Big update to My Disney Experience app will bring navigation capability

Jul 14, 2016 in "MyMagic+"

Posted: Thursday July 14, 2016 10:06am EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney is about to unleash a new version of My Disney Experience that will bring a big new feature - navigation.

Working much like Google Maps, you will be able to select an attraction from the map, hit 'Get Directions,' and then choose a 'From' location, which can be your current position from GPS, or another attraction or location.

Not only will the navigation work inside a park to attractions, shops and restaurants, it will also give you directions across the entire Walt Disney World property.

When navigating outside of the parks, the app will make use of the various transportation options, including bus, monorail and watercraft. It will also give an estimate of time required.

Since the debut of MyMagic+, the My Disney Experience app has continuously been updated to bring new functionality, making it an essential tool for a trip to Walt Disney World.

My Disney Experience overview

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

matt9112May 16, 2017

I agree

Cesar R MMay 16, 2017

And considering they might have some sort of tracking already. I do not see the issue other than add better infrastructure to support the hitload after adding it on the app.

RSoxNo1May 16, 2017

FYI, app now only shows Satu'li Canteen has mobile ordering

COProgressFanMay 16, 2017

Sort of like how NYC cabs have a shift change at 4pm. Geniuses at work.

ABQMay 16, 2017

Yup, just like the Uber app. I want to see where my bus, plus a photo of the prone to incorrect info, driver and plate #. Honestly, this can and should be done now.

Cesar R MMay 16, 2017

Or even better, have tracking the buses in real time, just like you can track planes now.

ToTBellHopMay 16, 2017

Ok but I only ever get on a bus prior to 9, between 1 and 5, and at park close. Isn't it wonderfully-clever when a staffing shift occurs right when the fireworks end? Definitely the best time to have a switch-over.

LitaMay 16, 2017

The Bus system has two different ways buses are Dispatched, In the Mornings prior to 11 am, The Buses are Dispatched from the closest Theme Park Location, (Meaning for instance, Magic Kingdom Bus Area dispatches all the park routes going to and from the MK Area Resorts), , After 11 am the buses are Dispatched by the Location itself so a Bus going to Animal Kingdom would come from the Animal Kingdom area when picking up at the Contemporary, Poly, Grand or Fort Wilderness. Magic Kingdom doesn't handle the Dispatch for routes going to other parks from the MK Area Resorts after the 11 am time. What happens though, is there is a Transition time from when MK drops the route and the AK picks up the responsibility to send the Bus and many times there are Delays during that time.

ToTBellHopMay 16, 2017

Yes. Still don't think that explains the literal minute-by-minute changes that occur until the bus arrives. FWIW, my last two trips have been Kidani and Wilderness Lodge, which are typically the first stop if they are combining. Interesting that you've seen improvement at places with just one stop. It still boggles my mind that NYC can have a bus arrive at 7:58 am each day but not WDW.

peter11435May 16, 2017

Well every wheelchair/ECV load easily adds 5 minutes to the trip. I think you are correct that the time does not appear until the bus is dispatched but there are often stops in between. This is why I've found the bus times much more accurate at resorts such as art of animation where the bus is only making one stop. If a bus is dispatched to the grand Floridian from Disney springs an approximate arrival time is displayed at the GF. Let's say traffic/lights delay things slightly and the arrival falls back 2 minutes. Then the bus arrives at the Polynesian first where an EVC is waiting. Now the arrival time at GF has fallen back 7 minutes.

ToTBellHopMay 16, 2017

I don't see how that can explain sometimes 15+ minute delays over the originally posted time. If I were programming such a system, the time wouldn't appear until the bus was dispatched from its previous location (I thought that's what Disney was doing, honestly). It would be foolish to post before the bus even departs. Further, if they are posting while a bus is ostensibly loading guests in ECVs, why do we often arrive to find no time posted yet? There clearly is some point at which an arrival time is sent out.

peter11435May 16, 2017

The problem truly is the wheelchair and EVC loading

ToTBellHopMay 16, 2017

The issue continues to be that their tracking is awful. They still have those comical-if-it-wasn't-your-vacation minute-by-minute adjustments to arrival times that render the arrival boards almost useless. I don't know why they can't fix the technology. Somehow bus systems in every major city manage to maintain a set schedule. If I'm at Wilderness Lodge and the next MK bus first appears as arriving at 8:40 am and it continually adjusts until it arrives at 8:59 am (actual experience of mine), it was never going to arrive at 8:40 and the software is useless.