There’s a lot of excitement in Magic Kindom these days, mostly because TRON Lightcycle / Run is set to open soon!
Opening soon!
And if you were among the (likely) thousands of people who tried to score an Annual Passholder preview for the ride the other day, you know just how highly anticipated this coaster truly is. But even though many guests hoped to get a preview, not everyone was successful…many thanks to some major flaws with the booking system. So what went wrong, and how can you be prepared for next time?
Timing of the Drop
First of all, there’s the timing of when the preview link was dropped. Annual Passholders were supposed to get an email, but many didn’t get a notification in their inbox until after the link to register had already been spread across the internet. Some fans found the link in the Passholder Buzz section of the My Disney Experience app, but if you didn’t know it was there, you might’ve been late to the game.
©Disney
And for those waiting for an email, they were sent in waves. Passholders got the emails at different times, so if yours wasn’t one of the first sent out, you could’ve ended up HOURS behind in the queue. It all seemed very random and a little haphazard. Many were left frustrated by that alone.
Essentially, it would benefit you to check multiple places on the day that a preview link is set to be dropped. Who knows where it could end up first?!
The Process
Next, we have to talk about the process itself. It really wasn’t clear what would happen once you entered the queue. If you opened the link to the reservation page before 9AM ET, you were placed in a waiting room. Then, at 9AM, the waiting room refreshed and everyone was put into the queue. It’s unclear if this was random or in order based on when you opened the link.
©Disney
Those who weren’t Passholders were able to enter the queue and could wait in it, but would be kicked out when they tried to log in before making a reservation. The estimated wait times for the queue were also all over the place. One of our team members started at “over an hour” but was then dropped down to 38 minutes in the span of a few seconds. It then jumped back up into the 50s. And many guests waited for hours to snag a preview — some waiting for multiple hours and not getting anything at all.
More Waiting
One issue that was particularly frustrating is that after you had your queue countdown and finally made it to the login screen, you might be met with MORE loading pages. One of our team members got stuck on a loading page with a photo of Woody multiple times, with 5-10 minute waits each time.
©Disney
Since this page doesn’t have an estimated wait time, it’s hard to know if your waiting is productive or if the system is glitching and you need to refresh. And there’s no telling how long the wait will last once you get here.
Choosing Your Party
But perhaps the biggest struggle we encountered came when choosing our party. Once you’re logged in and you finally make it to the reservation process, you’ll first be required to choose the members of your group. Multiple times we had issues where the person who logged into the account was not shown as the “primary guest” — which may cause issues further down the line when showing up for your reservation. Because of this, we had to refresh the page and hope for the best, getting kicked out back to the screen with Woody again.
©Disney
After that was resolved, we still ran into issues with selecting party members. If you have a lot of people on your Family & Friends list, it might not show all the Passholders at once. Many Passholders had to open the My Disney Experience app on their phone, remove guests from their Family & Friends list, and then refresh the page to get the right people to show up. And of course, if you refresh, you’re waiting another 5-10 minutes minimum.
General Glitches
And on top of the mass confusion and the long waiting, there were plenty of general glitches with the website. Some people were logged out of their accounts and some were kicked out of the process before getting to the confirmation page. To wait so long just to have some technical glitch mess it up was very frustrating for many.
©Disney
So what can you do the next time a Passholder preview drops? First of all, make sure you have those email notifications on. And it wouldn’t hurt to check the Passholder Buzz in MDE throughout the day either. When the queue drops, it might be a good idea to join on your phone and your computer just in case.
Annual Passholder card
If there are multiple people in your party trying to snag a reservation, you’ll have better chances if you all pitch in. Make sure you’ve got good wifi or a strong signal, because you’ll be in it for the long haul. Keep in mind that previews are limited, so you may not get one even if you’re fast. But of course, we wish you the best of luck!
Stay tuned to DFB for more tips on how to navigate Disney World and plan for your trip. We’ll keep you updated on the latest!
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Our passholder preview email arrived after the event was full. It also came from “Disney Destinations” which made me think it was about cruises, not Tron. So disappointing.
I was invited to both Remy and Guardians Sneaks as a Passholder. Both were EXACTLY the same as this. They were very clear that probably not everyone would get in. I waited almost 2 1/2 hours before I got entered into the queue. It was almost 11:30 a.m. Eastern. There were still a LOT of openings. The links were all over in FB posts and other blog posts. My only complaint (all 3 times) is that it was difficult to “exclude” people I’m friends with who will not be in town that day.
A lot of hype for an attraction that lasts 60 seconds
We received our email notification at 9:05 EST. We spent over 3 hours in the queue and never advanced past the the initial screen. Now we know why. Sorry, Disney, this was a massive fail on your part due to all of the reasons listed in this article.
So the saga goes on. Disney just can’t seem to ever get it right when technology is involved. Most organizations would have a solid plan as to timing of what is sent when to who and how it functions. This would include many individuals that seek to challenge, question and find flaws with the plan as if they were the public. It also would involve IT testing to confirm that things won’t fail when put into real life production and faced with high usage. Disney just seems to function in a bubble with these things and there seems to be little if any concern for the negative experience that guests are subjected to. There appears to be a complete disconnect between marketing and IT, every time.
This was a MESS. The pass holder event for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride worked fine so why is the second attempt at this type of offer so poorly done?
Also, the sign up allowed a party to sign in. Did they ALL have to be passholders or just the primary person? We each have an annual pass and after 3.5 hours “ on hold” on the computer, my sign on wasn’t accepted but I verified it on the phone, finally got in to be told no spots left. Which finally flipped to a calendar offering available days that are excluded on the pass.
Is this an example of the new approach to passholders? Since most are now Florida residents???? As a pass holder I am more inclined to pay for preferred parking and upscale meals I can’t ride any of the new rides but I keep going back as my husband can, I am exactly the economic model you want IN the parks.
A revised offering really needs to be made.
I survived getting Taylor swift tickets so this was nothing
This is almost exactly how the Run Disney sign up was for the Disneyland the other day. I wish Disney would invest in better IT.
I sent an email complaining to Disney regarding the handling of this preview. I was able to get for 3/11 but am blocked out that date. Representative told me that it would most likely get cancelled or Disney might offer me the chance to purchase a ticket for that day to get on the ride. So they want me, who already pays an arm and a leg for the annual pass, to purchase a separate ticket just to access the ride. Talk about money hungry.
It is truely amazing how much of the Disney mojo that we became accustomed to in the 90’s has been lost. Some of the simplest tasks seem to fall between the cracks and guest service suffers, and the guest experience is marred for years. Disney was the benchmark for innovative attractions and launches, now Disney is the industry joke on how not to do something above and beyond guest expectations. Need another Michael Eisner to straighten things out…