How do you call for a Minnie Van ride?

[maryj11]

I wish they would get it together and launch every where on site. We will be there soon.

 

[AngiTN]

I wish they would get it together and launch every where on site. We will be there soon.

Yeah, this is just set up to be a mess.
Not for the guests at the 3 resorts where it's launched. But for everyone else I foresee lots of confusion for the guests and the CM working at the resorts.
Can you imagine these scenarios?
Minnie Van pulls up at Poly with guests from Beach Club going to Ohana one morning. Guests from Poly are heading to Cape May. They can't use the Minnie Van, they aren't Beach Club/Yacht Club/Boardwalk guests. They want to know why
Minnie Van pulls up to Grand Floridan with guests from Boardwalk going to 1900PF one morning. Guests GF from want to go to AK. They can't use the Minnie Van, they aren't Beach Club/Yacht Club/Boardwalk guests. They want to know why.
Both cases, Minnie Van just goes back to it's home base empty
In what world does this make sense?
Who thought this roll out made sense?
Why not just continue the test like they were?
I'm so confused by it all and I don't have a dog in the hunt. I won't be using it. I'll just use Lyft/Uber when we get there, we don't need the car seat. Well, I take that back, we'd probably use it one time just to say we did but it won't make or break our trip.
I'm just frustrated because it seems so strange. It appears to be something that is just going to be the cause for contention with guests and CM and usually Disney like to avoid points of contention, not create them.

 

[kaytieeldr]

But don't the DS properties have Disney bus Service of some sort.

Bus service, yes, but not Disney buses or disney-provided.

 

[JimMIA]

Yeah, this is just set up to be a mess.
Not for the guests at the 3 resorts where it's launched. But for everyone else I foresee lots of confusion for the guests and the CM working at the resorts.
Can you imagine these scenarios?
Minnie Van pulls up at Poly with guests from Beach Club going to Ohana one morning. Guests from Poly are heading to Cape May. They can't use the Minnie Van, they aren't Beach Club/Yacht Club/Boardwalk guests. They want to know why
Minnie Van pulls up to Grand Floridan with guests from Boardwalk going to 1900PF one morning. Guests GF from want to go to AK. They can't use the Minnie Van, they aren't Beach Club/Yacht Club/Boardwalk guests. They want to know why.
Both cases, Minnie Van just goes back to it's home base empty
In what world does this make sense?
Who thought this roll out made sense?
Why not just continue the test like they were?
I'm so confused by it all and I don't have a dog in the hunt. I won't be using it. I'll just use Lyft/Uber when we get there, we don't need the car seat. Well, I take that back, we'd probably use it one time just to say we did but it won't make or break our trip.
I'm just frustrated because it seems so strange. It appears to be something that is just going to be the cause for contention with guests and CM and usually Disney like to avoid points of contention, not create them.

Or...dropoff at AK and an offsite guest wants to go to MK and there is nobody else waiting? But you said "anywhere onsite to anywhere else onsite?"

Or dropoff at AK and BWV guest wants to go to MK? Does Minnie go park to park, or back to the resort?

Those are some of the logistics I was saying would be the real challenge with this. It's going to take some trial and error.

They'll eventually get it right, but there is going to be a learning curve with this for Disney, for Lyft, and for guests. It will take some time -- it's WAY more complex than it seems.

 

[AngiTN]

Or...dropoff at AK and an offsite guest wants to go to MK and there is nobody else waiting? But you said "anywhere onsite to anywhere else onsite?"

Or dropoff at AK and BWV guest wants to go to MK? Does Minnie go park to park, or back to the resort?

Those are some of the logistics I was saying would be the real challenge with this. It's going to take some trial and error.

They'll eventually get it right, but there is going to be a learning curve with this for Disney, for Lyft, and for guests. It will take some time -- it's WAY more complex than it seems.

When it's available to everyone and everywhere for on site use I think that will work out, there will be enough people there to request a pick up. But right now, if only guests that are at the 3 Epcot resorts can make a request then it's just not wise. I don't know, I think I would have not done it the way they did. But, I'm no expert

The onsite only thing will workout. That's no different than Disney buses can only go on site. Folks realize that. They'll realize that with these too.

 

[joelkfla]

Yeah, this is just set up to be a mess.
Not for the guests at the 3 resorts where it's launched. But for everyone else I foresee lots of confusion for the guests and the CM working at the resorts.

I don't think it's that big of a deal. It looks like it's limited to Epcot Resort Guests, but maybe not to trips to and from those resorts. It's just a matter of limiting the size of the user base until things are running smoothly. I would call this a user test.

Sure, it'll be running inefficiently for a while, but tests at this stage aren't designed to be efficient, they're designed to uncover flaws or weaknesses in the system.

I predict that if everything goes well, it will be rolled out pretty rapidly to Guests at additional resorts, like the way they've been gradually adding locations to the online food ordering. If things don't go smoothly, they can work out the hiccups while minimizing the number of Guests impacted.

 

[JimMIA]

There are going to be two challenges with this program.

One will be scale. Uber/Lyft have hundreds of vehicles onsite at any given moment. 20-30 Minnie vans in one parking lot may look like a lot...but it's not. The number of Minnie vans is going to be a problem, because I think this service will be very popular. Guests are going to be looking at pickup times from immediate to 2 minutes from taxi/Uber/Lyft or 15-20 minutes for Minnie...or the same for free buses.

The other is the software. This is VERY different from Disney buses, and a LOT depends on the Lyft interface. It's going to be a mission, but they'll get it done.

 

[maryj11]

Yeah, this is just set up to be a mess.
Not for the guests at the 3 resorts where it's launched. But for everyone else I foresee lots of confusion for the guests and the CM working at the resorts.
Can you imagine these scenarios?
Minnie Van pulls up at Poly with guests from Beach Club going to Ohana one morning. Guests from Poly are heading to Cape May. They can't use the Minnie Van, they aren't Beach Club/Yacht Club/Boardwalk guests. They want to know why
Minnie Van pulls up to Grand Floridan with guests from Boardwalk going to 1900PF one morning. Guests GF from want to go to AK. They can't use the Minnie Van, they aren't Beach Club/Yacht Club/Boardwalk guests. They want to know why.
Both cases, Minnie Van just goes back to it's home base empty
In what world does this make sense?
Who thought this roll out made sense?
Why not just continue the test like they were?
I'm so confused by it all and I don't have a dog in the hunt. I won't be using it. I'll just use Lyft/Uber when we get there, we don't need the car seat. Well, I take that back, we'd probably use it one time just to say we did but it won't make or break our trip.
I'm just frustrated because it seems so strange. It appears to be something that is just going to be the cause for contention with guests and CM and usually Disney like to avoid points of contention, not create them.

Yes sounds like there will be some confusion going on.

 

[maryj11]

Or...dropoff at AK and an offsite guest wants to go to MK and there is nobody else waiting? But you said "anywhere onsite to anywhere else onsite?"

Or dropoff at AK and BWV guest wants to go to MK? Does Minnie go park to park, or back to the resort?

Those are some of the logistics I was saying would be the real challenge with this. It's going to take some trial and error.

They'll eventually get it right, but there is going to be a learning curve with this for Disney, for Lyft, and for guests. It will take some time -- it's WAY more complex than it seems.

I'm guessing the trial and error will be when we arrive . I thought they would have it already running before now.

 

[joelkfla]

There are going to be two challenges with this program.

One will be scale. Uber/Lyft have hundreds of vehicles onsite at any given moment. 20-30 Minnie vans in one parking lot may look like a lot...but it's not. The number of Minnie vans is going to be a problem, because I think this service will be very popular. Guests are going to be looking at pickup times from immediate to 2 minutes from taxi/Uber/Lyft or 15-20 minutes for Minnie...or the same for free buses.

The other is the software. This is VERY different from Disney buses, and a LOT depends on the Lyft interface. It's going to be a mission, but they'll get it done.

This could turn out to be a big win for Lyft.

Somebody posted screen shots of the app on a blog. It shows the ETA's for Lyft, Lyft Plus, and Minnie Van all on the same screen. If the wait times for the Minnie Vans start getting longer than for Lyft, it could drive more business to Lyft over Uber. It'll be easy to just click the button to request a Lyft rather than switching to the Uber app.

Plus people who might never have thought of downloading a ride hailing app will have the Lyft app on their phones, with the assistance of bell services if needed. That will encourage them to use it when going off property.