Planning When Part of the Group Staying Off-Site

[TwinMomEsq]

I have been trying to search the boards, but am not having a ton of luck, so I apologize if this has already been asked somewhere else.

It's been years since I have been to WDW and the FP+ and ADR systems are very new to me. We are going to be celebrating our princess-obsessed DDs' 5th birthday in October. It's unlikely that we will be able to return for a long time - probably not while they are still into princesses - so I really want to make this trip special. We have a lot of time to plan and I want to do whatever I can in advance to help things run smoothly and to get the most out of our time.

My parents will be coming with us on this trip. We are staying on site, but my parents will be staying outside the resort. How will that work for trying to get meals and FP+ bookings together? Will they also get Magic Bands? Will we have to wait until 30 days out to book FP+ so that we can all get the same times? What is the best way to handle traveling with half the group staying in the resort and the rest outside?

 

[Kirby]

You can make ADRs for the whole group. You don't have to have MBs or tickets for that. You don't even have to have resort reservations.

I think that your parents can purchase MBs but they would have to stay at a Disney Resort to get them automatically.

The MBs just hold information, you don't really even have to have them to get into the parks. A ticket will do.

There is a Magic Band thread on here somewhere that might help.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Make an MDE for your parents and link it to your MDE account. Make sure you link their tickets to their MDE account. It's been reported that when MDE accounts are linked, FPs can be made at the 60 day point for all guests that are linked to the MDE that has the onsite reservation.

It doesn't matter that your parents are offsite, MDE will allow you to schedule the FPs for them when your 60-day window opens.

Here's Mesaboy's FP Info Thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3326057