Originally Posted By sjhym333 "So, just got back from a great 5 day trip to Uni/WDW this weekend, and I think one HUGE problem Disney is going to have here is that their in park wifi is straight up AWFUL. If they're expecting people to be using it and their smart phones all day to use NextGen, they're going to have trouble." Agreed. In fact I turned off my wifi after awhile because I got a better connection using my cell phone reception over their wifi. I was alao surprised at how many dead spots there were in the parks. Places where their wifi didn't work at all
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh "but a company doesn't spend a billion dollars on a system so it can make your experience happier." They do if they think by making customers happier they will spend more money. And Disney's in-park wifi might not be great, but just a few years ago it was non-existent.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<And Disney's in-park wifi might not be great, but just a few years ago it was non-existent.>> No, it's far from not great. It's awful. It drains your battery like crazy because your phone is constantly losing the signal and attempting to bring it back.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 Wouldn't happier guests come from parks that are being kept up? New attractions? A move away from generic merchandise. Not dumbing down food choices to accommodate meal plans? Replacing old worn out entertainment? Fixing broken things in a timely manner?
Originally Posted By Princessjenn5795 "Wouldn't happier guests come from parks that are being kept up? New attractions? A move away from generic merchandise. Not dumbing down food choices to accommodate meal plans? Replacing old worn out entertainment? Fixing broken things in a timely manner?" For most non-Disney obsessed people visiting the parks Disney does offer all of that...I know quite a few people who have gone to eaither WDW or DL only once or twice in their lives, and when they compare their experiences (and these are very recent experiences) to other theme parks they have visited like Knotts Berry Farm, Six Flags, and even Universal, they are very impressed by the quality they find at Disney. It is only a relatively few people who find Disney parks run down.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I'm obviously not a 21st century kind of guy. The last thing I want when I'm at a Disney park is to be fixated on a phone screen constantly. It's a great place to UNplug, be present, enjoy. I'm fine people watching or admiring the architecture or having a conversation while waiting in line. Yes, I'm something of a fossil. And yes, I am in the minority on this. But it's my not-so-humble opinion that people who attempt to "multi-task" at a Disney park are completely missing out on the whole point of the experience as well as those magical little moments they traveled there for in the first place.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I agree with 2oony that unplugging is a big part of the reasons to go to the parks. There is great stuff all around you, but you have to look up to be able to experience it. I worry that NextGen will increase the number of people hooked into their phones, and increase the amount of rushing from one attraction to the next, in order to make the time window, without being able to fully relax and soak in the details that make the parks so special. Then again, if they're not doing a good job maintaining things, maybe they don't want us to have the free time to inspect the details >>Are there Pixar examples from the Planes movie?<< But Planes is going to be a "Disney" release. (It had to be said)
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I don't think I am an obsessed Disney fan. And yes, if you compare Disney to Six Flags they are head above heals above other parks (though Universal is very close). The standard that I hold to Disney to is the standard that Disney created and implemented for itself. When you compare Disney to Disney then the current Disney loses.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance You might not want to call it "Disney obsessed", but you certainly hold the parks to a different standard than 95% of the people who visit would.
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh "No, it's far from not great. It's awful. It drains your battery like crazy because your phone is constantly losing the signal and attempting to bring it back." You do know you can turn your wifi off, right?
Originally Posted By DouglasDubh "Wouldn't happier guests come from parks that are being kept up? New attractions? A move away from generic merchandise. Not dumbing down food choices to accommodate meal plans? Replacing old worn out entertainment? Fixing broken things in a timely manner?" Sure, those things would be nice too. But if NextGen also makes going to the parks more pleasant, then that would be a good thing, right? More accurate posted wait times, getting fast passes at times that work for my family, being able to find out which restaurants are open and whether seating is available are all things which NextGen promises and which will improve my experience. I am willing to see how it works before I condemn it.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 "You might not want to call it "Disney obsessed", but you certainly hold the parks to a different standard than 95% of the people who visit would." That doesn't make it right And I hold the parks to the standard that I was taught from the two men I worked for at Disney who learned them from Walt.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Might not make it right, but doesn't necessarily make it wrong either. Disney isn't a person, it's a business. May have been started by a person, but that was a long time ago, in a galaxy and world far different than ours. Now it's just made up of a bunch of different people who get rewarded by making or saving the company the most money. If you had a business that was hugely successful and 95% of the public raved about it, you'd pat yourself on the back and then try to think of ways to please those 95% of people.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Part of what is great about the system is that Disney doesn't really know how it will work yet" Don't kid yourself. They know.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Disney isn't a person, it's a business.<< That's fine. As consumers of their product, we're only holding them to the standards that they set for themselves. If Rolls-Royce started selling Kia-quality cars, that's fine. But they should expect return business to dwindle. Yah, they could get by for a few years on their solid reputation, and the fact that even the most loyal customers only buy their product once every few years, but eventually they're going to notice. And stop giving them their money. And it's a lot harder to win someone back than it was to get them the first time. I just hope that Disney, under Iger's lead, knows what they're doing for the long term; so far, it seems doubtful at best. >>"Part of what is great about the system is that Disney doesn't really know how it will work yet" Don't kid yourself. They know<< I think they have a pretty solid understanding of how it will work in theory, but it will completely revolutionize the way that guests experience the park. Instead of lining up to be the first one at a certain attraction, they will now have an appointment somewhere at a set time. The crowdflow patterns all day (but especially early in the morning and late in the evening) will be drastically altered. The way guests spend their time, and the length of time, and amount of 'free time' in the parks will also change dramatically. If the system works as well as they're hoping, there will be very little resemblence to a current visit to the parks. That said, of course they have a pretty strong hold on what it's supposed to do. They're giving the system some flexibility to work with the real-world demands from guests, but overall they know what they want from it. But it's also being developed with extra capacity for other elements to be added in later on (like PhotoPass, which wasn't part of the original plans), if it seems like it could become a valuable addition
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper <<You do know you can turn your wifi off, right?>> Of course, which is what I did. But that's beside the point. If Disney and NextGen require people to use their phones to navigate and manage their trips throughout the day, the wifi is a critical part of the equation, unless they want people running up their data charges and pissing of international tourists who don't have a smart phone that works in the US.
Originally Posted By Blufusion12 Ferret. I agree with you. i have been a long time fan of Disney and 1st went to Disney World in 1981 and it was great and I went a lot in the 80's almost every yr. for 8 yrs. and a few yrs. in the 90's the last time in 1997 and stayed in FW campgrounds. for 10 days it was great. and have been 4 times in the last 12 yrs. maybe Im older now and wiser.Probaly older. But Disney has for me dropped the ball. I need new things to do. Their rides are great at least the ones I ride. But I still cannot ever get the feeling back that In had when I went the 1st time and during the 80's it was different then. As for me I moved to Florida to be near the parks and live 90 mins away and have been here for 8 yrs. now and have only been to Epcot and The studios 2 times since then. Last yr. we had the money to WDW like I always wanted. But instead went to Hawaii and stayed at a 5 star Marriott right down the road from Aulani and due to my partner working for Marriott we got to stay for 8 days in a Villa. not a room or a suite overlooking the ocean rental car and round trip airfare for 2 and a 1 Hr helicopter ride . For a total of $4000.00 for all of it. It was great to be able to do that. We looked at staying at Aulani and for what they wanted for a room for 8 days would have cost $4000.00 for 8 days. We are luck in that since because of the rates we get with Marriott. And the one thing I noticed when I was their at our resort the kids were having fun. Real fun. I went over to Aulani to look around and the kids were having fun. But there were some parents and kids that had paid some much for that Magical Time they were trying to hard to have fun and it looked like they were not. I will hopefully go back to WDW for 4 days and stay at the Contemporary. Which has been a lifetime dream. It's on my bucket list . But I hope that WDW adds some excitement in the studios as far as the Star Wars property they have now and just add something. I guess what I'm saying it like . You can never go home again. But at least give me something to look forward to if I do.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 >"Part of what is great about the system is that Disney doesn't really know how it will work yet" Don't kid yourself. They know<< I also agree that the may know what they want the system to do in theory but the reality is that the testing has shown issues that Disney wasn't expecting, which is why you haven't seen the complete rollout which was to have begun a couple of months ago. I do think it is smart that they have held back until they understand the implications the system is going to bring to the parks. "But that's beside the point. If Disney and NextGen require people to use their phones to navigate and manage their trips throughout the day" I agree completely. I go the parks pretty often and was surprised at how bad the wifi system was and when NextGen goes online and more and more people need to use wifi to access their reservations and stuff it will be terrible. I have tried to use the MyDisneyExperience app on my phone while I am visiting (in anticipation of NextGen) and had problems accessing parts of it until I turned wifi off. Though it sucked a lot of battery life out of the phone. As for NextGen, I am not sure anyone has a good feel at how it is going to change the guest experience. For instance, when pretrip FP's come online for resort guests and AP holders, how will it affect day guests not staying on property? A friend involved in the system tells me that eventually Disney wants to move all FP's to the online system. He says that if you want to ride Soarin for instance and not wait in a long standby line, you will need to make your FP reservation at the earliest possible time that you have access. Otherwise you will not be able to get one. Like dining reservations, you will see people get online on the day that they system opens the new FP availability and some attractions will be gone within the first hour. Will there be no in person FP's? With so many resort/AP guests will it reduce the number of in person FP's? If so you will see traffic patterns change at the parks. It is going to change how people experience Disney theme parks for sure. The reality is we won't really know how much for a couple of years until all of it comes online.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance "That's fine. As consumers of their product, we're only holding them to the standards that they set for themselves. If Rolls-Royce started selling Kia-quality cars, that's fine." My whole point is that the vast majority of people would never consider Disney anything other than the utmost quality experience. Only people like us, who obsess about it regularly would pick it apart and say it's sub par quality.
