drusba
I went to Iowa once, and it was closed.
- Joined
- Aug 19, 1999
- Messages
- 14,906
My personal perceptions that others may or may not agree with:
1. Major problems that may some year be fixed: since the introduction of the MB's and FP+, Disney has proven once again what most have already known for many years: Disney and IT is an oxymoron. Whenever it rolls out anything new that involves computers and the internet, it fails miserably, and then takes years to fix all the problems that the incompetents it hires for IT apparently never contemplated. Its MDE site is often extremely slow or crashes from too much traffic (didn't Disney IT think that more bandwith was actually needed than previously available). Then there have been constant problems with the magic bands not working that have resulted in long lines at guest servcies at the parks. (Our magic bands wouldn't open our rooms or do charging but at least they worked for FP+, and for many that is not true). It has been rolled out for four months now and all the problems still exist. Disney's historical average of actually fixing things involving computers and the internet has been three years, so I guess everyone should just get used to all the problems. If Disney IT had been hired to do the Obamacare site, it would have actually been worse than it was.
2. Complexity beyond the slowness: the MDE systerm must have been created by individuals who apparently believe everyone has multipole computers, uses them daily and understands all the complexities that a website might present. With MDE, you have to go to numerous places on the site to get done all things you need to do. You need to add your reservation, you need to add your ticket numbers, you need to add all those going to WDW in a family and friends list, you need to to do FP+ for all those persons, you need to customize bands. Unfortunately, Disney, the reality is that there are still huge numbers of guests who are not that computer savvy and still do all their reserving via telephone. Apparently the option for those guests is just to no longer go.
3. Doing restaurants reservations you want on-line takes forever: in the old days you could call and make 7 restaurant reservations for 7 different days in about 5 minutes tops. To do seven restaurant reservations on line you better plan to spend an entire afternoon. Moreover, you should expect during that time for the system to crash at least once. You have to input day, time, number of guests, wait for everything to come up , choose a restaurant, and often input again time you want. Then once you have it, you need to identify guests, do credit card guarantee, click off on the long, unreadable legal conditions box (is there any reason that has to be done for every reservation you make?), accept the reservation and confirm and then go back and start over all those steps for your second reservation. Methinks the system is designed to assure you don't change a reservation because after making one you never want to have to go through the suffering again to cancel one and make another.
4. Getting FP+'s you want on-line takes longer than forever: why oh why is the system set up the way it is. You have to go through each day, choose each park, choose guests, and then you get blocks of three or four times that are never anything you actually want. Why is the afternoon block designed to often give you a time at noon and another at 5 or 6, or the evening block one at 9 p.m. and one at 4 in the afternoon. What most people want is three sequential times in the morning (if that block), or the actual afternoon (if that block) with two of the rides that are close to each other having times one right after the other. The system never gives you that. You can make modifications and actually accomplish that, proving that such desired itimes could have been provided in the blocks, but plan to spend hours doing it to get what you actually want because you can change only one ride or time for each attempt and have to go through the entire process of picking time, designating guests, confirming, etc. to get each change done and often you have change some things twice or more to finally get what you want. Why don't they just have it so you can pick three rides, have all available times for those three shown at once and you pick for all three in one transaction?
5. The FP+ system is favorable to some and extremely disfavorable to others. Sure there are many who will be happy with the system such as anyone who goes during slow to average crowd times or goes long enough to do each park in two days rather than one so they can work around the tiered system or the three ride limitation. But it is very disfavorable to many guests: (a) those who usually park hop; (b) with the tiered system that prevents you from getting the two most popupar rides in the park on the same day, those who go any crowded times of year and those who go only for enough days to hit each park once; (c) by limiting you to only three, those who go during crowded times of the year and usually use FP to do four or five rides in MK, including those with smaller kids who must do Dumbo, Pooh, Peter Pan, Under the Sea, Barnstorner, Jungle Cruise, and similar long line rides in one day or do one or more of those multiple times in a single day; my sense is this is a system that is telling those with young kids to forget about going any busy time of year and essentially to forget about going period once those kids hit kindergarten and trips are limited to crowded times of year.
Maybe Disney can fix all the problems (dream on) and maybe it will come to its senses on the tiered and 3 limit system (don't count on it), and maybe it will actually figure out how things can be done easily on-line (never happened before), but for now my rating for the system is a D- and the "suits' who created and approved it should be shown the door because I am guessing its failures are actually going to cost Disney money both in the likely huge cost already incurred for the failed system created and in lost revenues because some who would go to Disney will decide that going to Disney is now just too hard to do and not worth it if you cannot get rides you want.
1. Major problems that may some year be fixed: since the introduction of the MB's and FP+, Disney has proven once again what most have already known for many years: Disney and IT is an oxymoron. Whenever it rolls out anything new that involves computers and the internet, it fails miserably, and then takes years to fix all the problems that the incompetents it hires for IT apparently never contemplated. Its MDE site is often extremely slow or crashes from too much traffic (didn't Disney IT think that more bandwith was actually needed than previously available). Then there have been constant problems with the magic bands not working that have resulted in long lines at guest servcies at the parks. (Our magic bands wouldn't open our rooms or do charging but at least they worked for FP+, and for many that is not true). It has been rolled out for four months now and all the problems still exist. Disney's historical average of actually fixing things involving computers and the internet has been three years, so I guess everyone should just get used to all the problems. If Disney IT had been hired to do the Obamacare site, it would have actually been worse than it was.
2. Complexity beyond the slowness: the MDE systerm must have been created by individuals who apparently believe everyone has multipole computers, uses them daily and understands all the complexities that a website might present. With MDE, you have to go to numerous places on the site to get done all things you need to do. You need to add your reservation, you need to add your ticket numbers, you need to add all those going to WDW in a family and friends list, you need to to do FP+ for all those persons, you need to customize bands. Unfortunately, Disney, the reality is that there are still huge numbers of guests who are not that computer savvy and still do all their reserving via telephone. Apparently the option for those guests is just to no longer go.
3. Doing restaurants reservations you want on-line takes forever: in the old days you could call and make 7 restaurant reservations for 7 different days in about 5 minutes tops. To do seven restaurant reservations on line you better plan to spend an entire afternoon. Moreover, you should expect during that time for the system to crash at least once. You have to input day, time, number of guests, wait for everything to come up , choose a restaurant, and often input again time you want. Then once you have it, you need to identify guests, do credit card guarantee, click off on the long, unreadable legal conditions box (is there any reason that has to be done for every reservation you make?), accept the reservation and confirm and then go back and start over all those steps for your second reservation. Methinks the system is designed to assure you don't change a reservation because after making one you never want to have to go through the suffering again to cancel one and make another.
4. Getting FP+'s you want on-line takes longer than forever: why oh why is the system set up the way it is. You have to go through each day, choose each park, choose guests, and then you get blocks of three or four times that are never anything you actually want. Why is the afternoon block designed to often give you a time at noon and another at 5 or 6, or the evening block one at 9 p.m. and one at 4 in the afternoon. What most people want is three sequential times in the morning (if that block), or the actual afternoon (if that block) with two of the rides that are close to each other having times one right after the other. The system never gives you that. You can make modifications and actually accomplish that, proving that such desired itimes could have been provided in the blocks, but plan to spend hours doing it to get what you actually want because you can change only one ride or time for each attempt and have to go through the entire process of picking time, designating guests, confirming, etc. to get each change done and often you have change some things twice or more to finally get what you want. Why don't they just have it so you can pick three rides, have all available times for those three shown at once and you pick for all three in one transaction?
5. The FP+ system is favorable to some and extremely disfavorable to others. Sure there are many who will be happy with the system such as anyone who goes during slow to average crowd times or goes long enough to do each park in two days rather than one so they can work around the tiered system or the three ride limitation. But it is very disfavorable to many guests: (a) those who usually park hop; (b) with the tiered system that prevents you from getting the two most popupar rides in the park on the same day, those who go any crowded times of year and those who go only for enough days to hit each park once; (c) by limiting you to only three, those who go during crowded times of the year and usually use FP to do four or five rides in MK, including those with smaller kids who must do Dumbo, Pooh, Peter Pan, Under the Sea, Barnstorner, Jungle Cruise, and similar long line rides in one day or do one or more of those multiple times in a single day; my sense is this is a system that is telling those with young kids to forget about going any busy time of year and essentially to forget about going period once those kids hit kindergarten and trips are limited to crowded times of year.
Maybe Disney can fix all the problems (dream on) and maybe it will come to its senses on the tiered and 3 limit system (don't count on it), and maybe it will actually figure out how things can be done easily on-line (never happened before), but for now my rating for the system is a D- and the "suits' who created and approved it should be shown the door because I am guessing its failures are actually going to cost Disney money both in the likely huge cost already incurred for the failed system created and in lost revenues because some who would go to Disney will decide that going to Disney is now just too hard to do and not worth it if you cannot get rides you want.
