Credit: Edited by Inside the MagicMy Disney Experience, that app that Walt Disney World Resort guests use while visiting the Orlando theme park, has a new warning.
Depending on the Disney park you are planning to vacation, you will need to download an app to make your trip more seamless. In Disney World, guests use the My Disney Experience app, which is your go-to spot for any and all information you will need while at Disney. On this app, you can check wait times, buy tickets, book dining reservations, mobile order food, look at your PhotoPass pictures, see a map, read menus, purchase and reserve Disney Genie+ experiences, and more.
The app has become a fundamental park of the Walt Disney World vacation, but it seems that perhaps some guests have thought that it was game, and not a real way to make purchases for or at the park.
Over the weekend, while we were scrolling through some mobile order options at EPCOT, we ended up getting a pop-up notification on our screen that warned us the app uses “real” money for in-app purchases.
In-App Purchases
This app contains in-app purchases for services like Disney PhotoPass downloads that cost real money.
Guests are required to hit the ok button on the screen to signify that they correctly read the message.
While there is no announcement that came from Disney as to why there is a warning in regard to payment, these warnings usually stem from something going wrong.
On the My Disney Experience app, many guests who use the service may have already placed their credit card on the app, for dining reservation purposes, or perhaps from a prior purchase. While there are many things that require purchase on the app, many guests who do not frequent Disney too often may not know of these purchases or may assume that what comes on the app is free.
This new warning will likely mitigate disappointment for guests who thought they could visit Magic Kingdom and get a photo in front of Cinderella Castle with PhotoPass, and then noticed they have all their on-ride photos from Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, TRON, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, and more, and made the accidental choice to buy PhotoPass, thinking it was free. Or, perhaps buy Disney Genie+ for a busy day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to skip the line, thinking it would cost nothing like its predecessor, FastPass.
The My Disney Experience app can also be heavily useful for guests in the park, as it gives current updates on what is going on. Guests will get notifications to their photo if something is canceled, such as Fantasmic! or Festival of Fantasy parade. Additionally, the app tells guests if a ride is down, so that they do not make their way around a park, like Disney’s Animal Kingdom to ride Flight of Passage in Pandora — World of Avatar, only to arrive and see that the attraction is temporarily closed.
If you are planning on visiting Disney for the first time and you do not yet have the My Disney Experience app, we certainly suggest downloading it (luckily, that is free), and learning how to use it, figuring out how to snap a virtual queue spot for attractions like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, and maybe getting yourself excited by seeing the wait times for different attractions during the day, and checking out the latest menu options at some of the restaurants!
Do you find that the My Disney Experience app enhances your Disney World vacation?