If you’re planning on visiting Disney World soon, odds are you’ll use some form of technology while there.
Cinderella Castle
Maybe you’ll use your phone to make Genie+ and Individual Attraction Selection passes. Maybe you’ll use a mobile device to place a mobile order. Or maybe you’ll use your MagicBand (and the technology built into that) to scan yourself into the parks and pay for items during your stay. Well, today some of Disney’s various forms of technologies seem to be experiencing issues, and it’s a very good reminder of what you need to be prepared for in the future.
As we walked around Disney World today, we noticed that various technological systems were experiencing issues. In Magic Kingdom, at Golden Oak Outpost, we noticed that the MagicBand method of payment was temporarily down.
While MagicBands can be great and really convenient to use for payments (no need to search through your pay for a credit card or anything else), they’re not perfect. Disney World may experience technological issues that cause the MagicBands to be unavailable payment. It’s a good reminder to always carry an alternative form of payment (or 2 or 3 just in case) and ID to make sure you’re prepared.
Golden Oak Outpost
In Disney’s Hollywood Studios, lines at the Backlot Express were getting quite long. It appears the delay may have been caused by technological issues being experienced with the My Disney Experience app and mobile orders.
Longer Lines
We spoke to a Cast Member who indicated that for a time today mobile orders essentially were’t going through, but that they believe it has now been fixed.
Lines
Over at EPCOT, at Regal Eagle Smokehouse we heard some guests complaining that their My Disney Experience apps were also experiencing issues. But, others, like our own DFB reporter, were able to place their mobile orders fine.
For one reporter, the screen initially gave them an error message, but ultimately the app let the reporter go through the ordering steps and pay for and finalize the order. That order ended up being just fine.
Some App Issues
So, it just goes to show that issues with the My Disney Experience app can sometimes vary.
Another Error Message
According to WESH 2 News, Disney isn’t the only one experiencing technical issues today. Amazon Web Services experienced an outage today that caused services at various websites to be limited. Individuals trying to utilize various online services, including Disney+, have reported issues.
Magic Kingdom
If you’re planning on visiting Disney World soon and using your phone to placing some mobile orders (which are essentially required at certain spots) or do other things, here are some things you might want to do to be prepared for the unexpected:
- Bring back-up payment options just in case there are issues with your phone, MagicBand, etc.
- Take screenshots of all of your Park Passes in case the system experiences technical issues and you can’t access that information otherwise (we noticed that the park pass availability website seemed to be experiencing issues today)
- Take screenshots of any dining, room, and other reservations as well so that you have all of that in an accessible place in case the My Disney Experience app has issues
- Don’t forget those phone chargers
- Ask a Cast Member for help — If there are tech issues, you can typically find a Cast Member at a nearby spot who can assist you or provide you with other ordering options
We’ll keep an eye out for more updates and let you know what we find.
Click here to see some things you never knew you could do with the Disney World app.
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Not Disney Fault https://kutv.com/news/nation-world/amazon-web-services-experiences-outages-crippling-internet-services
Sometimes New and Improved is not New and Improved. What was wrong with the old Magic Band way of doing business. It was simple and easy to use. All of this change under the Iger/Chepek regeim is not working out so well and we guests are paying much higher prices for it. Bad show Disney
Which is yet another reason I will NEVER eat in places that require mobile ordering!!
It was more then that! You couldn’t use gift cards either, the monorail was down and it was all over the WDW!
We were in the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday and it was a bit of a challenge to do anything. It was also our first purchase of Disney Genie +. Seemed like we spent most of the day just killing time and waiting between Lightning Lane ride times. What were we supposed to do? Keep eating all day even though we weren’t hungry? Shop, shop and shop? Maybe we didn’t want to shop anymore. Plus most shops were so crowded that shopping was not fun.
Genie was problematic and Genie + is a big time fail for us.