They canceled FP's AGAIN!

[bcrook]

It seems simple to me:

If THEY have to cancel your fast passes for ANY reason at ANY time (ride breaks down .. weather .. or a party) .. they should give you a "use any time during the day" fast pass for that day for that ride. They should not just "reschedule" it for you.

In October, Winnie the Pooh was down during my FP+ time. I got a free FP for use ANY time that day for many rides (including Winnie the Pooh, Small World, Peter Pan)

That was a GREAT perk. I would have been upset if they rescheduled me.

Yup! See post 67. Apparently Disney heard this, considered it, gave them to some people, then decided against it, and went back to their inconsiderate ways. I tried.

 

[bcrook]

Curious to see if they put them back in the system again. I thought mine was bad until I saw that they split families up like that. Unreal.

Unreal is right. That cracks me up. That would be the opposite of good customer service.

This is like Disney saying.
"We had to change things, the fine print you agreed to says we can, Here's what we've got for you. And this is much better than developing a serious illness. Have a magical trip."

 

[themommy]

I don't remember them last year either but have seen quite a few this year so I would just not make any reservations past 6:30 personally after seeing the trend reported.


Everyone that goes to WDW does not read threads. Glad that is what you would do...sheesh. Not helping out anyone that did not know about this is it?


I would wager you that there is a change request in the queue for the availability to be changed so they aren't presented on party nights but these changes aren't instantaneous. It may very well require an architecture change if there is no current party calendar integration even though it seems like it would just need a few lines of code changed.


Aren't instantaneous??? This is the 3rd time they have canceled FP's.


As for the last comment, you'd think people would recognize the insignificance of a problem like this in the scheme of life but when you see comparisons to arson or adjectives like livid used you realize some people put far too much weight on such little issues.


What people recognize is that they spent thousands of dollars and were told to book FP's and then they get them canceled 3 times. Good for you that you think that is insignificant but, not all people feel that way.

 

[GreatLakes]

Forgive me if I'm wrong cause I'm still a bit of a newb... but wouldn't it be even easier to add a couple lines of code to the calendar and FP+ selection tools to not even show those times for those dates? Like a simple if/else statement, an array of times and dates possibly retrieved from a simple database... I mean I could actually think of a bunch of different ways to PREVENT this problem that are very simple, a weeks worth of dev and testing (if that). It's hard to believe disney didn't know the party dates enough in advance to prevent most of these fastpasses from being scheduled.

It probably isn't that they didn't know the dates in advance, it is more likely that someone decided to create a policy that doesn't allow FP+ windows to extend past 6:30 without that function being a part of the original scope of the FP+ reservation system. This entire thing sounds very familiar, I have lived it countless times. Management decides on a policy that isn't built into the system that they want to use to enforce the policy. That means a change request has to be queued up and go through committee and get added into a change queue somewhere. I suspect this change is in a queue behind perhaps tens or hundreds of other changes. It might be a few hours of development work but it is sitting behind three hundred hours of development work on other projects or enhancements. Defects get priority and if this change is because of a change in scope it isn't a defect. It might have a lead time of a few days, a few weeks, or a few months depending on what else is going on.

Then you have the question of how you are going to link the party dates to the FP+ system. It might be as easy as pulling the data from a table the FP+ system has access to but it is equally likely that that information isn't stored anywhere that the FP+ system can reach without changes to architecture. The DBA in charge of the database with that information might have to make configuration changes to allow the FP+ system to see into it. He might have a queue of other projects that this is sitting behind. It could also require a re-write of policy to allow two systems that weren't designed to talk to each other to do so from a security or data integrity standpoint.

Lastly, there is the question of implementing the policy via the system once all the data is accessible. Manually excluding availability based on hand coded dates isn't what you want to do. It might be quicker in the short term but it isn't the correct way to do it in the long term. You want the ability for management to alter this policy down the road without getting I.T. involved. That means you build an interface that allows for management to add or remove party dates and have that change cascade to the system. It means if they decide they want to change the policy from closing the window at 6:30 to closing at 6:45 it can be done without any code rewrite.

I think people who haven't been on projects like this have an inaccurate idea of how the SDLC life-cycle and system enhancements work in the real world. Of course I admit this is all just an educated guess on why the system is allowing guests to book FP+ reservations during a window that Disney doesn't want you to. I'm looking at it from an I.T. project manager's perspective and trying to understand why it might be happening. It is actually quite interesting and I'd love to sit in on a few project meetings but that will never happen.

 

[crostorfer]

I think people who haven't been on projects like this have an inaccurate idea of how the SDLC life-cycle and system enhancements work in the real world. Of course I admit this is all just an educated guess on why the system is allowing guests to book FP+ reservations during a window that Disney doesn't want you to. I'm looking at it from an I.T. project manager's perspective and trying to understand why it might be happening.

While that is likely true, what is absolutely true is that the WDC knew that getting the non-ticketed crowd out of the park, because of the 7DMT and Anna and Elsa in particular, was a huge problem A FULL YEAR AGO. The last party of the year was November 1st, 2014. November 2nd, someone should have said, "Hey, maybe we should change the policy for next year, since this year didn't go so well." Even if it went through 10 committees, 15 interfaces, and 50 system enhancements, this should have been done WAY BEFORE the 60 day window opened for the first party. They had roughly 7-8 months to get this taken care of. They chose to wait until the very last minute, as usual, and are choosing the react, rather than take initial action.

 

[GreatLakes]

While that is likely true, what is absolutely true is that the WDC knew that getting the non-ticketed crowd out of the park, because of the 7DMT and Anna and Elsa in particular, was a huge problem A FULL YEAR AGO. The last party of the year was November 1st, 2014. November 2nd, someone should have said, "Hey, maybe we should change the policy for next year, since this year didn't go so well." Even if it went through 10 committees, 15 interfaces, and 50 system enhancements, this should have been done WAY BEFORE the 60 day window opened for the first party. They had roughly 7-8 months to get this taken care of.

You are right. If they decided last year that they wanted to implement this policy and got I.T. in the loop from the start this probably could have been done on time for this year. If they decided a month ago that they wanted this policy and didn't bother to check if the system could enforce it until the FP+ reservations were made it isn't a problem with I.T., MyMagic+, or the FP+ system, it is a problem with management. In that scenario it is highly unlikely the systematic fix will be a quick patch job that is done in a few days or a week.

I'm not suggesting this is a great way to handle the policy, just erasing FP+ reservations, I'm merely pointing out why it is likely that they can't just stop people from making them by updating the system quickly.

Now that the policy is known it is counter productive to keep making the reservations just so they are cancelled and it is a bit of a waste of energy, IMO of course, to get upset about what isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

At this point I'm going to stop wasting energy myself and just agree to disagree with anyone who doesn't see it that way.

 

[crostorfer]

You are right. If they decided last year that they wanted to implement this policy and got I.T. in the loop from the start this probably could have been done on time for this year. If they decided a month ago that they wanted this policy and didn't bother to check if the system could enforce it until the FP+ reservations were made it isn't a problem with I.T., MyMagic+, or the FP+ system, it is a problem with management. In that scenario it is highly unlikely the systematic fix will be a quick patch job that is done in a few days or a week.

I'm not suggesting this is a great way to handle the policy, just erasing FP+ reservations, I'm merely pointing out why it is likely that they can't just stop people from making them by updating the system quickly.

Now that the policy is known it is counter productive to keep making the reservations just so they are cancelled and it is a bit of a waste of energy, IMO of course, to get upset about what isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

At this point I'm going to stop wasting energy myself and just agree to disagree with anyone who doesn't see it that way.

As to the bolded part, you and I are in total agreement. Anyone who keeps trying is a glutton for punishment.

 

[sbarisch]

Just to add my own irritation... we DO have party tickets and only made FP+ between 4-7. They still cancelled my 5:55 FP and instead graciously rescheduled me for a 12:20-1:20 FP when we won't even be in the park yet!

 

[bcrook]

Just to add my own irritation... we DO have party tickets and only made FP+ between 4-7. They still cancelled my 5:55 FP and instead graciously rescheduled me for a 12:20-1:20 FP when we won't even be in the park yet!

Well, clearly, Disney thinks you should be.

Irritation - justified!

 

[3DisneyFanz]

Just to add my own irritation... we DO have party tickets and only made FP+ between 4-7. They still cancelled my 5:55 FP and instead graciously rescheduled me for a 12:20-1:20 FP when we won't even be in the park yet!

You should show up and demand to use the FP+ they gave you. Obviously they intend to let you in early since they arbitrarily gave you that time.

 

[Angel Ariel]

While that is likely true, what is absolutely true is that the WDC knew that getting the non-ticketed crowd out of the park, because of the 7DMT and Anna and Elsa in particular, was a huge problem A FULL YEAR AGO. The last party of the year was November 1st, 2014. November 2nd, someone should have said, "Hey, maybe we should change the policy for next year, since this year didn't go so well." Even if it went through 10 committees, 15 interfaces, and 50 system enhancements, this should have been done WAY BEFORE the 60 day window opened for the first party. They had roughly 7-8 months to get this taken care of. They chose to wait until the very last minute, as usual, and are choosing the react, rather than take initial action.

They had this in place last year - at least for the same day kiosks. We were in the park on a party day, trying to get a 4th FP+, and the only times available were 5:30-6:30. Nothing beyond that. We were confused because the park was open til 7. The CM there is the one who informed us that the last FP window of the day on party days was 5:30-6:30.

If they knew that last year, and implemented it even for the same day kiosks only last year, there's no reason they could not have had it functional well before the FP+ booking window opened for this year's party season.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

You got a trick instead of a treat

 

[Sur]

I think I read that IT jobs were being outsourced and the current staff was to train their replacements. If true, I would understand current employees not functioning well in the department.

 

[Planogirl]

Just to add my own irritation... we DO have party tickets and only made FP+ between 4-7. They still cancelled my 5:55 FP and instead graciously rescheduled me for a 12:20-1:20 FP when we won't even be in the park yet!

Now how in the world can you spend money if you're not even in the park? Of course they want you there!

Hmmmmm.... Maybe there is some kind of method to this madness.

 

[Duffy Lover]

I had fast passes cancelled twice. One was Seven Dwarves Mine ride, the other was Peter Pan. I called today, August 14th, and they automatically gave me a fast pass back for the Seven Dwarfs mine ride. I have a ticket for MNSSHP for September 27th...

 

[GaryDis]

Like a simple if/else statement, an array of times and dates possibly retrieved from a simple database...

Anytime you call programming with dates simple, you're bound to wind up with something like no one being able to book a FP+ after 9:05 in the morning, since, after all, the park closes at 9.

Dates are among the more notorious sources of bugs.

 

[GaryDis]

I think I read that IT jobs were being outsourced and the current staff was to train their replacements. If true, I would understand current employees not functioning well in the department.

That's somewhat old news. If indeed the outsourced jobs include responsibility for the FP+ system, then it's likely that the new worker are already in place, but not yet up to speed on the system. Worse, there are probably dozens of ways requirements can get messed up between the time some park manager decides that FPs have to be restricted on party nights and some offshore worker, who's only had 7 months to study the system, figures out a way to implement it.

I've dealt with offshore IT teams. It worked well for SQA, as well as some highly structured, well-defined backend-only jobs. For new development or front-end work (i.e., customer-facing work), not so good. There are reasons for this, but this bboard isn't a software engineering gripefest, and I'm mostly retired and out of the loop.

 

[supersnoop]

I think I read that IT jobs were being outsourced and the current staff was to train their replacements. If true, I would understand current employees not functioning well in the department.

That was for IT at ABC (which is owned by Disney), and they reversed the decision to outsource those jobs.

 

[supersnoop]

It probably isn't that they didn't know the dates in advance, it is more likely that someone decided to create a policy that doesn't allow FP+ windows to extend past 6:30 without that function being a part of the original scope of the FP+ reservation system.

Except they didn't actually implement that new rule. Even after they cancelled FP+'s after 6:30, you could still go back in and book those same fastpasses. I had mine cancelled twice after I rebooked, and I could still have gone in and rebooked them a third time. So, the rule wasn't enforced even after they processed it.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Except they didn't actually implement that new rule. Even after they cancelled FP+'s after 6:30, you could still go back in and book those same fastpasses. I had mine cancelled twice after I rebooked, and I could still have gone in and rebooked them a third time. So, the rule wasn't enforced even after they processed it.

And beyond that..this isn't a newly decided rule this year. The 5:30-6:30 cut off for fps was in place for the first Christmas party of the year last year,.at least at kiosks in the park. There was plenty of time between last November and when this started happening this summer for Disney to figure out how to implement the policy.