A few Questions on MagicBands at Disneyland

[BrianL]

And if you are scanning multiple people in on your phone, it is a time consuming and cumbersome process so please don't consider it"line jumping" or get upset when a person wearing a magic band goes to the other machine and taps in ahead of you and goes on their merry way while you are still fiddling with your phone...magic bands save you tons of time! Nothing is more aggravating than to be behind someone in LL and they haven't even pulled their phone out yet!

That's one thing that I am always reminding my family at WDW - if there is an open tap-point, go to it. They have staggered ones for park entry at WDW, but you don't wait for someone at the first one if the second one is open. Always be ready too - with your phone, MB, card, remember which fingerprint you use (WDW). Green means go - even if the CM doesn't acknowledge it (sometimes they are busy assiting people having issues). They will of course stop you if there is a problem. The etiquette of using the tap points is very important to me.

 

[Tinkaboo]

That's one thing that I am always reminding my family at WDW - if there is an open tap-point, go to it. They have staggered ones for park entry at WDW, but you don't wait for someone at the first one if the second one is open. Always be ready too - with your phone, MB, card, remember which fingerprint you use (WDW). Green means go - even if the CM doesn't acknowledge it (sometimes they are busy assiting people having issues). They will of course stop you if there is a problem. The etiquette of using the tap points is very important to me.

Oh, if there were only more like you.....

I mean, I get that they are expensive and if your trip is a one-shot, money is probably better spent elsewhere, especially since they are more of a novelty item at DL. But as you point out, tapping etiquette is important, I would like to see it practiced more.

Personally, I wouldn't go back to using my phone, but I am a repeat customer and I love them as an accessory to my outfit...I usually ask for one for birthdays and Christmas!

 

[LKing]

I'll add, ask the rest of the family to stand to the side as one person scans everyone in. Make sure the other LL tap poles are not being blocked by members of your party who are waiting for you.

 

[BrianL]

Oh, if there were only more like you.....

I always say, "Don't goon it up." Let's get through the tap-points efficiently, people.

 

[irlandaise]

No free MagicBands at Disney World anymore. DL bands should work, but check to be sure.

This thread is the other way around - using MB+ at Disneyland.

Yep, and that's the direction where you have to be careful. WDW introduced MagicBands long before DL did, so there are older bands from WDW that will not work at DL. But ones bought at DL will be the newer MagicBand+ models and will also work fine at WDW.

 

[StarlitNight05]

And if you are scanning multiple people in on your phone, it is a time consuming and cumbersome process so please don't consider it"line jumping" or get upset when a person wearing a magic band goes to the other machine and taps in ahead of you and goes on their merry way while you are still fiddling with your phone...magic bands save you tons of time! Nothing is more aggravating than to be behind someone in LL and they haven't even pulled their phone out yet!

I wish more people realized this. I have gotten my fair share of dirty looks for walking around to an open machine and tapping my MB+ when others are fiddling with their phones. It's usually the folks with their family all huddled around (lol, @BrianL, I love the "Don't goon it up" line), so perhaps they feel the extra pressure from their family members. If only there was a Soarin style instructional video on tapping etiquette!

 

[BrianL]

I wish more people realized this. I have gotten my fair share of dirty looks for walking around to an open machine and tapping my MB+ when others are fiddling with their phones. It's usually the folks with their family all huddled around (lol, @BrianL, I love the "Don't goon it up" line), so perhaps they feel the extra pressure from their family members. If only there was a Soarin style instructional video on tapping etiquette!

Yeah, sometimes people don't get it. It's like when they say, "Fill in all available space" - if that means moving past you, I will do it. If there was available space in front of you, then you should have taken it.

 

[VGCgroupie]

EDIT: ride photos dont work via Magic Band at DLR, the flowing is based off of WDW. Didnt read the whole thread but wanted share my experience. We had multiple rides not pick up our ride photos when just utilizing our phone with bluetooth on. If you want all ride photos Magic Band+ is they way to go

 

[BrianL]

Didnt read the whole thread but wanted share my experience. We had multiple rides not pick up our ride photos when just utilizing our phone with bluetooth on. If you want all ride photos Magic Band+ is they way to go

I do not believe that works at DLR at all. All ride photos are tied to the PhotoPass code and you have to get that from the monitors at the end of the ride. At WDW the rides do scan for your MagicBand or phone.

 

[KPeterso]

Honestly, I love having a magic band. I use mine for DL and WDW. One of the best things for me is when I am pushing my mom in the wheelchair, I don't have to try to fiddle with getting my phone out and into the app. It always slowed things down. And asking my mom to do it, we would be waiting even longer. Now, I can just hold my wrist (and my mom's wrist) up to scan in and we are on our merry way.

 

[brightlined]

I do not believe that works at DLR at all. All ride photos are tied to the PhotoPass code and you have to get that from the monitors at the end of the ride. At WDW the rides do scan for your MagicBand or phone.

You're right - that's strictly a WDW thing.

I think the thread has just gotten confusing with people chiming in on how things work at WDW, given that there were a few questions about interoperability between the parks (which I think is something worth talking about). We can probably belay a lot of the WDW talk, since that info is already more widely available.

I was wondering if I can convince @BrianJ844 to add "at Disneyland" to the end of the title.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I do not believe that works at DLR at all. All ride photos are tied to the PhotoPass code and you have to get that from the monitors at the end of the ride. At WDW the rides do scan for your MagicBand or phone.

Oops! Its possible.. I used Magic Band+ at DLR but honestly just remember the photos just showing up and not doing anything special to get them. My post was based off WDW.

 

[VGCgroupie]

You're right - that's strictly a WDW thing.

I think the thread has just gotten confusing with people chiming in on how things work at WDW, given that there were a few questions about interoperability between the parks (which I think is something worth talking about). We can probably belay a lot of the WDW talk, since that info is already more widely available.

I was wondering if I can convince @BrianJ844 to add "at Disneyland" to the end of the title.

Yes I am in so many threads I forget whats what at times. Also will use this time to say how annoying it is that WDW and DL work differently and are separate. It's rather frustrating.

 

[brightlined]

Yes I am in so many threads I forget whats what at times. Also will use this time to say how annoying it is that WDW and DL work differently and are separate. It's rather frustrating.

There are times where I wish they could have treated the American resorts as one, which would've solved a lot of this. But it makes sense that they didn't implement MyMagic+ at Disneyland - most of it was geared for the on-site resort guest experience (hence all of the free MBs), which is less than 5% of DLR guests.

(There were some comments a couple of years ago that the automatic ride photo tech didn't happen at DLR because of California's different privacy laws, too.)


EDIT: Expressed some frustrations about the consequences of DLR being a "scan off a phone" park, and wishing there was a solution other than a $35 MagicBand+. Maybe in the form of a RFID MagicCard for younger folks without devices (maybe an RFID version of the Autopia driver's licenses) or a cheap "basic" MagicBand for kids - things that could be attached to an app account like an MB+ is. (Paper ticket would be the easy thing, but I can understand the problems of issuing paper versions of online tickets and why they don't want to make a habit of it.)

I've had some limited usage of the new gates, and I'm worried they might actually be slower in the case of the single-phone family than having CMs manually scan them. Scanning a barcode off a phone is a fair bit slower than a tap card or MagicBand+. And I still think the slowness of park entry is the primary reason that DLR still uses the old security scanners - switching to the WDW scanners would overflow the Esplanade every morning.

 

[LKing]

Haven’t seen anyone else mention this, but if you decide to get MB+ while at the parks, highly suggest getting these before your trip and bringing them with you. They help prevent the MB+ from falling off. Saved us a bunch of times!

https://a.co/d/5W7TIks

Disney finally started making their own version called MagicKeepers. This was found by Disney_Hype_Beast_80 at Disneyland today.

 

[brightlined]

Disney finally started making their own version called MagicKeepers. This was found by Disney_Hype_Beast_80 at Disneyland today.

I'm a little surprised it took them this long. I'm kinda fascinated by the packaging - MagicKeepers was their branding for the clips and accessories that could house an MB2 puck. The MB version of these was called MagicSliders. (I'm actually using an old MB1 WDW Passholder slider on my MB+ to keep it together.)

Weirdly, the drawing on the back actually looks like an old MB2.

 

[Tinkaboo]

Those are cute but a little steep pricewise for me...but I am glad they are moving that direction. Those don't really go with any of my bands...I got a bag of the Amazon ones for my birthday last year so I have colors that go with them. Definitely don't wear a band without them...it will keep coming undone all day long!

 

[Kit Jackson]

Sorry I should have explained - the 15yo has a phone and they would stay together so he could book LL's if needed.

I'm trying to avoid buying magic bands actually. The cost adds up when you multiply x7!

Thank you for the clarification. If the 15 year old will be the quasi responsible adult in charge of scanning in the younger ones and making the ride reservations, I think you could do without MagicBands.

I would also suggest a portable battery to charge phones on the go in case his cell phone (or anyone's) battery runs low/runs out. I'm a big fan of Anker.

 

[crystal1313]

Disney finally started making their own version called MagicKeepers. This was found by Disney_Hype_Beast_80 at Disneyland today.

View attachment 959268 View attachment 959269

I just saw this and was going to post! Lol. These are cute but kinda irritating they don’t come in a 4 pack…

 

[danceintherain]

Disneyland is pretty much all app (and MB+) at this point. There are conflicting reports as to whether you can still get paper tickets at Guest Services if you need them.

For the WDW folks: Disneyland is still using barcodes rather than RFID cards for admission. The MyMagic+ upgrade at WDW ten years ago was too expensive and not practical for the small number of resort (hotel) guests at DLR. DLR used a workaround to get MB+ working - it attaches to a ticket, not a person. (At Disneyland, you can theoretically borrow someone else's MB+, use it there, then give it back - it doesn't permanently attach like at WDW.)

If we got MB+ at WDW, is it possible to attach it to DLR tickets for a different person?

I need to dig them out, but we have 2 MB+ from a trip to WDW. They're attached to people who won't be coming to Disneyland. Can I attach them to the two different tickets, or are they locked to people since they started at WDW?

EDIT: Never mind, I figured it out. Now I just have to find out which band my daughter prefers!