Advice for newbie friend with no smartphone?

[100acreHiker]

Hello! I'm helping my friend plan her first trip (since childhood, at least) with her son and mother. No one in the party will have a smartphone with them. I do plan to help her set up MDE account and reservations, but other than telling her to print out a copy of her itinerary and fast pass times, is there any advice I should give her or anything I'm forgetting? How will she be notified if Disney changes a FP selection for them if a ride is down? I suppose she'll just get word when she checks in at the entrance to the ride, yes? Any advice from those who do the trip the mostly old fashioned way is most welcome!

 

[elaine amj]

Get a smartphone or an iPod?

LOL.

She'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way and walk to each attraction. She can also stop at a FP+ kiosk if she has some downtime and ask to check on the status of her FPs.

 

[MagentaMulan]

Even though I have a smartphone I rarely use it when i'm touring the parks. I turn off wifi and data, so I don't get email alerts in "real time". (But I do check up on my FP+ on the Disney app.)

I have a paper copy of everything and still like to use the physical park maps. I print out my itinerary including my fp+ times, and dining ADRs. I would also maybe make a list of locations of FP+ kiosks, or I guess they can just ask a CM. I never experienced a ride closure or FP change so I can't really help with that.

 

[kj2mom]

I have a smartphone and I never thought to check on the status of my fast passes. I took a screen shot of my fast passes for the day and made that my lock screen so I could easily see my schedule by just looking at my screen but that could have just as easily been a piece of paper. There were a couple of times we got to rides and were told they were down. Yes, we were asked if we had a FP for that ride so the CM could make the appropriate adjustments but we never did so we just went back later when the ride was back up. I would have a cheat sheet for each day with any ADR info and FP info and I think they should be just fine!

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

I actually don't use my iPhone that much in the parks. Except as a camera, at least Definitely mention to your friend that you can always update or select a 4th FP (once your 3 are done for the day) at FP kiosks throughout the parks. The cast members by the kiosks are very helpful, as well.

 

[sherry7]

You can buy a prepaid Android smart phone for around $15-$20. It's not necessary to activate the phone service, just use it on wi-fi while in the parks for the MDE app. My iPhone battery is on it's last legs (even with carrying an external charger), and that's what I'm planning on doing for park usage, and save my real phone battery for talking and texting.

 

[disnut8]

The only time I use my phone at Disney World is to check on the time since I don't wear a watch. Or, if someone in my family has an emergency and calls me but that's about five people who would do that and, trust me, if one of them calls me on vacation, the vacation ends and I'm going home. We do things the old school way - write our FastPasses on a piece of paper and put it in a bag or a pocket. If we get to the proper place at the proper time and it's closed down, we talk to a Cast Member. Or, in our case, when we were in the line for a FastPass at Pirates of the Caribbean and it went down, we had to wait until the announcement was made that the attraction was closed but we could come back later. But, we heard that directly from a Cast Member since no one could hear the loudspeaker.

Talking to Cast Members when things are happening right at the attraction gets you almost reliable information. People don't have to be attached to their phones on vacation.