Understanding the My Disney Experience Site
Disney is a bucket list item for many families, attracting nearly 116 million visitors in 2022 alone. Before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the annual number of visitors exceeded 150 million.
Navigating Disney Parks is not easy with so many daily visitors. This is why the My Disney Experience app exists. It helps visitors plan their stay and have a more enjoyable experience.
Read on to learn how to plan your Walt Disney World Resort vacation with this app. Explore topics such as Disney vacation planning and why you should sign up for a My Disney Experience account.
What Is the My Disney Experience App?
Here, you can do anything from making dinner reservations to skipping the line on your favorite ride.
There is a My Disney Experience website for those that prefer a computer. Continue reading for a brief description of the app’s capabilities:
Dinner Reservations
Getting a table service meal at Disney World is no easy feat. Some of the most popular restaurants require reservations six months in advance.
A My Disney Experience account allows you to search for open tables at any Disney property. You can filter by location, park, resort, or desired time range. This saves you the trouble of calling the congested Disney hotline and waiting hours on the phone.
Ordering Food
There are restaurants at Disney World that do not require a reservation. These are commonly referred to as quick-service restaurants.
As you can imagine, they see a lot of traffic, and the lines are long. You can reduce your wait by ordering food on the My Disney Experience app.
Through the app, you will receive notifications that your food is being prepared or when it is ready for pickup. There is a special area designated for mobile orders when you arrive at the restaurant. You can even pay for the food using your app.
Manage Wait Times for Rides
Managing wait times for Disney World rides is perhaps the most valuable capability. Some features are free, while you can pay an additional fee to skip the lines altogether.
At a minimum, the My Disney Experience app shows wait times for park rides. The app offers a map of the park to help guide your party. You can go directly to the ride with the shortest line.
A few years ago, Disney offered a FastPass service that allowed park visitors to skip lines with a ride reservation. The Covid-19 pandemic ended this program.
Park visitors can now buy the Genie service. Genie+ is essentially the same concept as FastPass. Park visitors can select a few time windows to skip the line on specific rides.
It is important to note that a park’s most popular ride is not eligible for Genie+. Rides like Rise of the Resistance and Avatar Flight of Passage require you to pay an additional fee to skip the line. This program is called Lightning Lane and is also purchased through the My Disney Experience app.
Some rides rely on virtual queues to manage high demand. You can also join a virtual queue for the most popular rides on the app.
Merchandise Shopping
You can even use the My Disney Experience app for merchandise shopping. All of your favorite Disney stores are on the app. Each Disney World theme park is covered by the app, as well as Disney Springs.
For example, say there is an item that you want to buy from Island Mercantile at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. You can use the app to purchase it before another guest buys the last one.
Buy Tickets and Passes
You need to buy tickets to enter a Disney World theme park. It is super convenient to do it on the app.
Here, you can reserve a spot at the theme park of your choice. Instead of carrying around an admissions card, you can have a barcode scanned from your app or MagicBand. You can do the same with other ticketed events at the parks.
Shop Memory Maker
Pictures are one of the best ways to remember your magical Disney World trip. The good news is that Disney makes it easy for its guests with Memory Maker.
Instead of asking a stranger to take a photo, Disney has photographers around the park. There are also cameras taking action shots on your favorite rides. After a photo is taken, simply scan the app or your magic band to load a picture to your Memory Maker.
Later on, you can shop Memory Maker on the app. Browse the photos taken during your stay and purchase your favorites through My Disney Experience.
Park Hours
Each theme park has different operating hours. They open and close depending on the day of the week and other factors like exclusive parties.
You can use the My Disney Experience app to verify the theme park hours before you arrive. It is important to plan your day at a Disney theme park to avoid stress.
Some guests like to arrive before the theme park opens. This way, they are present for the rope drop. Here, Disney employees drop rope barriers and allow guests into the park.
Arriving before rope drop is a great way to avoid wait times on your favorite rides. You can make a beeline toward your favorite ride before a crowd sets in. If you plan it right, you can get two or three of your favorite rides in before the park gets busy.
Your Guide to Planning a Walt Disney World Resort Vacation
You are now ready to embark on an epic Walt Disney World Resort vacation. The My Disney Experience website and app are the ultimate digital tools for ensuring that you have a smooth trip.
Without proper Disney vacation planning, you may not have as much fun as you would like. It is possible to miss out on your favorite restaurants and wait hours in line. The My Disney Experience app helps you avoid these nightmarish situations from happening.
If you need help planning your Walt Disney World Resort vacation, contact us today for professional assistance.