Moonlight Magic Reservations-help!

[ellynsoh]

I watched the circle to round and round for four hours before I surrendered. I only needed one ticket and had two days possibilities. So disappointed.

 

[tjkraz]

I could stand it being a little more crowded to accommodate all of the members who use points for a reservation. Then again, we all pay for this whether we're told it's sold out or not, so why not everyone?

There are nearly 4000 2-bedroom equivalent villas at WDW now with a max occupancy of 9. That's as many as 36,000 DVC members + guests on property at any given time. (Actual occupancy is certainly less, but I mention that figure to illustrate what it would take to GUARANTEE a spot to everyone with a room reservation.)

Average daily attendance at Hollywood Studios is 29,000. That's an average with more people visiting on a busy day and fewer on a "slow" day. And that 29K isn't the average in the park at a single time, rather it includes all of the comings-and-goings throughout a normal 10-12 hour operating day.

The operational ride capacity of Rock N Rollercoaster is around 1600 guests per hour or 4800 TOTAL in a 3-hour Moonlight Magic evening. For TOT it's 1800 per hour. Toy Story Mania is around 2100. Add up all of the attractions (stage shows unlikely to operate after dark) and they might be able to comfortably handle get 10,000 guests on ONE attraction in the first hour.

I don't know exactly what the attendance cap is for Moonlight Magic but 36,000 guests in the park at 9pm would not be fun for anyone. I'm guessing they have to limit MM attendance to about 1/3 of that number.

 

[KPeterso]

Part of the issue was that our booking countdowns were all counting down according to the device time.. not Eastern time. So for the next go around, everyone might change your device temporarily to Eastern time.

I am on the west coast and was trying on my phone and work laptop. The time of course was wrong, but I had no issues other than it being slow as molasses. Was able to book. And since I cannot change the clock on my laptop without calling in a ticket to the help desk that then gets escalated, that would not have been this AM. Ask me why I know about the clock change pain at work...

 

[Marionnette]

I am so very sad, got up at 5:45 AM California time was working two computers when I finally got in it would not recognize my reservation number tried twice more and then it was sold out so sad spent 60 minutes on the phone with Disney that I did qualify but there is nothing you can do .i if anyone ends up with two extra tickets we would love it for anniversary message me b

The first time that I got in, I entered my Member ID followed by my reservation number in the second box. My fault for not looking hard enough at what they wanted. It wasn't my resort confirmation number that was needed. They wanted me to confirm the Member ID # that I had entered in the first box! It never did want my resort reservation number but nonetheless, the computer knew when we held a reservation and allowed me to book for the night when we are there.

I really feel that the page was confusing. After so many people had posted on here that your resort confirmation number was needed, I just assumed that was what was required for the second box.

 

[TexasChick123]

The first time that I got in, I entered my Member ID followed by my reservation number in the second box. My fault for not looking hard enough at what they wanted. It wasn't my resort confirmation number that was needed. They wanted me to confirm the Member ID # that I had entered in the first box! It never did want my resort reservation number but nonetheless, the computer knew when we held a reservation and allowed me to book for the night when we are there.

I really feel that the page was confusing. After so many people had posted on here that your resort confirmation number was needed, I just assumed that was what was required for the second box.

Same here.

 

[fearthisinc]

Im curious how they handle cancellations or guest reductions.. In the confirmation email it asked that if anything changes to contact them to allow other members the opportunity to get in.. If people cancel or reduce party size, will they just activate the link again.. Or will it just be for those that are on site around that time and inquire?

 

[princesspat209]

on line @ 8:30 this am & tried getting reservation as soon as the window opened up . Did not happen was on hold for 2 1/2 hrs. This was not a fun or magical experience Thanks DVC for a stressful morning .

 

[bubsmoljo]

Hi All-
I had 3 electronics (laptop, Iphone, & Ipad) all ready to click at 9am. It took me appoximately 4 minutes to get through on my Phone no less and I signed right up. My ipad or laptop never got off the circling circle hold screen. I'm sad it was such a cluster for so many people

 

[keliblue]

The first time that I got in, I entered my Member ID followed by my reservation number in the second box. My fault for not looking hard enough at what they wanted. It wasn't my resort confirmation number that was needed. They wanted me to confirm the Member ID # that I had entered in the first box! It never did want my resort reservation number but nonetheless, the computer knew when we held a reservation and allowed me to book for the night when we are there.

I really feel that the page was confusing. After so many people had posted on here that your resort confirmation number was needed, I just assumed that was what was required for the second box.

Now I feel like an absolute idiot... I too assumed member # Ressie # .... and I so had it!

 

[bwvBound]

There are nearly 4000 2-bedroom equivalent villas at WDW now with a max occupancy of 9. That's as many as 36,000 DVC members + guests on property at any given time. (Actual occupancy is certainly less, but I mention that figure to illustrate what it would take to GUARANTEE a spot to everyone with a room reservation.)

Average daily attendance at Hollywood Studios is 29,000. That's an average with more people visiting on a busy day and fewer on a "slow" day. And that 29K isn't the average in the park at a single time, rather it includes all of the comings-and-goings throughout a normal 10-12 hour operating day.

The operational ride capacity of Rock N Rollercoaster is around 1600 guests per hour or 4800 TOTAL in a 3-hour Moonlight Magic evening. For TOT it's 1800 per hour. Toy Story Mania is around 2100. Add up all of the attractions (stage shows unlikely to operate after dark) and they might be able to comfortably handle get 10,000 guests on ONE attraction in the first hour.

I don't know exactly what the attendance cap is for Moonlight Magic but 36,000 guests in the park at 9pm would not be fun for anyone. I'm guessing they have to limit MM attendance to about 1/3 of that number.

Thanks for working the numbers, Tim. I was wondering about these ... and you answered. Thanks!

 

[Walker TR]

Thought the event was called Membership magic not Marketing Magic. Maybe they should rebrand the event.
Seems to me members spend a lot of time and money to be disappointed. Seems like there should be a better way to ensure members staying on the properties have the opportunity to attend “membership events”. The mouse has really lost the guest, (customer) satisfaction focus.

 

[TexasChick123]

I think you should only be able to sign up early for a MM event once per calendar year. Honestly, here’s what I propose as registration periods:

1) early registration for DVC members staying at WDW resorts who have not attended any other MM event this calendar year
2) DVC member registration for those who have already attended an event this calendar year but are staying at a WDW resort
3) DVC member registration for those who aren’t staying onsite

Basically it would break the original first group into two different groups giving those that have never attended a better chance to attend. It won’t happen, but that’s my thoughts anyway.

 

[OOoB]

So frustrated, I was unable to get my tickets today, I took me forever to get to the RSVP page, it keep refreshing and kicking me out when my husband finally got to the registration page and entered membership number and the information required on the first page it kicked him out again, we keep on trying for over one hour until we got the message that registration was close, so disappointed , we don’t understand why it didn’t let him continued with the registration after filling the first part

 

[keishashadow]

I can tell everyone that didn't get in today that the man standing behind me to pick up his bands at Poly for MM at TL forgot to book during the pre-registration period because he got busy at work. He said he went online at 9am on the day of regular registration and was able to grab spots for his family of 5 with very few issues. I've also seen others on these boards saying they grabbed spots on that day. I hope this helps alleviate some of the stress.

JMHO, TL not as ‘hot’ of an event with members.

While we were waiting in line, noticed they had extras to hand out @ TL ‘17 4th of July week event.

My CRO reservation wasn’t recognized for Jan ‘17 signup. I did get in when they opened regular reservations.

At epcot when we arrived last week, after 8 pm, the CMs were telling people no availability.

 

[bwvBound]

I am so very sad, got up at 5:45 AM California time was working two computers when I finally got in it would not recognize my reservation number tried twice more and then it was sold out so sad spent 60 minutes on the phone with Disney that I did qualify but there is nothing you can do .i if anyone ends up with two extra tickets we would love it for anniversary message me b

You might want to mention which night you were looking for?

 

[bianca]

Their IT department can absolutely do better. How about breaking it down by date, or number of points used, or when reservation was made, or how long you've been a member. I know people will whine, but it could have been better controlled with SOME kind of metric to make the limited system handle it.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Their IT department can absolutely do better. How about breaking it down by date, or number of points used, or when reservation was made, or how long you've been a member. I know people will whine, but it could have been better controlled with SOME kind of metric to make the limited system handle it.

Their IT department can't do better. IT is a hot mess.
They could hire people who could do better instead of outsourcing to lowest bidder, but...

 

[Antonia]

I thought it worked great. I used the email link that was sent last night. Followed all the directions. Waited for each page to load and voila! Got the confirmation email! Couldn’t have been smoother except the pages were slow to load.

 

[Roxyfire]

Their IT department can absolutely do better. How about breaking it down by date, or number of points used, or when reservation was made, or how long you've been a member. I know people will whine, but it could have been better controlled with SOME kind of metric to make the limited system handle it.

Their IT department can't do better. IT is a hot mess.
They could hire people who could do better instead of outsourcing to lowest bidder, but...

Honestly I think one of the biggest problems is opening booking for all events on the same day. There were what, 3 or 4 dates worth of people trying to get in at once? Why not stagger it? They're setting people up for disappointment and themselves up for misery and possible failure each time. I can only imagine the amount of grief IT and front line CMs receive from angry guests who were online at the proper time and unable to book because the website was slammed.

 

[bwvBound]

Honestly I think one of the biggest problems is opening booking for all events on the same day. There were what, 3 or 4 dates worth of people trying to get in at once? Why not stagger it? They're setting people up for disappointment and themselves up for misery and possible failure each time. I can only imagine the amount of grief IT and front line CMs receive from angry guests who were online at the proper time and unable to book because the website was slammed.

FWIW, I was glad they opened registration for all the HS Fall dates at the same time. A few reasons:
a) My desired date was at the end of the range ... I could have still canceled my DVC room reservation w/out penalty if we didn't get tickets. (The earliest event dates were already inside the 30-day window and unable to cancel w/out going into holding.)
b) I figured it increased my chances of getting a booking. All of us hitting the website were limited to one event night; not everyone competing in the process was trying for the same event night.
c) Lastly, I'm guessing combining the nights made it easier on their coders to restrict 'successful booking' to the recent rule: "only one event night per park." If each event registration were conducted on separate dates there may have been one extra lookup to run: "Has member already booked an event for this year at this park?" That may not have phased most commercial programmers ... but Disney's team ... oh, shudder the thought.

While I was frustrated by the many errors encountered (server dropped connection, internal server error, too many concurrent users, session timed out, etc.) ... I wasn't put off by having all HS Fall dates lumped into a single registration marathon.