Disneyworlder struggling with Disneyland app

[Vcize]

We have a group of 8 of us across two families heading to Disneyland in a little over a week. We have been to Disney World a few times, but this is our first time to Disneyland.

On the Disney World website/app I have everyone in my friends and family list, and can easily manage who is in the group for this trip so when I make a lightning lane reservation I can do it for everyone in the group, and not just me or my family. I am struggling to figure out how to do this for Disneyland. I can't find a friends/family section.

Similar question regarding magic bands. My kids have multiple magic bands. On the World app/website I can manage which magic band is the active one for each user. I can't figure out how to do that on the Disneyland app/site.

Not sure why they don't just do it the same way. Am I just not finding the link or is there a different approach to it for Disneyland?

 

[crystal1313]

I’m not sure about adding friends and family list. We usually just coordinate with who we are with because I don’t like others having access to my ticket and making LL for me, lol. I sound like a control freak when I just typed that out. Haha.

For the magic bands, if you go to the 3 lines at the bottom right, then scroll down under account, there’s a place to link the magic bands to the tickets.

Hope that helps!!

 

[MonocularVision]

I think conceptually there are fundamental differences in how things are treated at WDW and DL.

At WDW, there is a concept of a “person” and then a “group”. So when you want to make LL reservations you need to make sure all the people have been added to your group.

At DL, there is really only the concept of a “ticket”. You can add tickets to your own account so you can manage those folks when it comes to LL reservations. Because there is a name that can be attached to a ticket, people start thinking in terms of “person” like at WDW but at DL your profile/account doesn’t even “know” what tickets are yours and what are other people’s tickets.

So at DL, the only association that is made for MB is to a ticket. You have to make sure your kids’ tickets are attached to your account (using the three line menu button in the far right corner and choosing “My Tickets & Passes”. In that same menu you can also scroll down to MagicBand+ and add MagicBands and then associate them with the tickets you have in your account.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tom_E_D]

We have a group of 8 of us across two families heading to Disneyland in a little over a week. We have been to Disney World a few times, but this is our first time to Disneyland.

On the Disney World website/app I have everyone in my friends and family list, and can easily manage who is in the group for this trip so when I make a lightning lane reservation I can do it for everyone in the group, and not just me or my family. I am struggling to figure out how to do this for Disneyland. I can't find a friends/family section.

Similar question regarding magic bands. My kids have multiple magic bands. On the World app/website I can manage which magic band is the active one for each user. I can't figure out how to do that on the Disneyland app/site.

Not sure why they don't just do it the same way. Am I just not finding the link or is there a different approach to it for Disneyland?

If the Magicbands you have are the traditional Magicbands, either the originals or Magicband 2.0, they won't work at Disneyland. Disneyland only recognizes MagicBand+.

The Disneyland app is not like the Disneyworld app. That's because Disneyland doesn't do things the same way that Walt Disney World does. For example, if you've been reading about the recent changes at WDW from Genie+ to Lightning Lane Multi Pass, forget about what you've just learned. Genie+ at Disneyland was different from Genie+ at WDW. LLMP at Disneyland is much different from LLMP at WDW.

Edit: I did a search to see if there was a change in the ability to use the traditional Magicbands at Disneyland. Apparently not. However, I also saw that you have to unlink your MagicBand+ from your Disneyworld account to use it at Disneyland. See the screenshot below.

 

[irlandaise]

So at DL, the only association that is made for MB is to a ticket. You have to make sure your kids’ tickets are attached to your account (using the three line menu button in the far right corner and choosing “My Tickets & Passes”.

Does that mean that at each ride, you have to be careful which ticket you're using?

 

[irlandaise]

For the magic bands, if you go to the 3 lines at the bottom right, then scroll down under account, there’s a place to link the magic bands to the tickets.

So at DL, the only association that is made for MB is to a ticket. You have to make sure your kids’ tickets are attached to your account (using the three line menu button in the far right corner

FYI, those three lines are commonly known as "hamburger menus" or "hamburger buttons".

 

[Philsfan77]

We have a group of 8 of us across two families heading to Disneyland in a little over a week. We have been to Disney World a few times, but this is our first time to Disneyland.

On the Disney World website/app I have everyone in my friends and family list, and can easily manage who is in the group for this trip so when I make a lightning lane reservation I can do it for everyone in the group, and not just me or my family. I am struggling to figure out how to do this for Disneyland. I can't find a friends/family section.

Similar question regarding magic bands. My kids have multiple magic bands. On the World app/website I can manage which magic band is the active one for each user. I can't figure out how to do that on the Disneyland app/site.

Not sure why they don't just do it the same way. Am I just not finding the link or is there a different approach to it for Disneyland?

We were just there and i can’t remember if there is a friend and family section, but ultimately all that matters is the person who is controlling lightning lanes for everyone needs to have everyone’s tickets linked to their accounts (i think you get your official tickets 3 days out now for Disneyland or maybe 5 - i can’t remember). We had magic band+ but never used them. It was just as easy to use my phone to scan each person in at each ride. When we split up my wife had both of my sons tickets linked on her phone and she could scan in for them and her.

 

[MonocularVision]

Does that mean that at each ride, you have to be careful which ticket you're using?

That is correct. If you have the person’s admission media/ticket attached to your account that ticket will appear when you go to make a LL reservation. There is a “select all” option if you want or you can individually choose who you wish to make reservations for.

 

[Vcize]

Wow the more I dig into this the more I realize how different it is. I'm surprised they don't have this more streamlined across the different parks (Fl vs. Cali). I bought the LL without realizing that, unlike World, at Disneyland very few of the rides (only something like 13 of 35) even have Lightning Lanes. Are lines just that much shorter that rides like Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Small World (we have a 3yo in our group) don't even need them compared to World where the standby lines get long even on the kid's rides?

 

[Philsfan77]

Wow the more I dig into this the more I realize how different it is. I'm surprised they don't have this more streamlined across the different parks (Fl vs. Cali). I bought the LL without realizing the, unlike World, and Land very few of the rides (only something like 13 of 35) even have Lightning Lanes. Are lines just that much shorter that rides like Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Small World (we have a 3yo in our group) don't even need them compared to World where the standby lines get long even on the kid's rides?

Peter pan regularly has a solid line, the park is small/tight in some areas that they simply don't have the room for Lightning Lane lines for some of the queues. When you get there and try to go through some of them, you will understand what I mean. With that said, because there are so many more rides within the 2 parks compared to any 1 park at World, the lines are usually a lot lower. If you get there for Early Entry if staying on site, you can knock out all of fantasyland before the park even opens to regular guests (can literally leave one line, walk 5-10 steps and be in the next line).

 

[brightlined]

However, I also saw that you have to unlink your MagicBand+ from your Disneyworld account to use it at Disneyland. See the screenshot below.

To be clear, this is a "may" have to, not a must. I wouldn't deactivate a WDW MB+ unless they have trouble getting the DL app to connect to it.

 

[brightlined]

I thought about saying this in the other thread:

The reason they're so different is that they have different audiences and separate tech costs.

WDW spent $1 billion in 2014 to implement MyMagic+ (including MB). At WDW, there's such a high percentage of park guests that are also resort guests - they could justify tying everything together for one experience. (At the time, there were questions as to whether they'd ever really recoup the costs.) That meant switching to RFID tickets and passes (from magnetic stripes), for example, so they could also be used as hotel room keys.

DLR has a very, very small percentage of park guests that are also resort guests. They're also on a separate balance sheet. It was impossible for them to justify those features in 2014 (or in the years since), given how few people would actually use them. To this day, they're still technically a barcode ticket park. For example, supplying RFID tickets to the 95+% of guests that aren't resort guests, just so they could be used as hotel keys, would be a titanic cost with no real benefit over the existing barcode scanners.

They're slowly adding more features, but they're almost entirely doing it in the app, since it's easier and cheaper to add features in software - especially now that everyone has a device in their pocket. But they're essentially software workarounds, so it's a little weird. MBs were basically installed at DLR as a patch over the existing system using the app as a bridge - the ticket information (barcode id) is loaded onto the MB.

(Side note: I believe the lack of automatic PhotoPass is because of a difference in California privacy law.)

 

[LKing]

Are lines just that much shorter that rides like Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, Small World (we have a 3yo in our group) don't even need them compared to World where the standby lines get long even on the kid's rides?

Small World is part of LLMP at Disneyland. Your 3 year old will probably enjoy Autopia and MMRR which are both LLMP. They may like Buzz and Roger Rabbit as well. In DCA, your 3 year old will probably enjoy Little Mermaid, Toy Story and Monster's Inc which are all LLMP.