Question about using apps in the park...

[moliuchick]

I have a few questions:
1. I want to ask those who have used My Disney Experience app in the park. Do you usually have one person in the family to order everything or do you let your family to order their own on their own phone even you are eating at the same place?
Do you usually order an hour ahead of time just in case they have too many orders to handle?
2. What apps do you use when you are inside the park to check the wait time of different rides? Do you use the app from touringplans.com , Disney World Lines? or do you use any other apps which one is the most accurate?
3. Can I preload up my Disney gift card to the My Disney Experience app so that they will charge my Disney gift card or do I have to give them my actual Disney gift card to complete the transaction in the restaurant.
4. Do you have to use the app to order if you are just ordering something from the cart?
Thanks in advance for the answers!

 

[Pixie Dusted Snow]

1. If this is just one family unit then just place one order on one phone.
If going with multiple families then each family unit should be ordering separately as I assume they would be paying separately.

2. The My Disney Experience app...

3. Yes you can put a gift card on the app when placing a mobile order.

4. They are strongly encouraging mobile order at most locations and I do believe some locations do require it. I'm sure you won't have a problem figuring out which ones while there.

 

[Moliphino]

3. You can't pre-load or store a gift card to pay for a mobile order. You can use a gift card in the app, but you need to enter the gift card info in each transaction.

4. Most carts don't use mobile order, it's mainly QS restaurants and not even all of those. If a place does use MO, then it is strongly encouraged to use it but not 100% required (you can order in person for allergies, cash payments, no smart phone, for example).

 

[Best Aunt]

I think people who want to use a gift card for mobile ordering food through the MDE app are typing the gift card number into the Notes app (or whatever it is called) on their phone. That way, they can copy the gift card number from that app and paste it into the MDE app as part of the mobile order process, and they don't have to type the information in each time.

I think you can create your mobile food order hours ahead of time. That lets you grab the time period for when you think you will want to eat. You just wait to hit the "I'm here" or whatever it's called part.

If it's one family unit, then I can't think of any benefit to having each family member do their own order (unless somebody is going to pay for their own meal using their own money).

I would think that it would slow you down when you get to the restaurant if every person in your group had a separate order, because you would have to wait for every order to be ready.

I don't know what the process is for walking in the door of a restaurant which does mobile order. Is there a cast member outside the door who doesn't let you in unless your order is ready? If so, then you have a problem if you want everybody to wait together and walk in together.

Also, if each person is placing their own order but you want all of the food to get charged to one credit card, then you would have to give that credit card information to each person to enter into their MDE account; I don't know if you want to do that.

 

[moliuchick]

3. You can't pre-load or store a gift card to pay for a mobile order. You can use a gift card in the app, but you need to enter the gift card info in each transaction.

4. Most carts don't use mobile order, it's mainly QS restaurants and not even all of those. If a place does use MO, then it is strongly encouraged to use it but not 100% required (you can order in person for allergies, cash payments, no smart phone, for example).

That make sense, even I know how to do the mobile order, I bet I will have problems ordering (the typical me, Murphy's law) anyhow, hope it is not too much of a hassle.