Hi there, Karen!
It’s exciting to be traveling to the Disneyland Resort. I think it is even better to be joining others to share in the magic.
If you have visited the
Walt Disney World Resort, you may have used the "My Family & Friends" feature of the My Disney Experience system used there. I have my wife and children linked to my account, and even a few of my
planDisney pals as well. It’s a convenient way to ensure we are all on the same page when we visit The Most Magical Place on Earth together.
While there are a lot of similarities between Walt Disney World and the Disneyland Resort, there are also some differences. For example, Disneyland Resort does not use the My Disney Experience system for managing reservations for park entrance, dining, and activities. That also means there is no equivalent of a "My Family & Friends" list. But, hakuna matata! It means "no worries!" At the Disneyland Resort, it is not required that parties visiting together are on the same park reservations, as long as they have the same theme parks reserved for their dates. Dining reservations only require a primary Guest and other Guests may join them without having their park admission linked to the reservation.
There are a couple of situations that may require some linking to make things work as desired. Guests of the three
Disneyland Resort Hotels staying in the same room may wish to share access to direct-to-room services. Primary reservation holders may link another Guest with their hotel reservation in the
Disneyland mobile app to grant them privileges such as being able to open their room door with a mobile device. Another situation that may be enhanced with linking is the
Disney Genie+ service. When all Guests in the same party have their park admission linked in the same account, the account holder can then book
Lightning Lane return times for everybody. Similarly,
individual Lightning Lane purchases for attractions not included with Genie+ may be booked together as well.
To link park admission of other members of your party that purchased park tickets separately, you can scan their park tickets using the "Tickets and Passes" screen of the Disneyland app. Use your device’s camera to scan either the printed ticket card or the ticket displayed on their mobile device. Or manually enter the ticket ID. Likewise, the other Guests may link your tickets to their account in the same way. That will allow any of the members of your party with all of the tickets linked to book Lightning Lane reservations for each other.
Tony’s Tip: Note that when a
Disney eTicket is first activated, its ticket number may be updated. So I recommend waiting until after each Guest has activated their ticket and entered a theme park before attempting to link tickets between different accounts. I like to arrive at the parks well before the official park opening time. Often, Guests are allowed to enter the parks early to await the opening from a gathering place a little way into the park. That waiting period would be an ideal time to link tickets to the accounts that you will use. All of the tickets will have been activated and be ready to go. So you will also be able to book your first Lightning Lane return times even before the attractions open!
I hope you and your party have a magical time, Karen!
~Tony