Planning for 2 families- ADRs and Fastpass

[jpin_4477]

This will be our first time visiting Disney with another family at the same time. We have 4 in our party, and my sister’s family will also have 4. We have 2 separate resort reservations. We want to do some days primarily together for rides & meals and other days where each family goes their own way. Will we be able to book ADRs and Fastpasses together for some days only? For meals, we would want each family to pay separately (will probably both get dining plan). How is that accomplished in MDE? We have plenty of time to plan as we are not visiting until May 2020 but just trying to understand how it can work.

Thanks!

 

[sharonabe]

This will be our first time visiting Disney with another family at the same time. We have 4 in our party, and my sister’s family will also have 4. We have 2 separate resort reservations. We want to do some days primarily together for rides & meals and other days where each family goes their own way. Will we be able to book ADRs and Fastpasses together for some days only? For meals, we would want each family to pay separately (will probably both get dining plan). How is that accomplished in MDE? We have plenty of time to plan as we are not visiting until May 2020 but just trying to understand how it can work.

Thanks!

You can absolutely plan however you want. You have two separate reservations, so as far as Disney is concerned, you are simply two families visiting the mouse who have connected through friends and family on MDE.

When you eat together, just tell your waiter who is with whom and that you want separate checks. You WILL each be charged an automatic 18% gratuity because you are a table of 8, but it will be on what each of you ordered.

 

[epcotobsessed]

For FPs, the best way to do it is to make a plan for every day, before your 60 day mark (or 30 if you're not staying on site), and then be on the phone with one another while you're making your selections because the times you want won't always be available, even right at 7am. That being said, I have also made plans with other families, one of us has gotten our FPs first because of different lengths of stay, and we have been able to coordinate while booking on different days but that has always been for less popular rides - no FOP, SDD, SDMT, etc.

 

[jpin_4477]

So, we would need to individually book both ADRs and Fastpasses while on the phone together to try to get them at the same time? That's what I was trying to figure out. I didn't know if there was any way to link the accounts to search for all 8 at a time just for certain days. I see a "My Family and Friends" section in MDE and that's why I thought maybe they could be linked and was trying to figure out how that would work.

Thanks!

 

[drwadadli]

We went down with 5 family for a small family reunion and we did what you are talking about doing. We had days together with rides and dining but mostly days doing our own thing but still met up for dinners. I was able to book all the dining for the group under my MDE app. I picked the restaurant, times, and group size and picked it. Since I was managing two of the parties through my MDE, it wasn't a problem putting the 4 of us on the reservations. For the 8 people (3 families), I had invited them to be part of "My Family and Friends" through the app and that way, I could add their names to the reservations.

When it came to paying / using the dining plans, that was just as easy. When we sat down and the CM asked if we were using any dining plans, we would tell the CM which MagicBand / Dining Plan went with which party and which MagicBand was pay OOP.

As for FP+'s, It pretty much worked the say way. I would book FP+'s for the four of us and then tell my cousin who would book FP+'s for her group at the same time frame. When we went to book our FP+'s, we were on the phone (my cousin and I) deciding which parks, which rides and which times we wanted everyone together. Since the FP+'s have periods to show up between, it was okay if our FP+'s were from say 10:00 - 11:00 and hers were from say 10:20 - 11:20. We just made sure we showed for the attraction at the same time. It was easier if the attraction was a show because time frame didn't matter.

 

[jo-jo]

I can't tell you how to do, since my DD does the FP for me. But last few trips, DH and I had one room, and a DS with his family had a room. DD did all the fast passes. Sometimes we all went on a ride together, other times she would book DS and DGS on space moutain, while DDIL , smaller DGS and us went on Buzz lightyear during the same time span.

 

[jpin_4477]

Thank you so much, this is really helpful!

 

[sharonabe]

So, we would need to individually book both ADRs and Fastpasses while on the phone together to try to get them at the same time? That's what I was trying to figure out. I didn't know if there was any way to link the accounts to search for all 8 at a time just for certain days. I see a "My Family and Friends" section in MDE and that's why I thought maybe they could be linked and was trying to figure out how that would work.

Thanks!

It would be easiest for both of you to have your own MDE account and then add each other to your "family and friends."

For ADRs where you want to eat together, you need to make the ADR for all 8 in one reservation. You could try to get two ADRs for 4 around the same time, but then there is no guarantee you'll be seated together.

For FPs that you want to do together, you can each try to get them for 4 at times that are close together. As long as you're both within the same hour, you can ride together. Getting sets of 4 will be MUCH easier than trying to get sets of 8.

 

[Christine]

So I'm fuzzy on the details, but last year on our trip, my parents had their own room and I had my own room (total party of 5). I did all the booking for them, including Fast Passes. I think when I added them to my family and friends list, I clicked the box that said I would do all the planning for them. So one person (you) could choose to be the planner for all fast passes and you could book the whole amount at one time.

 

[sponica]

So, we would need to individually book both ADRs and Fastpasses while on the phone together to try to get them at the same time? That's what I was trying to figure out. I didn't know if there was any way to link the accounts to search for all 8 at a time just for certain days. I see a "My Family and Friends" section in MDE and that's why I thought maybe they could be linked and was trying to figure out how that would work.

Thanks!

I would put ONE of you in charge of shared dining. Pick which restaurants are important to eat together ahead of time. (translation, let whomever is the control freak do the booking). You don't have to have each guest listed, you can just book a party of 8 with you and 7 unnamed guests.

 

[rosiebean]

I would put ONE of you in charge of shared dining. Pick which restaurants are important to eat together ahead of time. (translation, let whomever is the control freak do the booking). You don't have to have each guest listed, you can just book a party of 8 with you and 7 unnamed guests.

This. I travel to WDW with extended family, and my sister and I each pick a specific day/time/park to make ADRs for. We plan our park schedule together, discuss preferred restaurants, and decide which days we’re each responsible for (because we both enjoy planning lol). While we’re all connected as family and friends on MDE, neither of us ever list every member of our party. We simply make an ADR for 6, or 8, or 10 (depending on who will be there each day) and only our names are attached to it (and the ADR holder doesn’t even need to be there for the meal...they don’t scan bands when you check in, you just need the name the ADR is under).

We also plan out rough fast pass schedules. One of us will make theirs first, text times/rides and the other tries to make theirs in the same window. Over 95% of the time, we are able to coordinate our rides.

 

[jpin_4477]

Thank you so much!

 

[heymommy]

We occasionally had problems with the linking of family on the My Disney Experience App... this is easily resolved by calling and talking to someone or doing it by chat on line. You will all have to be linked on the MDE and then you will be able to see each other. We managed everything for everyone in our party of 3 families in 3 rooms.