"Disney, what has to happen for you to decide that MDE does not work?"

I think you are asking the wrong question "Disney, what has to happen for you to decide that MDE does not work?"... no its "Customers, what has to happen for you to stop going to Disney?"

I hit that point a few years ago. My husband keeps mentioning going back and I like the community boards, occasionally I will lurk on new threads to see what has changed. I haven't seen anything change for the better.

and (acknowledging that I am old and cranky and have a history of Disney experiences from waaaaaaay back) THAT is why I don't like FP..there are other reasons as well. Change (even with the best of intentions) isn't always good..I see the primary reason for the FP as a way of inducing us to wear the bracelet so they can track our every move (like the I-phone does) and maximize their marketing. Don't forget that, to Apple, the real value of their phones is the culling and sale of your personal data....where you go, what you look at, where u shop, etc etc.....
 
Just checked MDE and this time I didn't get the error message. However, all of my old bands are still showing. My trip is October 16 so I am 28 days out. It does say that my bands are being customized and due to ship soon. The new bands are not listed and only my old bands are there, but I can't find them for DH. Due to DH heart attack we had to cancel our August trip. If I don't get new ones this time I'll use the ones we got for that trip as they are brand new.

Oh, well that's good that you're being told they're being customized and due to ship soon. I figure if the worst happens I'll take an old MagicBand and ask the front desk for one for my mom who doesn't have any yet.
 
and (acknowledging that I am old and cranky and have a history of Disney experiences from waaaaaaay back) THAT is why I don't like FP..there are other reasons as well. Change (even with the best of intentions) isn't always good..I see the primary reason for the FP as a way of inducing us to wear the bracelet so they can track our every move (like the I-phone does) and maximize their marketing. Don't forget that, to Apple, the real value of their phones is the culling and sale of your personal data....where you go, what you look at, where u shop, etc etc.....

See I haven't even been going that long. 2009 was my first trip and I have already seen so much change for the worse.

As for the bracelets I'm ok with them tracking things because normally companies use that data to actually make things better. Like supermarket discount cards are used to track what you buy and help them stock the things you buy when you buy them. I am ok with that. I know my phone (not an Apple but still) does the same thing. Its a bit big brothery but I also really like my phone and I deal with it because of all the value it gives me.

Disney will keep doing these things (This, parking fees, hotel security checks etc) until the value they get is no longer greater then the money they lose.

I read a post on here where someone said because things at Disney are so much more expensive they can no longer go to Universal too this trip. Wow... Disney would love this statement. They managed to increase their prices to get you to spend all the money with them and none with a competitor. Perfect!
 
I read a post on here where someone said because things at Disney are so much more expensive they can no longer go to Universal too this trip. Wow... Disney would love this statement. They managed to increase their prices to get you to spend all the money with them and none with a competitor. Perfect!
I've read those comments too on that thread (if you're thinking of the compromise thread) but I think that's a different type of person.

Because I enjoy Universal nearly as much as Disney I'm not going to just drop my Universal portion to make the Disney portion work. I'm going to reduce costs elsewhere so I can enjoy both. But if you're just so so into Universal or you're not seeing anything big to attract you to going that trip then I can see dropping Universal. I mean if Disney is so expensive now why continue to go anyways? It's because there's still a big enough draw to attract your dollars to spend there.

I would say the same for those who have dropped the WDW portion of their trips in favor of Universal only.

To me making that decision on cost alone would be a small subset of people. I'm willing to be those who have dropped Universal in favor of Disney only or those who have dropped Disney in favor of Universal have done so for a variety of reasons with costs being just part of it.
 


Oh, well that's good that you're being told they're being customized and due to ship soon. I figure if the worst happens I'll take an old MagicBand and ask the front desk for one for my mom who doesn't have any yet.

I just wanted to let you know that I received an email this morning that my magic bands have shipped. Of course I haven't checked MDE yet to see if DH has one but I'm hoping they are both there.
 
I just wanted to let you know that I received an email this morning that my magic bands have shipped. Of course I haven't checked MDE yet to see if DH has one but I'm hoping they are both there.
That's great. Fingers crossed for you!
 
Ugh, I didn't realize what a nightmare this all is right now. We decided to book a quick trip for early December a few days ago -- it took me HOURS to book the resort because of error messages, disappearing inventory, etc etc. I still didn't get what I wanted, but the inventory is different every time I look so I'm hoping something will come up. I understand that inventory IS alway changing and Disney has always done weird stuff like not showing two nights available together but you can book them separately as one night reservations, but this was next level crazy. Resorts kept disappearing from the search results (like not showing sold out, just GONE) when they were showing availability seconds earlier. And it took four tries to process payment because the site kept crashing, and then I had to go back to the beginning again.

Then I tried to book a Candlelight Processional Dining Package, which was also a nightmare of disappearing reservations and crashing. I did finally find something that worked and managed to actually get it booked the next day (I gave up and went to bed), though.

Buying tickets took three tries to process payment. And then I just checked Magic Bands and it's only showing one Magic Band for our party of four. Honestly, I was going to decline mine because I was last there a few months ago and have a collection of bands, but it's been over a year since my kids' last trip and they would want to pick new colours, anyway. We have over a month to sort that out, so I'll wait and see if it fixes itself.

At least I have a couple weeks until I have to make FP+ reservations...
 


Ugh, I didn't realize what a nightmare this all is right now. We decided to book a quick trip for early December a few days ago -- it took me HOURS to book the resort because of error messages, disappearing inventory, etc etc. I still didn't get what I wanted, but the inventory is different every time I look so I'm hoping something will come up. I understand that inventory IS alway changing and Disney has always done weird stuff like not showing two nights available together but you can book them separately as one night reservations, but this was next level crazy. Resorts kept disappearing from the search results (like not showing sold out, just GONE) when they were showing availability seconds earlier. And it took four tries to process payment because the site kept crashing, and then I had to go back to the beginning again.

Then I tried to book a Candlelight Processional Dining Package, which was also a nightmare of disappearing reservations and crashing. I did finally find something that worked and managed to actually get it booked the next day (I gave up and went to bed), though.

Buying tickets took three tries to process payment. And then I just checked Magic Bands and it's only showing one Magic Band for our party of four. Honestly, I was going to decline mine because I was last there a few months ago and have a collection of bands, but it's been over a year since my kids' last trip and they would want to pick new colours, anyway. We have over a month to sort that out, so I'll wait and see if it fixes itself.

At least I have a couple weeks until I have to make FP+ reservations...

Thanks for sharing this. I thought the issues were more MDE related but if it’s difficult to even book a hotel stay, Disney’s website is likely failing big time, when it costs them $ maybe time to address it?
 
Advice please - our trip is getting close and I'm still showing cancelled dinner reservations in MDE. I really don't want to spend time on the phone to get this resolved - do you think it's something I can ignore and figure it'll fix itself or should I call? When I click on the reservation and try to cancel it, I get nothing but errors.
 
Advice please - our trip is getting close and I'm still showing cancelled dinner reservations in MDE. I really don't want to spend time on the phone to get this resolved - do you think it's something I can ignore and figure it'll fix itself or should I call? When I click on the reservation and try to cancel it, I get nothing but errors.
I'd have the hotel concierge deal with it. They know it's an issue at this point so they will either fix it or waive the fees after the fact. Since things change with this mess day by day and even minute to minute with what we can & can't see even if you called now they could possibly show up again. I've always had more issues with the APP showing things that it shouldn't but I had my AP certificate disappear and couldn't book my FP+. I need to place my MB order for my November trip but I keep hoping they'll get this disaster fixed before my deadline.
 
I've read those comments too on that thread (if you're thinking of the compromise thread) but I think that's a different type of person.

Because I enjoy Universal nearly as much as Disney I'm not going to just drop my Universal portion to make the Disney portion work. I'm going to reduce costs elsewhere so I can enjoy both. But if you're just so so into Universal or you're not seeing anything big to attract you to going that trip then I can see dropping Universal. I mean if Disney is so expensive now why continue to go anyways? It's because there's still a big enough draw to attract your dollars to spend there.

I would say the same for those who have dropped the WDW portion of their trips in favor of Universal only.

To me making that decision on cost alone would be a small subset of people. I'm willing to be those who have dropped Universal in favor of Disney only or those who have dropped Disney in favor of Universal have done so for a variety of reasons with costs being just part of it.
I’m one of the people who said they would cut out Universal this trip because of the cost but not just because if the rising cost of Disney. Ours had more to do with having little ones who are not big enough to ride the major rides yet so the cost is one more reason not to go. We may be cutting out a Disney day for the group and the guys go to Universal while the ladies and kids either swim in the pool or we will just go and stroll around a park. Last time we had the kids we went to Epcot while the rest of the party went to Universal. We only stayed at Epcot around an hour and a half then left. If the guys want to go to Universal we will possibly go to Sea World. We are season passholders at Busch Gardens and get some type of discount. Just because Disney has priced out our trip to Universal this time does not necessarily mean we will spend it on Disney property. When the kids are big enough to ride everything then Universal will be worth it for our family.
 
Turns out it may not be just Disney after all. It's not my bank thankfully but they had a new report today that one of our local banks did an upgrade a few days ago and it caused their entire online banking system to crash and go off line for 3 days and it was so bad the news did stories on it.

Made me recall that maybe 2 months ago the bank we use for work did similar, made some sort of upgrade to the website that runs the software we use to transmit wires and deposits. Something went terribly wrong and it crashed and meant no one could go online to send any wires or direct deposits. On our payday of course. Took them several days to fix it and even then, one module didn't work for another 2 weeks.

Maybe folks are getting too complex in what they want these sites to do?

Advice please - our trip is getting close and I'm still showing cancelled dinner reservations in MDE. I really don't want to spend time on the phone to get this resolved - do you think it's something I can ignore and figure it'll fix itself or should I call? When I click on the reservation and try to cancel it, I get nothing but errors.
They are not really real reservations. That's why when you try to cancel them again, they give you an error. There's nothing to cancel. Can't explain why you see them, it's just yet one more stupid glitch. Think of them as ghosts.
 
I’m one of the people who said they would cut out Universal this trip because of the cost but not just because if the rising cost of Disney. Ours had more to do with having little ones who are not big enough to ride the major rides yet so the cost is one more reason not to go. We may be cutting out a Disney day for the group and the guys go to Universal while the ladies and kids either swim in the pool or we will just go and stroll around a park. Last time we had the kids we went to Epcot while the rest of the party went to Universal. We only stayed at Epcot around an hour and a half then left. If the guys want to go to Universal we will possibly go to Sea World. We are season passholders at Busch Gardens and get some type of discount. Just because Disney has priced out our trip to Universal this time does not necessarily mean we will spend it on Disney property. When the kids are big enough to ride everything then Universal will be worth it for our family.
Your expanded reasons are more what my comment was about :) .
 
I never did understand why they changed the FP open time to 7am eastern. For what people is that a "reasonable" time? When it is 7am on the eastern coast of the US, it is 8am, 9am, and 10am in most of South America and Greenland. I doubt there are many people living in the Atlantic Ocean where it is 11am - 12pm. And if there are, what kind of internet access do they have? What percentage of WDW visitors are from South America and Greenland?

For the bulk of us in the US and Canada, 7am on the east coast is the middle of the night or way too early in the morning.

IMO, it was much better when they opened the window at midnight eastern time. (11pm central, 10pm mountain, 9pm pacific)
Because that's when their offices were open for people who have issues. They are located in FL, where 7am Eastern is a normal working time. Midnight is not a normal working time. When it was midnight there was no where there to call, or only a skeleton crew. It was an issue so their solution was to move the time to 7am
 
and (acknowledging that I am old and cranky and have a history of Disney experiences from waaaaaaay back) THAT is why I don't like FP..there are other reasons as well. Change (even with the best of intentions) isn't always good..I see the primary reason for the FP as a way of inducing us to wear the bracelet so they can track our every move (like the I-phone does) and maximize their marketing. Don't forget that, to Apple, the real value of their phones is the culling and sale of your personal data....where you go, what you look at, where u shop, etc etc.....

The iPhone does NOT track your every move. They do not leverage your info to advertisers, they anonymize your data, and are so committed to privacy that they tick off law enforcement. Their revenue is based on selling you actual products. Google, however, has a revenue model based almost entirely on advertising, and everything is based on using your data. Android phones are data-collection machines. That’s why Apple products are more expensive up front - for them, the hardware is where the money is, not your data. (That’s why a popular saying these days is, “If a product you’re using is free, YOU’RE the product.”)

But more on topic, it remains to be seen what Disney is going to do with data in the long run, but yes, one can be pretty sure it’ll fall closer to the Google model than the Apple model.
 
Advice please - our trip is getting close and I'm still showing cancelled dinner reservations in MDE. I really don't want to spend time on the phone to get this resolved - do you think it's something I can ignore and figure it'll fix itself or should I call? When I click on the reservation and try to cancel it, I get nothing but errors.
I personally haven't had a problem but I knew someone else had the same issue. Here is the quote of what they did.
I still have old cancelled dining reservations showing, which is annoying. FWIW, I have found the dining line to be helpful with this. I tell them first thing I have the cancelled reservations issue, and I need help with a new one. (Because the old one sometimes blocks one a new one I do want to make.) They have successfully helped me several times.

The only thing I can figure is this is one huge IT issue. It's gone on much longer than I would have ever expected.
I also have seen where people have used the chat feature on MDE to get things resolved like missing tickets. I would be nervous too because of the possibility of a charge. You could also make copies of the emails for your cancelled reservations and bring them with you to WDW. Then if you see any no show charges for restaurant reservations you can show them you cancelled and have them removed. I hope this helps.
 
Turns out it may not be just Disney after all. It's not my bank thankfully but they had a new report today that one of our local banks did an upgrade a few days ago and it caused their entire online banking system to crash and go off line for 3 days and it was so bad the news did stories on it.

Made me recall that maybe 2 months ago the bank we use for work did similar, made some sort of upgrade to the website that runs the software we use to transmit wires and deposits. Something went terribly wrong and it crashed and meant no one could go online to send any wires or direct deposits. On our payday of course. Took them several days to fix it and even then, one module didn't work for another 2 weeks.

Maybe folks are getting too complex in what they want these sites to do?


They are not really real reservations. That's why when you try to cancel them again, they give you an error. There's nothing to cancel. Can't explain why you see them, it's just yet one more stupid glitch. Think of them as ghosts.
I don't really think you can say there's a correlation between a bank's software issues and what's going on with MDE. The type of problem you're describing happens all the time and, most of the time, remedied quickly. Usually by reverting to the previous version and/or finding finding what's not playing well with the update.

With that said, there are times when it isn't possible to revert to previous version of some software/OS and they have try to fix things on the fly and that can take longer. Fixes aren't always obvious or easily remedied.

However, Disney seems to have something more than update issues going on. They seem to be having serious database problems and if it were just an update issue we'd likely have a resolution by now. There are a couple of posters here who are more knowledgeable on this subject and could shed more light on this than I but IMHO, software/OS updates are not likely the major problem with MDE or their website. FWIW.

Mike
 
I never said it was related. But many times I know I've said that no one else ever has problems like Disney. Now I know that is wrong. So I simply was showing that other companies do have major issues that cause serious problems for their customers for days on end.
No, never said it was as bad as Disney's. That's obvious.
 
Your expanded reasons are more what my comment was about :) .
Exactly. If this was an adult trip, we would definitely spend more time at Universal. I would not even stay on Disney property except maybe a day or 2 at the most. In fact, I got a Universal offer today that makes me want to reshuffle my Disney trip, lol. But, this time is with the kids so this is WDW heavy. We toyed with the idea of going to Universal also, but the price was a bit much for only 1 day and we are only doing a 5 day trip this time, not wanting the kids to miss much school. In fact, last time DH and I did an adult trip, we only did MNSSHP as our MK day. With the kids, we do at least 1 1/2 days.
 

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