Planning a vacation to Walt Disney World can certainly be daunting task, but Disney is always working to make the planning process easier, more efficient, and more magical! Their most recent innovation, My Magic+, is a true testament to that goal. From selecting your personal vacation preferences to choosing FastPasses, making dining reservations to designing Magic Bands, and even booking a resort hotel stay, My Magic+ allows you to do it all. Here's my quick guide to navigating this new resource and feeling confident in your pre-planning abilities: Step one: Create your account Before you start putting together your Disney vacation, you'll want to create an account with My Disney Experience, the planning site/mobile app that will allow you to keep track of all your reservations and plans, as well as the current wait times and entertainment schedules in the theme parks once you're in Florida. To create an account, you'll need to supply an email address and a few other pieces of information, along with a personal password and security questions. Then once you're in, you can customize your profile with a character icon and vacation preferences - but we'll get to that in just a bit. As with any online account, be sure to write down your login info, password, and security questions just in case, and put them in a secure place. After you've created your account and played around a little bit on the site, be sure to then download the free app (available in the App Store). Having this app and your account linked will make all the difference as you plan your trip and spend time in the parks. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the different pages as much as you can, so you're comfortable - new technology can be hard tricky! You'll want to be sure each member of your travel party also creates as account so you can add them to your Family & Friends list. When you're connected, you'll be able to easily add them to dining reservations and FastPass+ selections in less steps, as well as extend vacation planning privileges and reservation access. Step two: Book your WDW vacation Once you've created your account and decided on the big parts of your vacation (when you're traveling, where you're going to stay), you're ready to book your trip using My Magic+ and your new My Disney Experience account. You can easily book your WDW resort hotel stay, add on theme park tickets and transportation, supply your flight information, and more. You can also directly pay the required deposit for your vacation package and save a credit card to your account, which will come in handy when it's time to book dining reservations and add on other special experiences. Your reservation will then be linked to your account, accessible on both the site and app, and you can move on to adding more magic to your vacation! Step three: Customize your Magic Bands The first bit of extra pixie dust you'll be able to add to your vacation are your travel party's Magic Bands! These water-proof, snap-on wristbands will serve as your hotel room keys, theme park tickets, Magical Express tickets, and even your credit card (should you want to link one for the duration of your trip). But most importantly, your Magic Bands serve as an accessory to your "Disney Side" personality! You can choose from seven different colors and customize exactly how you'd like your name to be printed on the inside of your band. Go by a nickname? Prefer to be called by your middle name? It's up to you! Once you've finished designing, My Disney Experience will approximate how long you have to make any changes before they're shipped to your home, which is about 3-4 weeks before your check-in date. And don't worry, you'll get an email letting you know when they've been shipped out. When you arrive at Walt Disney World, your Magic Bands will unlock a whole new world of possibilities for fun, so stay tuned for a future post with more information! Step four: Make your dining reservations One of my favorite parts about vacationing in WDW is the food, so be sure to take advantage of all the unique dining options available across property throughout your trip! Reservations before arriving for sit-down meals are pretty much required, or at least recommended, across the board these days, and My Magic+ allows you to do so while planning your vacation. You can make reservations for you travel party directly through your My Disney Experience account on either the site or the app, and you can do so starting as early as 180 days prior to your check-in date. This means you can make as many meal reservations as you'd like for any day of your trip as far as six months in advance. Pretty sweet, huh? Just log in to your account, find the location you want to reserve a table at, and choose your date, preferred time, and dining party. From there you'll need to provide credit card information to confirm your reservation - Remember when I said it would be beneficial to save a card to your profile? You can easily supply your card info without having to input it for each and every dining reservation you'd like to make. It doesn't seem like much, but it will save you plenty of headaches and frustration. Note: Your credit card will NOT be charged when making these reservations, it's just to secure your table. Should you not show up for your meal or cancel within the designated time frame, only then will your card be charged. Select locations do require pre-payment, but that will be indicated before you make the reservation. Once everything is submitted, you'll receive an email confirmation and be able to access your reservation directly from your My Disney Experience account on the app or site. You can edit your dining party to include your Family & Friends as well, so everyone can see the reservation from their own accounts. Step five: Choose your FastPass+ experiences Long gone are the days of paper FastPasses and having to rush to your favorite attraction first thing in the morning to reserve a time. Instead, My Magic+ and your My Disney Experience account allow you to choose your FastPasses before stepping foot in WDW! Once you're 60 days away from your check-in date, you can reserve FastPass times for attractions, shows, character meet and greets, and parade viewing for your entire trip (This 60-day window is only for guests staying at Walt Disney World hotel during their stay, so be mindful that it's 30 days in advance otherwise!). Simply go to the FastPass+ page on the site or app, and start selecting. There are some limitations to this service, so be sure to check out my previous post on FastPass+ for more details and my personal review! Now even if you've hit your maximum number of pre-selected FastPasses for any given day at the parks, you can preference or "like" your favorite attractions so My Magic+ plus can make suggestions for your party when you're in the parks. You can even set reminders for parades, shows, and fireworks times through your My Disney Experience account, without having to make a FastPass+ selection. This helps make sure you don't head home at the end of your trip saying "We forgot to see the Electrical Parade!" or "We didn't meet Winnie the Pooh!" among other very, very sad phrases. Utilize as much of the technology as you can! Step six: Check into your WDW resort hotel before you arrive Another advantage of My Magic+ is the ability to actually check in to your WDW resort hotel before arriving in Florida. Once you're within 60 days of your check-in date, simply visit your My Disney Experience account to get started. Find your hotel reservation and click the Online Check-In link to approximate your arrival time, place a room request (level preference, view preference, etc.), add a credit card for charging privileges and set pin numbers for your travel party, and bypass long lines when you arrive. Then, you can get to the fun stuff much quicker! There will be a special Online Check-In line in the lobby of your hotel where you'll need to present an ID and credit card for incidentals to receive your room assignment and ask any last questions you may have. I personally love to have as many details taken care of ahead of time, so having this ability with My Magic+ is awesome! Step seven: Let the memories begin! Well, you've made it to Walt Disney World and are ready to get started! With your customized Magic Bands in hand, you can get into your room, enter the parks, check-in for your dining reservations, and access your pre-selected FastPass+ experiences and reminders. Oh yeah, and have the most magical time of your life with the people you love most! My personal experiences with My Magic+ have been nothing short of magical, and I would highly recommend utilizing the technology while you plan your next Walt Disney World vacation! There's no better feeling than knowing the details are taken care of so you can make the most of your vacation time with family and friends from the very beginning. Whether you like to plan every moment or go with the flow, you're able to do so with My Magic+. How do you utilize My Magic+? Tell me about it in the comments below, and feel free to ask me any other questions you may have. For more information, be sure to visit https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/my-magic-plus/. Until the next post, see ya real soon!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
About MeA twenty-something alumni of the Disney College Program looking to help others plan the Disney vacations of their dreams! Living that Disneyland AP dream in SoCal. Archives
February 2018
Categories
All
|