How do I add my family to my group so everyone can see our trip ?”

Hiya, Maura!

Welcome back to planDisney. It's a pleasure to help fellow Guests make the most of their Disney Parks vacations. It's an extra honor to do so for a fellow Beehive State resident. I know family is important. So I'm happy to see that you are going out of your way to make sure that everyone feels included.

You may be aware of the "My Family & Friends" list used at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Walt Disney World Resort is nearly 40 square miles of magic. So the "My Family & Friends" tool is useful to keep everyone from accidentally spreading out too much. All of the Disneyland Resort, on the other hand, covers about 500 acres, less than 1/50th the size of Walt Disney World. I'd say that the relative size of the Disneyland Resort helps to keep the crew a little more contained.

The more intimate nature of the Disneyland Resort means that you can enjoy the magic of Walt Disney's Original Magic Kingdom and Disney California Adventure Park with a little more ease. Although the Disneyland Resort does not currently offer a tool like the Walt Disney World Resort's "My Family & Friends" list, you may find that it is easier to gather stray members of your family together should they become a little spread out. Let's say that someone decides they want to park hop to use an individual Lightning Lane reservation during the afternoon. But you may have a dinner appointment in the first park. There may very well be enough time to make it back to dinner before it's too late. After all, the main entrances to the two theme parks are literally only about a football field's length from each other.

That said, here are some tips for keeping your family connected during your Disneyland Resort vacation.

• From the "Tickets and Passes" screen of the Disneyland app, link the tickets of other members of your party to your account. Other members of the party may do the same with your tickets. That way, you can potentially take turns booking Lightning Lane return times for all of the tickets with Disney Genie+ service.
• From the "Future Plans" screen of the app, take screenshots of your dining reservations and activity reservations from the Enchanting Extras Collection. Then, send those screenshots to others in your party to keep them in the loop. My family also likes to set appointment reminders in the calendar app on our mobile phones. Then, we share those appointments with each other so we all have the same plans and get the same notifications.
• If you are sharing a room at a Disneyland Resort Hotel, you can also choose to use the Disneyland mobile app to unlock your hotel room door. The primary reservation holder can share reservation details with other members of the party to grant them the same access. Or you may also pick up physical key cards from the hotel front desk.
• When taking advantage of early entry benefits available to on-site hotel Guests, only one member of your party needs to show the reservation information on a mobile device to allow all eligible members of your party to access the areas of the park open before regular park hours.

I hope that helps you feel more at ease as you approach your visit to The Happiest Place on Earth, Maura. If you have any more questions, please send them our way here at planDisney.

Adventure is out there!
~Tony