Disney's NextGen Initiative

[Jwhee]

For example, my mom was talking to me about how she wanted to go to EPCOT soon before F&W ends, and this would be one of very few, if any, Disney visits in a year for us. This mess just discourages me tremendously, as it will put us at a big disadvantage for when we want to go on the rides...

You should be able to get in the rides with less then a 15 minute wait, you probably won't go on soarin... Unless you want to wait 70 minutes :blank: I use the test track single rider, most of the time I get in the same car as my friends. Also mission space and almost every other ride is a walk on

 

[IzzyB]

I went to MK on a Tuesday and HM and Pirates were no longer or shorter than normal. It was VERY slow in the whole park, so I think slow periods will still be slow and once they work out some kinks the lines will get better.

As for FP being gone early, this was not my experience during F&W. When we got into the park at 1:30 PM there was still paper FP available for Test Track and Soarin. Which honestly is not always the case prior to FP+. I always go to the park at 1 PM or later and it is always hit or miss as to whether FPs will be gone for rides like Soarin and Toy Story. SO for me I am not seeing any difference right now with this.

We also have to remember that paper is going away, so as they put more people on FP+, less paper will be available. And since people can double dip, it makes the problem worse. But once everyone is on FP+ things will even out again.

FP+ could be a huge advantage for people like me, because I will be able to log in from my home to get FPs that normally I would never get by arriving at the parks so late in the day.

 

[Thor]

Nice article today from a website which shall not be named. I am sure most everyone here read it by now. Looks like NextGen, MyMagic+ is a total disaster. And will now be affecting projects not just in WDW but also in Disneyland and the foreign parks. If this article is true, and the information is right (Spirit has pretty much backed the entire article up), then I am just going to sit here and laugh, and laugh, and laugh at how stupid Iger, Staggs, and Rasulo are. These three bozos need to be put out to pasture NOW before it is really too late.

 

[Brian G.]

Nice article today from a website which shall not be named. I am sure most everyone here read it by now. Looks like NextGen, MyMagic+ is a total disaster. And will now be affecting projects not just in WDW but also in Disneyland and the foreign parks. If this article is true, and the information is right (Spirit has pretty much backed the entire article up), then I am just going to sit here and laugh, and laugh, and laugh at how stupid Iger, Staggs, and Rasulo are. These three bozos need to be put out to pasture NOW before it is really too late.

Iger's tenure will still be considered a success though. After all, he did bring in Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars.

 

[Teebin]

Iger's tenure will still be considered a success though. After all, he did bring in Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars.

And just as important, he brought us the YETI!!! :look:

 

[Brian G.]

And just as important, he brought us the YETI!!! :look:

I think the Yeti was one of the last few things that Eisner brought actually.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Wonder what this means for the Downtown Disney expansion as well.

 

[Teebin]

I think the Yeti was one of the last few things that Eisner brought actually.

Perhaps, but Iger proudly hosted the grand opening and had been president of Disney since 2000. So let's throw them both in the box.

 

[MrRoamer]

I'm all for Universal but this really kind of sucks for Disney. We were just debating whether or not we should renew our passes (drop them to at most 3 Seasonal and One Annual for Free Parking) and now I really don't see a whole lot of reason to. I'm tepid about the Mine Cart coaster, and the other parks feel broken. Food and Wine and Flower and Garden are pretty much the only things I would really care about.

I wonder how this is going to impact Osborne Lights for next year too.

 

[IOAGuy]

Yep read about this. Such a sad shame this is happening. This is what happens when you invest too much in trying to suck the consumer dry (not only of money). I just renewed my AP so I'm gonna stick around, but for someone who just enjoys strolling around, MM+ doesn't really affect me. I tried it when it first came out and it was cool and all, reserving my FP and making same day dinner reservations but thats about as far as it went. I go with the intention of winding down and just enjoying something that used to bring me joy and still does. I hardly visit as much since I'm not a local but I try to go as often as I can.

 

[twebber55]

Wonder what this means for the Downtown Disney expansion as well.

Marni seems to think nothing will happen to Disney Springs and Avatar as they are already part of the budget and are happening

 

[Disneyhead]

My money goes on (Disney Springs) being a Parking Garage and a Starbucks. Done! Next decade being a NEW concept for TGTFKAPI, (The Ghost Town Formerly Known As Pleasure Island).

BTW, I am totally STUNNED, that TWDC's plan of technological strip mining their current base for astronomically more money isn't working out as planned.

Actually, no. Not reall

Maybe if they tried building a compelling attraction at ANY of their 4 parks. Alas this report appears that that is A Long Way Off!

 

[Thor]

Ya know, the guys are going to be recording tonight right? Would love to hear HTF's take on this news. Think he'll start off another podcast with the F bomb again? LOL.

 

[maxairmike]

Let's see...just how surprised am I by this...

This might just go down as one of the biggest IT investment boondoggles in corporate America, or even the world, and I can't help but laugh, because a bunch of people knew it was coming and not a bit of attention was paid to them.

 

[Hockeyman55]

Let's see...just how surprised am I by this...

This might just go down as one of the biggest IT investment boondoggles in corporate America, or even the world, and I can't help but laugh, because a bunch of people knew it was coming and not a bit of attention was paid to them.

How does this NextGen look from your perspective?

 

[maxairmike]

From my perspective? There are many ways in which the guest facing system - while buggy and riddled with issues - is actually somewhat more convenient, but nothing earth-shattering in terms of revolutionizing the guest experience in the parks. I am naturally inclined to see the negatives much more easily over the positives because of how they affect me on a daily basis, but all things considered, I really don't see the "revolutionary" end of the guest-facing product. Interactive bobbles and toys are really rather meaningless in the grand scheme of things, certainly less so than creating and maintaining the minute details that make the parks truly shine. On the back-end, there's been some much needed infrastructure improvement, but of course there have also been a ton of headaches and buyers' remorse to go along with that. Typical growing pains, but magnified by the sorry state of a lot of the infrastructure, and some things that have just been completely messed up from the get-go. When you talk about turning a profit with the whole system...well...that's where a lot of people saw a lot of issues and were outright ignored. Guest relations is the most obvious guest-facing example of how much overhead this is adding to the system. They were supposed to be mostly gone by the beginning of the new year (I have several friends that were on Temporary Assignments for this "project"), but that quite clearly isn't going to be the case. Then you've got the blue shirt MM+ folks running around that are supposed to be helping both guests and CMs with assorted issues of the system. These CMs aren't even truly the tech support people (again, many friends in this role as well, none of them IT folks in the slightest, they're all from the various Operations divisions), so now you're got your true tech support folks back of house behind the guest-facing blue shirt "support" folks. The list goes on and on many levels deep. It is just ridiculous. Throw in the fact that the testing was running behind schedule, they still can't seem to get the app or website working right at a proper level, and you have the gigantic mess we're looking at right now.

All the reports I get, everything I see on this whole thing just makes me sit back and laugh, because this thing is going to be sucking money for a while.

 

[Disneyhead]

I just think it's hilarious that they simply don't have the infrastructure to handle the new infrastructure.

 

[Hockeyman55]

From my perspective? There are many ways in which the guest facing system - while buggy and riddled with issues - is actually somewhat more convenient, but nothing earth-shattering in terms of revolutionizing the guest experience in the parks. I am naturally inclined to see the negatives much more easily over the positives because of how they affect me on a daily basis, but all things considered, I really don't see the "revolutionary" end of the guest-facing product. Interactive bobbles and toys are really rather meaningless in the grand scheme of things, certainly less so than creating and maintaining the minute details that make the parks truly shine. On the back-end, there's been some much needed infrastructure improvement, but of course there have also been a ton of headaches and buyers' remorse to go along with that. Typical growing pains, but magnified by the sorry state of a lot of the infrastructure, and some things that have just been completely messed up from the get-go. When you talk about turning a profit with the whole system...well...that's where a lot of people saw a lot of issues and were outright ignored. Guest relations is the most obvious guest-facing example of how much overhead this is adding to the system. They were supposed to be mostly gone by the beginning of the new year (I have several friends that were on Temporary Assignments for this "project"), but that quite clearly isn't going to be the case. Then you've got the blue shirt MM+ folks running around that are supposed to be helping both guests and CMs with assorted issues of the system. These CMs aren't even truly the tech support people (again, many friends in this role as well, none of them IT folks in the slightest, they're all from the various Operations divisions), so now you're got your true tech support folks back of house behind the guest-facing blue shirt "support" folks. The list goes on and on many levels deep. It is just ridiculous. Throw in the fact that the testing was running behind schedule, they still can't seem to get the app or website working right at a proper level, and you have the gigantic mess we're looking at right now.

All the reports I get, everything I see on this whole thing just makes me sit back and laugh, because this thing is going to be sucking money for a while.

Thanks Mike :thumbs: Sounds like quite the mess behind the curtain up there.

 

[SeventyOne]

My money goes on (Disney Springs) being a Parking Garage and a Starbucks. Done! Next decade being a NEW concept for TGTFKAPI, (The Ghost Town Formerly Known As Pleasure Island).

Apparently Schussler (remember him?) was on some cable reality show buying car-shaped water mice for his new Orlando restaurant. So the lighthouse restaurant ("Motorboats & Root Beer Floats") is still a go. Doubt we see much else, tho. And let's see how many existing tenants ride out the current parking debacle.

 

[Thor]

Apparently Schussler (remember him?) was on some cable reality show buying car-shaped water mice for his new Orlando restaurant. So the lighthouse restaurant ("Motorboats & Root Beer Floats") is still a go. Doubt we see much else, tho. And let's see how many existing tenants ride out the current parking debacle.

Wasn't that part of Hyperion Whiff, I mean, Wharf? I didn't see anything in the new art or descriptions which included this restaurant. I could have missed it though. Where does it say this restaurant is still coming in the new plans?