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View Full Version : Why Can't Disney Get it Right With Their Online Experience?



MPoppins
02-20-2013, 09:15 PM
I want to love the "My Disney Experience" - I really do. However, after several strange experiences with it, I don't see it as handy. For example:

- One time I logged in, registered my AP, and the date of expiration showed up as December of 2030. :confused: While that would be awesome, I don't think that's right.

- Logged in at 60 days from my date of arrival to do online check-in... Couldn't do it. Had an online chat with a CM who told me that I can't do online check-in because I booked through a travel agency. :mad: Logged back in a few days later - the "online check-in" icon appeared on the page; I went through the steps; got an error message; started over; now I'm checked in. What changed?

- Logged in one time last week - saw an icon that said something like "Link Magic Cards" Hmmm... clicked on it, got an error message. Tried again. Nothing. Went back to the site later in the day - the icon was gone. Another phantom button from Disney's web developers.

I guess it just bugs me that for a company that can create such unbelievable magic that they can't maintain a user-friendly, clearly usable website.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

PlutoPlanet
02-20-2013, 09:24 PM
I thought Disney did not do their own Information Technology.

DizneyRox
02-21-2013, 07:11 AM
When work goes to the lowest bidder with no vested interest outside of building it for less than the bid, these things happen...

VWL Mom
02-21-2013, 07:32 AM
I guess it just bugs me that for a company that can create such unbelievable magic that they can't maintain a user-friendly, clearly usable website.



:exactly:
I also don't know why they're in such a hurry to go live in the parks when they can't seem to get the websites right. Normal day to day things on the main website have been okay for me, glitches with DVC site to the point where the posted something about an issue with dues, and the AP site keeps redirecting me to the main site. On the rare occasion the AP site lets me in I have to add my pass again.

Never been a fan of Disney IT, if it's outsourced to the lowest bidder, shame on them. I did see quite a few positions for hire a few months back though so I'm not sure.

BrerGnat
02-21-2013, 08:03 AM
Disney absolutely does their own IT. Just do a search on the DIsney Careers website and you'll see TONS of available jobs in that area. That's the problem. They don't have good talent working there. I blame it on the fact that the jobs are in places that are NOT hotspots for technical talent.

If they headquartered their internet/online division in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley, CA, and paid a fair wage, their website would run flawlessly. Trust me. This is where all the talent for this kind of thing is in this country. Instead, their internet jobs are in Glendale, Burbank, and Orlando. :confused:

kakn7294
02-21-2013, 10:19 AM
I can tell your with absolute certainty that Disney has it's own IT Department as I have a very good friend who works there. The Disney IT department is responsible for all computer systems and every computer world-wide at all parks, stores, resorts, restaurants, etc, related to anything Disney. I can't imagine what a monumental task it is keeping millions of computers online and functioning 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Hammer
02-21-2013, 10:58 AM
Disney absolutely does their own IT. Just do a search on the DIsney Careers website and you'll see TONS of available jobs in that area. That's the problem. They don't have good talent working there. I blame it on the fact that the jobs are in places that are NOT hotspots for technical talent.

If they headquartered their internet/online division in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley, CA, and paid a fair wage, their website would run flawlessly. Trust me. This is where all the talent for this kind of thing is in this country. Instead, their internet jobs are in Glendale, Burbank, and Orlando. :confused:

I disagree that all the IT talent is in San Francisco/Silicon Valley. There are plenty of high quality IT professionals on the East Coast, Texas and the Midwest. There are some right in your backyard in Northern Virginia.

But I agree that Disney would need to pay a decent wage to attract high quality IT professionals, regardless of where they located IT. I am an IT professional for Comcast/NBCU and Disney pays 33% less then what I make here in Philadelphia. The cost of living is not that much less, especially if I wanted to maintain the same standard of living and own in the same sort of neighborhood I do now.

SBETigg
02-21-2013, 10:59 AM
If they headquartered their internet/online division in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley, CA, and paid a fair wage, their website would run flawlessly. Trust me. This is where all the talent for this kind of thing is in this country. Instead, their internet jobs are in Glendale, Burbank, and Orlando. :confused:

All the talent? This is absolutely false, by the way. To think that "all of the talent" in the field is based in that area shows your own bias for the area as well as a remarkable lack of awareness of the industry. There is talent in the field all over the country and if they were offering competitive wages and paying for relocation, they could easily lure talent their way. I don't mean to be hard on you, but my husband is in the industry and I find your comment personally offensive (which I know you did not intend).

That said, I haven't had any issues with the site yet. I keep expecting to because I keep hearing about other people hitting glitches, but it has consistently been working well for me. Just lucky, I guess? So now I've set myself up for a major glitch.

magicofdisney
02-21-2013, 11:13 AM
I've had issues with the site since I first registered many, many years ago. I'm constantly having to re-enter my AP info. That alone drives me nuts because I don't memorize the number so I have to dig out my card each time.

With the new changes, you can't make online payments. This frustrates me to no end because I'd much rather use online than make a phone call.

Half the time, or more, it can't find my linked reservations.

I've done all the tricks with clearing the cookies and the cache. That sometimes works and sometimes makes me start all over.

I feel your pain.

brownie
02-21-2013, 11:50 AM
Transmitting this to the Disney Tech forum.

BrerGnat
02-21-2013, 12:09 PM
My comment was meant tongue in cheek, mostly. I was mainly pointing out that Orlando and Glendale/Burbank are most certainly NOT IT hot spots in this country.

Of course there is IT talent all over the country, but when you are a company as large as Disney, and you have these jobs in such random areas, you are not going to attract the same pool of talent that you might find in areas where this industry is more concentrated.

It is no secret that Northern CA is "where it's at" in this industry, regardless of where else in the country these jobs can be found.

For what it's worth, I have no bias towards Northern CA. I actually don't like it up there at all. But, my family had to move cross country for my dad's job when I was a teenager, and it was because his NY office shut down in favor of establishing a larger base in Silicon Valley...along with TONS of other companies at the time.

As an example, if Pixar decided to move to Orlando, they would be in trouble...

There is a solid reason why so many internet and computer tech companies have their headquarters in Northern CA.

SBETigg
02-21-2013, 01:12 PM
It is no secret that Northern CA is "where it's at" in this industry, regardless of where else in the country these jobs can be found.

There is a solid reason why so many internet and computer tech companies have their headquarters in Northern CA.

That might have been true ten or twenty years ago, but it's no longer the case and it hasn't been for many years now. Many years.

Hammer
02-21-2013, 01:18 PM
My comment was meant tongue in cheek, mostly. I was mainly pointing out that Orlando and Glendale/Burbank are most certainly NOT IT hot spots in this country.

Of course there is IT talent all over the country, but when you are a company as large as Disney, and you have these jobs in such random areas, you are not going to attract the same pool of talent that you might find in areas where this industry is more concentrated.

It is no secret that Northern CA is "where it's at" in this industry, regardless of where else in the country these jobs can be found.

For what it's worth, I have no bias towards Northern CA. I actually don't like it up there at all. But, my family had to move cross country for my dad's job when I was a teenager, and it was because his NY office shut down in favor of establishing a larger base in Silicon Valley...along with TONS of other companies at the time.

As an example, if Pixar decided to move to Orlando, they would be in trouble...

There is a solid reason why so many internet and computer tech companies have their headquarters in Northern CA.

Again, I disagree. That was the way of thinking a few years ago, but that mindset is changing, regardless of how the media wants to spin it. While headquarters may still be in Northern California, development is done in other states or abroad. What matters is you offer a good wage and people will move wherever you say.

Example- Early part of 2000, I had 2 IT job offers, one for a cellular technology company whose US headquarters are in NJ or McGraw Hill, out in Monterey, CA. Both companies offered the same salary! I took the NJ job, as research told me that my money would go much farther here. Pretty scenery does not pay the bills :). People will usually go where they get the best salary (yes, I know there are times when other circumstances may change that).

For the record, I LOVE Northern California. Favorite part of the state and San Francisco is probably in my top 3 favorite cities to visit.

Natalie, we just have to agree to disagree on this :D !

SBETigg
02-21-2013, 08:15 PM
Not to belabor the point, but I asked my husband about it in case I had my facts wrong. Always possible. He said that if you're talking software development, then yes Northern CA was and is where it's at. So yes, Natalie, sorry, you are right in that case, if this were a software issue. But this isn't a software development issue. We're not talking about a field that was ever predominant in the San Fran/Northern CA area.This isn't software development. And NYC has taken over in that area in many ways, apparently, and other areas.

And he doesn't even think it's a talent issue. he brought up a good point and said that it sounds like an infrastructure issue, which again means that we're probably talking about Disney executives not spending where it's needed most, on the necessary infrastructure to handle a web presence of their size and actual needs. They could have the best talent in place and not be meeting the needs of the infrastructure. I suspect it could be a bit of both. Let's all hope they get it together soon.

Hammer
02-21-2013, 09:13 PM
And he doesn't even think it's a talent issue. he brought up a good point and said that it sounds like an infrastructure issue, which again means that we're probably talking about Disney executives not spending where it's needed most, on the necessary infrastructure to handle a web presence of their size and actual needs. They could have the best talent in place and not be meeting the needs of the infrastructure. I suspect it could be a bit of both. Let's all hope they get it together soon.

Sherri's husband brings up a very valid point. Designing the software is only half the job. If you do not have enough servers to handle the traffic, for example, the site performance will be poor. This is where I say they need better testing of products before rollout, especially load and performance testing. Again, Disney is not spending the money to provide for that sort of thing and you see the result.

kakn7294
02-24-2013, 12:11 AM
Not to belabor the point, but I asked my husband about it in case I had my facts wrong. Always possible. He said that if you're talking software development, then yes Northern CA was and is where it's at. So yes, Natalie, sorry, you are right in that case, if this were a software issue. But this isn't a software development issue. We're not talking about a field that was ever predominant in the San Fran/Northern CA area.This isn't software development. And NYC has taken over in that area in many ways, apparently, and other areas.

And he doesn't even think it's a talent issue. he brought up a good point and said that it sounds like an infrastructure issue, which again means that we're probably talking about Disney executives not spending where it's needed most, on the necessary infrastructure to handle a web presence of their size and actual needs. They could have the best talent in place and not be meeting the needs of the infrastructure. I suspect it could be a bit of both. Let's all hope they get it together soon.I agree - it's mostly that the servers cannot handle the day-to-day volume of online traffic and they constantly crash. It has very little to do with the software itself or the talent of the people who work there or how much they're getting paid. Again, I have a very good friend who works for Disney's IT department - I don't know her exact salary but I know it's pretty decent. I also know that she's pretty smart and extremely dedicated when it comes to what she does. Oh, and her job is in North Carolina although she used to work in Orlando.