Mom Street USA | Disney Tech Talk

Planning a Disney trip? Let’s talk Disney tech! In this episode of Mom Street USA, we share our best Disney World tips for parents and Disneyland planning tips to help you get the most out of the My Disney Experience app and the Disneyland app.

From setting up your account and using mobile order, to navigating Lightning Lanes, we cover everything parents need to know before, during, and after your trip. These Disney planning hacks will help you save time, reduce stress, and focus on the magic with your family.

🎧 Whether you’re preparing for Walt Disney World or Disneyland Resort, our guide will show you how to use the Disney apps like a pro.

➡️ Watch now and get ready to make your next Disney vacation easier, smoother, and more magical!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome everybody to Mom's for USA. My name is Jackie
aka Wishes Mama, and for today's episode, we are talking
about Disney Tech. So we are going to be going
over the My disney Experience app for Disney World and
a little bit about the Disneyland app for West Coast
friends out there, but we're going to be focusing on

(00:27):
using the app on your trip, before your trip, and
focusing on things that will help parents with kids being
at the parks and using the app at the parks.
So that is the plan for today. The episode is
going to focus on using, like I said, the disney
World app which is called My Disney Experience, and a
few other resources we'll throw in there as well to

(00:48):
help make the most of your Disney trip. So just
do keep in mind that, like I said, we are
going to be talking about both coasts. I am going
to focus a little bit more on Disney World just
because that is my comfort zone, but I am going
to be making some notes about Disneyland as we go.
If you are someone who is looking for Disneyland information,

(01:09):
it will be in this episode. However, there will be
several things that I talk about today that are different
from between Disney World and Disneyland, and there will be
a lot of things that are the same. The apps
are completely separate, so keep that in mind as you
are listening so that you don't get confused. I will
do my best to clarify as we go so you
know which apps I'm talking about and when. But the

(01:31):
primary focus is going to be that My Disney Experience app.
So obviously let's talk about before your trip, and the
very first thing you're going to need to do is
download that app. The important thing about downloading this app
and signing in and getting logged in is that you
need to use the same email that you have used

(01:52):
for any other Disney reservation things that you have done
up to this point. So if your trip is booked,
even if you book through a travel agent or if
you booked on your own, whatever email address you are
using to book that trip needs to be the same
email address that you use whenever you log into the app.

(02:14):
So download My Disney Experience app and use that same
email address. The same thing goes for Disneyland, so no
matter which side you're logging into, Disney Now has streamlined
so all of their accounts, whether it's Disney World, Disneyland,
your Disney Plus account, anything that you log in under
the Disney umbrella is all going to be under the

(02:36):
same email, So that is super important because otherwise you'll
accidentally create duplicate accounts and you won't be able to
see any of your stuff on the app. So don't
do that. Use the same email that you used if
you if you already have booked, or if you already
have a Disney account, if you don't have any of
those things, you don't have Disney Plus, or you haven't

(02:56):
already used haven't already made your reservation, and yet whatever
email you want to use is fine, but make sure
you write down that user name and password or make
sure you save it because everything else in the future,
Disney wise, that you log into, you want to make
sure that you keep it all under the same account,
so that way Disney knows who you are and you

(03:17):
can access all of your stuff. So that's kind of
step one is setting that up, making sure that you
have the ability to log in and view all of
your everything, because in theory, once you log in, as
long as you've done your reservation for your trip already
log in with that same email, everything should kind of
pre populate for you, so it shouldn't be a big

(03:40):
deal to add your reservations on or be able to
find all your stuff. It should already be there for you.
So that's kind of the basics of setting up your account,
and we're going to kind of walk through this step
by step after that, talking about things to do before
your trip, and then we'll also talk about during your
trip some really helpful things that you could do on
your app as well. So next thing that I want

(04:01):
to talk about is kind of goes hand in hand
with creating your account, and that is creating your the
accounts for the other people that are going to be
in your travel party. So let's talk about this. Now.
Keep in mind what I'm going to talk about first,
this has to do with Disney World. Disneyland is separate
in this particular aspect. Okay, So for Disney World, you

(04:25):
are going to set up what they call the family
and friends list, and this is part of your profile
under your Disney account. So the people in your travel party,
once you've already made your reservation, should automatically load into
your account. You should automatically be able to see them.

(04:46):
So the way that you can double check that is
on your My Disney Experience app. When you just load
the home screen, make sure you're logged in, make sure
it says welcome, and then your name. On the home
screen in the bo bottom right corner, there is that
three line menu also known as a hamburger menu because
it looks like you got a bun and then a

(05:07):
patty and then a bun right three lines. So you'll
hear me refer to that as your hamburger menu because
I like that term and I think it's fun. So
if you click that hamburger menu, scroll almost all the
way down to the bottom, you will see your profile option.
Click on that, and then there will be two tabs
at the top of your screen. One will say profile,
one will say your family and friends. When you click

(05:30):
into that, you should be able to see everybody in
your travel party. They should already be pre loaded because
when you made your reservation, whether you did it through
a travel agent or you did it yourself, you would
have had to enter their names and their ages, so
that should already be prepopulated for you. If it's not,
then that is something that you need to contact Disney

(05:51):
about because you do not want to create duplicate accounts
for people. It's very very tricky when that happens. So
if you do not see them, go back to that
Hamburger menu and there's gonna be a box option along
the top. You're gonna have like seven or eight boxes
along the top. One of them's gonna say like chat
with us or something like that. Do that. Talk to

(06:14):
the Disney representative. They should be able to help you
get that going. But again, do not add people if
they should already be on your reservation in your travel party,
because we don't want duplicate accounts. Things get very complicated
when that happens, especially when it comes to booking, dining
and lightning lanes and things like that. So we'll get

(06:35):
to that in a little bit. If you want to
be in charge of everybody else's plans for your travel party,
let's say it's you, another adult and two kids. Let's
say that you know, that's what my family makeup is.
It's me and my husband and my two kids. If
you want to be the one that is in charge
of everybody's plans, they do not need to create their

(06:57):
own Disney account. They can and just live and exist
under yours, and you will be able to do everything
for them that needs to be done when it comes
to again, dining, reservations, lightning lanes, tapping into the park,
all of those things. For example, my husband Andrew does
not have his own log in for My Disney Experience.

(07:19):
He does have the app on his phone. He just
uses my log in and he has access to everything,
so he doesn't have his own account. We just both
log in and use my account and it works perfectly well.
That way, he's still able to do mobile orders, dining,
all all of those things, so it's not necessary. Now,
if you're traveling with a friend group, you may want

(07:40):
to consider having your friends also log into the app
on their own because then you will be able to
split up and pay for things separately and kind of
do your own thing. You don't have to again, you
can all use a shared login if you choose to.
It just depends on your preference with that. So if
you want to add somebody and they do not already

(08:03):
have a My Disney Experience account, they do not already
have that setup, you need to send them the invite
first before they create an account. Again, this will help
not create duplicate accounts for you. So from your friends
and family list, as long as they are over the

(08:26):
age of I believe it's sixteen, but it might be eighteen.
I'm not one hundred percent sure on that. You will
see the option too, if you click onto their profile,
you will see the option to invite them to plan
or something along the lines of that. So you will
use that option to send them an email request to
invite them to create an account using the email that

(08:48):
you send it to. So ask them what their email preferences,
type that in, send that to them. Then they will
go through the prompt and they will log in and
create their account using that email, and it will then
auto link you guys together. Now, if that person that
you are planning with already has a My Disney Experience account,

(09:09):
the same thing can be done, but you have to
make sure that whatever email you're sending it to is
the email that they have set up under their My
Disney Experience app or again, you're going to create duplicate accounts.
So if I'm planning with our good friend Stevie, who
is one of our hub co hosts over here on
mom Street, if I'm planning with her and we're not

(09:30):
linked together yet, we are linked together. We've been linked
together for forever on our accounts because we do a
lot of trips together. But when we were starting out
and we needed to get linked together, we both had
our separate accounts, so we just had to confirm with
each other, Hey, what's the email on your account? I'm
going to send you a request. And then once we
did that one way and went through and clicked all

(09:51):
the yes's and accepting buttons, then we were linked together.
We were good to go. But you have to just
make sure that those email addresses link and matt with
what people are already doing, or else you'll run into
issues there. Now, the one situation and the one kind
of anomaly to not needing separate accounts is if you

(10:12):
have a very large travel party, you may need and
likely will need a second account in order to do
dining reservations. For example, I did a big family trip
back at Memorial Day. There were ten of us. Finding
a dining reservation for ten is a lot harder than

(10:34):
finding a reservation for five and five. Because of the
way that restaurants make up their tables because they have
limited large party spaces, it was nearly impossible to find
a reservation for ten, but a reservation for four, five,
or six is a lot easier to do so because
you would have to split your party. You have to

(10:56):
have two separate emails to be able to do that,
because Disney will not allow you to book conflicting dining reservations.
So let's say we're trying to book something like Cape
may Cafe at six pm for dinner. I can't hold
a reservation for five and five at the same time

(11:16):
because Disney will view that as a conflicting reservation. They
won't let you do that. But I can hold a
reservation for five, and my sister's account could hold a
reservation for five, and then all ten of us were covered.
So that's the only time where you may run into
issues of not having a second account on you for
your travel party. But if you're a party of six

(11:38):
or less, you probably won't need it any more than six.
I would suggest looking at maybe splitting up or seeing
what you can do for as far as dining goes,
because it will just be a lot easier to find
your dining reservations with a smaller party just the way
it is so Other than that, there is no reason
that the other adults in your travel party need to

(12:02):
have their own My Disney Experienced log in. Again, all
of that is exclusive to Disney World. So all of
the friends and family that I just talked about and
the linking and the emails and all of that applies
to Disney World. If you are doing disney Land, your
process is different and more simplistic. Setting up your account

(12:25):
is the same, exactly the same as what it was
that we talked about earlier. When it comes to the
emails and downloading the app and everything, the disney Land
app is different than the My disney Experience app. So
My disney Experience app is for Disney World. The Disneyland
app is just called the Disneyland App, so easy enough
to remember and to figure out when it comes to that.

(12:47):
But now with the disney Land app for West Coast,
there is no friends and family list on that app,
so it's not something that you have to even worry
about like adding people and make making sure everybody's there.
To add people to your Disneyland app. If you want
to do dining, lightning lanes, things like that together, what

(13:10):
you have to do is add their ticket or their
pass to the parks to your app by scanning it
so completely different, totally not the same as what we
just talked about. You don't have to worry about emails.
You just have to be able to load their pass
onto your Disneyland app and then from there you'll have

(13:30):
access to be able to make plans together. So a
little bit different, more simplistic, not as many steps involved
when it comes to that, and that's simply because Disneyland
has way more locals, and we've talked about this before.
There are so many more locals there that people don't
need as many hoops to jump through with their travel

(13:52):
party because typically it's just people in their household or
like friends that they go to the parks with frequently.
They're not traveling with this group that also needs to
have access to a resort room and this and that
and the other. So it's just different when it comes
to that aspect of everything. So Disney World go through
all those steps with friends and family. Disneyland, you just

(14:13):
have to load their ticket or pass onto your account,
and you'll be able to do that again in the
app through that Hamburger menu, you'll be able to see
the ability to add passes to your account from there,
So that's kind of the gist of setting everything up again.
If you have issues with any of that, or you

(14:35):
feel like you are not finding what I'm saying, or
you're worried about creating extra people, the chat function on
the app is really really good. The cast members there
are super super helpful. They're able to nine times out
of ten fix what is going on. You even have
to get on the phone if you're like me and
you don't have time to sit on the phone waiting

(14:56):
for Disney to answer or don't want to. The chat
function is really good. Now, if you're someone who wants
to do a phone call, you can also call them.
Either way is good, but the chat feature on your
app is really really good. You'll get indirect contact with
the cast members that way as well. One of the
other things that you might do before your trip is
booking dining reservation. So I've already mentioned this a couple

(15:16):
times in today's episode, but booking dining reservations is something
that you will want to make sure you have this
app and your account all situated and set up beforehand,
because you will need it in order to be able
to book those dining reservations. So there are two ways
that you can book dining reservation, and this applies to

(15:37):
both Disney World and Disneyland. That reservations are available sixty
days ahead of the date at six am local time,
So if you're booking Disney World six am Eastern, if
you're booking Disneyland, it'll be six am Pacific there. And
the process as far as how you book is pretty

(15:58):
identical when it comes to that. So two ways to book.
You can book on the app directly, which is what
we were just talking about. You can also use the
website to book. My biggest suggestion is to have both
available to you. Sometimes the app is super slow and
doesn't load dining reservations. Sometimes the website is super slow

(16:19):
and doesn't want to load dining reservations. I would always
suggest having both available and both logged in, and that's
what I do whenever I am booking, because typically one
works better than the other. I do typically find that
the website tends to work better for me and doesn't
have as long as a buffer time, and I'm able
to click through the screens a little bit quicker to

(16:39):
get what I'm looking for. You always want to be
sure before you start your dining reservations, like the day
before at the very latest, you want to make sure
your payment method is already saved on your account, and
you can do that under your profile, and you can
do that online on the website, or you can do
it on your app. If you're doing it on your
app again, you're going to click that three line Hamburger menu.

(17:02):
You're gonna scroll down to where it says profile, and
one of the options on your profile is going to
be like manage payment accounts or things like that, and
you will be able to pre to save credit cards
in there. Unfortunately, they don't let you save gift cards
in there, so you want to make sure you have
a credit card available, and the reason for that is

(17:25):
Disney keeps your card on file in case of no shows.
Disney does charge a fee if you know show and
don't go to your dining reservation and don't cancel it,
So that is what the credit card is for. Unless
you are going to an experience that requires you to
pre pay, which would be Cinderella's Royal Table and the

(17:47):
Hoop de Doo Review at Disney World. Both of those
are pre pay, so you want to make sure that
whatever card you're using, you're okay with pre paying for
those two experiences. If you're going to book either of
those all of your other dining experiences at Disney World
that you book, that card just exists for you to

(18:09):
be able to have that hold in case there is
a no show situation that you have. Again, they don't
charge automatically except for the exception of Cinderella's Royal Table
and who Tido Review. Now, keep in mind that as
far as the sixty day window goes, we talked about
that your dining will open at sixty days. If you

(18:32):
are staying at a valid Disney Resort hotel, you will
be able to make your reservation sixty days in advance
of your arrival for your entire length of stay up
to ten nights, So you'll be able to log on
at your sixty day from your check in and book
for up to ten days out based on the length

(18:52):
of your stay. Other guests, if you are not staying
on property at Disney, you will be able to make
reservations sixty days in advance, so you'll have to do
it day to day if you are not staying on property. Again,
at approximately six am Eastern it could be five thirty,

(19:13):
it could be six point fifteen, around six am Eastern daily,
the new reservation booking windows will become available. If you
are someone that needs further guidance on dining and is like,
I don't even know what's available, I don't know what's
good for my kids, I don't know what options there are,
or there are too many options. I'm overwhelmed. Way back

(19:34):
in our archives, Kate and I did some episodes on
ADRs Advanced Dining Reservations, So episodes fifty one, fifty two,
and fifty three we covered all four Disney parks in
both California parks, So if you need advice and suggestions
on dining, take a look at those. We talked about
the restaurants in depthly and we talked about menu options, theming,

(19:57):
all of that. So if you need more guidance on
what to book, go there. But let's talk about how
to book those dining reservations. So if you are doing
it on the app, you're going to click the plus
button at the bottom of the screen, and then you're
going to select check dining availability. From there, you will
select your party size, the date to the time, and
then the restaurant. Again, we talked about if you have

(20:19):
a party larger than about six. Splitting your party into
two groups will help you find better availability. Like I mentioned,
i had ten in my last group. We frequently did
four and six for our dining reservations instead of ten,
and we were able to get everything we wanted. And
even then, some of our windows were maybe ten or
fifteen minutes apart, but we all went and checked in

(20:42):
together at the at the host to stand and let
them know like, hey, we're all together, and they were
able to make that work so that way we could
sit near each other or at some places they were
able to make it work and we were all able
to sit at one big table. It just really depended
on what was available, and we were willing to wait
a few extra minutes for them to, you know, do

(21:02):
what they could to help accommodate our larger party. So
that was nice. If availability is not there, when you book,
two different websites that you can look into. One is
called mouse Dining and the other is called Stakeout, and
both of those are have some free and some paid

(21:24):
that you are able to sign up for alerts for
specific restaurants, so you can set an alert for a
specific day, specific time, a number and what the restaurant
is and they will notify you of those if something
becomes available, so it kind of internally tracks the reservation
system for you, which is a really nice thing to do.

(21:44):
And a lot of the reservations that are really hard
to get, things like Topolino's Terraces especially, is one that
we that I've used it before for. It's really nice
because like week of a lot of those reservations will
become available, and it's really nice to not have to

(22:08):
constantly monitor the reserve the dining reservations while you're also,
like in the parks, trying to enjoy yourself. So, like
I said, those do allow several free alerts. You can
also pay to have more depending on what your needs are.
With that, I will just mention briefly if you're planning
to do dining on the website, they make it fairly
easy and straightforward. It's very similar to what I just

(22:29):
explained on your app, but straight from the home screen
of the Walt Disney World website. You want to make
sure you're logged in, and then across the top you're
going to go to the things to do tab and
then you're going to click on the make reservations option
under there. From there you'll be able to again do
the same thing. Click your day, your time, your party size,

(22:52):
and the restaurant that you want and go from there.
So that's kind of how making your dining reservations work
again for disney Land, same process, All of that is identical.
Where you find things on the app is very similar.
So all of that should work if you're planning to
do Disneyland again. Though, remember six am local time, so

(23:17):
six am Pacific time for Disneyland, six am Eastern time
for disney World. And I know I've got friends that
are further west that like to visit disney World that
always are not thrilled about having to get up in
the middle of the night to make their dining reservations
because it is six am Eastern time for that. Another

(23:39):
thing that you might book ahead of time are your
lightning lanes. Now we're not going to get super in
depth into lightning lanes. I just did an episode, like
I don't know six or seven ago, reviewing the lightning
lane process at Disney World. That's episode ninety, so not
too far back in our archives. That is a great

(24:01):
resource where I went through tutorials on how to Book
What to Book showed you how to modify clicked through
all of the screens, So that is a really great
resource if that is something that you're looking for. I
am going to go over just briefly the process, but
if you need more in depth, that is the episode

(24:21):
to go to because I went as in depth as
I possibly could on that episode. So that being said,
if you are wanting to book your lightning lanes ahead
of time, resort guests plus Swan, Dolphin and Shades of
Green guests are able to pre select your lightning lane
rides seven days out from your check in day, and

(24:45):
you can book for the entire length of your stay
up to fourteen days. So this one is a little
bit different than dining. Dining was ten your lightning lane
up to fourteen days. You are able to book for
the entire length of your stay. You do have to
be staying that long in order to book that long.
Non resort guests can pre select three days out from

(25:06):
your first park day and you can book for the
amount of days that are eligible on your ticket that
is linked to your account. So if you've got a
four day park ticket, you can book for four days.
If you've got a five day park ticket, you book
for five days, you get the idea on the app
when you become eligible. Now this is disney World only.

(25:29):
Let me emphasize that again. This is disney World only
when it comes to this Lightning Lane little spiel, okay
and everything that I already said to Disney World disney
World on the app. When you become eligible, you're gonna
click that three line Hamburger menu. It's like, we like

(25:50):
that menu a lot, and then you're gonna click Lightning
Lane passes. It's going to be like the top right
box on that screen when you open that. From there,
after you click that, you're going to select from their options.
You have to do a little bit of research ahead
of time about what the different options are and what
falls in what category and what price point is what
again Episode ninety Go back and listen to that. But

(26:14):
you're going to select then either multi pass, single pass,
or premiere pass, depending on what it is that you're
looking for. From there, you will select the date, the park,
your travel party, and then you will select your attractions
if that applies. If your Premiere pass, you don't have
to select your attractions, but if you are single pass
or multipass. You will select your attractions from there. After

(26:37):
that you will select the times you want, and then
you will continue to go through and pay and confirm
your choices. Again episode ninety, I walk through step by step.
I show you on a screen exactly where to go
for those lightning lanes. So that is really your end.
I'll be all full resource for lightning lanes if you
need it. Just a couple notes again about lightning lanes.

(27:01):
If you want to view your previously booked or previously
purchased rides again, you can find those under the Hamburger menu.
You're going to scroll down to the first section under
the boxes, and you're going to click the future plans,
and then from there you can adjust the date at
the top of there, and you can click through your
different days that you have available that you have booked.

(27:22):
And if you're trying to view day of plans, two
different places you can find them. One you can actually
find them just on the home screen view of your
My Disney Experience app. So when you open that app,
you're going to scroll down just a little, but it's
going to show you lightning lanes and dining reservations. Any
notes that you've put in for your planning aspect, it's
going to show you there. The other place that you

(27:45):
can find it is if you go back to that
Hamburger menu scroll down. Actually just above the future plan
aspect will be the today's plan, So that will give
you the same rundown where it'll show you in a
list view kind of what you have planned, what reservations
you've made, whether it be rides, dining, things like that.

(28:06):
So that, in a nutshell, is kind of your walk
through with lightning lanes. Again extensively went through this just
a few episodes ago. Now disney Land lightning lanes are
one hundred percent different. They are still functioning under the
previous system, which we knew as Genie Plus. The name
is the same. They still consider them Lightning Lane multi

(28:28):
pass Lightning Lane single pass, but it functions as the
previous system. There is no pre booking. It is just
a day of you book when you get into the park,
but where you find things is very similar on the app.
We also did information about that. I did not update
a ton of that in the most recent Lightning Lane episode.
We did because nothing has really changed out there since

(28:51):
we talked about it last but episode sixty three in
our archives is Lightning Lanes, and you want to folk
if you want to focus on the disney Land version.
If you're looking for Disney World again, episode ninety is
your most up to date, but episode sixty three will
give you disney Land and we'll talk through exactly how
to book, what to book, and what order and all

(29:11):
that good stuff. Okay, So that is kind of your
dining and Lightning Lanes again in a nutshell, not going
into super detail because we have done that before. A
couple more things that you can talk about before your trip.
In the last kind of category before we talk about
what to do during your trip, and that is online

(29:32):
check in. So Disney gives you the option to check
into your resort room on your app before your trip.
You can make basic room requests and select if you
will arrive before or after the three pm check in time.
This option is a really, really good option. If you

(29:54):
do not have very specific needs and you are arriving
close to check in time, I would definitely go ahead
and do that because that will allow you to skip
the front desk and they will just text you updates
about your room and the status of whether it's ready
or not. Now, if you are someone who has specific

(30:14):
room needs, adjoining rooms, handicap rooms, certain locations, top floor,
bottom floor, those types of things, or you will be
arriving very early in the day prior to check in time,
I highly suggest checking in at the front desk when
you get there. The lines usually look long, but they

(30:37):
usually move fairly quickly, so I do not suggest doing
online check in. If you are someone that has specific
room needs or will be arriving super early in the day,
Disney is not going to It's going to be easier
for Disney to accommodate your needs if you are someone
that goes to the front desk rather than just relying
on the text updates from my Disney experience app and

(31:01):
that's my experience that I've had in as far as
that goes, it's hit or miss whether or not Disney
has rooms available early. It's hit or miss whether or
not they can accommodate what you are requesting in your
room requests. But that is kind of the way that
that works now at Disneyland, same process. You do have

(31:21):
the ability to check in early if you're saying at
a Disneyland resort. Remember there are very few of those,
they are all in that deluxe category. So if you
are staying at one of the three Disneyland resorts, you
do have the ability to check in early on your
app before your trip, same process. You can make basic
room requests things like that as well. And again, if

(31:43):
you are someone that has more extensive requests, you have
questions you have you're planning to arrive super early, I
would just go to the front desk and check in
there because it's more likely that they're going to be
able to accommodate you if you go and chat with
them first. So that kind of wraps up the what
you need to do about everything before your trip when

(32:03):
it comes to Disney Tech and the app. But let's
talk about what you can do with your app during
your trip. So there are lots of functions that you
can use the My Disney Experience and the Disneyland app
for during your trip. The majority of what we are
going to talk about now is going to be the
same for Disney World and Disneyland. So a lot of

(32:26):
the differences are pre trip, right before you go to
the parks, setting up your account, getting everything linked and
connected and all of that. But kind of once you
do all of that, and once you actually get to
the parks, a lot of this is really really similar.
So that is what we are going to look at next.
The first thing that we are going to talk about
is setting up your Magic Mobile account on your Disney app.

(32:50):
So the term magic Mobile refers to the electronic version
of your park ticket. So in your app, you will
be able to view your ticket, your park ticket under
the My Tickets and Passes, but that is not an
option for you to be able to scan into the
Disney park. For Disney World Disneyland, it's a little bit

(33:11):
easier for them to do because it's kind of preloaded
that way because they're used to that. But Disney World
has tap styles. You can't just tap that QR code
looking band on those tap styles. So in order to
use your park ticket on your phone at the tap styles,
you have to set up this Magic Mobile feature. So

(33:32):
to locate this in your app, you're going to click
that Hamburger menu. I told you I love that Hamburger menu.
You are going to scroll down under the profile option
and you are going to click set up Magic Mobile entry.
What that is going to do is then bring up
all of the passes that you have on your account.
You're going to select the ones you want to save,

(33:54):
and then you're going to follow the directions because you
get to like personalize it and pick a cute little
card design that you want, and then from there, once
you've done all of that, it will give you the
option to save it to your mobile wallet. So I
have an iPhone, it gives me the option right on
the screen to add to Apple Wallet. Again, you have
a lot of options for entry to the park. You

(34:16):
can use your phone, you can use a magic band,
you can get a key card from either guest relations
or the front desk of your Disney resort. All of
those options are good options to use. But if you
want to use your phone, that is what you have
to do in order to save it to your mobile wallet.
So it's one extra step that you have to do
in between loading it on your phone and saving it

(34:36):
to that mobile wallet to be able to use. Once
you've done that magic mobile, it lives on your phone
in that in your Apple wallet or your digital wallet,
your mobile wallet, and you can use that to tap
into the front of the park. You can use that
to tap in for lightning lanes. All those types of things.
So that is the Magic Mobile. It's pretty straightforward if

(34:58):
you're especially if you're familiar with using a mobile wallet,
it's really really very simple to set up. Something else
that you can utilize your Disney apps for is resort
room entrance. So this is a really nice feature that
has been introduced in the last several years on the
Disney apps. If you are staying on Disney property, so
that's any Disney resort at Walt Disney World and one

(35:21):
of three at Disneyland, your phone can function as your
resort room entrance. So because you have the ability to
do that Magic Mobile, you don't ever need a key card.
You can use your phone for everything. So after you
have checked in, this option will auto populate on the
home screen of your My Disney Experience app, so it

(35:43):
will say right underneath like the welcome screen, it will
say like unlock room, and you'll be able to click
into that and you'll click that unlocked room option when
you're standing at your door, and then you're going to
move your phone close to the little mickey head card
scanner on your door, and just like Magic, it will

(36:04):
open and unlock your door for you. This is really
nice if you don't have magic bands and you don't
necessarily have hands to be able, you know, if you're
carrying stuff because your strollers fold it up or whatever.
This is really nice to have as a backup option.
I used it a couple times on our last trip.
I did use this feature, which was nice because then
I could unlock it from my phone and tell my oldest, Hey,

(36:26):
when you hear it, click open the door for us
and hold it so we can all get into the room.
So again, that will auto populate on your home screen
of your app if you're staying on Disney property. Another
option for during your trip that you can use your
app for is a very popular one, and that is
Mobile Order. This is such a nice feature to use.

(36:48):
I will say this tends to be utilized way more
at Disney World than at disney Land, but they do
still have this option at Disneyland. There are just not
as many people that tend to use it out there.
Don't know why. It's just probably habit of a lot
of the locals that they just don't use it. They
just go and stand in line instead. But Mobile Order
gives you the ability to order your food ahead of

(37:10):
time on your my Disney Experience app or your Disneyland app.
This applies to many quick service restaurants and locations across
all of Disney property, including parks and resorts, but it's
not everyone. So you do want to take a quick
look at if you've got a list of places you
want to go, just take a quick look to see
whether or not they do mobile order, so you can

(37:31):
give yourself enough time if you have to wait in line.
You want to make sure you get there a little
bit earlier so you don't get angry while you're waiting
in line for your food. In order to do the
mobile order, you're going to press the plus sign at
the bottom of your screen and you're going to select
the order food option. From there, you'll select your restaurant,
and then you will go through the menu options and

(37:51):
place your order by adding different things to your cart
and then checking out at the end. Now, after that,
it will say it will prompt you to like let
the system know when you've arrived at the restaurant, so
you can do this from anywhere in the parks and
then make your way over to that restaurant. It'll give
you a return time window that you'll be able to

(38:12):
come back during and then when you arrive there or
a minute or two before, because usually it takes them
a few minutes to get it ready. I will tend
to do it when I'm a few, maybe three or
four minutes from walking in. You can click the I'm here,
prepare my order option on the app, and then it
will let you know when your food is ready by
sending you a push notification and your screen. If you

(38:34):
leave your screen just open on that page, it will change,
and then it will let you know which window to
pick up your food from as well. So that is
a really really nice option, especially if you've got kiddos
and those kiddos cannot wait in another line and they
are hungry. If you've got multiple adults, you can divide
and conquer. You guys can find a table, sit down,

(38:56):
wait for your food. One of you can go up
and grab your food. You can grab the napkins and
utensils and condiments and all that kind of stuff you
guys know when it comes to eating out at like
fast food quick service places. Kind of how that works
now for Disneyland, everything that I just talked about is
all the same, so mobile order works the same. It
functions the same. Again, it's utilized a little bit less

(39:17):
at Disneyland than at Disney World, but it is still
out there. The Magic Mobile and Resort entrance all function
the same at Disneyland. Another way that you can save
some time and not stand in line is using the
Merchandise Mobile checkout. This is one of the newest features
on the Disney app. It is fairly new in the

(39:40):
last i'd say two to three years. And what this
does is it gives you the ability kind of like
the scan and go option at Sam's Club if you're
familiar with that, where you can use your app to
check out in some of the merchandise stores. So what
you'll do is you're going to again click the plus

(40:01):
button at the bottom of your screen, and you're going
to select the Merchandise Mobile checkout. From there, you're going
to select your location, you'll scan your items, it will
add them to your cart, and then you will pay
in the app and you will show the cast member
your QR code that it will populate at the mobile
checkout exit. So you still have to touch base with

(40:22):
the cast member before you walk out, so they can
just confirm what you've got there. If you're looking for
what locations do this. It's not every location across Disney property.
It is fairly limited right now, but they do seem
to be expanding it. I think it's just, you know,
a lot of it is dependent on the flow of
the store. Do they have the ability to have kind

(40:43):
of that mobile checkout counter at the exit those types
of things. If you are at Magic Kingdom and Disney World,
the Emporium, Star Traders, and Tomorrowland Launch Depot all have
this merchandise mobile checkout option. If you are at Epcot,
Creation and Treasures of Zandar all have that option. At

(41:04):
Hollywood Studios only Mickey's of Hollywood has that option, and
at Animal Kingdom, the Discovery Trading Company and Island Mercantile
both have that option. And if you're at Disney Springs,
World of Disney has that, which that is a huge
one because that store, if you guys have ever been
in there, is massive and the lines can get really,
really long. So that's a really good one to use

(41:24):
it at as well. At disney Land. The same process
that I just talked about is what you do, so
scam your items adam to your cart checkout and then
show your QR code, but just two options at disney Land.
Oh no, sorry, three options at Disneyland Elias and Coe
the Emporium and World of Disney at Disneyland as well.

(41:45):
So all of those locations are the ones that currently
offer the Merchandise Mobile checkout on your app. Again, not
every option, or not every not every merchandise store has
that option. Yet hopefully that's something Disney continues to expand
on because I do think it is a really nice option,
especially when you are someone who has been waiting in

(42:08):
lines all day with your little kiddos and they need
a break. Something else that you might utilize your My
Disney Experience app or Disneyland app for is modifying lightning lanes.
So we talked a little bit about lightning lanes earlier. Again,
all of this I went through extensively in those two
other episodes that I referenced earlier. But this is what

(42:30):
you will do if the app does not give you
a time that you want for a lightning lane, or
if you need to change something due to running late,
or you know, things happen in the parks, right, so
if you don't like the time that you have, you
can modify those lightning lanes, and you do that on
your app. So in order to do this, you need

(42:50):
to locate your my Day page, which is under the
Hamburger menu. Click on the my Day and then you're
going to click on the attraction time that you need
to mind and then you're so you'll click into that
attraction and then you'll click modify time option. The app
will give you other times available to modify it too,
if there are other times available. If no times populate,

(43:13):
then nothing else is currently available for that particular attraction.
You can also modify attractions for other attractions. Let's say
you got a lightning lane for Haunted Mansion, but you
got over to Haunted Mansion and it was a walk on, Well,
you may not want to use your lightning lane. You
may want to modify it for another ride. That's also

(43:34):
an option under the modify screen as well, So either
way you can do that. If no times pop up
for a ride, that means that it is quote unquote
sold out for the time being. Now, times do become
available throughout the day for most attractions, not all. Some
of the most popular big e ticket attractions, they do
not become available. But if it's like a mid line

(43:59):
and you're not seeing anything pop up. Refresh that page
periodically kind of a you're maybe as you're sitting and
eating lunch or as you're waiting in line, if you
can kind of you know, from time to time refresh
by pulling down that screen. You may find something pop
up again. The best course of action is to pull
down to refresh the modified screen and then click the

(44:20):
time that you want. When it pops up. After you
have selected your time, be sure to confirm it. There's
one extra confirmation page you have to click at the
bottom of the page to fully click out of and
confirm that time. So don't just click the time and
think you're good. Click the time, hit confirm and that
then it will kick you to another page that says
like you have selected, and it'll give you the time

(44:42):
and the ride from there. Now, disney Land is not
the same. Again, their lightning lanes are not the same,
so modifying their lightning lanes are not the same. If
you need Disneyland help with lightning lanes, you need to
go back to that episode I talked about earlier, which
is episode sixty three of Mom Street, where we talked
about disney Land and listen to what we had to

(45:05):
say over there about modifying. Because their system is the
old Genie plus system. It functions completely separately. Again not
getting into it now, but just keep that in mind.
So their system does not function like our system does.
Over here. I say r because I'm used to going
to disney World as an annual passolder over there, but
Disneyland disney World completely separate, So don't let that confuse you.

(45:28):
A couple more things to talk about on your trip
that you may use the app for is the search function.
This is a function that exists on both versions of
the app. It is right on the home screen at
the bottom. They have a little magnifying glass and you
can search for things using that search function. You can
search for attraction shows, characters, dining bathrooms, water fountains, all

(45:54):
sorts of stuff on there that you can search for.
So you just click that little magnifying glass, pipe it
in and then you can go from there. It's not
a it's not a super comprehensive search. It won't al
it's not very intuitive, let me put it that way.
It won't always guess what you're looking for, but if
you know specifics, then it's a really good function to use.

(46:17):
So this search feature will allow you then to click
whatever it is you're searching for. You can then view
details about it. So if you're looking for a particular ride,
you can see the wait time. You can click. There's
a find on map option which is really helpful, so
you can see where it is on the map. And
the other option that it will give you that's really
helpful is the get directions option. So let's talk about

(46:39):
how we get directions on the app. There are two
ways that you can get walking directions on the app.
The one is using the search feature just mentioned. So
let's say you're standing outside of Space Mountain. You want
to know the best way to get to Pirates of
the Caribbean. It's all the way across the park. You
want to make sure you know the most efficient way
to get there. I'm standing at Space Mountain. I'm going

(47:01):
to search using the search function Pirates of the Caribbean.
I'm going to click on that option on my app.
When it pops up, I'm going to go to get directions,
and then I'm going to make sure that everything looks right.
It'll look just like a typical map, like an Apple
map or a Google Map where it'll give you starting point,
ending point, and then you're going to click go essentially,

(47:22):
and it will show you with a little blue line
the way that you can navigate through the park. That's
one way to get directions. The other way is using
the map feature on your app. So along the bottom,
one of the other buttons that we haven't talked about
yet is the map button, and that map will show
you wait times, it'll show you all sorts of other things.

(47:44):
We're not going to get into total detail about that
map option, but it looks like a little pin, right,
it looks like a little kind of pointy oval that
you will find and when you click on that, it's
going to auto default to Magic Kingdom. You may need
to scroll around and use some filters to figure out
where you are and find yourself on the map. But
the way to find directions from the map is to

(48:06):
click on something from the map. So again, you're standing
at Space Mountain, you want to get to Pirates of
the Caribbean. You're going to click that map. You're going
to zoom out a tiny bit. You're gonna find the
little white bubble that is Pirates of the Caribbean. You're
going to click on the bubble and then the little
name will pop up. Then you click on the name
and it'll bring up your full page of information, same

(48:28):
page that you would have found if you would search,
so they both end in the same place. From there,
you click get Directions, make sure everything looks right, and
then you hit go and it will tell you where
to go. This is a great way to find the
shortest route from where you are to whatever attraction or
place it is that you're trying to get to. I've
even used this when I'm getting to new places and

(48:49):
I want to see the fastest way to go. I
was trying to walk one day from the Yacht Club
to International Gateway over at Epcot, and I I wasn't
sure which door to go out of because I had
never been over to Yacht Club. It was my first
time exploring over there. I used it for that just
to see, oh, that's where it goes. Okay, cool, now

(49:10):
I know where I'm going right. This will also show
you this feature for the Get Directions will show you
transportation options that you have. So if you are trying
to get from Hollywood Studios to Epcot, and let's say
you're standing at Guest Services at International Gateway of Epcot
and you're trying to get to the front of Hollywood Studios.

(49:32):
You can use either the search function or the map function.
You can type in what you're trying to get to
Hollywood Studios, select that, click get directions. Then right underneath
where it's going to list your your starting location and
your ending location. Right underneath there, it's going to give
you transportation options. It's going to show you do you
want to know how to walk there? Do you want

(49:54):
to know how to take the boat there? Or do
you want to know how to take the skyliner there?
And you can click those different options to help you
navigate to where you're going. It'll even also give you
an approximate travel time for that as well, So that
can be really helpful if you're not sure if you
have other transportation options to get where you're trying to go.

(50:16):
So that is another thing that is really helpful because
it is an option on that direction page. Now, if
you're using the Disneyland app, that all functions exactly the same,
other than the fact that Disneyland you're going to be walking, right,
They're not going to show you boats and buses and
all that kind of stuff, because at Disneyland, you can
walk from one side to the other very very easily,

(50:38):
but it will show you the most direct paths to
get there, and you still can use the search function
and the map function to be able to find those directions.
Something else that you can do. And we're winding down.
We've got just two more things to talk about for
you during your trip app use. One of them is
a dining reservation check in. So if you are someone

(51:01):
who made dining reservations before your trip, like we talked
about just a little bit ago, when the time for
your dining reservation gets close on your app, you will
be prompted to check in online for that upcoming dining reservation.
It will send you a push notification that you'll be
able to click into, and then the process from there
is very straightforward and very easily. You will basically check

(51:25):
in by confirming your party size, you will confirm any
accessibility or high chair needs, and you will confirm any
allergy concerns. A lot of that you have already put
in when you made your reservation, but this is just
like a double check in, a confirmation that all your
information has stayed the same and no party sizes have
changed or things like that. After that, after you've checked in,

(51:47):
you will receive a text that will say something along
the lines of like thank you for checking in, Please
wait while your table is being prepared. And then typically
at most places, then a cast member will come out
into the lobby area wherever that may be, whether it's
indoor outdoor for the location you're checking in for, and
we'll call your party's name when your table is ready.

(52:07):
So a very very easy process to do that check
in for your dining reservation. That will start to prompt
you about fifteen minutes before your dining time, and we'll
let you check in once you are located close enough
to your location that you're going to be dining in.

(52:30):
So if you're trying to dine at Epcot and you're
in Magic Kingdom, it's not going to let you check
in because you're too far away. So you do have
to be closely located, and it does have to be
within it's about a fifteen to twenty minute window that
you will be able to do that early check in.
For the last thing that I do just want to
mention that you are able to utilize your your Disney

(52:51):
app for and that is memory Maker and PhotoPass. So
this is something we did an episode on a few
back if you want more information about what is PhotoPass
and memory But essentially this gives you access to your
park photos on your app. And this is through your
My Disney Experience or your Disneyland app. So to find
the photos, you will click on that Hamburger menu again

(53:12):
the three lines in your bottom corner, and then you
will scroll down to the option that says photo gallery.
Your photo gallery will just be all of the photos
that you have taken on your trip, whether it's ride
photos or photos that are PhotoPass cast members have taken,
they will all be listed there. If you have not

(53:35):
purchased your photos for your trip, you will see the
PhotoPass watermark across it. If you have not activated your
PhotoPass memory Maker yet, you will still see those watermarks
across it. But if you have activated it and it's
fully functioning, then you'll be able to download your photos

(53:56):
and all that kind of stuff. You can also access
really fun photo pass lenses those are like I think
like Snapchat filters but all Disney themed, right, And your
memory Maker options which are like different things you can
order based on your photos in that same menu area.
So that's all going to be kind of right in

(54:16):
line on that under that Hamburger menu, right in that
photo section for you. And just a quick note about
tech and tips for PhotoPass, I highly suggest if you
have a lot of photos, that you wait until you
get home to download those photos on a computer. Otherwise

(54:38):
you are going to be clicking one at a time.
Click the picture, hit download, select the size weight, hit
the picture, hit download, select the size weight. It takes forever.
It's fine if you just want a few right that
you're pulling off of your app in the meantime, because
it's fun to have them downloaded. You can share with

(55:00):
friends and family or post them or whatever. You know.
We live in that age of sharing things digitally. But
if you are planning to download all of your photos,
I highly suggest you wait and you do it on
the Disney PhotoPass website. Now, do keep in mind that
the Disney PhotoPass website is different than the Disney World

(55:22):
website or the Disneyland website. PhotoPass has their own separate website,
so you may have to do like a quick Google
search and I would just put in Disney PhotoPass and
it should take you to that location again, same email
login that you've used, everything should pull up for you there.
You will also be able to see your friends and
family photos as well, as long as they don't have

(55:45):
like privacy settings on, because you do have the ability
to decide whether or not you want to share photos
with your friends and family list, which is a nice feature.
So if they have stuff privated, you won't be able
to see it, or like, if you accidently have stuff privated,
they won't be able to see yours if you want
them too, you know, so you'll have to look at
your settings for that. But I really really suggest waiting

(56:05):
because it is so much faster because you'll be able
to like do a select all option and it'll download
it into a ZIP file for you easy psylemon squeeze.
So that is my suggestion. With PhotoPass, I will say
I have been guilty of going through one at a
time to download a couple things, but it's usually not
not you know, fifty or one hundred photos when it

(56:25):
comes to that, and Disneyland, if you're looking for photos
and memory Maker and PhotoPass out there, it all functions
the same. So I think that is kind of a
basic rundown of all of the tech type things that
you may need on your Disney trip. There are a
ton of other features of these apps that I didn't

(56:48):
go over today because I just wanted to give you
kind of that overview and rundown and highlight of the
different things that I think you might utilize on your trip.
If you are someone that is trying to find something
and you're like, I cannot find this on my Disney
app anywhere, send me a quick message. I'm happy to
walk you through it. I have a lot of experience

(57:10):
using this app, especially for lightning lanes, because I have
such a history of helping friends and helping our community
and helping pocketfam with lightning lanes. So I am happy
to help you walk through anything that you have questions about.
You can always find me Momstreet USA at gmail dot
com or Facebook, Instagram, TikTok YouTube at mom Street USA.

(57:35):
And that's for any type of conversation you want to have.
If you need help, you need advice, you have suggestions
for future podcast episodes. We always want to hear from
our community. You guys are so wonderful and lovely and supportive.
We really appreciate you, so please reach out to us
if you've got any additional questions, comments, concerns, suggestions. All

(57:55):
of that that being said, thank you all so much
for listening. Thank you, thank you for being here, thank
you for supporting Mom Street USA, and we will catch
you on the next episode. Bye. Everyone,