As a Canadian who wanted to do Dopey last year but didn't pull the trigger (but got a spot today!), I can validate this. Traveling within Canada was one thing but trying to plan for an international trip was just a massive logistical nightmare and risk.Also keep in mind that Marathon Weekend has a big international draw. Last year there were still a lot of travel restrictions in place, which would only increase international demand now that things are normalizing along with the extra draws of the anniversaries and theming.
And this was likely the biggest issue today. If it is truly random prior to “opening” - 10am EST - and then goes to a first in first out process after “opening”; the system crashed before it could officially open. This trapped people with open browsers in the “lottery” to get a registration link. And then there was no chance for any type of first in first out as the system was down for two and half hours. And it left many of us to be part of one mass opening regardless if you started at 9:45am or 12:30pm. Some got immediate entries and many got “more than an hour”.I could be wrong, but I think it's first in, first out once the opening time for the event/registration hits. It's only random when people go into the waiting room prior to opening. It's not like showing up and camping out in line at Best Buy the night before a launch. I think it may seem random for those that hit right at opening, too, as the system has thousands of people hit essentially simultaneously and the system has to place them in some sort of order.
Same here. And I opened it at 9:45 am.The first tab I opened came in as my lowest in the queue by far.
Same here. Actually I opened in Safari first, then Firefox right after. Both around 9:45am. Watched the pages spin for 2+ hours. I got in with the original Firefox browser first, but my Safari browser still said 45+ minutes to go (the time was actually jumping around; it went from 32 minutes to 54 minutes to 45 minutes).Just to provide a counter piece of anecdotal evidence. I had 8 total tabs/devices open, including some from after the servers came up. The first tab I opened came in as my lowest in the queue by far.
I'm afraid to look.Well, the comments on Twitter are….interesting
Same here. Actually I opened in Safari first, then Firefox right after. Both around 9:45am. Watched the pages spin for 2+ hours. I got in with the original Firefox browser first, but my Safari browser still said 45+ minutes to go (the time was actually jumping around; it went from 32 minutes to 54 minutes to 45 minutes).
At one point when the dwarves went away I got in on Chrome, my phone, and an iPad. My phone was the next closest whenever I did finally get in. My Chrome browser was last to get a time, so I tried going back to the homepage & re-selecting register since people were saying they got right in when they did that. Every time I tried my wait was over an hour.
I would agree with your husband's assessment. There is clearly a culturally issue within the company that prevents fixes from getting done. It could be executives that don't value IT work or it could be a revolving door of contractors. But it would take a strong leader with lots of executive support to turn it around.You'll all find this funny after today. DH is currently applying for a new job and has been looking at Disney openings. There is a job posting to head up what is basically Disney IT. Based on his experience watching (and helping) me register for Disney races and events over the last 20 years, he decided against applying even though he's immensely qualified. As he put it to me "there is something fundamentally wrong with the culture or directive on that team" considering they haven't fixed ANY of this that amount of time. They can't possibly have hired nothing but idiots, but it sure seems anyone with a good solution can't get it in place and either gets the boot or runs screaming.
Just to provide a counter piece of anecdotal evidence. I had 8 total tabs/devices open, including some from after the servers came up. The first tab I opened came in as my lowest in the queue by far.
As an It guy myself, I often wonder where Disney prioritizes their IT spend. How did Amazon even get into the cloud business? it had this extra capacity sitting around basically for the 6 weeks before Christmas they decided to rent out. Disney has to know today is the DAY for this site. Basic stress testing and capacity testing to ensure all the pipes are working is IT 101 stuff here. The site literally makes all of its money/revenue on a few days with Today being the literal Black Friday. The DVC site is not much better. Someone has some serious explaining ahead but this is how one loses one's job in IT fast.You'll all find this funny after today. DH is currently applying for a new job and has been looking at Disney openings. There is a job posting to head up what is basically Disney IT. Based on his experience watching (and helping) me register for Disney races and events over the last 20 years, he decided against applying even though he's immensely qualified. As he put it to me "there is something fundamentally wrong with the culture or directive on that team" considering they haven't fixed ANY of this that amount of time. They can't possibly have hired nothing but idiots, but it sure seems anyone with a good solution can't get it in place and either gets the boot or runs screaming.
Everest was not open (down for refurb) this past January.I have a question about the Marathon for anyone that has done it recently! The year I did it (2016) we made it to AK just after opening and Everest was open, we had to queue in the regular line but it was something we really wanted to do! Would love to hear more recent Everest experiences? Are they only opening the ride from park opening? I'm assuming with LL runners have to use the regular standby queue?