I have a problem. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been to Disney twice over the span of three months (thanks FT4RL!). And I still want to go back…
I learned some cool things about the My Disney Experience (MDE) app over this last trip so thought I’d share some features that I found useful. I’d also love to hear tips from others who have experience with the app, so feel free to hit up the comments.
1. You can link physical tickets to your MDE account without going to Guest Relations
This was one of the most useful things I learned on this trip. I bought an 8 day pass before the last price increase and thus was able to make some FastPass+ reservations for my trip to Orlando. Originally I had planned to upgrade that 8 day pass to an annual pass but decided against it for reasons not having to do with money (upgrading probably would have been the best monetary value since I hope to return next year).
I bought a 2 day park hopper but wanted to link that ticket to My Disney Experience so that I could use my fast passes. I went to guest relations thinking that they would do it for me. Instead, they just taught me how I could do it myself on the app.
Basically, you want to go from your app to “My Profile”. Then click on “Tickets and Passes” and then “Link a Ticket or Pass”. At that point you can scan in your ticket’s QR code or you can type in the ID. A real timesaver in my opinion.
2. You can cancel dining reservations in the MDE app
Another great feature is the ability to cancel dining reservations within the app. I had a big dinner reservation on file at Boma for the post conference dinner, but we didn’t need it anymore. Instead of having to call and speak to a human or going to find my computer, I was able to just cancel it from the app. It did take me a bunch of tries, the app is still a little wonky, but I just kept testing it out in line and it eventually worked. Once they clean that up it’ll be super convenient to manage dining reservations from the app.
3. You can add your fourth (and 5th, 6th, 7th, etc…) FastPass+ reservation
One of the best features of the newly updated My Disney Experience app is the ability to add your fourth FastPass+ reservation through the app. In the past, after you used your first three fast passes, you had to go to a kiosk to add a fourth and then you were done for the day.
Now you can add a fourth FP+ reservation from your phone as soon as you have swiped in at the first FP+ reader at your ride. So the best thing to do as you are using your third FastPass+ reservation is to tap your magic band/card on the FastPass+ reader at the entrance and then choose your next FP+ experience from the app while you wait in line!
Better yet, you’re not limited to four FP+ per day anymore – so you can just do that over and over again. Some savvy FT4RL attendees used 22 FastPasses in one day!
Was able to complete 22 FP at MK pre rain in 1 day. Set 3 am FP add one new FP on app as soon as u swipe your band. 3 times BTR & MT #FT4RL
— Top Travelista (@TopTravelista) April 22, 2016
4. You can keep an eye on wait times
My favorite thing to do at Walt Disney World is try to beat the lines. And while I love Touring Plans and its app, I found that the My Disney Experience app was pretty good with wait times as well. You can see all the posted wait times for attractions at any of the parks and you can organize them by length of wait as well.
Since I was running around the parks alone for the most part, I used the wait times from the MDE app to jump from attraction to attraction. I spent 11 hours across 3 parks and made it to 19 different attractions, including a leisurely 90 minute lunch wandering around the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. The wait times on the My Disney Experience app really helped with all of that!
5. You can link PhotoPass cards
There are times when it is more beneficial to grab photopass cards than to link photos to your actual ticket (like when one of your party members has an annual pass but others do not). It’s super easy to misplace these cards, so the best thing to do is to link it to your My Disney Experience app as quickly as possible.
Like with adding tickets, you can just scan the QR code in: just go to “PhotoPass” and then “link photos”.
6. You can manage your friends and family tickets
Though I obviously didn’t use it on this trip, another useful feature of the app is the ability to manage everything about your friends’ and family’s reservations on your own app. That means if you are dragging your parents, spouse, and children around the park from attraction to attraction you can manage everyone’s FastPasses from your own phone.
It can get a little cumbersome if you have too many people but that is still better than people who don’t know what they’re doing fumbling on their phones the whole time while you get impatient. Just kidding, I never get impatient…
Final Thoughts
Although I have heard there are still kinks, I had a great time using the updated My Disney Experience app in the parks over this past weekend. My only issue was canceling my dining reservation took multiple tries, but other than that, it’s great to manage new FastPass+ reservations and link tickets and more. Just make sure you bring an extra battery pack…enjoy the parks!
We live in Orlando, have Florida Resident APs, can go any time, and we do. The new app now allows us to make just one FP which sometimes is all any of us need to get our fix – just that one ride instead of just that one ride plus two more throw-aways. So glad the new app now has this feature. We are also good at cancelling any FPs made that we won’t be using so that maybe other guests can book and enjoy.
Oh great point I forgot to add – you don’t HAVE to book three anymore. Online too. Thanks for pointing that out
Great rundown of the app. I’m hoping the Disneyland app will follow suit and add some features. In particular, the ability to manage dining reservations. As it is, the mobile website works very well for that but it would be nice to get the reservations in the app.
Great review. I am new to the blog and saverocity as such, but a good read. Just in time for our trip to WDW in about 2 weeks now.. I look forward to read more family oriented travel hacks and tricks.