Disney News, Discussion & an Element of Fun - 2023 Edition

[BrianL]

It will also take them paying near market rates for their IT employees.

Well, that is also true.

 

[kylenne]

I agree. While it is likely that the individual devs are not "incompetent", I think that the department as a whole has systemic and cultural issues that lead to rushed projects and missed details, etc. This likely flows from the top down and it will take a massive shift in leadership style to change that.

Absolutely. I actually almost applied for a QA-oriented position there a while back and multiple colleagues I mentioned it to told me not to waste my time. There is some deep institutional rot in that org and I don’t see anything improving for customers until they address that.

 

[jade1]

Yea well even today I went to the App.
Click make a park reservation.
Next screen. Click make a park reservation.
Goes to another website. Luckily remember login and password.
Click make a park reservation.

It's a similar deal from DVC.com to check in.

 

[Ismo]

It will also take them paying near market rates for their IT employees.

I run a team of performance engineers, SAs, SREs, POs, etc for one of the largest financial firms in the world. And before that I was a performance engineer myself for many years. There are definitely ways and processes to avoid the many issues Disney IT faces. We are always testing, trying to break things, and then suggesting ways to improve and mitigate risk. There are peer reviews for all work because it's easy to miss little things. And there are so many different types of tests that can be run that would ensure many of the the issues Disney IT faces don't happen. If I had this many issues time & time again, I would have lost my job years ago. It is pretty unacceptable as there are ways to ensure these things don't happen.

Disney IT is drastically underpaid compared to the market. That is a huge part of the problem for sure. IT jobs in the corporate world usually require a lot of overtime and are incredibly stressful at times. It's hard to have the drive to fix these things if your salary doesn't meet the demand. I wouldn't say Disney IT as a whole is incompetent though. I'd say it falls to the leadership team to develop better processes and to train their teams better. Things get missed, it happens, but it should not happen on the level it does. So that definitely comes from higher up. An overhaul and some fresh eyes are needed.

It always feels like Disney IT is being setup to fail though.

 

[kylenne]

Yea well even today I went to the App.
Click make a park reservation.
Next screen. Click make a park reservation.
Goes to another website. Luckily remember login and password.
Click make a park reservation.

It's a similar deal from DVC.com to check in.

MDE is back fine for me but I'm still having login issues on all three streaming apps.

 

[Smugpugmug]

It will also take them paying near market rates for their IT employees.

This is the same company that pays the worst for mechanics and engineers in the area (at least for Disneyland in California. Unsure about Florida). Which is part of the reason ride maintenance is so bad right now.

 

[kylenne]

I run a team of performance engineers, SAs, SREs, POs, etc for one of the largest financial firms in the world. And before that I was a performance engineer myself for many years. There are definitely ways and processes to avoid the many issues Disney IT faces. We are always testing, trying to break things, and then suggesting ways to improve and mitigate risk. There are peer reviews for all work because it's easy to miss little things. And there are so many different types of tests that can be run that would ensure many of the the issues Disney IT faces don't happen. If I had this many issues time & time again, I would have lost my job years ago. It is pretty unacceptable as there are ways to ensure these things don't happen.

Disney IT is drastically underpaid compared to the market. That is a huge part of the problem for sure. IT jobs in the corporate world usually require a lot of overtime and are incredibly stressful at times. It's hard to have the drive to fix these things if your salary doesn't meet the demand. I wouldn't say Disney IT as a whole is incompetent though. I'd say it falls to the leadership team to develop better processes and to train their teams better. Things get missed, it happens, but it should not happen on the level it does. So that definitely comes from higher up. An overhaul and some fresh eyes are needed.

It always feels like Disney IT is being setup to fail though.

100% agree with this. Especially bold.

I don't think it's just the lack of pay, though that doesn't help. When I say "Disney IT is incompetent" I'm talking 99% leadership. Individuals can have issues from time to time, people make mistakes and things can get missed, but that's why you have processes in place to catch them. And from (sadly painful) experience, people tend not to want to work for clueless leadership, because it makes a stressful job even more stressful than it needs to be. If testing catches a defect like this but it's brushed it off because they're being pressured to meet a go live deadline by higher ups outside the team with very little understanding of how any of this works...?

 

[Ismo]

100% agree with this. Especially bold.

I don't think it's just the lack of pay, though that doesn't help. When I say "Disney IT is incompetent" I'm talking 99% leadership. Individuals can have issues from time to time, people make mistakes and things can get missed, but that's why you have processes in place to catch them. And from (sadly painful) experience, people tend not to want to work for clueless leadership, because it makes a stressful job even more stressful than it needs to be. If testing catches a defect like this but it's brushed it off because they're being pressured to meet a go live deadline by higher ups outside the team with very little understanding of how any of this works...?

And I 100% agree with this The pressure to get everything ready to go live is a huge issue if defects are being brushed over. And that definitely falls to the managers. It's their job say "No Go" and to escalate if no one is listening. It's so frustrating watching Disney have these issues time and time again. But I'm sure no one hates it more than the lower end IT team members getting those phone calls on their time off to come back in and fix yet another issue.

 

[Brocktoon]

I still can't login to D+, and trying to login into MDE I just get a spinning circle this morning. Are other's still having issues this morning? For the amount of $$$ I've thrown at Disney over the years, it's just ridiculous that we're on day 2 of this issue with no more information of a fix.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

Well this is happening.

View attachment 745279

I went to check allergy menus on the MDE app and got the account deactivated message and just now tried to continue my first watch of Star Wars Rebels on D+ and it kicked me out on my Apple TV. Really feeling for people in the parks right now. And guest services bearing the brunt of Disney’s totally incompetent IT.

D+ was giving us fits last night. We were trying to watch the Nat Geo episode on the Wish and it glitched and glitched and glitched.

 

[jlundeen]

Are they still using a lot of contractors instead of employees?

 

[kylenne]

D+ was giving us fits last night. We were trying to watch the Nat Geo episode on the Wish and it glitched and glitched and glitched.

I can't even log in, it kicked me out while I was watching Star Wars Rebels and when I try to log back in I get an error about needing to be 18 to set up an account. The other day I downloaded season 2 to my iPad to watch during my commute and I can't even access those now. Super frustrating because I left off on a cliffhanger!

 

[Ismo]

Are they still using a lot of contractors instead of employees?

Most IT departments use a lot of contractors. It doesn't mean they're not skilled. Some of my contractors are the most skilled individuals I know. The issue with contractors is that they don't tend to last as long, especially if pay is bad. Plus there are usually limits on how long a contractor can stay. I started as a contractor years ago, it's a tough gig. Same responsibility as an employee without the benefits. And the constant handover & training causes it's own set of issues.

 

[Brian Noble]

It's almost never actually 100+ degrees in Florida. People need to stop conflating temperature and heat index.

 

[Brocktoon]

I can't even log in, it kicked me out while I was watching Star Wars Rebels and when I try to log back in I get an error about needing to be 18 to set up an account. The other day I downloaded season 2 to my iPad to watch during my commute and I can't even access those now. Super frustrating because I left off on a cliffhanger!

I'm at work so I can't check, but I'm hearing from others D+ still may be down for some with no ETA to be restored. I still haven't been able to catch the new Mando Episode

 

[crazy4wdw]

Tickets for the 2023 Swan/Dolphin Food and Wine Classic are now on sale:
https://swandolphinfoodandwineclassic.com/

 

[jade1]

MDE is back fine for me but I'm still having login issues on all three streaming apps.

Yea but I meant it's always what is needed to make a park reservation from the App.

It asks 3 times including a website jump and login in between.

Just seems like clicking make a park reservation in the App, should be enough.

 

[Genie+]

Tickets for the 2023 Swan/Dolphin Food and Wine Classic are now on sale:
https://swandolphinfoodandwineclassic.com/

Thanks for the heads up!

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I wonder if their site got cooties from Disney’s system

 

[Douglas Dubh]

WDW just posted that they are looking for CM’s to work in the Morocco pavilion. Might mean restaurant Marakesh will be reopening in the next few months.

 

[Gusey]

Josh D’Amaro Leads Disney Parks Presentation at SXSW 2023
Including a look at a "Pixie-sizes" Tinker Bell meet and greet, the Hulk animatronic and a special Judy Hopps animattronic that can fall over, get back up and do a somersault.