Please tell me ToT is down...

[magicbob]

Per MDE, TOT is up and running with a 20 minute wait.

I just tried to make FP+ reservations for today, and was offered TOT in all 4 options, including one with a return time of 12:55, just about an hour from now.

I see your update: I guess one of the messages here is that if there's something you really want you shouldn't give up after one try.
BTW, when I tried to change that 12:55 time I was given a full array of possible return times through 7 PM, when the park closes.

I totally agree that persistence pays off (true for pretty much everything in life).

But (warning... Avast! There be FP+ negativity ahead) should it really be this complicated and difficult to accomplish a relatively simple task that is being touted as one of the pillars of the new systems greatness???? There seem to an awful lot of reports of FP+ slots that ARE available but the only way to get them is to know the "secret handshake" of how to "trick" the system into showing them as available.

P.S. This strategy also contradicts a poster on another thread who offered the advice to just give up!

 

[DisMN]

I totally agree that persistence pays off (true for pretty much everything in life).

But (warning... Avast! There be FP+ negativity ahead) should it really be this complicated and difficult to accomplish a relatively simple task that is being touted as one of the pillars of the new systems greatness???? There seem to an awful lot of reports of FP+ slots that ARE available but the only way to get them is to know the "secret handshake" of how to "trick" the system into showing them as available.

P.S. This strategy also contradicts a poster on another thread who offered the advice to just give up!

Lol lol That be me who done give up! And it's still working ok for the most part.

To the original poster TOT has been down every time we have been by it over the past 3 days. Random times of the day but not like SHUT down, just down with CMs standing watch at the entrance. I think it's up and down all day long right now so that's probably what you're seeing on the FP+ network.

Best of luck to you! We're off to ride our TSM "Feature" ride of the day. Lol Our other two "pre-selected just for US!" fastpasses were the typical throwaway passes which of course are always walk ons anyway so....eh....
Meh. Lol

 

[skilesare]

One thing: It didn't get wasted, though. It just allowed the standby line to increase it's contribution to capacity by one. That's the thing nobody talks about: It's a zero sum game. The ride has a certain capacity, period. The only thing FP, FP+, and any other whizbang ride que system does is changes who gets that seat....and FP/FP+ are "foolproof" in that, since there will always be a standby line, there will always be folks to use the "unused" line que reservations. The rest of what you say has some merit....because now, instead of waiting in the standby line hoping to grab that slot from the WS abandoner...there is some mechanism that someone else could snag it (possibly on very short notice). But doing so is going to be at the expense of increasing the throughput of standby. Now, it might ALSO mean there is one less person IN the standby line, too. That remains to be seen... There are pluses (excuse the pun) and minuses to the new system..that's for sure. How it all balances out....we need more history to get any where near an accurate picture.

It isn't a 0 sum game though. If there are 15,000 capacity then 15,000 can ride with no wait if they are scheduled correctly. That is what fp+ is doing better than fp-.

If they did 95% fp+ and let offsite book early, a 10,000 capacity ride would swell in waiting but in reality only 500 people would wait in line. The other 9500 would ride with no wait.

 

[skilesare]

Do you believe that, when a ride is listed as "standby available" or "temporarily unavailable", all of the FP+ have actually been booked? The only reason the rides suddenly become available again is that someone changed their FP+? ToT and Mission Space at noon in late Jan? So if we want to make any changes in this amazing flexible system, we have to keep checking over and over, hoping for what we want to appear?

Yes. I think that is happening. I also think they may increase capacity in real time as they see real world capacity. They are transferring waiting in line really to waiting in live virtually. Virtually is better when there are better things to do with your time.

 

[skilesare]

For all of the concern about first timers...how are first timers going to know that they need to continue to check the app for availability after the app says there is none?

Here is the thing about data. They don't just record the reservation. They also record the request. As this 'test ' moves forward you are going to start seeing the system ping users with 'pixie dust' FP that have a remarkable correlation with things they have expressed interest in in the past.

 

[mom2rtk]

Here is the thing about data. They don't just record the reservation. They also record the request. As this 'test ' moves forward you are going to start seeing the system ping users with 'pixie dust' FP that have a remarkable correlation with things they have expressed interest in in the past.

I'm not interested in being pinged. I'm far more interested in having a system I can rely on. If there's capacity and I have a spot, I want to book it. The game playing is only going to tick me off.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Here is the thing about data. They don't just record the reservation. They also record the request. As this 'test ' moves forward you are going to start seeing the system ping users with 'pixie dust' FP that have a remarkable correlation with things they have expressed interest in in the past.

No offense, but I will believe it when I see it. What you are talking about requires a lot more functionality than the app/IT infrastructure is capable of dealing with right now, and Disney's IT history is just not that great.

 

[skilesare]

I'm not interested in being pinged. I'm far more interested in having a system I can rely on. If there's capacity and I have a spot, I want to book it. The game playing is only going to tick me off.

Well, until they have counted the gate and a large percentage of guests have made their selections elsewhere, the capacity doesn't exist. It is like complaining that a baker has thrown in a 13th donut when you asked for a dozen.

 

[skilesare]

No offense, but I will believe it when I see it. What you are talking about requires a lot more functionality than the app/IT infrastructure is capable of dealing with right now, and Disney's IT history is just not that great.

Where does this meme come from? I can view wait times from Texas an make dinning reservations driving down the freeway.(not that you should)

Do you really think things like that aren't in their plan if they spent a billion dollar?

 

[Angel Ariel]

Where does this meme come from? I can view wait times from Texas an make dinning reservations driving down the freeway.(not that you should)

Do you really think things like that aren't in their plan if they spent a billion dollar?

The MDE site has been up for quite some time...at least a year, as I used it when planning for our March 2013 trip. The site still has just as many unnecessary steps in navigating it, it's still just as slow to load (and no, it's not my computer, as all other sites load much more quickly), and many many people are still reporting glitches with reservations or people being "lost.". There hasn't been much improvement in any of this in a year, so why should anyone think there will be any more?

Same can be said for the app. With every update, the poor navigation, slow-loading, battery-eating properties of the app haven't been improved.

Wifi in the park has been terrible for years, and was no better during either of our 2013 trips - even after the supposed upgrades to it.

For a plan that is SO heavily reliant on the IT infrastructure, I think it's entirely reasonable to expect that much of these would be in place by this point in their 'testing' phase.

The fact that they spent a billion dollars on it doesn't mean they are incapable of making poor decisions along the way

 

[DisMN]

The MDE site has been up for quite some time...at least a year, as I used it when planning for our March 2013 trip. The site still has just as many unnecessary steps in navigating it, it's still just as slow to load (and no, it's not my computer, as all other sites load much more quickly), and many many people are still reporting glitches with reservations or people being "lost.". There hasn't been much improvement in any of this in a year, so why should anyone think there will be any more?

Same can be said for the app. With every update, the poor navigation, slow-loading, battery-eating properties of the app haven't been improved.

Wifi in the park has been terrible for years, and was no better during either of our 2013 trips - even after the supposed upgrades to it.

For a plan that is SO heavily reliant on the IT infrastructure, I think it's entirely reasonable to expect that much of these would be in place by this point in their 'testing' phase.

The fact that they spent a billion dollars on it doesn't mean they are incapable of making poor decisions along the way

I have to say you very accurately described nearly every issue we've encountered with this goofy app during this current vacation. We've been unable to even use their wifi it's soooo slow. How on earth are more people going to use the wifi here?

It's interesting that people are putting so much faith in Disneys IT department with this thing...personally I am thinking they put too many eggs in one basket here and the infrastructure will go boom in the very near future.
We regularly hear that the app and computer systems are down and sometimes for extended periods. This doesn't really instill confidence in the system at least not to me it doesn't.
Why isn't anyone recalling all the times Disneyshopping, disneyworld.com and DVC are completely unavailable due to "technical issues"? Oddly Disney has never been very advanced in the tech department with regards to their websites. You don't think that's scary to now entrust this My Disney Experience app to pretty much be in control of your vacation?

 

[pilferk]

It isn't a 0 sum game though. If there are 15,000 capacity then 15,000 can ride with no wait if they are scheduled correctly. That is what fp+ is doing better than fp-.

If they did 95% fp+ and let offsite book early, a 10,000 capacity ride would swell in waiting but in reality only 500 people would wait in line. The other 9500 would ride with no wait.

And I said exactly that. You MAY have less people waiting in the standby line. But every time you increase the "contribution" of fp+, you're taking away standby "contribution"

Because the capacity of the ride didn't change, which is why it's a zero sum game.

The only thing that changed was which line you're waiting in prior to riding.

In other words, standby line (x) + fp line (y) contributions can not be greater than total ride capacity/ throughput (z). Ever. The only thing you change is the actual values of x and y. And for every increase in y, you have to see a commensurate decrease in x.