A must for visiting Disney – My Disney Experience App!
The My Disney Experience App (MDE) help you plan your Disney trip. It will also help you navigate the parks, keep track of your reservations and FastPasses. It can even help you skip the long lunch lines with Mobile Ordering.
The first thing you’ll want to do is create an account. You can either do on the Disney website or on the app itself after you download it. Once your account is created and the app is downloaded to your smartphone, you can explore a little. Getting to get to know your way around ahead of time is important. And we’re here to help you navigate and show you some of the wonderful things you can do with the app.
One of the things we love about having a My Disney Experience account, is the ability to do things on the computer and then being able to pull them up later on our phones. It’s a bit easier to make reservations from a computer, which makes this a handy feature. So feel free to try both the website and the app and see which you prefer. And rest assured, whatever you do on one will show up on the other and vice versa.
You can also link other family and friends to your account so you can make plans for everyone in your party. They can help make plans for you as well and it’s all linked under your account.
There are some cool ways you can customize your account (i.e. change your icon to a picture of your favorite Disney character). You can also add payment methods and check your membership benefits for your MDE Account.
All of this will then link to your Magic Bands too. So this is something you are going to want to have set up ahead of your visit. If you need help setting up your account, you can ask questions in the comments. You can also shoot us an email at: dolewhipandcastle@gmail.com.
After Setting Up Your Account
Once you have an account and you’re logged in on the app, you will see a bunch of different options. From your home screen you’ll be able to check:
- The day’s showtimes,
- The ride wait times,
- Park hours,
- Any tickets you have,
- Your FastPasses,
- Your Advanced Dining Reservations,
- and Annual Pass blockout dates.
There are a number of other things you’ll be able to do from your home screen. Those things are:
- Purchase park tickets,
- Make hotel reservations,
- Make Advanced Dining Reservations,
- Reserve FastPasses,
- Link dining/hotel reservations and park tickets,
- Purchase Memory Maker,
- Link your photos,
- And purchase merchandise.
You can basically plan your whole stay from a smartphone. But we recommend using an Authorized Disney Travel Agent to book your trip. These agents are certified through Disney and can help you with discounts, reservations and guidance and it’s all at NO COST TO YOU!! If you’d like help finding an agent, please click HERE for your no obligation quote. (*This is an affiliate link. This simply means we may earn a small amount if you book a trip. But it is at no extra cost to you. For more information you can read our disclaimer.)
Once you have your park tickets, Magic Bands and hotel reservations, you’ll want to link them to your My Disney Experience App account. This automatically links them to your Magic Bands. It is so useful for many reasons we don’t get into here but talk about in other sections of our site.
Now that you have an overview of what all the app can do, let’s take a closer look at some of the things you’ll probably use the most. Especially once you’re in the parks.
Reserving FastPasses
The lines at the parks can get ridiculously long, especially for the most popular rides. This is where FastPasses (FP) come in. By selecting a certain hour-long window of the day, you can reserve a FP. This will allow you to skip the longer standby line and get on the ride much quicker. You will love the FastPass when you have one, and despise those that have them when you don’t. But they are worth getting (if you can), especially for the newer and popular rides. Just be sure to show up during your time slot.
You can book your FastPasses starting 60 days prior to the day you check-in for your whole stay. But only if you’re staying at a Disney resort. Otherwise you can start making them 30 days ahead of the day you will be visiting each park. It may seem silly to you, but there are only a limited number of FPs for each ride. And some go very quickly. Disney pros actually set their alarms to wake up at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time (this is when the reservation system for FPs opens) 60 days ahead of check-in to make these reservations.
Certain rides like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Avatar:Flight of Passage, and Slinky Dog Dash usually book up super fast. If they add FPs to Smugglers Run, this will be a popular one as well. These rides are the hardest FPs to get. So you will want to make sure to do these reservations first if possible.
You can only do three advanced FPs per day from any one park. Then you will have to wait until you use those three before you can make more. You’ll from your phone or at one of the kiosks in the park. Some of the rides are what they call “tiered.” This means you can only choose rides from certain tiers. Typcially one ride from tier one and two from tier two. The more popular rides are always tier one. So you may not get to choose FPs for the three rides you really want, which can be aggravating.
This is where a good Disney Travel agent comes in handy, they can help you navigate the FP system and make the most of your choices. There are some tricks to the system, so having a Disney pro will really help you here. If you’d like help with this part of the planning, click HERE to get a quote and get connected with a certified Disney Travel Planner.
Dining Reservations
This is another part of the app that comes in handy. If you’re doing multiple parks and you have made a number of Advanced Dining Reservations, it can be hard to keep track of all your plans. But with the My Disney Experience App, you don’t have to remember them all, the app does it for you!
It keeps a list of all your reservation times so with the click of a button, you can see your itinerary for the day and check to see when your next dining reservation is. It’s important to be at the restaurant about 15 minutes prior to your reservation and be ready to still wait a bit, especially at the more popular restaurants.
This is another instance where you will want to make your reservations in advanced. But for more info on this subject, follow the link above. There’s a lot more information about ADRs that we cover on another page, so we won’t go into it all here. Suffice to say, the more popular restaurants book up as fast as the FastPasses, so don’t wait on those!
Park Hours/Show Times/Ride Wait Times
Another helpful section of the app is the park hours and info menu. It will tell you when each park is open (including Extra Magic Hours and blockout dates for Annual Passholders).
The app will also tell you when the various show times are at all the different parks. Which can help you plan your day and help you keep track of what you’d like to do.
Finally, the My Disney Experience App will tell you what the wait times are for all of the rides. It will also say if they’re closed which happens more often than we’d like. And it gives the times for the Character Meet-N-Greets.
You may be wondering why this is important. First time visitors (or even some veterans) don’t realize/forget how big the parks are at Walt Disney World. You will do a LOT of walking. So if you’re wanting to do a ride that is on the other side of the park, it really helps to see the current wait time. That way you’ll know if it’s worth the long hike over there before making the trip.
Or you might be planning on going to one ride, but you notice that the wait for another ride is low. This will let you take advantage of that. It really helps you make the most of your time at Disney and you’ll find yourself waiting in line less than you would if you just “wing it” without using the app.
Mobile Ordering
This is a fairly new function of the app so we go into a little more detail about this in another article. Feel free to check it out by clicking HERE. Once you see the ridiculously long lines for quick service restaurants, you’ll be glad you took the time to read about mobile ordering and you’ll happily take advantage of this function on the app.
So those are the things you will likely use the most while visiting Disney World. We hope this help shed some light on what all you can do with the My Disney Experience App.
We do want to add a word of warning here though. Sometimes the app can be glitchy, so be sure it’s not the only place you keep your vacation info. The MDE app can be notorious for conking out at the moment you need it. So be sure to have a back up of the info somewhere with you on your trip.
You will most likely find yourself checking your phone a lot in the parks. This is why we highly recommend bringing a portable charger or two with you in your Park Bag. They have some available in the parks if you forget. However, they will cost you a lot more once you’re there, than if you purchase one prior to you visit.
Be sure to check out all our other great Tips and Tricks here on Dole Whip and Castle. We’ve got decades of experience going to Disney and we’re here to help you plan the best trip ever!
If you have any other questions or comments about the app, we’d love to hear from you. Just leave them in the comment section below. Be sure to share this article with anyone who has an upcoming trip to Disney. The MDE really is a great tool to utilize!