Under both of their names, it says "You manage this account." They have their own login account, for which I have the username and password. The tickets were purchased separately.
I called Disney last night and the rep told me to enter my parents' ticket numbers into their account, which I did. They have their own hotel reservations (a split stay, to make things even more complicated) and I don't want to do anything to mess up those reservations, their tickets, and their MagicBands.
OK. This should actually be a (fairly) simple fix, though with a few steps.
The problem is that there are two copies of your parents in the MDE system. One set is their own account, the other is the ones listed under your account that you control. (In Disney's eyes, the two separate accounts are simply two people who have the same name) What you need to do is become friends with the real parents' account profile, and then everything should merge (any MagicBands and reservations listed under your account, plus the new tickets and hotel reservations under theirs) into a single account controlled by your parents.
There is one small issue, though. (I'm going to refer to them as Primary Parent and Secondary Parent) You can easily merge the primary parent's account, but if the other parent is "managed by them" I'm not entirely sure that you can merge a "managed by you" profile with a "managed by them" profile in a single step.
So if you want to have an entirely do-it-yourself method, do this:
(It's important to do Steps 1 and 2 in this order)
Part 1:
-Log into Primary Parent's account in MDE.
-Go into their Family & Friends list. Next to the Secondary Parent's name click on "connect through a Disney account".
-Fill in secondary parent's email address and click Done.
-Log out of MDE.
(At this point ignore the email that's sent to secondary parent, I always have trouble trying to use the links it provides)
-Log into MDE using Secondary Parent's email address. If they don't have a MDE account, create one.
-They should have a notification to accept the friend request from Primary Parent.
-Accept the friend request. Then log out.
-You're done. Primary Parent and Secondary Parent now each have their own profiles.
Part 2:
Now moving on to your account. You're basically repeating what I just laid out above:
-Go into your account. On the Family & Friends listing, click on "Connect through a Disney account" next to Primary Parent.
-Fill in their email address and click Done.
-Repeat this process by sending an invite to Secondary Parent's email address)
-Log into Primary Parent's account and accept the friend request.
-Repeat by logging into Secondary Parent's account and accepting.
That's it. Now you, plus each parent, should all have their own "managed by them" account. Any old MagicBands should have moved over, dining reservations, hotel reservations and tickets should all point to the proper place, and there's only one version of each person in MDE. And even if Secondary Parent never wants to log in again, they don't have to. Since they are friends with both you and Primary Parent, you can each make plans for them through MDE.
It's fairly simple, just a lot of steps and while you're doing it you have to make sure to keep the accounts straight in your head.
-Rob