Rumors of Light (ROL discussion thread)

[TheFloatingBear]

Old habits die hard...although I swear I did NOT check for FPs or dining packages, just the thread...(and I won't call Maggie!)...

 

[beesly]

I apologize to anyone who may have taken my post as offensive...I substituted symbols for swearing...silly me, thinking that was somehow a joke or less offensive. But apparently the filters look for that, so ... my bad.

My post was in response to the announcement of the early morning hours on Tuesdays and Saturdays starting the last week of April...which is when we will be there. I was venting my frustration...not only did they finally pull all hopes of ROL from us today, by starting this new "elite" special offer, they pretty well negated my diligently following THEIR rules of booking my BOG early reservation at day 180 from our arrival, to gain a small advantage of perhaps riding a couple of attractions before the crowds descended.

I was warned, and while not restricted from posting, a have a black mark against my DIS account for breaking their rules. Put this together with the ROL postponement, and the EARLY MORNING MAGIC, and I would say it has definitely been a less than Disney Day!!!

I was quite surprised! Sorry about your black mark.

We also have a PPO BOG on one of the first EMM days. I wish I could wait for someone else to tell me how it plays out before I decide what to do with our ADR. I admit we booked with the hope of a 7DMT advantage (knowing full well that it isn't a guarantee). I'd be content with them allowing us to enter the standby queue after our ADR and waiting for the ride to officially open, but I have no idea if that's how it will actually work.

 

[lovethattink]

DIS posting guidelines can be found here http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

 

[beesly]

Early Morning Magic appears to be bookable now online.

 

[figmentfan423]

Early Morning Magic appears to be bookable now online.

I'm not sure how I feel about that.

 

[figmentfan423]

Seeing my morning ritual has changed i got in some yoga It's helping me cope.

 

[bluezy]

I'm sorry to hear that. Were affected a little by EMM but not as badly.

....

And on less happy, so not loving EMM during our last day. Anyone know if they currently hold people until exactly 9 on ENH days? On a normal day you get the 15 min RD head start which is nice. I'm assuming they won't do that on EMM days now. But I'm curious what they do on EMH days currently.

We won't know for sure how they handle rope drop on EMM days until the last week of April when the first ones occur. However, the informational page (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/early-morning-magic/) says this:

• Around 9:00 AM, the theme park will open to Guests with regular Magic Kingdom admission tickets and event-only attraction access will end.

Since it says "around 9:00 a.m." I'm thinking that means they will still do rope drop a few minutes before 9:00. In reality, they can still do rope drop early and just prohibit the non-EMM people from getting in line for the 3 rides until 9:00.

 

[marisas1011]

So irritated, out of our four days of vacation MK has emh at night, a DAH event, emh in the morning, and EMM on our last day which is also our PPO breakfast at CP. Beyond frustrating that they are doing this so close to people's vacation with little hope to switch things around.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

How do you think they'll close that loophole? They could have done that a long time ago by tying SDFP to valid park admission but they didn't. It would have been an "easy" fix. I don't know how making a 4th FP from your phone would change that? You probably can't make a FP for the phantoms from the phone but I expect you still can at the kiosk. I think the added feature is more to reduce the lines at the kiosks.

Like you said, the easy fix of requiring that the MBs be linked to a valid ticket. It doesn't have anything to do with making 4th FPs, but I'm an engineer at a company that does a lot of software and many times smaller bugs and fixes get put in a bucket waiting for a bigger release. They don't have to be related to what that release is about, they just get bundled in.

I've been trying to figure Disney's angle on why they haven't fixed this. They in fact made it easier. At first MBs had to be linked to tickets when they were bought, then they started to sell them as link-later which made the loophole possible for people who didn't have old bands on a different MDE account. Why? I really haven't come up with a good answer. Im leaning toward the idea that it's a test, essentially, to see how much they can monetize FPs for. How many MBs will people buy for extras? Like starting the rides early and letting people with ADRs get a ride or two in, get people used to the idea before you ask them to pay for it. But I don't know. It's just a theory. Like I said, I've been trying to figure out why Disney would let this continue for so long and even somewhat encourage it. It doesn't make sense to me.

 

[jlundeen]

I was quite surprised! Sorry about your black mark.

We also have a PPO BOG on one of the first EMM days. I wish I could wait for someone else to tell me how it plays out before I decide what to do with our ADR. I admit we booked with the hope of a 7DMT advantage (knowing full well that it isn't a guarantee). I'd be content with them allowing us to enter the standby queue after our ADR and waiting for the ride to officially open, but I have no idea if that's how it will actually work.

I agree...we did book BOG for that very slight edge over the rope drop people, but for the record, we also just put in our pre-order for breakfast, and for the four of us, each paying $24 for an entrée and beverage, and being on top of the planning enough to get the reservation in the first place 180 out, it's not like we're gaming the system. If they didn't want people to take advantage by ordering one tiny thing or take the $10 no-show hit, they perhaps should have done the early breakfast differently.

I realize that no matter WHEN they implement something new, it's going to affect SOMEONE'S vacation...but getting both the ROL news and this the same day is really hard. Going back a few steps in my stages of grief here! But, I also know that it's going to be a wonderful trip....and these things will be tiny compared to the great experiences we will have!

 

[elmoandzoey]

Like you said, the easy fix of requiring that the MBs be linked to a valid ticket. It doesn't have anything to do with making 4th FPs, but I'm an engineer at a company that does a lot of software and many times smaller bugs and fixes get put in a bucket waiting for a bigger release. They don't have to be related to what that release is about, they just get bundled in.

I've been trying to figure Disney's angle on why they haven't fixed this. They in fact made it easier. At first MBs had to be linked to tickets when they were bought, then they started to sell them as link-later which made the loophole possible for people who didn't have old bands on a different MDE account. Why? I really haven't come up with a good answer. Im leaning toward the idea that it's a test, essentially, to see how much they can monetize FPs for. How many MBs will people buy for extras? Like starting the rides early and letting people with ADRs get a ride or two in, get people used to the idea before you ask them to pay for it. But I don't know. It's just a theory. Like I said, I've been trying to figure out why Disney would let this continue for so long and even somewhat encourage it. It doesn't make sense to me.

I work in IT myself ;-) But you are right, from a company standpoint it makes no sense to push bug fixes one at a time. We usually push once a month or every other month, depending on the project. Magicbands have been around for quite a while now and I am sure that there were tech fixes on a continuous basis. It could have been pushed with one of those. Your reasoning sounds pretty logic though - I have never looked at it like that. Everyone with a phantom magicband suddenly becomes an unknowing guinea pig for Disney. While they probably cannot identify that person X has used Z different magic bands since they are all linked to different accounts, it gives them a grand total of how many magicbands without valid ticket entry have been used to make FP+.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

So irritated, out of our four days of vacation MK has emh at night, a DAH event, emh in the morning, and EMM on our last day which is also our PPO breakfast at CP. Beyond frustrating that they are doing this so close to people's vacation with little hope to switch things around.

That stinks! I agree - the worst part is the no lead time - no time to adjust unless you want to give up things you can't replace...having the same issues...

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Forgive me. What is SDFP?

Same Day Fast Pass. There's lots of info in the Everything FP sub forum.

I work in IT myself ;-) But you are right, from a company standpoint it makes no sense to push bug fixes one at a time. We usually push once a month or every other month, depending on the project. Magicbands have been around for quite a while now and I am sure that there were tech fixes on a continuous basis. It could have been pushed with one of those. Your reasoning sounds pretty logic though - I have never looked at it like that. Everyone with a phantom magicband suddenly becomes an unknowing guinea pig for Disney. While they probably cannot identify that person X has used Z different magic bands since they are all linked to different accounts, it gives them a grand total of how many magicbands without valid ticket entry have been used to make FP+.

Yeah, you're right that they could have rolled it in with a smaller update long ago. I could be totally off the mark and there may be no change this time either.

With all the money grabs lately, FP is the most obvious one they aren't taking advantage of. Everyone from Six Flags to Universal charges for front of the line passes. In that sense Disney is behind the times with FP. I would say it was because of wanting the great customer experience, everyone can enjoy it, etc but I'm not sure that holds. I also just think that FP capacity may be an issue with people being able to do it via phone. I have to think a lot more people will do 4th FPs that way than wait at kiosks for them. So having people walking around with 2x and more FPs might start hurting the (other) guest experience more than it did in the past.

All of course nothing more than speculation and mental gymnastics on my part.

 

[Bvcfourus]

Okay, so I just called dining again. I know, I know, let it go. No, seriously I called for another reservation. Do any of you know if Big River Grille is a Disney owned restaurant? the CM I talked with said she couldn't make a reservation there but she didn't know why. She just said that they never had made pressies for that restaurant. Also, saw another update last night. For those of you going the week of April 15th...the MK train will not be in operation. I was a little bummed about that!

 

[walker0829]

Does someone have the link to the shirts on hand? Tried scrolling a few pages but can't remember which ones it's on.

 

[jrmasm]

Early Morning Magic appears to be bookable now online.

Thanks for posting.


My MK day is NOT (at this time) affected by this!

 

[KMWoolley]

OK, I think it's out of my system. At least 6 rejected Comments yesterday to the Blog, then one got through that was actually quite negative - it has since been deleted. My last attempt did get through and is for this group more than anything.
Use the first letter of each sentence to get my message.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Okay, so I just called dining again. I know, I know, let it go. No, seriously I called for another reservation. Do any of you know if Big River Grille is a Disney owned restaurant? the CM I talked with said she couldn't make a reservation there but she didn't know why. She just said that they never had made pressies for that restaurant. Also, saw another update last night. For those of you going the week of April 15th...the MK train will not be in operation. I was a little bummed about that!

I am devastated by the train thing. I know it's weird, but we LOVE the train and ride it a lot. Of all the disappointments/challenges in our April trip, that may be the one I'm struggling with the most! Not sure why? That change just happened last week I think...but I'm glad I found out about it now and I can manage (read: lower) my expectations - we would have been very disappointed to get to MK and find out then!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

OK, I think it's out of my system. At least 6 rejected Comments yesterday to the Blog, then one got through that was actually quite negative - it has since been deleted. My last attempt did get through and is for this group more than anything.
Use the first letter of each sentence to get my message.

My comment got through yesterday, but now has been deleted - grrrrr! That makes a bear angry...

Edit: In my righteous outrage at having my comment deleted, I forgot to thank you for speaking our thoughts!

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Does someone have the link to the shirts on hand? Tried scrolling a few pages but can't remember which ones it's on.

http://www.cafepress.com/shirttalking

Here you go!