Disney Wants to Simplify Vacation Planning with My Disney Experience Updates
Disney is preparing significant updates for the My Disney Experience (MDE) app and the Walt Disney World website. The planned features focus on simplifying vacation planning, improving search, and making the entire experience feel less chaotic. If you’ve read my articles on the MDE app, you’ll understand how happy this makes me.
Disney executives previewed the upcoming changes during a media presentation last week. I wasn’t there myself, so this article is based on the reporting and details shared by attendees. Scott Gustin’s article was especially valuable.
Trip Checklist
One of the headline features is a new “trip checklist” built directly into My Disney Experience. According to Disney, the checklist will help guests keep track of unfinished planning tasks before arrival, including Lightning Lane booking windows, dining reservations, resort check-in, ticket setup, and adding tickets to a phone wallet.
The improved UX sounds a lot like the streamlined online hotel check-in process Disney rolled out earlier this month. We’re big fans of that update.
Now, checklists might not sound cutting-edge, but they get me through my work days. And they’re vital for planning Walt Disney World vacations. Orlando trips are difficult to keep track of for even the most seasoned travelers. Guests new to the resort can quickly feel overwhelmed while planning their trips. The new checklist means Disney is acknowledging that reality instead of pretending the planning process is simple.
A new MDE home screen
Yeah, I’m not a fan of MDE’s welcome screen. Its bolted-together design and lack of flow mean I usually skip it altogether. Honestly, the only time I visit it is for AP news or to reserve Virtual Queues. Thankfully, Disney seems to feel my pain.
Based on details shared during the presentation, the updated homepage will focus more heavily on a guest’s actual vacation timeline instead of presenting every tool and feature as a giant wall of tiles. As a web developer, my mantra is always to simplify. Too much information creates overload and reduces comprehension. Designers often think they’re helping users by displaying everything at once, but they’re usually just making it harder to find what actually matters.
It’s not that MDE’s tools are bad. It’s that they feel fragmented. Dining exists in one area. Lightning Lane exists somewhere else. Hotel reservations, mobile food ordering, maps, tickets, and entertainment offerings all feel disconnected from one another. The redesign sounds like Disney is organizing the app around the guest’s trip instead of around those categories.
AI search is coming
Another major update involves the app’s search functionality, which Disney says will begin using AI-generated summaries and conversational search tools later this year. Love or hate AI, it’s here. And it can serve a purpose, just so long as we don’t get AI-generated movies or TV shows.
Disney recently rolled out an MDE search update that greatly improved the look and feel. But the back-end guts seem to be the same. With AI upon us, many of us now search by inputting full questions instead of one- or two-word phrases. Try that in MDE and you’ll be disappointed. Go ahead and ask this in the app: “When can I book Lightning Lanes if I arrive on July 1?”
You won’t get an answer. In fact, the first result is “Lagoon: Games, Lanes & Eats.” A link to the Lightning Lane section gets second billing.
Sharing plans
Anyone who’s tried to plan Disney vacations for family and friends understands just how cumbersome that can be. It requires emails and multiple steps. But Disney has plans to make those connections so much easier. In fact, they describe it as similar to sharing a link through a message.
Basically, you’ll be able to send an invite to anyone in your phone’s contacts. That’s a major win.
DisneyWorld.com is getting similar improvements
DisneyWorld.com is also getting several updates later this year, including flexible date searches, resort comparison tools, improved transportation information, and price comparison calendars designed to make trip shopping easier. I’m loving that last update. Comparison shopping is my thing.
Aesthetically, the Disney World website will share visuals with the app. Disney’s designers began doing this when the improved dining tools were revealed last year. We’re glad the trend is continuing.
Building on recent improvements
These future upgrades are being built on a solid foundation of recent improvements. We loved it when Disney ditched the ultra-confusing “Today’s Plans” and “Future Plans” sections in favor of the singular “My Plans” interface. Apparently, other guests appreciated that update as well. According to Disney, the redesign improved ease-of-use ratings by 8%.
Last year’s aforementioned dining updates were also a massive hit. Being able to search multiple days for desired restaurants was a game-changer, as was the overall improved interface. Booking Topolino’s Terrace breakfast reservations has never been easier.
Disney recently made it possible for Walt Disney World and Disneyland park reservations to be booked directly inside the respective parks’ apps. Finally, as I mentioned above, the company also added a clearer visual flow for online resort hotel check-in, making it easier to see which setup steps are complete and which still need attention.
None of these updates reinvent Disney vacations. Planning a Disney trip will probably always require more effort than most vacations. But these updates will go a long way to alleviate stress when you’re supposed to be free of that nonsense.
The new My Disney Experience and DisneyWorld.com features are expected to roll out over the coming months. Disneyland guests won’t be left out, though. Disney says similar updates are planned for the Disneyland app and website at a later date.
