How to Navigate Disney World's Mobile Ordering

For a few years now, Disney World guests have had the ability to skip the line at select quick service restaurants by placing a mobile order. And with the parks' current focus on social distancing, this little known gem has become the standard procedure at most of the casual dining locations throughout the parks and resorts. So here's some easy steps to follow on how to navigate Disney World's Mobile Ordering
 

Start by deciding which restaurant you would like to order from. You can do this by locating the open quick service restaurants on the map in the My Disney Experience app. Those that are requiring a mobile order have an icon that looks like a phone with a fork and knife bubble in front of it. Once you have found the one you want on the map, click that icon and it will give you the option to click on “Order Food”. Or you can scan the QR code found on signs at the entrance to these restaurants.

Now it's time to start building your order. First select your arrival window from the times available. Next you can browse the menu and click on the item that you are interested in. Then you'll select any side or beverage options available for that item and will click the blue “+Add” button at the top to add the item to your bag. Continue to select, modify and add items to your bag until you have your party's entire order added. Then click on “View My Order” to make sure it's all there and correct. If you need to make changes you'll click “Modify Order” but if it's ready to go, you'll select “Review Order Summary”.
 

Here is where you will provide payment information. If you have a card saved to your MyDisneyExperience account, it should automatically pop up as an option under the “Credit or Debit Card” section. But if you want to use a Disney gift card to pay for your order, you now have the option to select that payment method. Unfortunately, gift cards can not be saved to your MDE account, so you'll need to have the gift card on you to enter the card number or you can use my trick of saving the gift card numbers in a Note on your phone so you can then copy and paste the number into the app! Once you have entered your payment method, you are ready to hit “Purchase”.

Now your app should have a screen showing your order number with a button that says “I'm Here, Prepare My Order” if you are within your selected arrival window. Once you are close to the restaurant, hit that button and wait outside the restaurant. When your order is ready, the screen will change from a white background with the words “We're Preparing Your Order” to a dark background with the words “Order is Ready for Pickup!” Make sure to keep this new darker screen up on your phone because you'll need it to get your food.

Keeping your party together, show this screen to the Cast Member at the entrance of the restaurant who will let you inside. Then another Cast Member inside the restaurant will use this screen to direct you to the correct pickup window. And the Cast Member at the pickup window will need this screen to verify your order number and hand you your food. Once you have your food, you and the rest of your party may look for an open table in the restaurant to enjoy your meal.
 

But what happens if you close the app during this process? As long as you have purchased the order and you have allowed the app to send your phone notifications, you'll get alerts at the top of your phone when your food is ready for pickup. Or if you go to the profile section of your app (the 3 horizontal lines in the bottom menu), you can click on “Mobile Food Orders” to find your recent orders and see their status there.

Mobile Ordering is just one of the things that my family enjoyed on our recent trip to Disney World. So when you are ready to experience that Disney magic again, I'd love to help you plan your trip and share more of my firsthand knowledge with you!  Sheena@RopeDropTravel.com

 

Disney Park Tickets vs Disney Park Pass Reservation System

 

Since the start of this global pandemic, many things in our everyday lives have changed. Social distancing, face coverings and contactless payments are becoming the norm, so it only makes sense that vacation destinations since as Disney World and Disneyland would roll out policy changes as well. When the parks open later this July, one of the biggest changes will be the introduction of a new Disney Park Pass Reservation system, but it's also seems to be the change causing the most confusion so let's break it down.
 

A Disney Park Ticket is your purchase of entry into a Disney theme park, while your Disney Park Pass Reservation is your RSVP, letting Disney know which of their 4 Orlando or 2 Anaheim parks that your family plans to visit on each day of your vacation. Think of it like attending a semester of college. Your Park Ticket is your tuition, your payment to attend that college. While your Park Pass is registering for your classes, letting the college know which ones you want to take. This means that to enter a Disney park for the rest of 2020 and into 2021, you will need BOTH a park ticket and a park pass.

Just like college classes, the Disney theme parks are going to have a set capacity limit each day and reserving a Park Pass saves your place in that park. But it also means that Park Passes are limited and you will want to reserve them early to have the best chance at snagging the park schedule you want. And much like your class schedule, you can not double book your time, which in the case of Disney means that you may only reserve ONE park per day. So when you or your travel agent purchase your tickets, you will want to immediately connect them to your My Disney Experience account so that you can reserve your Park Passes right away. This does mean you will need to do a bit more planning at the start of your booking so that you know which park you are looking to visit each day, but please note that you will also have the ability later on to modify your Park Pass and reserve a different park as long as that new park choice is still available.

To summarize, Park Tickets and Park Passes are not the same thing but you will need both to enjoy the magic of your favorite Disney theme park. So when your family is ready to travel again, I hope you will reach out to me so I can help you navigate this new Disney planning process.

Living in the Moment with WDW's Memory Maker

 

 As moms we all know the struggle, you are either stuck behind the camera all day or there are no pictures. That's why Disney World's Memory Maker option is so perfect. Not only will you get photos that capture all the magic of your vacation, but you'll actually get to be in them too! Plus there are fun extras that you can't get any other way.

Disney Photographers are located throughout the parks, catching everything from iconic moments like your family in front of Cinderella's Castle to candid shots during character meet and greets or Jedi Training. When you see one decked out in their blue shorts and khaki vest with a camera around their neck, all you have to do is jump in line, let them snap your photos and then scan your Magic Band and they will be connected to your MyDisneyExperience account waiting for you to download.

But that's not all! The Disney Photographers have some of the best spots in the park and a little magic up their sleeves. Some Photographers can do “Magic Shots”, photos that with the help of a little pixie dust, show your little ones holding Tinkerbell, Dad being carried off by a bunch of balloons or Mom releasing a lantern in front of Rapunzel's tower. These are photos that you wouldn't be able to get with your own camera and are sure to wow your kiddos when they see that the Photographer was able to capture something that wasn't there.

Another perk to the Memory Maker is the ride photos and videos that are included. It's so much fun to see the looks on your family's faces while they are escaping the Yeti on Expedition Everest or heading home from a visit to the mines on Seven Dwarves Mine Train. Once you've seen the first of these photo gems, you'll be scoping out your MyDisneyExperience app just hoping for more hilarious moments!

So save your phone battery, leave your good camera safely at home and live in the moment, because with Memory Maker Disney's got your memories covered! Have your travel agent add it to your package before you leave to save $30 and get all of your photos with unlimited digital downloads for just $169. Or if you get to the park and realize you should have sprung for this add-on earlier, you can add it in Disney World for $199 and still receive those unlimited downloads.

4 Ways to Save Money with Disney Gift Cards

Disney vacations are full of special moments, unforgettable memories and tons of magic, but they do come with a large price tag. So to get my frugal husband on board with our first family trip years ago, I went hunting for the best way to maximize our vacation budget and found a trick that we still use...Disney gift cards. Did you know that you can use gift cards to pay for your entire vacation including your resort stay, park tickets, souvenirs and so much more? It's a great option for extended family who want to gift you part of your trip for birthdays or holidays, but it also gives you a way to stack the savings by pairing discounted gift cards with the package deal your travel agent finds for you. So here are a few of my tricks for scoring these gift cards at a discount:

1) Target RedCard

My favorite way to purchase Disney gift cards is also the simplest since it's a one-step process. If you sign up for a Target RedCard (either the credit or debit option), you will receive 5% off of every purchase that you make with the card both in store and online, and this includes gift cards! This means you can grab a $100 Disney card in the store, but only pay $95 for it. It may not seem like much, but when you add them up to pay for your entire trip, it's a big savings! And FYI, they carry gift cards for some airlines as well!

2) Sam's Club or BJ's Wholesale Club

If you are a Sam's Club or BJ's Club member, you have another option to snag discounted gift cards. Both of these warehouse chains carry packs of Disney gift cards that you can purchase both in-store and online. The discount can fluctuate, but on average it will save you about 4%. You do have to purchase a yearly membership to buy these gift card packs, so I only recommend this option if you are shopping one of these warehouse clubs already or you can snag an online only membership at BJ's for just $10 a year.

3) Cash-back rewards credit cards

There are many options out there when it comes to credit cards that give you rewards for your purchases, including Chase, Bank of America and American Express. This option isn't a direct way to purchase a discounted Disney gift card, but it is a way to further stack your savings. If you use one of these cash-back rewards cards to purchase those discounted gift cards at a warehouse club, not only will get you the 4% off that the club offers, but on average you'll also get 2% back from the credit card, making your savings roughly 5.9%.

4) Fuel rewards at Kroger stores

If you live near a Kroger grocery store or one of it's affiliates, then this deal is for you! Every so often, Kroger will offer 4X fuel rewards on gift card purchases when you add the coupon to your free Kroger membership card. This means that for every $1 you spend on gift cards, you will earn 4 fuel points. So if you purchased $250 worth of Disney gift cards during this deal, you would earn 1,000 fuel reward points which equals $1 off each gallon of gas for one fill-up (up to 35 gallons). With this option, the gift cards themselves are not discounted but you are still seeing a savings elsewhere and it's also stackable with your cash-back credit card as well.

So what's the catch? Honestly, the only downside to paying for your Disney vacation with Disney gift cards is that in the rare instance that you would receive a refund from Disney, it would go back on to those gift cards instead of your credit card. But if you are like me and love Disney, this really isn't a deal breaker because you can then use that refund to pay for part of your next trip or you can pick up some magic at home since these gift cards also work at the Disney Stores or ShopDisney website. This is why I also recommend combining the huge stack of gift cards you'll accumulate using this method into one gift card. You can easily transfer the balance online and then by using that one gift card to make the payments on your vacation, not only will it simplify the payment process for both you and your travel agent, but it will also guarantee that you know exactly which card would receive any refunds. 

And now that you know my family's secret to maximizing your Disney vacation budget, let's plan your family's dream vacation and save you some moola in the process!

 

10 Dollar Store Hacks for Your Next Disney Trip!

 

Disney vacations can be expensive, especially when you are taking the whole family. But a quick pre-trip run to the dollar store can help you save some money without missing out on the magic! Here's my list of must-have dollar store hacks for your next vacation.
 

1) Glow sticks – When the sun goes down, Disney becomes all a-glow with light-up toys, necklaces, ears and more, and your budget could quickly go out the window when your tired kiddo sees those carts full of goodies. But by grabbing some glow sticks and wands at the dollar store before hitting the parks, you can provide your kids with that glow-in-the-dark magic at a fraction of the price!

2) Bubbles – Most days the Disney parks are full of floating bubbles since they make for a great way to distract little ones during long wait times. But the bubble wands you can buy in the parks will cost you a pretty penny, so I recommend grabbing some at the dollar store and saving your souvenir dollars for something else.

3) Plastic zipper baggies – These baggies have tons of uses! Everything from packing up meal leftovers for snacking on later to keeping your phone dry on rides like Splash Mountain. You definitely won't regret snagging a box or two to bring with you into the parks.

4) D.I.Y. Stroller Rain Cover – Florida is well-known for it's random bursts of rain on a sunny day, and the quickest way to sour a day in the parks is getting off a ride or coming out of a table-service meal to find your stroller soaking wet. Rain covers made for strollers can be super expensive, but there's a cheaper solution. Grab a plastic shower curtain liner, cover the parked stroller and clamp it on with some clips. You can find both of these at the dollar store and it will waterproof your stroller for pennies!

5) Activities for the plane or car – Keeping your kiddos sitting still on the plane or car ride to Disney can be challenge, but by grabbing some coloring books and stickers at the dollar store you can make the journey to the parks both magical and quieter. Especially if you can find Disney ones that let you discuss all of the characters they will get to see over the next few days.

6) Nightlights – Some of the hotels can be very dark, making it even tougher for some kids to fall asleep in a new place. But by grabbing one of these nightlights, you can give them the comfort of home. Then if you forget to unplug it before you leave, it's not a huge loss because it only cost you a dollar.

7) Autograph journals and pens – Meeting their favorite characters is a magical part of every kid's Disney trip and getting their autographs is a classic souvenir opportunity. But instead of dropping big bucks on the autograph books in the parks, you can pick up a cute Disney themed journal or notebook and a fun character pen at the dollar store.

8) Tissues and wet wipes – No matter where you are traveling with kids, these are always good items to keep on hand, and while you can find them in stores at the parks, you will pay a lot for them. So I recommend stocking up at the dollar store before your trip.

9) Travel toothbrushes – If you are anything like me, you cringe at the thought of using old toothbrushes that have been sitting in your travel bags for months. So by picking up new toothbrushes at the dollar store before your trip, not only do you know that they are clean but you also lose the guilt that comes with tossing them after you are back home. And some of them even come with travel toothpaste...score!

10) Plastic cups – Make sharing on the go quick service meals and snacks like popcorn easier with fun plastic character cups. You can get a different character for each kiddo so they have a cup just for them and you can easily store them in the basket of your stroller to pull out when it's time to divide up those treats. Plus you can use them in the hotel room for a bedtime drink of water.

Now that you know my top 10 dollar store finds, you can be more prepared for your next Disney trip. And if you want to get even more out of your next trip, I would love to discuss more of my money saving tips! Just shoot me an email at sheena@ropedroptravel.com.