The Los Tweens & Teens Publishing Team was invited to experience Disney Parks by way of a special familiarization trip. As always, we report our own opionions.
How To’s for a Disney World Orlando Trip
Our Los Tweens families enjoyed a fun spring break visit to the Disney Parks. While Cristy’s family had fun being silly and celebrating a wedding anniversary, Katherine’s group was pre-celebrating a tween birthday! The one thing we noticed were mucho changes, especially on the side of technology. Disney has introduced the Disney Magic Bands and the My Disney Experience website and app. La información y todos los detalles sobre como planificar una aventura antes de llegar a los parques esta disponible en Español.
What is the Disney Magic Band?
The Disney Magic Band is a bracelet that contains all of the information on your Fast Passes and allows you to charge directly to your room account if you’re staying at a Disney Parks’ hotel.
How does the Disney Magic Band work?
Magic Bands link to your My Disney Experience account. Accounts can be created on the web site or on the app and linked to your reservations. The web site and app allow you to plan ahead your Fast Passes, make dining reservations, see wait times at the parks, parade schedules and more. It is very cool and extremely easy to learn!
How does My Disney Experience and Fast Pass+ work?
Each family member with an active Disney admission ticket has 3 Fast Pass+ experiences to use per day. Using My Disney Experience, you can choose ahead the time for each attraction per family member. You can make your selections ahead of (even before you arrive at the park which we recommend) or make and change them at the parks via the app. Fast Pass+ now allows you to save a spot even at the parades and fireworks shows. See more on this in the tips section below.
Does everyone in your family have to do the same activities?
No, what we loved most about the Magic Bands and the My Disney Experience is that you can choose Fast Passes for each person in your family and really customize your experience. For example, Katherine’s family split up with the older tweens going on Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain while Katherine and her toddler visited the darling Frozen princesses Anna & Elsa and The Little Mermaid ride.
Can I change my Fast Passes?
Siii and this is what we loved so much! It’s easy to go in to the app and change your Fast Passes while in the park. There are also several kiosks that have opened right in the parks where ‘Fast Pass Advisors’ can help reschedule your plans in the same day or for other times during your stay.
Some tips on how to use Disney Magic Band and My Disney Experience:
- Talk with your family- what’s important to you and the tweens or various ages in your travel party? Knowing this will save lots of time in planning and everyone can just enjoy the time at the park.
- Get familiar with the My Disney Experience Website and Download the App ahead of time. Knowing how to use the website and APP ahead of your arrival will save time and alleviate any frustration that can arise.
- REMEMBER: You can use your Fast Pass+ to see parades or nighttime shows. For the first time, Cristy’s family used a Fast Pass to view the new Festival of Fantasy parade and the Wishes nighttime spectacular. We enjoyed fantastic seating to view the festivities without having to work through a crowd or sit for an hour ahead of the schedule. NOTE: You would have to plan on each member of your family having a pass for this experience.
- Decide on any character dining or special meal reservations. Many of the special dining experiences are booked several weeks in advance. Decide on what is best for your family and make your reservations ahead of arrival. Also, be flexible with the days and times you would like to schedule as they may not be available initially. Check back often as reservation do open up sometimes as people change their plans. EXTRA TIP: If you have a party larger than 6, try to split your reservations to find more options and times available.
As always, we suggest whatever fun family experience you create to allow for special bonding time. Now is the time to take advantage of special moments and family time with your growing children.
Check out this post about fun experiences with older kids at the parks. Have fun!
As a mother of twin tweens in 2011 and an active Girl Scout Troop leader, Cristy realized there was a need to develop bilingual digital content and foster a community facing the challenges of raising kids after first grade. That year she founded and remains co-Publisher of Los Tweens & Teens, to support multicultural parents and mentors with content related to raising Gen Z- tweens & teens ages 7-18. Through the Los Tweens & Teens LIVE events such as Teens & Me – the growing team aims to provide our community with essential resources from chats with therapists to battle anxiety and bullying, to understanding social media and technology.