MAGIC? bands

[MasterGracey84]

Fans of classic Disney seem to dislike the new technology because it deviates from fond memories of classic park touring. My age group seems to dislike the new tech because of the old fastpass system Disney had that gave tremendous freedom and flexability. However, it seems Disney HAD to make this investment to better predict crowds for staffing and payroll and to manage the crowd distribution of the millions of guests coming to the parks every year. FP+ is flawed but is constantly improving and I am sure there are numerous more changes to come. Who knows... maybe one day in the distant future we will be wishing the present FP+ system is in place. Just my 2 pennies

 

[Linda M]

I think the Magic Bands are good...when they work. Mine worked about half the time on the first try. Very frustrating to have to keep re-doing the scanning on entering the parks or the elevator for CL. No one else in our party seemed to have a problem, though.

 

[TDDisney]

We have a December trip. Magic bands arrived today. Colors weren't what I thought I ordered, so I looked on MDE. Now, it is showing two different sets of bands. (I think one set might be our old set from 2013 when POR was testing them.) We are only staying at POR, so it's not like we have a set for two different hotel stays. Does anyone know why two sets may be showing now and if this will cause us trouble when we are there (esp with the dining plan and FP+)? I did not see two sets prior to the bands being shipped...I only saw the one set.

 

[scrapquitler]

Am I the only one who hates the magic bands and all this tech stuff? I have never been a tech person and grew up without it, not my generation. WE always love going to Disney but its got complicated to plan.. Where did the MAGIC go? Sorry I'm a dummy I guess...

You don't have to use the magic bands if you don't want to. You can use your ticket card instead (but hey, that's got the chip in it, too). I still think it's pretty magical that the bracelet can be my ticket, my room key, my room charge media, get me on the Magical Express, retrieve my pictures from on the ride, grab all my Photopass pictures from all the different photographers.

Yes, it's a vacation that requires a lot of planning, but even if you don't do all the planning, you can still have a great time.

 

[bumbershoot]

We have a December trip. Magic bands arrived today. Colors weren't what I thought I ordered, so I looked on MDE. Now, it is showing two different sets of bands. (I think one set might be our old set from 2013 when POR was testing them.) We are only staying at POR, so it's not like we have a set for two different hotel stays. Does anyone know why two sets may be showing now and if this will cause us trouble when we are there (esp with the dining plan and FP+)? I did not see two sets prior to the bands being shipped...I only saw the one set.

The ones you saw IN your account before the MBs were shipped were the ones you had before. So now you have two sets available to use. They should work interchangeably.

But if you don't have the old bands, you can just disconnect them from your account.


OP, just get keycards at checkin. The disney world website guarantees that it's still an option, so you might as well.


I'm always amazed at the people who talk about how they used to dig out their cards from purses. That's what lanyards were for, people!

 

[TDDisney]

The ones you saw IN your account before the MBs were shipped were the ones you had before. So now you have two sets available to use. They should work interchangeably.

But if you don't have the old bands, you can just disconnect them from your account.


OP, just get keycards at checkin. The disney world website guarantees that it's still an option, so you might as well.


I'm always amazed at the people who talk about how they used to dig out their cards from purses. That's what lanyards were for, people!

Thanks very much for your help! I do have the old bands still. So, to clarify, both bands will work? (My daughter has two different colors and likes the idea of interchanging her colors
Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving

 

[DemoBri1]

The only issue I had with the magic bands were getting them setup to open the doors to our rooms. Other than that I thought they were great and I was skeptical going into our trip about using them. It was great being able to go to the pool without having to worry about bringing your wallet and room key cards. You also didn't have to worry about fiddling around with your KTW card in getting it in and out of your wallet to enter the park and pay for stuff while in the park. The magic band was right on your wrist and readily available when it was needed.

 

[crazymomof4]

Im one of them kicking and screaming kind of people who hate change... I don't even have a computer at home I use the one at work ...

You may think your not a "techy" but you've got my mom beat by a mile.... many miles actually......... you are on A COMPUTER!!!!
My mom is so "un-techy", the other day she called me over because her friends were telling her they couldn't leave voicemail messages on her homephone. "Something must be wrong with my answering machine". So I go over and the little light next to the answering machine's ON/OFF button was not lit. The machine was off and poor mom is so "un-tech" she couldn't even figure that out. So, picturing her on a computer as you are.....well, you might as well ask her to pilot the space shuttle!!!
You know how to use a computer and post on an internet forum! Give yourself credit!!!
Before he passed away, my dad thought he could take their new cordless phone's handset to Canada with them and call home on it.
"Um, Dad, it's not a cell phone."
"oh. That's something different?"
"yup"
--------------------
I thought I'd hate the magicbands bc i don't like anything around my wrists. I ended up sleeping with it and showering with it... never took it off for our entire 10 day 2014 vaca! Wish they had them around when my 4 kids were little and I had to hand them all their plastic (credit card type) park tickets so they could pass through the turnstiles at park entrance. Then I had to collect them all on the other side because if I let them carry them, they'd lose them for sure!

 

[raddisneyfan]

I like the Magic Bands and the fact that you can do everything online these days via MDE. I would say I'm a big vacation planner, but I kind of don't like the feeling that I have to plan absolutely everything in advance--transportation, food adr, fastpass--I feel like it does take some of the "magic" out of the whole WDW experience--and it was only possibly through this advanced technology.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

I'm not tech person either....when I was kid we didn't even have air conditioning in Fl! I really love the MB though. Makes everything so much easier at the parks. Honestly, the magic is what you make it now.