Helping someone plan their trip

I am helping a friend plan their trip to WDW. They are staying off-site and are not buying their tickets through Disney. Their 30 window starts on Nov 12. I am assuming that they can still use “My Disney Experience” to set up FPP? And I am guessing that their tickets need to be purchased before they create a MDE account and that they can then link their tickets.
I apologize if this has been answered a billion times.

They can set their MDE up and then buy the tickets, but the tickets have to be linked to their MDE to get FPP’s.

Thanks!

Enjoy helping your friend plan. I just helped a family plan their first trip to WDW. It really helped them get the most out of their time there.