Relax, No Park Trip... Still use MDE?

[Cmbar]

We are taking a week long vacation... 4 nights at Vero Beach and then over to Orlando to do a few nights at the VGF. DVC member Services called me the other day to ask if I needed any help setting up things for our stay in August. I said "no" since we were only doing a "relax" trip. We don't plan to do any parks at Disney with the exception of maybe a water park using old tickets. Do we really need wrist bands and setting everything up on My Disney Experience? I feel like I am making a mistake if I don't do this.

TO complicate matters we have two reservations. My sister holds the Vero Beach booking under her Membership (two bedroom) and I have the two bedroom at Grand Floridian. We are the exact same people on the reservation. Should I have these reservations linked for any purpose? We would like to buy Refill mugs at Vero and then use them at Grand Floridian too. Can we do that since this is all together in one week? Do we just purchase the Length of stay mugs at Vero?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Msmithmd]

Don't need to link reservations. Can't imagine why you would, since one isn't even at WDW.

Might as well customize bands because they will just give you gray ones on arrival if you don't customize. No bands isn't an option because there are no kttw cards any more. Band is your room key. Also, bands may be scanned if you pool hop or go to TOWL (your membership card would also work for this).

My understanding is that length of stay mugs are good for 14 days after purchase, no matter how many places and days you actually are staying. Would appreciate if someone who has done it can confirm that this also works for a Vero-to-WDW split stay.

You should set up the WDW trip on MDE if you are going to have any ADR, as they are easy to schedule and cancel from the MDE app. Obviously no FP+ need if no parks, but if you're doing dining reservations I would go ahead and set up the app. Can come in handy on the go.

 

[Cmbar]

Don't need to link reservations. Can't imagine why you would, since one isn't even at WDW.

Might as well customize bands because they will just give you gray ones on arrival if you don't customize. No bands isn't an option because there are no kttw cards any more. Band is your room key. Also, bands may be scanned if you pool hop or go to TOWL (your membership card would also work for this).

My understanding is that length of stay mugs are good for 14 days after purchase, no matter how many places and days you actually are staying. Would appreciate if someone who has done it can confirm that this also works for a Vero-to-WDW split stay.

You should set up the WDW trip on MDE if you are going to have any ADR, as they are easy to schedule and cancel from the MDE app. Obviously no FP+ need if no parks, but if you're doing dining reservations I would go ahead and set up the app. Can come in handy on the go.

Thank you!

So we will have two Magic Bands then? One at Vero and One at Grand Floridian? Both just to open our doors because we aren't planning on going to the parks? I forgot about dining ADR's to attach as I do have reservations at Park Fare and Kona so maybe we should do that. Our trip is two weeks away is it too late to get customized bands or can I order them and pick up at Vero?

Do they have band holders for your neck or something? Not sure I want a band on while sunbathing and swimming? Are they really bulky?

I have read from others that you can use the mugs by buying them as Length of Stay mugs. I would be happy to do that if we can use them on both sides of the vacation. That is why I wasn't sure if I had to link the two reservations.

For those who have done the mugs at Vero and the WDW is there something special to request when purchasing Length of stay mugs?

Thank you!

 

[LisaS]

TO complicate matters we have two reservations. My sister holds the Vero Beach booking under her Membership (two bedroom) and I have the two bedroom at Grand Floridian. We are the exact same people on the reservation. Should I have these reservations linked for any purpose?

Linking is done when you have two reservations for an identical room where one reservation immediately follows the other. For example, you are staying 5 nights and you book the first 3 nights of your stay in a 2BR lockoff at VGF with points from one membership and the last 2 nights of your stay also in a 2BR lockoff at VGF with points from another contract. That results in two completely separate reservations so there is a good chance you will be assigned two different rooms for that stay and have to move part way through your trip. To prevent that from happening, MS can "link" the two reservations so that the room assigner is alerted to treat the two reservations as one stay and keep you in the same room for both reservations.

Do they have band holders for your neck or something? Not sure I want a band on while sunbathing and swimming? Are they really bulky?

I didn't find it bulky. I thought it was great that you can wear them in the pool since it eliminates the issue of what to do with your room key while you are swimming. If you didn't want to wear it on your wrist you could loop it around some kind of waterproof lanyard that you put around your neck but I would find it annoying having something like that floating around my neck while I was in the pool vs having it on the wrist where you forget you even have it on.

ETA: If you are worried about a tan line, swap it over to your other wrist once in a while to even things out.

 

[erionm]

So we will have two Magic Bands then? One at Vero and One at Grand Floridian? Both just to open our doors because we aren't planning on going to the parks?

MagicBands are only used for the WDW Resorts, so you will not receive them for the VB Reservation.

 

[wdrl]

Here is another advantage of MagicBands: If you link a credit card to your WDW room for room charges, then you can use your MagicBand for Point-of-Sale transactions at places both inside and outside the Parks, including Downtown Disney. You can even use your MagicBand to charge your dinner bill to your room. If you use your MagicBand for POS transactions, you'll first establish a unique 4-digit PIN. Each time you swipe the MagicBand you have to enter your PIN before the transaction is processed.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

As was mentioned the magic bands are used for room entry at wdw resorts. There isn't any benefit to customizing over receiving at the resort when you arrive other than choosing a color and getting your name inside it. They might still be able to get them done but normally you have to do it at least 30 days ahead so hard to say for certain. Other than that they work just like the KTTW cards did. And I often just carried it in a bag. You aren't required to wear it.

Here is another advantage of MagicBands: If you link a credit card to your WDW room for room charges, then you can use your MagicBand for Point-of-Sale transactions at places both inside and outside the Parks, including Downtown Disney. You can even use your MagicBand to charge your dinner bill to your room. If you use your MagicBand for POS transactions, you'll first establish a unique 4-digit PIN. Each time you swipe the MagicBand you have to enter your PIN before the transaction is processed.

That wouldn't be Magic band exclusive. It would be done on a key card too if they managed to find a resort that would still issue that instead of the Magic band.