Admission Cards and DAS

[Me585]

Hi, all! We leave on Sunday. My son is pre-registered for DAS. I bought lanyards with card holders and the plan is to just use the free Admission Cards (we are staying off-site) since we have Will Call Tickets and I need to go to the ticket window anyway. My questions are: do the Admission Cards work the same as MagicBands in terms of having my son tap his card at the Mickey poles at rides? Has anyone used the Admission Cards instead of MagicBands and how was your experience? Thanks for any info you can share!

 

[tobikaye]

Yes, they work just the same. It has been a bit since I used a card, but when I did, it was no different than the MBs.

 

[lanejudy]

Yes the hard plastic ticket cards work exactly the same. Alternatively, if you have old Magic Bands, those will work just fine for all tap-points such as entering a park or using DAS (or Genie+/I$LL) at attractions. As long as your tickets are linked in MDE, I believe you can skip the actual Will Call window and get the cards issued at the tapstile of your first park.

 

[Disney.Dreamin.Dee]

Yes plastic tickets work the same way.
Do you have magic bands from a previous trip?
If so I'd use those instead.

 

[Me585]

Do you have magic bands from a previous trip?
If so I'd use those instead.

Thanks for everyone's helpful responses! We have MagicBands from 6 years ago and CMs said they would be dead and wouldn't work. We don't go very often and aren't staying on property, so I just didn't want to spend the money on them for just this trip. My husband and I have MagicMobile (I have my tickets and my two kids' tickets on my iPhone) and I have an Apple Watch to use as a Plan B/C but I am okay with tapping in using the cards. Do the cards not work as well as MBs?

 

[lanejudy]

We have MagicBands from 6 years ago and CMs said they would be dead and wouldn't work.

There are actually 2 parts to the MB -- the long-range battery lasts approx. 2 years; this is things like your name showing on a sign or photopass pictures without tapping at the end of the ride. But the short-range which is used for tapping, has pretty much an unlimited lifespan. To my knowledge even bands from 6 years ago should work for tapping. You might bring them and give it a try; the cards and bands can be used interchangeably.

 

[livbeatles]

I used a 2015 magicband last year (I have newer ones, but that one is so darn cute), and it worked fine for all tapping activities. Once or twice on the 2019 trip it took a while to register with CM's ipads (when setting up return times), but it always eventually connected.

 

[AprilsZoo]

There are actually 2 parts to the MB -- the long-range battery lasts approx. 2 years; this is things like your name showing on a sign or photopass pictures without tapping at the end of the ride. But the short-range which is used for tapping, has pretty much an unlimited lifespan. To my knowledge even bands from 6 years ago should work for tapping. You might bring them and give it a try; the cards and bands can be used interchangeably.

It’s probably similar to the way if you have a push button ignition in your car & the battery in your key fob is dead, the system can’t “see” that it’s in the car with you if it’s in your pocket or purse. But you can still start your car if you take the fob and use it to push the ignition button instead of using your finger…. Of course this is assuming you were able to unlock the doors to get in the car in the first place, lol.

 

[Starwind]

It’s probably similar to the way if you have a push button ignition in your car & the battery in your key fob is dead, the system can’t “see” that it’s in the car with you if it’s in your pocket or purse. But you can still start your car if you take the fob and use it to push the ignition button instead of using your finger…. Of course this is assuming you were able to unlock the doors to get in the car in the first place, lol.

That is why your fob probably has a "key" inside it that can be used to open the car door. Depending on the fob design you may have to take apart part of the fob to access it - we just had to do this as part of replacing the batteries in my Mom's fob -- the fist stage of doing so reveals the mini key On my previous fob you pushed a button on the fob and the key-thing popped out, on my current one you have to take the thing partly apart to expose the mini key. On the previous car it was obvious where to use it to open the door, on the current car it is rather convoluted as the lock location is hidden and hard to access [presumably deliberately so].

 

[AprilsZoo]

That is why your fob probably has a "key" inside it that can be used to open the car door. Depending on the fob design you may have to take apart part of the fob to access it - we just had to do this as part of replacing the batteries in my Mom's fob -- the fist stage of doing so reveals the mini key On my previous fob you pushed a button on the fob and the key-thing popped out, on my current one you have to take the thing partly apart to expose the mini key. On the previous car it was obvious where to use it to open the door, on the current car it is rather convoluted as the lock location is hidden and hard to access [presumably deliberately so].

Yep… the newer (and fancier) the car, the more difficult they seem to make it. Iirc, our first “keyless ignition” had a slider mechanism on the side of the fob. You had to depress a button on the side and then you could push it forward and the blade of the key would appear thru a slot.
Now, like you said, it practically requires a cutting torch to get to the key. And, come to think of it, I have no idea where the key even goes…. there’s no key slot on the door that I’ve ever seen.

My comment was more to the point that a dead battery negates most functions of a [key fob] “remote”… but it’s still functional in a limited capacity. DH says it works because the transmitter and receiver are basically in contact when you use the fob to push the button. (No doubt that is the ultra-simplified “Dummies” explanation)

I wonder if a similar principle is at work when you tap the magic band onto the Mickey head?

 

[mamabunny]

Yep… the newer (and fancier) the car, the more difficult they seem to make it. Iirc, our first “keyless ignition” had a slider mechanism on the side of the fob. You had to depress a button on the side and then you could push it forward and the blade of the key would appear thru a slot.
Now, like you said, it practically requires a cutting torch to get to the key. And, come to think of it, I have no idea where the key even goes…. there’s no key slot on the door that I’ve ever seen.

My comment was more to the point that a dead battery negates most functions of a [key fob] “remote”… but it’s still functional in a limited capacity. DH says it works because the transmitter and receiver are basically in contact when you use the fob to push the button. (No doubt that is the ultra-simplified “Dummies” explanation)

I wonder if a similar principle is at work when you tap the magic band onto the Mickey head?

LOL I think you should grab that owners manual from the glove box (or shoot, download the app for the car - our new Mini has a whole app to control stuff, and access the owners manual) and find out *before* you need to know! If you are like me, if I don't do that... I regret it later. And if I do take the time to make sure I know, I never need the info! LOL My family calls it "Momsurance" - like insurance, but with more hugs and reminders.

I agree that it's clearly some form of NFC at work; if I remember correctly someone dismantled a Magic Band a long time ago, not long after they debuted, to see how it worked, and there were basically 2 separate systems internally; the longer-range communication for allowing wayfinding with MDE and then the NFC chip to allow the touchpoints to work.

 

[AprilsZoo]

LOL I think you should grab that owners manual from the glove box (or shoot, download the app for the car - our new Mini has a whole app to control stuff, and access the owners manual) and find out *before* you need to know! If you are like me, if I don't do that... I regret it later. And if I do take the time to make sure I know, I never need the info! LOL My family calls it "Momsurance" - like insurance, but with more hugs and reminders.

Luckily, that’s DH’s car… and he assures me he knows where the key goes. He said he’ll show me the next time I’m gonna drive it then gave me a — probably because I drive his car about as often as I do back handsprings. [He also said that when the battery in his fob begins dying, there’s an obnoxious beeping (akin to the “fasten your seatbelt, dummy” chiming when he starts the car, and a blinking message + persistent ”idiot light” on the instrument panel. It’s next to impossible to ignore… so he said if you miss all that and fail to replace the battery, then you pretty much got your due.]

I prefer to drive my Camaro … I’ve got remote start that makes people double-take when an empty car roars to life as they walk by. And, it’s Red… deep, dark, Ruby Red.
I’d *really* prefer to a Corvette but I guess I’m not quite *that* spoiled — yet … Actually, I’d totally forgo the ‘vette to go to Disney parks around the world, in a heartbeat— Hey, I know what I’m pitching for our 36th thru 40th anniversaries … oops, I’m way, way OT.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So to kinda bring this back to at least the topic of tapping MagicBands:

It had been 6 years since I’d been to Disneyland, but when we went last month, I saw that they had installed, I guess I’ll call them pillars, at pretty much every ride. I only noticed a couple attractions without them… with only a couple exceptions, they’re pretty much all in Fantasyland. I think the spaces there are just so tight, it’s easier to have a CM or two dealing with return times & managing the queue.

Anyway, the pillars had a slot where you could put your ticket or bar code from phone/app and it would read it. Then the mickey head would light up green=go in, or red= wait. I also saw it flash blue for some people, but idk what it meant. The CM’s only used them about 40-50% of the time because they said it was faster to use their handheld scanners (looked like the same ones they’ve been using since soon after DAS started) since then they could explain to guests what issues there were if any came up. BUT in chatting with one of them, they mentioned that the Mickey heads actually have the tech in them to work as touchpoints for magic bands… and that there’s at least some rumors going around that the MB system could roll out with Genie+ @ DL or very shortly after. (Even though the press info & most of the signage in the parks indicated “coming this fall”, none of the CMs we spoke to expected it to actually roll out before the 1st of the year. They said some of the signage advertising when Genie/Genie+ was coming out had already been removed &/or changed to say “coming soon” instead.)

I really hope it’s true… I’ve been waiting for MB to come to DL for what feels like forever. The reasons I’d been told the few times I asked at City hall was that it didn’t really have enough functionality at DL— most people don’t stay @ Disney properties, they still had FP machines spitting out little tickets (although I *think* in 2015 the machines also had scanners to use in combo with the app…) and Disney hotels guests could use their card key to charge to their room. All of that reasoning used to make sense.

Well, now the FP machines are gone, so while the other reasons are still valid at the moment, they *are* building more DVC properties nearby, so that will surely increase the number of guests coming from Disney-owned lodging. So that argument is soon to be less compelling, as well.

I think that MB’s are the next step to DLR being even more accessible. It was an added step of difficulty each time I had to haul out my phone to get a return time— due to hand weakness, I dropped it twice. Thankfully & miraculously, it didn’t break. After the second drop, DH decided he’d be the one to show the bar codes from then on. Obviously, this wouldn’t have worked if I’d been there alone.

I still look forward to (hopefully) one day be able to use a magic band @ DL, DCA, & WDW… I’ll probably end up with MB2, mainly because then I can get a holder that will allow me to wear it on my Apple Watch band. So being able to use it to “tap in” at the attractions long term would be awesome. I hope that NFC part of the functionality sticks around. Knowing my luck it won’t, but hey a girl can dream, right?