Hi Jennifer, welcome to planDisney!
I enjoyed Walt Disney World Resort vacations as a child and young adult, but I experience Disney magic in a whole new way when I visit with my children. I recommend keeping your eyes on your children the first time they lay eyes on Cinderella Castle. Seeing the magic through their eyes will make your heart burst with
Disney Enchantment-like fireworks.
The first time a vacation reservation (resort reservation, ticket purchase, vacation package, etc) is linked to an individual in
My Disney Experience, the default for those without a My Disney Experience account is to enter that person's name and age as a new Guest. This creates a profile that is managed by the person who added the name. Since children under 13 are unable to have My Disney Experience accounts, their profiles must be managed by an adult.
As long as you and your children are connected as
Family and Friends in My Disney Experience, you can
link vacation entitlements to them, make and cancel their
theme park reservations, include them in dining reservations, and purchase and book
Lightning Lane attractions for them. There is an extra step required when it comes to creating
MagicMobile passes for your children. Only the person that manages their plans can download their MagicMobile passes, which is one of the
methods of theme park entry. That pass can then be shared with you, though the sharing occurs through the smartphone, not the
My Disney Experience mobile app. The person managing their profiles is also the only person who can change their Guest profile pictures and manage their MagicBands and cards in My Disney Experience. In this case, managing means viewing any MagicBands or cards linked to them as well as having the ability to deactivate/activate them.
I was asking a Cast Member your very same questions a few months ago when I inquired about what it meant for my husband to be managing our children's plans. Even though it wasn't a necessity, I decided I wanted our children to be managed under my account and a helpful Cast Member was able to make the change via the online chat feature of the Walt Disney World Resort website. If you decide you'd like to make the switch, as well, you can connect with a Cast Member between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. by clicking the Chat icon on the right of the
Help Center webpage. If all Cast Members are busy helping other Guests, I have the most luck going about my other online business while keeping a tab open on the
Walt Disney World Resort homepage. An alert sounds when an invitation to chat appears. You must provide the Cast Member with the account information for your account as well as the account information of the person who currently manages your children's plans.
I hope this information helps explain some of the nuances of My Disney Experience accounts. Please don't hesitate to
reach out with any follow-up questions.
Plan magic; planDisney.
Jennifer