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Apps to install before you fly

The five that matter, set up while you still have wi-fi

2 min read · Checked Mon 27 Jul
  • Install and log in at home. Creating a Disney account at MCO on hotel wi-fi is nobody's idea of a holiday.
  • Link every ticket and every party member before you land.
  • My Disney Experience is the ride booking, the mobile ordering and the door key. It's not optional.

Do this at home

Every one of these needs an account, a login and usually a ticket linked to it. Doing that on airport wi-fi with a tired family is genuinely miserable, and Disney's account creation in particular has a habit of demanding email verification at the worst moment.

Set aside twenty minutes a week before you fly.

The essential two

My Disney Experience

The one that runs your whole Disney trip:

  • Link every ticket to every person in your party, by name. Do this the day your tickets arrive.
  • Add everyone to your Family & Friends list, so one person can book Lightning Lane for the whole group.
  • It holds your park tickets (scan the phone at the gate), your hotel room key, dining reservations, Lightning Lane bookings, mobile food ordering and the live wait times.
  • Turn notifications on — it's how you find out a Lightning Lane window is open or your food is ready.

Universal Orlando Resort

Same job, smaller scope. Tickets, wait times, mobile ordering, and the virtual line system that several Epic Universe attractions use. Link tickets before you go.

The other three

ParkPlanner — this planner. Your day-by-day plan, the optimiser, live waits across both resorts in one board, and the storm-aware replanning. Add it to your home screen from the browser share menu and it behaves like an app.

Uber or Lyft — both work well in Orlando and are usually cheaper than a taxi. Useful for evenings out at Disney Springs or CityWalk when nobody wants to be the designated driver. Set up payment at home.

Google Maps — download the Orlando area for offline use before you fly. Also worth knowing: the "avoid tolls" setting is under route options, and it works.

Worth considering

  • Your airline's app for boarding passes and delay notifications.
  • A weather app with a radar view. Florida storms are extremely localised — radar tells you whether the black cloud is going to hit you or pass a mile north. This planner shows the forecast hours, but a radar loop is better for the next twenty minutes.
  • WhatsApp group for the party. You will get separated. It will be at the worst moment.

Set up before you land

  1. Log in to everything, on the home wi-fi.
  2. Link all tickets, all people.
  3. Turn on notifications for the Disney and Universal apps.
  4. Add payment cards to both for mobile ordering.
  5. Download offline maps.
  6. Take a screenshot of your accommodation address for immigration.

Then put the phone down until Florida.

Use it in your plan
See today's plan
Read next
Getting connected
eSIMs, park wi-fi, and keeping a phone alive until 10pm
Lightning Lane, explained
Multi Pass vs Single Pass, when to buy, and which parks it pays for
Dining reservations
The 60-day window, the must-books, and how to catch cancellations

26 guides · Orlando. Checked Mon 27 Jul — park rules and prices move, so confirm anything critical on the official site before you pay.