MDE, Magic Bands, FP+, Memory Maker and Family sharing your DVC unit

[bwvBound]

Hmmm ... I'm beginning to think that Magic Bands may reduce multi-household planning conflicts when inviting family and friends to join you on a Disney vacation.

How many of us have suffered the anguish of "training" invited family on the "NEED TO PLAN!" a WDW trip down to daily itinerary, dining reservations, parades and fireworks? How often have we faced the backlash, "Plan the visit? Book dining reservations? Why on earth would anyone stress so much over a visit to Disney theme parks?"

Ah-ha! Good news -- we are no longer the evil, type-a, driven pushers of "plan in advance!" This role now shifts to Edna who will lure your invited family into learning the Incredible skills of being a vacation super hero.

Cool. The pressure is off of me. I'm glad for it.

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UPDATED 5/9/14: I'm home! See post #12 for Trip Report.

 

[SuperRob]

As far as I'm concerned MyDisneyExperience basically gives you carte-blanche to do it all for them in advance, and just let them see it as serendipity.

I've already told anyone that might ever travel to Disney with me that I will plan everything in advance. If they stick with the plan, it'll be the best vacation they've ever had. Things will just seem to go magically.

But if they go off-plan, don't be surprised if you're waiting a lot, can't get into a restaurant, or find something just not working quite right.

 

[jpeka65844]

I am also worried about this. We're planning a 4 household trip in October with the other 3 households not the slightest bit interested in any advance planning whatsoever.

They won't want to buy their tix ahead of time so I won't be able to link anything until we arrive. I think I'm just going to take some Xanax (or just start drinking when I arrive) to alleviate the anxiety.

My question is:
In the past, we've always had a FP runner (me) who has collected all tix and gotten FP's. Do I now have to collect all bands? Do all people have to visit a kiosk in person to make FP+?

 

[bwvBound]

My question is:
In the past, we've always had a FP runner (me) who has collected all tix and gotten FP's. Do I now have to collect all bands? Do all people have to visit a kiosk in person to make FP+?

My understanding is that you book the FP+ online -- rather than rushing to a kiosk. That would mean that all the admission media would need to be registered with you having access as the planner.

 

[wdrl]

My understanding is that you book the FP+ online -- rather than rushing to a kiosk. That would mean that all the admission media would need to be registered with you having access as the planner.

I don't think this is true. A person with an MDE account can invite friends and family. Each person invited who accepts the invitation is then considered part of a group. Any member of the group could then make FP+ selections for members in the group.

If you are traveling with a large group, its possible for one person to make FP+ selections for all of their friends and family. A person can make selections for just one person, or for any or all members of the family and friends.

Keep in mind that to select FP+s for any of your family and friends, they need to have a valid ticket media.

 

[bwvBound]

I don't think this is true. A person with an MDE account can invite friends and family. Each person invited who accepts the invitation is then considered part of a group. Any member of the group could then make FP+ selections for members in the group.

If you are traveling with a large group, its possible for one person to make FP+ selections for all of their friends and family. A person can make selections for just one person, or for any or all members of the family and friends.

Keep in mind that to select FP+s for any of your family and friends, they need to have a valid ticket media.

I think you and I are saying the same things just differently?

 

[bwvBound]

Update on my trip planning. Group profile:

• 9 people; 4 households; mostly adults (7 adults; 2 teens)
• All are serious DLR experts
• 5 will be "first-time" WDW
• 6 participating in a RunDisney event and, thus, have access to RunDisney's deeply discounted park media. All are 'first time' runners.
• 1 CM (but not from WDW) with conflicting info regarding her available comp passes and black-out dates
• 1 household are DVC members, with the newly offered PAPs, also taking advantage of DVC's DDP rates for their first night. (The DDP was booked before anyone one else declared: "Arriving earlier than planned!") This same sub-set of the party also signed up for the Sunrise Safari w/out coordination of the group. Sigh. Hope we don't frustrate folks by having a few things that are not shared with the group early in the trip.
• 5 are flying tomorrow -- and of these, three still don't have tickets linked
• As of yesterday, all have created their My Disney Experience accounts. (Phew!)

Fun times.

My husband and I have invested countless hours playing around with MDE via web and mobile device apps. A month ago DH blasted me for complaining about the quirky behaviors of the system but this weekend he grumbled bitterly about feeling like a beta-tester of pre-release software. Yep!

On the bright side, we learned yesterday a feature so cool that it fully redeems MDE: the ability to 'COPY' FP+ selections across Family/Friends. This is a game changer.

The benefit: Allow the planner in your group to do what they can for themselves and any early adopters to MDE. The late MDE joiners, once their profiles are created and their park media linked, can simply "copy" your FP+ selects to their own plans. The feature is much like allowing one person in your travel group to be a "line slug" and later texting the party to join them when they near the ride. Yay, my people can "piggy-back" on my early plans and we don't have to start from scratch to get FP+ for everyone.

Ok, I think I'm looking forward to this ... let the party begin!

 

[bwvBound]

• 9 people; 4 households; mostly adults (7 adults; 2 teens)

Oh, and we are all going to become experts at split-stays by end of this trip! What started as a simple reservation with two 2BR units at AKV has become a crazy hodge-podge of 6 room reservations to help us "fit" better airfares. Five of us fly in earlier than planned: 3 will start their trip at AS Movies, 2 will share a studio at Kidani. Eight of us are staying longer than planned and will all move to AS Movies, consuming 3 additional room reservations. Crazy, crazy, crazy!

I don't think any of us have ever stayed at a Disney Value property. Hmm, this is going to be interesting, isn't it?

 

[lovin'fl]

This MDE and FP+ stuff has helped to take our big family (my inlaws) trips off the table. While they, my inlaws, all seem to get that you need to pre-plan (some don't like that but they do understand the need), they all have differing ways to 'do Disney' and we just can't mesh anymore...so why bother .

 

[tink'smom2B]

We have a 19 person family trip coming up which I started planning last August. I finally got everyone on MDE, made sure they got magical express, tickets, and even made a couple reservations for all of us together including a fastpass to Be Our Guest lunch. MDE has made it easy to see who is a planner and who isn't. You can see everyone's plans and can choose to go along or stay behind. I think it will work out great for us and so far everything has worked just fine. Keeping my fingers crossed

 

[lovin'fl]

Oh, and we are all going to become experts at split-stays by end of this trip! What started as a simple reservation with two 2BR units at AKV has become a crazy hodge-podge of 6 room reservations to help us "fit" better airfares. Five of us fly in earlier than planned: 3 will start their trip at AS Movies, 2 will share a studio at Kidani. Eight of us are staying longer than planned and will all move to AS Movies, consuming 3 additional room reservations. Crazy, crazy, crazy!

I don't think any of us have ever stayed at a Disney Value property. Hmm, this is going to be interesting, isn't it?

Good luck!!! LOL!

 

[bwvBound]

We are home and we are blessed. Our Everest Expedition Challenge trip was a complete success! Our travel partners, mostly WDW-newbies, gave to Magic Bands!

Highlights and "Firsts":

• Four Households, 9 people, ages teens through 70-somethings. Many were first-time-WDW-visitors.
• First RunDisney! Six ran RunDisney's Everest Expedition 5k + Scavenger Hunt Challenge course. All were first-time runners (no prior RunDisney or organized-run experience) and all completed!
• Split Stays! and first All Stars stay. Our 'official' (intended?) vacation dates were 5/1-5/5 at Jambo. Given difficulty booking flights to match those dates, each of us ended up with wider travel windows and various split stays across AS Movies, Kidani and Jambo. Gladly the split-stays were assisted perfectly with help from Bell Services and none of us felt "homeless." The Magic Bands did "mostly well" with the moves. Some needed rekeying along the way but the hiccups were minor. I didn't hate All Stars! Our itinerary: Kidani Studio (1 night); Jambo 2BR (4 nights); AS Movies (3 nights).
• First-time DDL! We used DDL on our arrival night and had fun playing with the entitlements. I don't think we'll do this again - but found it fun. (We broke even but only by consuming more than we would normally.)
• First-time Sunrise Safari! We enjoyed it and would do it again in the future.
• First time PhotoPass Memory Maker, pre-purchase. We've never used PhotoPass before this trip. For $149 we captured 144 professional photos in 9 days across the various parks. My travel-mates LOVED adding their ride photos to the collection.
• Tables in Wonderland. This worked well when dining with the large group. We broke even after the 3rd meal and came out just a bit ahead by the end of the trip. We were pleasantly surprised by TIW's 20% discount at the AS Movies' food court.
• First-time Flower & Garden Festival! F&G has been on my To-Do list for ages. Even so, I didn't realize my trip would coincide with F&G and was surprised to see it was still running. I loved the topiaries, the butterfly garden and the vivid flowers! I was also thrilled to bring home a F&G 2014 Duffy bear dressed as a Garden Gnome. What a cutie!
  

Unexpected blessings:

• Private bus courtesy of Magical Express! DH and I travelled via Red-Eye flight from San Diego arriving MCO at 5:30a. We had a private bus on Magical Express and were allowed to crash out in the back to sleep: no video, no interior lights. The driver gave a gentle, "Wakey, wakey!" message across the PA-system before slowly turning on lights at arrival. What a sweetie!
• Room ready! What a huge surprise -- we were assigned a Kidani studio immediately on arrival! Very cool! We got a nap before breakfast!
• MDX friends/family can copy your FP+ selections! This made planning very easy: we made all FP+ selections in advance. Once the guests created their accounts and linked their tickets they could simply COPY my prior selections. Cool!

It was a simply great trip. Our newbies are, already, discussing their return visits.