Magic Bands 101

[csummerlin55]

Me and my family received our Magic Bands last week. We will be at Disney in less than a month, on May 4, 1 day after the KY Derby

Are you from Louisville? Can't imagine someone not from TheVille timing their trip home by the Derby ;0)

 

[jimandami]

I didn't see this asked, but if it has been before, I apologize! We are going to be staying at BWI at the end of May. We got our tickets from UCT and linked them to MDE and customized our magic bands. 2 of us are going to be upgrading/bridging to APs after we get to the parks. Will they be able to link the upgraded tickets/APs to the magic bands we already have? Or will we have to get new ones (and then have 2)?

There is nothing ON the magic bands...they are simply a link to your MDE. When you upgrade, the ticket will be upgraded in MDE so you can keep using the same bands.

 

[Offsides]

There is nothing ON the magic bands...they are simply a link to your MDE. When you upgrade, the ticket will be upgraded in MDE so you can keep using the same bands.

Perfect. Thank you

 

[MarkyMouse]

There is nothing ON the magic bands...they are simply a link to your MDE. When you upgrade, the ticket will be upgraded in MDE so you can keep using the same bands.

So is this the reason I can use any of my past magic bands on future trips? They are linked to MDE, which my annual pass is linked to.

 

[stacielee]

So is this the reason I can use any of my past magic bands on future trips? They are linked to MDE, which my annual pass is linked to.

I believe so, unless you deactivate them in MDE.

 

[jimandami]

So is this the reason I can use any of my past magic bands on future trips? They are linked to MDE, which my annual pass is linked to.

Yes. I do think I read there is a limit to the number to you can have active at a time...maybe 7?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I have nine that are active. Number 10 was just shipped. And yes I have been able to use any of them.

 

[tigger2002]

Bands can be customized anytime you'd like, within the customization window.

According to the Disney World FAQ page "You have until 10 days before your arrival at your Disney Resort hotel to customize your MagicBand with your name and favorite color if you wish to have the MagicBand shipped to your home."

However, we have already received our magic bands and it is 27 days until we arrive. How can we customize them now?

 

[Disneylover03]

Is it safe to assume that our Disney gift cards to be loaded to our MB?
I'm buying up a couple off of giftcard rescue at a discount and want to use them for F&W.

 

[ses1230]

According to the Disney World FAQ page "You have until 10 days before your arrival at your Disney Resort hotel to customize your MagicBand with your name and favorite color if you wish to have the MagicBand shipped to your home."

However, we have already received our magic bands and it is 27 days until we arrive. How can we customize them now?

For the last 3 sets of MB we have gotten, the customization window has closed 30 day prior to arrival, and the bands were shipped right after that. The MB page in MDE says how long you have to customize.

 

[tigger2002]

The MB page in MDE says how long you have to customize.

Yes the Magic Band page says 10 days before your arrival to customize your MB.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/bands-cards/customizing-period/


,

 

[SRUAlmn]

Is it safe to assume that our Disney gift cards to be loaded to our MB?
I'm buying up a couple off of giftcard rescue at a discount and want to use them for F&W.

I was wondering that too! We have quite a few gift cards, so that would be so much easier! I'm also hoping we can tie different CCs or different gift cards to different bands since we are a group of all adults.

 

[MouseMomx2]

For the last 3 sets of MB we have gotten, the customization window has closed 30 day prior to arrival, and the bands were shipped right after that. The MB page in MDE says how long you have to customize.

If you customize the bands before the 30 day mark the window will close at that time and the bands will be shipped out. If, however, you have not gone into the customization window prior to the 30 day mark, it will remain open until 10 days out. I believe that if you customize them within that 30-10 day window the creation/shipping process will begin as soon as you hit the "Done" button.

 

[MouseMomx2]

Is it safe to assume that our Disney gift cards to be loaded to our MB?
I'm buying up a couple off of giftcard rescue at a discount and want to use them for F&W.

Nothing is stored on the bands so you cannot load anything onto them. They simply read the information in your MDEx profile. You can put the gift cards on your account at your Disney resort and they will be used up first. You can also hang onto the cards and stop by Guest Relations later in your trip to pay down any balance with them.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Nothing is stored on the bands so you cannot load anything onto them. They simply read the information in your MDEx profile. You can put the gift cards on your account at your Disney resort and they will be used up first. You can also hang onto the cards and stop by Guest Relations later in your trip to pay down any balance with them.

So are room charges still being itemized by room, or are they being itemized by which magic band was swiped? I know you still have to leave a CC on your room for charges but it isn't charged until you check out. Therefore, you can go pay with your gift cards before you checkout, but if we have four adults all wanting to pay a different way its going to be really hard to divide it all out unless its itemized by band.

 

[Stefecatzz]

So are room charges still being itemized by room, or are they being itemized by which magic band was swiped? I know you still have to leave a CC on your room for charges but it isn't charged until you check out. Therefore, you can go pay with your gift cards before you checkout, but if we have four adults all wanting to pay a different way its going to be really hard to divide it all out unless its itemized by band.

From my personal experience, the answer to that question is both. The folio for the room will be the total amount spent between any charges made for that room #. But it will also list by name who's charge it was so you could add it up & divide it out yourselves. But that may have been because of my particular situation on my last trip in March: When I checked in at the counter, I had the CM swipe one CC for my MB & one for my roommates so that the room accounts would be separate. Unfortunately, all of the charges went onto my CC in the end & we had to scramble to get the $ into the account. So, if you do have the CM at check in scan different CCs for your MBs, keep an eye on it as you go to make sure it's separating the charges.

Had it worked out the way we planned, I'm not sure if we would've received separate folios for the room we were in or it would've just broken down the charges under our names separately.

 

[SRUAlmn]

From my personal experience, the answer to that question is both. The folio for the room will be the total amount spent between any charges made for that room #. But it will also list by name who's charge it was so you could add it up & divide it out yourselves. But that may have been because of my particular situation on my last trip in March: When I checked in at the counter, I had the CM swipe one CC for my MB & one for my roommates so that the room accounts would be separate. Unfortunately, all of the charges went onto my CC in the end & we had to scramble to get the $ into the account. So, if you do have the CM at check in scan different CCs for your MBs, keep an eye on it as you go to make sure it's separating the charges.

Had it worked out the way we planned, I'm not sure if we would've received separate folios for the room we were in or it would've just broken down the charges under our names separately.

Thanks so much! That's good to know that we can ask to scan different CCs when we check in! Did you do online check in? I'm assuming this could be done upon checking in even with online check in? Thanks again!

 

[Stefecatzz]

Thanks so much! That's good to know that we can ask to scan different CCs when we check in! Did you do online check in? I'm assuming this could be done upon checking in even with online check in? Thanks again!

YW!

I did online check in but did not see a way to add more than one CC.

 

[TimothyG]

Is it safe to assume that our Disney gift cards to be loaded to our MB?
I'm buying up a couple off of giftcard rescue at a discount and want to use them for F&W.

No.

My experience is that if you want to pay with gift cards or if you want to split the bill between multiple credit cards or multiple people, charge to the room and then on the afternoon/night before checkout visit the front desk and reconcile the account. This way everything is handled before Disney does the billing. **Do not wait until the day of checkout.**

ALSO - Keep in mind that there are charge limits at each of the resorts so if you are spending a lot of money, make sure to reconcile before you hit the limit. Hitting the limit will have them charge your card.

I think some CMs are better at navigating the system than others so in these types of situations I prefer to make sure I reconcile before there is an issue.

 

[SRUAlmn]

No.

My experience is that if you want to pay with gift cards or if you want to split the bill between multiple credit cards or multiple people, charge to the room and then on the afternoon/night before checkout visit the front desk and reconcile the account. This way everything is handled before Disney does the billing. **Do not wait until the day of checkout.**

ALSO - Keep in mind that there are charge limits at each of the resorts so if you are spending a lot of money, make sure to reconcile before you hit the limit. Hitting the limit will have them charge your card.

I think some CMs are better at navigating the system than others so in these types of situations I prefer to make sure I reconcile before there is an issue.

Do you know what the limit is? Is it based on your individual card/bank, or is it based on the resort? If resort, is it the same for all the resorts?
Thanks!