What You NEED to KNOW About the My Disney Experience App: Disney World 101
If you’re headed to Disney World, there’s a lot you need to know about the My Disney Experience App. This is app is free, and it’s a pretty essential part of any Disney World vacation.
Make sure you download it ahead of time so you can familiarize yourself with its features. This post is going to give you an overview of the key aspects of this app that you’ll likely want to make use of on your trip.
Link your MagicBands, park tickets, hotel reservation
First, you can link your Magic Bands, Park tickets, and hotel reservations (if you’re staying on property) to your my Disney Experience account. This will allow you to fully plan your trip in the app.
If you’re staying on property, linking your resort reservation is especially important if you’d like to access other resort features we’ll discuss later in this post.
To do this, open the app, then go to the the three lines on the bottom right corner.
To link park tickets, click on the “My Tickets and Passes” box, just under your name. Then hit “link tickets and passes.” The app will guide you from there.
To link your hotel reservation, you’re going to stay in the same section of the app, but scroll down to “My Visit.” There you’ll find “Hotel Reservations.” Once you click through, the second option will allow you to enter your resort confirmation number and your last name to link your reservation.
And to link your MagicBands, scroll down to the “Account” section near the end. There you’ll find “MagicBands and Cards.” Click through and you’ll be guided to add a MagicBand.
Book Lightning Lanes
If you want to book Lightning Lanes, that happens in the my Disney Experience App. You’ll see the option right when you open the app.
If you haven’t heard of Lightning Lanes, they’re a Disney World add-on that allows you to skip the line at select rides.
The app is pretty good at guiding you through how to add them to your trip, but if you want a more detailed breakdown of Lightning Lanes and book them, check out this post.
Manage Dining Reservations and Mobile Order
Disney World Table Service restaurants require an Advanced Dining Reservation. So if you’re planning on eating a a sit-down restaurant, you’ll need to book your table in advance.
To do this, tap on the plus sign at the bottom center of the app. Then tap, “Check Dining Availability.” The app will guide you the rest of the way.
If you know what restaurant you want to go to, you can also pull up the restaurant through the app (more on this later) or your desktop and make your reservation that way. As long as you’re logged in, you’ll be able to access and modify your reservation through the app, even if you make it on your desktop.
Disney also offers Mobile Ordering at select Counter Service restaurants. This can help you skip the line at some of the more popular spots.
To Mobile Order, tap on the plus sign at the bottom center of the app, then select “Order Food.” You can then select restaurants by park. You can order food for now, or schedule food for later by selecting the appropriate option at the top of the screen.
And like with Dining Reservations, if you know what restaurant you want to go to, you can select the restaurant directly (more on this later).
Link other members of your travel party
Linking the other members of your travel party together makes it so much easier for you to plan. This will allow one person to make dining reservations and Lightning Lane selections (and more!) for all members of your group.
It will also make sure everyone has access to the plans for the day.
To do this, make sure everyone has a My Disney Experience account. Then, go to the three lines at the bottom right corner of the app. Scroll down to “Account” and tap on “Profile.”
Next, tap on “Family & Friends List.” Then, tap, “Add a Guest. The app will guide you the rest of the way.
View park hours and show times
You can view park hours for each day of your trip on the main page of the app. When the app opens, simply scroll down. Just under the Disney Genie Service, you’ll find the park hours.
Each park will also have a button for “show times.” If you tap on that, you’ll see the times for all the major firework shows, parades, and other shows throughout the park.
If you know certain shows and parades are must-dos for you, then you’re going to want to make sure you note these times and add them to you plans.
Manage your hotel reservation and check In
If you link your hotel reservation to your account, you’ll be able to view your reservation, and check in when the time comes!
You can check in well in advance of your arrival and even make some room requests based on location, floor, view, etc.
You’ll also be able to unlock your room with your MagicBand or phone.
Disney Genie
The app also offers the Disney Genie Service that can help you plan your trip. You can find this right on the app’s main page under the Lightning Lane selections.
It will guide you through entering your top priority attractions and create an optimized plan for you. You can use that plan to guide you day in the parks.
Full disclosure, I personally don’t use this service. Not because I’ve heard anything bad about it, I just never wanted to. I also haven’t really heard from people who love or swear by this feature either (though if you do, please leave a comment and tell us about it!)
However, since it’s featured on the main page, I wanted to tell you want it is and how you can use it, in case that’s something you want to do.
Access PhotoPass photos
PhotoPass is an add-on in Disney Wold. Disney has PhotoPass photographers all around the parks.
You can purchase individual photos, or you can purchase Memory Maker and get access to any and all photos that are taken of you in the parks — both from Disney PhotoPass photographers and from rides.
And you can view these photos in the My Disney Experience App. To access them, hit the three lines at the bottom right hand side of the app, then scroll down to Disney PhotoPass.
There, you’ll see options to view your photo gallery or purchase Memory Maker.
Access Park wait times and other important info
This is one of the most important things you need to know about the My Disney Experience App! You can view wait times for each park right in app. This are live wait times that are regularly updated.
To access these times, you’re going to tap the map icon on the bottom of the app, second from the left (in between the home icon and the plus sign). If you have your location turned on, it should take you right to the park you’re in. If it doesn’t, you can tap on the “Location” just above the map and select your park.
You should very easily see the wait times pop up on the map. If you’d rather look at a list, tap on the “show list” icon in the bottom left side of the map.
You can also see other key locations on this map. At the top, you’ll see you’re able to select dining locations, attractions, characters, bathrooms, and more!
This is another way you can find your preferred restaurant for dining reservations and mobile order.
Self-checkout for merchandise at select stores
Disney also offers self-checkout on the My Disney Experience App in select merchandise locations.
To view these locations, tap on the plus icon in the bottom center of the app, then tap on “Merchandise Mobile Checkout.” It will list the stores where this feature is available.
Once you’re in the story, you can select the location and the app will guide you through what you need to do.
What’s your favorite thing about the My Disney Experience App?