Are Magic Bands worth it anymore?

[fsjking]

I thought it was handy as hell having them and not having to drag my phone out everywhere. And I'm on my phone all the time. I think the larger the group, the more beneficial they are. You don't have to make sure everyone has a phone that's charged, has the app, is linked, knows how to use it, etc. Give everyone a band and done. And $10 a person is nothing on a Disney trip.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

IMO, magic bands are easier. So, yes, it would be worth the $10. You have it right on your wrist and don’t have to dig for your phone. Plus, I have heard from multiple people that the app has a ton of glitches when being used as a room key. Magic bands don’t have that issue.

 

[fsjking]

IMO, magic bands are easier. So, yes, it would be worth the $10. You have it right on your wrist and don’t have to dig for your phone. Plus, I have heard from multiple people that the app has a ton of glitches when being used as a room key. Magic bands don’t have that issue.

My phone never would open my door. It kept trying to bring up my apple pay. The front desk said they'd have someone contact me to resolve it but...

Not a big deal though. Bands worked once we got them paired.

 

[pianomanzano]

They'd be even more worth it if they could link our blue cards to it instead of using our phones!

 

[n2mm]

They were worth it when they were free. As soon as they started charging, we stopped getting them. We have our pods on a magic keeper lanyard. When that ends we’ll use a card or our phone. We never wore them anyhow.

 

[Artemis Fowl]

They were worth it when they were free. As soon as they started charging, we stopped getting them. We have our pods on a magic keeper lanyard. When that ends we’ll use a card or our phone. We never wore them anyhow.

What is a pod?

 

[erionm]

What is a pod?

The removable center portion of the MagicBand which contains the RFID chips.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

What is a pod?

In the newer magic bands, you can take out the puck and just use that - I think that's what they were referring to.

To me, the MB's are way more convenient then messing with my phone or my watch. However, I doubt I will buy a new one every trip - I reuse my older ones all the time. But I have a number of them and I change them out on park days depending on what I feel like at the time. I intend to keep using them. Having a MB on my wrist is synonymous with being at WDW.

 

[n2mm]

Yes, like erionm said. We put them in the magic keeper to it’s easy to pull out

 

[LadybugsMum]

I'll be using MBs as long as possible. I don't like using my phone for everything and my kids are too young for cell phones; so it's better for them to have MBs for LL or opening the room door. It's so much easier to just hold up my wrist than to always be digging out my phone from whatever pocket it may be in.

 

[iheartglaciers]

On my last trip in November, even though I had my phone out a lot with Genie+, I still liked having my Magic Band. One of my friend's didn't have a Magic Band and he was always scrambling to open Magic Mobile on his phone when we were going into LLs. But now that I'm googling it, it sounds like you can just tap your phone without even unlocking?

 

[prestoncaldwell]

Excuse me, ma'am, can you tell me where I can find a charging station so I can continue to charge purchases to my room and get on LL?

 

[Vulnox]

On my last trip in November, even though I had my phone out a lot with Genie+, I still liked having my Magic Band. One of my friend's didn't have a Magic Band and he was always scrambling to open Magic Mobile on his phone when we were going into LLs. But now that I'm googling it, it sounds like you can just tap your phone without even unlocking?

Yes, at least with iOS devices. If you go to your MagicMobile Pass and then the three dots in the upper right, all the way to the bottom is a slider for "Express Mode", which if active allows that card to work automatically without requiring Face ID or a passcode, and it sounds like it works even if the phone is set to low power mode.

I imagine Android has something similar, I just don't have one to check.

 

[sndral]

…
FWIW, from pure observation I have noticed that those with MB's seem to get through the park entry tapstiles and the LL tap points so much faster. Many guests don't know how to use their phone properly when tapping in (not holding it close enough, for example) or forget that their ticket media is on them, which means they are fishing it out, unlocking it, opening the app, which causes some delays. It's not earth shattering, but when you're used to lines moving continuously at park entry or the LL's it can get awkward to watch people struggle to get in and hold up a line. I'm always super aware of those things (I don't like holding up anyone behind me) so that just might be a weird tick I have.
…

Indeed, at the AK tapstyles I found myself waiting for a family struggling w/ their phones, after several minutes of fiddling w/ phones & getting repeated blue lights while ignoring the CM asking them to step aside so the IPad CM could help them the husband finally stepped away from his tapstyle & started working w/ the IPad CM, meanwhile the wife continued to ignore the CM’s instructions to step aside & kept waving her phone at the forward tapstyle. So I tapped into the tapstyle the husband had abandoned which lit up purple & walked by the wife who sternly and rudely informed me that I needed to wait until she was done, I ignored her, smiled at the CM & went on my way.
It wasn’t particularly crowded, it wasn’t park open, I wasn’t in a hurry, so NBD to me, but I can imagine the scenario would be far different if I’d gotten up early for EMH & was eager to beat the crowds to FOP.

 

[joedplumber]

Last trip we used are apple watches. Never used a magic band but the watch worked every time and was great!

 

[DonMacGregor]

Given that they are introducing (eventually) MB+ and have gone against prior expectations and announced they will be utilizing MB's at DLR in the future, I would guess that the MB option isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[Sondra Sunflowers]

We were just there over new year's and brought my sister and nephew. My family had old bands from previous trips. My sister and nephew opted to use their phones. It was much easier for us with the magic bands. We had to wait for them a lot.... entering the parks and LL.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I think MB are much more convenient than the app for opening rooms, tapping LL, and paying for things. If I had to choose I'd go Magic Band>Key Card>Phone. I'm pretty tech savvy so it's not a general fear of tech...it's a fear of Disney tech (which is pretty much the worst type of tech). After also being behind the families trying to tap their phones at turnstiles or LLs with zero success I hope more people go back to that.

I would have to guess too that MB actually make Disney a decent profit. I bet they are super cheap to produce from what I've seen a good number of people buy them.

I'm excited to be able to use them at Aulani later this year.

 

[LadybugsMum]

it's not a general fear of tech...it's a fear of Disney tech (which is pretty much the worst type of tech).

This right here. It's really ridiculous how bad it is for how big of a company they are.

 

[JLong06]

My youngest son absolutely loved tapping in with his magic band. He (as a toddler) was also able to tap in faster than any other adult with their phone that we observed.