My Disney Experience (MDE) is Disney’s official app for Walt Disney World. This app is beneficial for those visiting Walt Disney World. My Disney Experience allows Guests to enter the four Disney Parks, make dining reservations, see wait times, Park hours, get information about their Walt Disney World Resort hotel, and so much more.
We will dive into some of the main features of the My Disney Experience app. These are the features that we feel are essential to a successful Walt Disney World vacation.
Mobile Ordering
Throughout the Walt Disney World Resort Property, Guests can use mobile orders to get food at quick service locations.
Mobile ordering allows Guests to go into MDE, select a dining location of choice, such as Woody’s Lunch Box in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, choose an available time slot, and then place their food order.
Once it is their selected time, Guests can choose “Prepare My Order” in the app, and their food will be ready shortly.
Mobile Ordering is found in multiple locations within the app. One location is the plus sign, while the other is the three lines on the app’s right. Both give you access to the Mobile Order option.
The great thing about Mobile Ordering is that you can practice before arriving at Walt Disney World, allowing you to get the hang of it before you have a food meltdown in the middle of Magic Kingdom.
Mobile Ordering can be a great way to avoid long lines during mealtime. Put your orders in early to ensure your dining location and time.
Walk-up Waitlist
The walk-up waitlist is a newer feature that Disney has recently added to My Disney Experience. Here you can see if there are tables available at nearby table-service locations.
This is a nice feature if you can’t get your advance dining reservation, as you can see if you can get a last-minute spot that day. You need to be near the location to join the list, and they aren’t always available during busier days in the Parks. Consider using this, though, if you are looking for some great sit-down meals during your meal.
Maps
Another great feature within My Disney Experience is all the maps. Whether you are on Walt Disney World Property, a Theme Park, Disney Springs, or a Disney Resort, MDE has a map of that area.
Maps are found by choosing the location button on the main bar of the app. It will pull up your location in Walt Disney World or default to Magic Kingdom if you are at home checking it out.
We like seeing these from home as we figure out where everything is for our vacation, but it becomes beneficial as we navigate a Disney Park or a Disney Resort.
The significant part about the map feature is you can choose from a variety of selections from a drop-down menu to determine what is highlighted on your map.
The default selection is wait times, but you can also choose options such as bathrooms (don’t laugh, this can be extremely helpful), entertainment, dining, and a few other options.
Like mobile ordering, you can check out this feature within MDE from the comfort of your house to get familiar with all it has to offer.
Disney Genie
Another newer feature found within the My Disney Experience app is Disney Genie. This is a unique, free planning tool for Guests. Disney Genie will provide Guests with a personalized itinerary, tips, and suggestions for their day in a Disney Park.
For Disney Genie to provide suggestions for your touring in the Parks, set up their favorites, interests, and priorities before their vacation. By doing this, Disney Genie provides the best suggestions for your Disney Day.
Disney Genie is an excellent option for those needing to become more familiar with Disney. It can help Guests navigate the Parks during their visit.
Disney Genie Tips
Next to Disney Genie in the app will be a Tip Board. This feature provides Guests with suggested things to do, from food to rides and entertainment. Guests can remove suggestions if they aren’t interested in what Disney Genie offers.
Disney Genie Tips is an excellent feature for helping Guests think about other experiences they might not have originally planned on doing during their trip.
Genie+
For those wanting to skip the standby lines during their Disney trip, one way to do so is by purchasing Genie+. With a current starting price of $15 per day per person, Genie+ gives Guests access to over forty Lightning Lanes throughout the four Disney Parks.
The price for Genie+ is date-based, which means it fluctuates based on crowd levels. During busier times of the year, we have seen it hit $35/person.
As we discussed, you can see the rides with Genie+ availability based on what rides you have selected in your favorites.
Once you select the ride, you are given the next available time, which you will see listed. This differs from the previous Disney Fastpass+ service, where you would choose your time to ride. You can continue to choose more selections throughout the day as you use them in MDE.
Guests are now also able to modify Genie+ selections through the app as well. This is a significant update that makes Genie+ a lot more user-friendly.
Related: How to Prioritize Your Genie+ Selections at Disney
My Disney Experience is essential to a successful Walt Disney World vacation. From providing basic information such as maps and wait times to interactive features like mobile ordering and Genie+.
We hope that by providing these key features, you will become more familiar with My Disney Experience before your Walt Disney World vacation.
