Looking for an app to help plan your visit to Disneyland Paris? Magical Trips created by Disney fan Emily Rawling could just be what you are looking for. Normally I would try and explain what the app features but the official description on the App store is one of the most detailed I have seen.
Official Description
Every vacation is magical whether you are travelling to Walt Disney World, booking a cruise or you want to enjoy a beach holiday; Magical Trips is the travel app for you. Whatever the length of your stay, PLANNING YOUR WAY TO THE MAGIC will ensure that you enjoy every moment of your vacation. It is beautifully elegant but simple to use and it is the only app you will ever need to assist you with creating your perfect vacations. Magical Trips has the following features:
MAGICAL VACATION COUNTDOWN
Magical Trips displays how many days to go until your vacation starts.
MAGICAL MAP
The first time you log on Magical Trips will ask you for your home address, the address of your destination and how much you have paid for your vacation. The app works out how much each mile has cost and the travel route will be highlighted on the map. There will be a sun icon set to your home address. As you add an amount saved/paid for your vacation the icon will move closer to your destination. The interactive map is a visual aid to show how far your money saved/paid will get you. It is a great way to show and keep children enthused when saving as a family.
MAGICAL MONEY
This section of Magical Trips can be used to set spending money savings targets for every member of your family or individuals travelling with you. Like the map you input amounts as you save. The sun rises towards your target total and again will be a great way to show children to keep them excited about their vacation.
MAGICAL LISTS
The app has a section to create lists. Successful planning requires lists whether it is a packing list, pre-vacation shopping list, to do list, advance dining reservation list or important information list (insurance information, passports, airline information etc). Magical Trips comes with examples but these can be edited for your requirements plus additional lists can be added. Each item added to your lists can be ticked off to assist you with your planning.
MAGICAL PLANNER
Magical Trips also has a diary page to input plans for before/whilst you are away. Your vacation days will be highlighted with a sun. This section also has access to a full diary and again a sun will highlight all the days that have pre-planned details. You can also use your vacation diary page to take photos for each day whilst you are away. This will build up a daily album. The daily albums will be great to refer back to or to show your family what you did on each day of your vacation.
Additionally, you can share all your exciting news with your family and friends via Facebook and Twitter. You can upload all your progress to social media within the Magical Map and Magical Money sections plus upload your daily albums to Facebook.
Magical Trips is so easy to use. The links are presented clearly and everything links back to the home screen.
Technically the app is superb. Over the last few days I have been clicking every link over and over again and have came across no bugs at all. Being a reliable app is just as important as is a good looking one.
Due to the simple design, the app runs really quickly (I tested it on an iPhone 6) because it is not having to load really big images and constantly connect to the cloud as the data is stored locally. This further enhances the usability of the app.
The feature I used the most was the one counting down to the trip. Most iPhone users will have a countdown timer on their phone and some will have paid for one. This app comes with a countdown timer but can also do a lot more! Why use anything else?
Being able to plan everything in one simple and useful app is great. Making lists, keeping track of money and important information is really clever. I would however, like it even more if I could access the same information via a website which I could log in to so I could print off these lists and store any important documents I need for my trip. Maybe this could be implemented into a future update.
Overall for the price of £0.79 this is such a great little app with so many useful features.
Try it out. You will not regret it.
