Haven't Been Since Before the Pandemic - Lots of Questions!

[lmmantini]

Hi Everyone,

My daughter and I have just decided to do 4 days at WDW in August. She is also bringing a friend who has never been. I've been frantically trying to read as much as possible since so much has changed since the last time we were there (2019), but honestly I feel like I'm on information overload.

1. Does the MDE app take into account any existing dining, LL, and ILL's when you're trying to book another one? So if I have a dining reservation at 5 p.m. I won't end up with a LL or ILL at 5 p.m.? I've read wheresome people have ended up with much later times than they were originally offered so I'm a bit concerned about scheduling especially since ILL are not refundable/changeable.

2. Should we try for LL or ILL first?

3. I have an MDE account which my daughter is on from previous vacations. How do I add my daughter's friend? Do I do that when I'm booking the tickets or do I add her beforehand online or the in the app? Also, should they each create their own account now that they are adults? When we last traveled my daughter was a minor so it made sense that she was just on my account.

4. Since we will only be there 4 days I was planning to get Park Hoppers and Genie+. We'll be in the parks 8/13 - 8/16 and will likely open and close the parks. My thought was to do 1 park every day until at least 2 p.m. and then hop to another park. However, MNSSHP is happening on 8/16 so MK will be closing at 6 p.m. I'm not sure yet if we'll go to the party or not. What is typically the recommendation for park reservations and park hoppers with a short amount of time and a ticketed event?

5. Hours haven't been released yet for our dates. Can park reservations be easily changed as long as there is availability? The crowd levels for those days are 4/5/6. Is there likely to be availability to change?

6. How does a virtual que work? Is that like a LL or an ILL? Hoping to ride GOTG.

7. Are Magic Bands still being used or do we use our phones to get into the room, LL line, etc.?


Thanks!

 

[Anna131517]

No, Genie+ does not account for existing ADRs.

You should link everyone in MDE before you go. They no longer provide complimentary magic bands. I personally really like the convenience of magic bands - you can order them ahead of time and have them linked to your account - but you can just use your phone instead.

If you want LL and ILL have two people go on their phones at once when the park opens.

Make sure you get park reservations. There’s no way of knowing if the parks will be full or not when you go. I wouldn’t plan on changing reservations within a month or two of going just in case they sell out. Crowds are completely unpredictable this year.

Oh! And only deluxe resort guests get the extended evening hours right now. Everyone on property gets the extra 30 minutes in the morning. If you are lucky enough for them to offer extended evening hours for HS while you are there, Go! It is hands down the best way to do the big rides there but they have only offered that once.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I would recommend staring with this thread: Planning for your Disney Trip - Start Here. It is full of helpful links that will answer many of your questions.

 

[Leigh L]

3. I have an MDE account which my daughter is on from previous vacations. How do I add my daughter's friend? Do I do that when I'm booking the tickets or do I add her beforehand online or the in the app? Also, should they each create their own account now that they are adults? When we last traveled my daughter was a minor so it made sense that she was just on my account.

If you think your daughter's friend will be going with her family in the future or she'll be going on her own, I'd have her (if old enough) or her family make the account before you link. If you want your DD to have her own, I'd get that separated before you start planning. Otherwise, it gets complicated with duplicate accounts.

I control DH and our 3 kids' names under my MDE. DH once booked an ADR or a hotel room at WDW and it essentially created two profiles that caused problems when booking FP (when WDW had them) and adding him for other things. Ultimately, in the middle of planning, I needed to call IT to "merge" his two personas.

(Now I've got 2 adult kids and a teen. Having to separate them is on my to-do list but whenever I think of it we're in the midst of planning a trip and it's just easier to do it on mine. Next year my adult DD is going with a friend and a good chance I won't be there, so it'll complicate things I think. After upcoming trips are finished, I really need to call IT!)

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

On the day of the party, definitely start your day at MK. It will be the least crowded that day. Then you can hop somewhere else later in the day.

 

[_19disnA]

We found having everyone in the same hotel room on one MDE account made things easier during our prior trip. This was before Genie, so others who have been more recently can comment on that. With things like ADR's we found it best to have ONE person arrange those (there were multiple families on our trip). You have to be VERY careful with ADR reservations since you can easily delete one in error if you push the wrong buttons.

If your daughter's friend ever travels with her family to Disney in future, she could just have her parents add her to their reservation/MDE account and should work fine.

Magic Bands still work so you can use those instead of your phone for certain functions. Perhaps the biggest change is you need to make park reservations ahead of time for the parks you plan to visit. Disney indicates that in several places on their reservations screens to avoid surprises when you arrive. Park hopping is permitted after 2 pm (assuming you have park hopper passes).

I would make my park plans based on where you want to go and what rides/shows you like best. There isn't any 3rd party with a good enough crystal ball to predict future crowd levels at any Disney park. Assume the parks will be crowded and plan according to what you want to do.