Are the magic bands here to stay

[Vixster]

Just wondering if its now a thing there using instead of cards

 

[Elise79]

Probably however officially it is still "testing" so in theory they could be pulled but I think that's it for onsite guests now

 

[Vixster]

Thanks I hope they do as they look good

 

[Clare D]

I think they're here to stay as it is a fantastic money making tool for Disney with the customisation of them. Some more $ to be made me thinks

 

[taterheads]

They are here to stay!! They are still in testing phase with onsite resort guests at certian resorts, but will roll out for everyone by the end of the year. Word is those not staying at the resorts will be given a RIFD card as their park ticket but can purchase the band as an upgrade. Resort guest will receive the bands free or more accurately as part of their resort stay purchase.

 

[marypoppins81]

Interested to see if off site guests have to pay for bands how many fp it will give.

 

[flortlebap]

Interested to see if off site guests have to pay for bands how many fp it will give.

The band will be the same for everyone FP wise, I should imagine.

 

[2Tiggies]

The band will be the same for everyone FP wise, I should imagine.

That remains uncertain at this point. There have been subtle suggestions in the way Disney have worded some of their statements and responses to questions that suggest FP's may be tiered. That remains to be seen though.

Last I heard it seemed that offsite guests could opt to use magic bands for a charge. No idea what the current status is if any. Hopefully we will know more once they get the testing completed. Looks like they have enough problems to sort out with the roll out lol

 

[chmurf]

magicbands are the key to mymagic+

mymagic+ has cost disney 1 billion dollars ( yes 1 billion as in 1000 millions)

so there is a fairly good chance that tney're here to stay

 

[OKW Lover]

I don't think Disney invested multiple millions of dollars on MB if they didn't think they were going to be here to stay.

 

[Vixster]

Thank you didn't realise how much they had spent on them but nice to no

 

[casinocolin]

Just back from Disney and these magic bands not working to well at the moment for entry to the parks, on many occasions we found the chip in the bands are not being read and instead of getting the green light to enter you get a blue light which does not allow entry; you then have to show id to the cast member and they will re set the band and sometimes it takes a while to read before you get the green light. This holds everyone up in the queue and entry to the park at times is slow. No doubt Disney will eventually sort this out but it happened to us for our entire two week stay. Also some quests had pre booked their fast passers but again when entering the fast pass line and scanning their band it did not read that they had a pass.

You still have to scan you finger on entry so apart from pre booking fast passers not much advantage over KTTW the problem with pre booking fast passers on occasions you get to the ride and the standby queue is walk on or 10 min wait so it is a waste of a fast pass. Also money spent in implementing this scheme would of been better spent on a new ride even though they will recover the cost over the years in charging for all the add on's.

What do you think?

 

[MrRomance]

Although the official line is that the bands are still in testing, by November every Disney Resort will be in the "test" and we will probably get the announcement that it is now rolled out for on-site guests. Rumour has it that off-site guests will not get magic bands as a matter of course, but will be able to purchase them for a fee.

The system still appears to be a little glitchy from the reports I've read, but I'm sure they'll be fixing those bugs over the next few weeks and by the end of November it will be full speed ahead.

 

[marypoppins81]

So do you think off site guests who pay will only get 3 fp? There's no way I'd pay more than a few $$ for that.

 

[Elise79]

I believe Disney's plan is eventually to remove the old fastpass system and everyone will be using FP+.

By the release of FP+ to more and more guests there are less legacy passes available anyway so return times are being pushed out.

I don't think you will need a Magic band to access FP+ once it is fully rolled out to all guests as all it requires is a valid park ticket with RFID which all new tickets have. Bands will be optional.