Doingitagain
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2006
We spent a fast two days at DLR and here are my favorite tips that I used after research on these boards:
1. We had a plastic lanyard on a flexible carabiner so we could attach it to our belt loop and easily pull it out to have our paper ticket scanned when we used FP. No scrambling to find it on your phone after the screen saver comes on while you wait in line! You get a paper ticket when you first enter the parks if you bought your tickets online. We used MP for booking FP, but then used the paper ticket for scanning.
2. We took screen shots of our PhotoPass code and ticket bar codes just in case our phone service crashed.
3. We used MP a lot! Loved being able to easily cancel and change if needed. Also liked being able to book a FP in the opposite park, especially during early open hours when you could get a FP in the other park before it even opened to the public (times didn’t start until after park opening, but you could still book the FP). Also, with MP, sometimes you would see earlier FP times because someone canceled — at the FP kiosks, you won’t see that.
4. Loved getting PhotoPass photos included in MP. We had a lot of them for no additional charge! I just downloaded them all. We saw photographers all over the parks — just look for the special vests. Also, the Disney VISA character experience photos can be put on the same PhotoPass account. Having the screen capture of the code made it very easy for them to scan. I learned that I had to turn my phone brightness up at night for their scanning to work — I had it lower to save battery.
5. Used cell phone to take a photo of ride picture code and entered them in PhotoPass later. No waiting around while we tried to log it with poor WIFI or cell service, or digging for a pen.
6. We only had 2 of us, so using MP at $10/day was an easy decision. If I had a large group, I would pick a couple days for the full group to MP, but have at least one person do it every day for the PhotoPass benefit if you like pictures.
7. Maximize early open hours! We got a lot done in the first few hours. Those days might be the ones where you skip MP.
8. We bought a Fuel Rod online before we left, to save money. We didn’t end up needing to exchange it for a free new one that was fully charged, but we saw kiosks for that. We even saw kiosks at the hotel, airport and zoo, not just the parks. There is an app you can download to find Fuel Rod locations (not just at Disney, anywhere). If you don’t have a Fuel Rod, you may want to consider another portable battery charger since your phone battery will drain away quickly at the parks, we found. (We had a guide at the San Diego zoo whose phone ran out of battery, and we showed her our Fuel Rod and told her there was a kiosk at the zoo — certainly a nice option to have one if you work somewhere with a kiosk!)
Thank you all so much for sharing all the information I used in my research before we left! You are a great bunch!
1. We had a plastic lanyard on a flexible carabiner so we could attach it to our belt loop and easily pull it out to have our paper ticket scanned when we used FP. No scrambling to find it on your phone after the screen saver comes on while you wait in line! You get a paper ticket when you first enter the parks if you bought your tickets online. We used MP for booking FP, but then used the paper ticket for scanning.
2. We took screen shots of our PhotoPass code and ticket bar codes just in case our phone service crashed.
3. We used MP a lot! Loved being able to easily cancel and change if needed. Also liked being able to book a FP in the opposite park, especially during early open hours when you could get a FP in the other park before it even opened to the public (times didn’t start until after park opening, but you could still book the FP). Also, with MP, sometimes you would see earlier FP times because someone canceled — at the FP kiosks, you won’t see that.
4. Loved getting PhotoPass photos included in MP. We had a lot of them for no additional charge! I just downloaded them all. We saw photographers all over the parks — just look for the special vests. Also, the Disney VISA character experience photos can be put on the same PhotoPass account. Having the screen capture of the code made it very easy for them to scan. I learned that I had to turn my phone brightness up at night for their scanning to work — I had it lower to save battery.
5. Used cell phone to take a photo of ride picture code and entered them in PhotoPass later. No waiting around while we tried to log it with poor WIFI or cell service, or digging for a pen.
6. We only had 2 of us, so using MP at $10/day was an easy decision. If I had a large group, I would pick a couple days for the full group to MP, but have at least one person do it every day for the PhotoPass benefit if you like pictures.
7. Maximize early open hours! We got a lot done in the first few hours. Those days might be the ones where you skip MP.
8. We bought a Fuel Rod online before we left, to save money. We didn’t end up needing to exchange it for a free new one that was fully charged, but we saw kiosks for that. We even saw kiosks at the hotel, airport and zoo, not just the parks. There is an app you can download to find Fuel Rod locations (not just at Disney, anywhere). If you don’t have a Fuel Rod, you may want to consider another portable battery charger since your phone battery will drain away quickly at the parks, we found. (We had a guide at the San Diego zoo whose phone ran out of battery, and we showed her our Fuel Rod and told her there was a kiosk at the zoo — certainly a nice option to have one if you work somewhere with a kiosk!)
Thank you all so much for sharing all the information I used in my research before we left! You are a great bunch!
