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The My Disney Experience App Will Soon Be More Important Than Ever

Because of Coronavirus, we are quickly becoming a touchless society. The fewer things that we touch daily, the better. We have been instructed to keep six feet away from others, if at all possible. Apps on your cell phone have become more important than ever. The My Disney Experience App was designed to make your Walt Disney World experience a little bit easier. Soon, the MDE app will be more important than ever. Here are some of the ways that it will be able to help you. Some of them you need to be staying on property to take advantage of. Make sure that you have the latest version of the app so that you will be able to take advantage of all its features.

1. Online Check-In

If you are staying on property, checking-in ahead of time is easy. Just call up your reservation on the My Disney Experience app. When you arrive at your resort, you will be able to head directly to your room. If your trip was last minute and you don’t yet have your MagicBands, that’s not a problem. You can unlock your door with the app. Make sure Bluetooth is turned on, because it won’t unlock your door otherwise.

2. Mobile Ordering

Once the theme parks are open again, Mobile Ordering at quick service restaurants is going to be more important than ever. It’s a good thing that the service is so easy to use! You can look at the menu, pick your options, and place your order at your convenience. You will pay for your food at the same time. When you are ready, just go back onto your order on the app and hit the “prepare my order” option. Your food will be ready in a flash, and you will have avoided waiting in a line and having contact with too many people.

3. Read Menus

These days you want to touch as few things as possible that have been handled by other people. Traditionally at a full service restaurant, you will sit down and the host or hostess will hand you a menu that has been used by others. Touching a menu that has been touched by other people can be avoided if you use the My Disney Experience app. Just look up the restaurant and access the menu. You can look through it ahead of time, or even once you are seated at the table. You won’t have touched something that others have handled, and the Cast Members at the restaurant won’t need to sterilize your menus.

 

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4. FastPass+

With FastPass+, you can reserve a spot in line for up to three attractions ahead of time. This has always been a time saver, but once the parks are open again it will be essential. With the My Disney Experience App, you can book your FastPass+, modify your FastPass+, cancel your FastPass+, or make a new FastPass+ reservation. It’s safe to assume that standby lines will look long once the parks reopen because of social distancing guidelines. It will be more gratifying than ever to use the much shorter FastPass+ line.

5. Virtual Queues?

When Walt Disney World closed, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance used a virtual queue. You would (try to) reserve a spot once the park opened, and then return to the ride’s entrance once it was your ride time. While the My Disney Experience App wasn’t required to grab a spot in a virtual queue, it made the entire process a lot easier. Walt Disney World has NOT announced that more virtual queues are going to be added. That said, there is a strong rumor that it is a possibility. On the Disneyland App (which does not use the same system for FastPass and has no MagicBands) there is now a spot for “virtual queues”. It will currently take you to a page that states “It looks like you haven’t joined an available virtual queue yet” and it has a “join boarding group” option. From there, it says “After entering the park, use this app to join a virtual queue for select experiences. We’ll assign you a boarding group”. It says “select experiences”, plural, not just Rise of the Resistance. It sounds like more virtual queues are on their way to Disneyland, even though they have not yet been added. They could be quietly adding them at Walt Disney World as well.

Star Wars: Rise of Resistance

6. Finding Restrooms

Washing your hands often is one simple way to stay safer. Walt Disney World did a great job of adding handwashing stations throughout the parks before the closure. While those stations (and the ones with hand sanitizer) will most likely still be there once things reopen, it is still never a bad idea to know where the nearest restroom is. You can easily find it on the My Disney Experience App. Just remember to keep your phone clean, you don’t want to risk contamination because you washed your hands but there were still germs on your phone.

7. Payment

If you are staying at a Walt Disney World resort, you can use your MagicBand to pay for food or merchandise. Those staying off property have not been able to do the same. Since Disney is encouraging cashless transactions, there is a good chance that anyone will soon be able to pay for purchases with the My Disney Experience App. It’s already possible for anyone to link a card to their account, so using the app to pay is a logical next step. If that doesn’t happen, remember that Disney does accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.

8. PhotoPass

Once the parks are open once again, do you really want someone touching your phone or camera so that you can get that perfect picture in front of Cinderella Castle? PhotoPass is a great way to get those important pictures, and no one needs to touch your phone. MagicShots will be more important than ever, since there will most likely be no character greetings for a while. With the My Disney Experience App, you will be able to see your pictures, add frames and other fun touches, and then download them, all while waiting for your FastPass+ return time. You’ll have your perfect pictures, and no one will have touched anything.

About PaulaK

I grew up in Western Massachusetts. When I was nine my family went to Disneyland and I was hooked. I grew up, attended New England College in Henniker, NH and eventually moved to Virginia. I worked as a disc jockey, married and became a full time mom when our daughter was born. Fast forward several years. In 2010 we moved to Central Florida and my Disney obsession grew. I now work as a freelance writer and spend my spare time in the parks. Under the name Paula Brown I penned the novels Dream Wanderers and The Coffee Cruiser. I also am a co-author of Dining at Walt Disney World: The Definitive Guide. I'm obsessed with Star Wars, so this is a good time to live in Central Florida. I've been a vegetarian for well over a decade, a choice that my daughter eventually made as well. While my husband still hasn't joined us fully he has given up most meats except for seafood. I was relieved to find that vegetarian dining is not difficult at Walt Disney World.