MK buses waiting for all of us as we exited the show.