Disney band trip, told no Genie plus

[NavyDad]

Military tickets from ITT can be loaded to magic bands and are eligible to purchase G+, etc. Those are the tickets we always use.

Our first trip in 2009 (prior to Magic Bands, FP+, Genie Plus etc...) we had the ITT military tickets. We had to activate them separately and they could not be added to our Key to the World Card. We tried at our resort (Pop), guest services at Downtown Disney and at the MK gate guest services. We had to carry two separate cards for each person all week.

Over the years, as WDW added new tech and new ticket media, we had mixed success with our ITT military tickets. Some things worked, some did not. The last few trips we have bought our tickets through Shades of Green and instead of the ITT vouchers or tickets that had to be activated, we got actual WDW physical media tickets which has been much more convenient.

 

[Sarah6342]

Partial update, the food vouchers still exist. They are for limited quick service places and for an entrée and a drink.

 

[cgp33]

Booked Genie+ today for my daughters music field trip group with no issues. We also have ticket meal vouchers—good for entree, side, drink and dessert at select Quick serve locations.

 

[briggs77]

For those who purchased ILL or Virtual Queue , were you able to book those at 7 or did you have to wait until 9. I will have a room key but the room reservations were booked by the travel company.

 

[lanejudy]

For those who purchased ILL or Virtual Queue , were you able to book those at 7 or did you have to wait until 9. I will have a room key but the room reservations were booked by the travel company.

Is the room reservation linked to your MDE?

 

[briggs77]

Unfortunately no. We were just given the park tickets.

 

[subtchr]

For those who purchased ILL or Virtual Queue , were you able to book those at 7 or did you have to wait until 9. I will have a room key but the room reservations were booked by the travel company.

Virtual Queue has nothing to do with where you are staying. Every guest with a park reservation for the appropriate park may try for the VQ. My groups get VQs all the time.

Linking a Disney resort reservation, to be able to buy ILL at 7:00, is trickier with a youth group. This is because Disney requires someone in the room to be 18 or older to be able to link the resort to MDE. I don't really understand it, and we have gone in circles with them for years over it, but it's the way the system works right now. We (the travel company) do have the Disney resort confirmation numbers for each room. But only the rooms with an adult (chaperone, etc.) can use that number to link to MDE, which will allow those registered in the room to buy ILL at 7. If you try to link the number to a room that only has minors, it shows an error. So the kids can't buy ILL until park opening time.

 

[Jbr122]

So we are going on one of the bandtrips next month from Georgia and we were just now told that when we get our park tickets, we absolutely cannot upload them to MDE because it could have an effect on the entire groups park reservations. We are all upset about it, because we believe this means we won’t have a chance at any of the virtual queues or lightning Lane and this information just doesn’t sound right.

 

[subtchr]

So we are going on one of the bandtrips next month from Georgia and we were just now told that when we get our park tickets, we absolutely cannot upload them to MDE because it could have an affect on the entire groups park reservations. We are all upset about it, because we believe this means we won’t have a chance at any of the virtual queues or lightning Lane and this information just doesn’t sound right.

This is NOT correct.

It is true that if anyone links a group ticket and then tries to modify the included park reservations, it can mess things up for the whole group. But as long as that is communicated, and no one tries to change any park reservations, they can absolutely be linked, and you can book VQs, Genie+, etc.

Our company has had two dozen bands and choirs at WDW in the last two months. We give everyone their ticket numbers two days before the trip, and we give them the physical ticket cards upon arrival. We tell them they cannot change the park reservations in any way, but they can link them to existing or new MDE accounts to be able to use VQ and Genie+. It works fine.

 

[Jbr122]

Thank you!

 

[Twitterpaited]

Not always true (at least for non-military tickets). My daughter just went on a school trip to Disney in February. They had physical ticket cards but were able to add them to MDE and she linked to to an old Magic Band so she could just keep the card in her wallet all day and not risk losing it.

Disney Imagination Campus even sends directions and advises linking to MDE before the trip.

 

[Twitterpaited]

For about a year now, groups have had the option to pay $1 extra per ticket, and have the park reservations bundled with the ticket. When Disney first reopened after Covid, we (I work for a company that creates trips for high school music groups) had to create dummy accounts and book park reservations for hundreds of kids each trip. It was a total PITA. We were very grateful when Disney offered the option to have the reservations booked right with the tickets.

My company waits to pass out physical tickets upon arrival, but we share the ticket numbers with each guest a few days before, via our online dashboard, so that they can link them to their MDE account. The ticket cards have their names on the back.

I will be there with a choir! I've had 4 marching bands, and orchestra, and 2 choirs so far this spring, and I have 3 more marching bands to go after next week. I love my job!

As far as I know, there are no more meal vouchers sold. Now we give the kids a Disney Dining card, which is a Disney gift card which can only be used at food and beverage locations. You can use it to pay for mobile orders, by entering (or copy/paste) the gift card number on the payment page, or scanning the barcode on the back of the card. Unfortunately, the system will not save the number, so this has to be done for each payment.


As to the original question, about Genie+, YES, once linked to MDE, student group tickets are eligible for the purchase Genie+ and Individual Lightning Lanes. One potential issue is that the purchaser must be 18. The way our groups get around this restriction is to either have one student in the group who is over 18 purchase it for others, and they just pay them back (Venmo is awesome), or to have a parent at home go into MDE and buy it for the student, and his or her friends.

As to the PP who mentioned their under-18 year old being able to purchase it because the parent's credit card was linked, that's not typically how it works. Age is not checked on a credit card. What I suspect happened was that the student signed into MDE under the parent's profile (which is perfectly fine), so the system thought someone 18 or older was making the purchase.

When I was looking into a school trip this year, Disney Imagination Campus/PlanEars gave me the option of purchasing meal vouchers or dining gift cards.

 

[subtchr]

When I was looking into a school trip this year, Disney Imagination Campus/PlanEars gave me the option of purchasing meal vouchers or dining gift cards.

Okay. I highly recommend the dining cards over the vouchers. Much more flexible.

 

[Twitterpaited]

Okay. I highly recommend the dining cards over the vouchers. Much more flexible.

Since our students will be with school staff, I think we would be better off purchasing discounted gift cards.

 

[thestrongmike]

This is the closest active post I could find - my daughter's school music group is going in Feb 2024. My wife and I are planning a trip on our own during the time so we can see her sing at Disney (I have no interest in chaperoning 50-60 kids - it's been almost 17 years since we've gone by ourselves!). We were thinking about trying to tack on a couple days after the school trip, and basically just keep our daughter for those days. Has anybody ever done this? There are about 20 different obstacles here, but the one I'm focused on now is the park ticket. There won't be park reservations required during this trip, but I'm wondering if there's a way to simply add days onto her existing group ticket, or if we're going to have to just buy a 2 or 3 day ticket. The group planners don't have anything in the way of details like this yet, and I've never done a group/school/imagination campus trip before.

 

[sponica]

This is the closest active post I could find - my daughter's school music group is going in Feb 2024. My wife and I are planning a trip on our own during the time so we can see her sing at Disney (I have no interest in chaperoning 50-60 kids - it's been almost 17 years since we've gone by ourselves!). We were thinking about trying to tack on a couple days after the school trip, and basically just keep our daughter for those days. Has anybody ever done this? There are about 20 different obstacles here, but the one I'm focused on now is the park ticket. There won't be park reservations required during this trip, but I'm wondering if there's a way to simply add days onto her existing group ticket, or if we're going to have to just buy a 2 or 3 day ticket. The group planners don't have anything in the way of details like this yet, and I've never done a group/school/imagination campus trip before.

My best guess is you'll have to buy an additional ticket. But the harder hoop to jump through will be her staying later, depending on the school and how things are set up.

 

[subtchr]

This is the closest active post I could find - my daughter's school music group is going in Feb 2024. My wife and I are planning a trip on our own during the time so we can see her sing at Disney (I have no interest in chaperoning 50-60 kids - it's been almost 17 years since we've gone by ourselves!). We were thinking about trying to tack on a couple days after the school trip, and basically just keep our daughter for those days. Has anybody ever done this? There are about 20 different obstacles here, but the one I'm focused on now is the park ticket. There won't be park reservations required during this trip, but I'm wondering if there's a way to simply add days onto her existing group ticket, or if we're going to have to just buy a 2 or 3 day ticket. The group planners don't have anything in the way of details like this yet, and I've never done a group/school/imagination campus trip before.

No, you will not be able to modify/add days to a youth group ticket. You'll have to buy a separate ticket for the days after the school trip.

And FYI, youth group tickets will still require reservations. What Disney has done the last couple years has been to allow us to pay $1 extra per ticket to have the park reservations already made and linked to the ticket.

 

[thestrongmike]

My best guess is you'll have to buy an additional ticket. But the harder hoop to jump through will be her staying later, depending on the school and how things are set up.

Yeah, I'm trying not to flood the organizer with all of my questions, so I focused on the flight with him. She'll be just 17 at the time of the trip, so we can just basically sneak her into our room (but goodbye King bed that I have a hold on at Caribbean Beach...), but as soon as my wife threw this out there I got a headache.

 

[lanejudy]

But the harder hoop to jump through will be her staying later, depending on the school and how things are set up.

My daughter is on a trip right now (not WDW) and the school requires all students to remain with the group — including both directions of traveling. So definitely check with the school policy.

 

[gottalovepluto]

My daughter is on a trip right now (not WDW) and the school requires all students to remain with the group — including both directions of traveling. So definitely check with the school policy.

This part is key @thestrongmike I also encourage you to ask this one question of your group organizers now as it might not be allowed at all and then you’ll save yourself loads of research and worry. (The schools that have these policies have them in place to protect the school from liability and they are usually accompanied by nasty consequences for any student who breaks them.)