Can you access the self entry gates on arrival day?

Donna M

DIS Veteran
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Aug 8, 2008
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I have heard that some people have trouble using the gate unless they use their magicband on their room door first. What is your experience?
 
If you're arriving at the resort for the first time during your stay I'd definitely go to the guard first then every time after that you should have no problem using your magic band to get into the resort.
 
I’ve never tried. I always use the manned side of the gate.....they always check my name, my drivers license, etc. against the list they have. Can be a pain when checking in at BWV....line can get long. At BLT during the 50th they had the gate up, but security standing there with their IPad making sure you were a registered guest. Magic bands can be very unreliable before check in.
 
You have to use it on your room door first. On our recent trip we went through the guard side first and then picked up our magic bands. Our room wasn't ready yet so we just drove to a park. When we got back I figured I would just go through the other side but the MB wouldn't work. After going to our room it worked the rest of the week.
 
If more than one person will be using their band to access the gates, make sure everyone tries their band to open the door first. On one trip, I was the person driving, but I hadn't scanned my band at the room yet. My band would not open the gate. It might have been a glitch, but since the CM was busy with someone else, I used the person that had been using their band to open the door and it worked.
 
Ok so let’s say you have two magic bands. You wear the blue one on day 1. You leave the room on day 2 wearing the red one, and don’t try using it to open the door before you leave. Are you saying that the red one will not work to open the parking gate because it has not been used to open the room door?
 
Ok so let’s say you have two magic bands. You wear the blue one on day 1. You leave the room on day 2 wearing the red one, and don’t try using it to open the door before you leave. Are you saying that the red one will not work to open the parking gate because it has not been used to open the room door?
Yes, definitely need to tap it to the door first. Was at AKL, tried to use a spare MB at gate instead of taking off the one on my wrist. Didn’t work. Guard informed me that you have to use it to open room door first. So take a couple of minutes and have everyone tap all their mb that you are going to use against the door.
 
Yes, definitely need to tap it to the door first. Was at AKL, tried to use a spare MB at gate instead of taking off the one on my wrist. Didn’t work. Guard informed me that you have to use it to open room door first. So take a couple of minutes and have everyone tap all their mb that you are going to use against the door.

Thanks!
 
Ok so let’s say you have two magic bands. You wear the blue one on day 1. You leave the room on day 2 wearing the red one, and don’t try using it to open the door before you leave. Are you saying that the red one will not work to open the parking gate because it has not been used to open the room door?
In my experience, either of those bands may not work for anything except possibly park admissions when you first arrive. For one trip, using a magic band from a prior visit, I had to go to the front desk to have my magic band “activated” for room charging to work after I was unable to charge lunch to the room using the band. No chance to use it to open the room door prior to that time since we had not yet been given a room number. They told me this was because I had not yet used the band to open the room door. Now I use MDE to access any band that I want to use for a particular visit once we have arrived on site, deactivate the band and immediately reactivate it. That usually fixes things without a trip to the front desk.
 
I have entered by the returning gate more than once without tapping my band at the room's door.

I think this is one of those fake issues the CMs make up when their internal systems mess up. They like to blame it on guests.
 
I have entered by the returning gate more than once without tapping my band at the room's door.

I think this is one of those fake issues the CMs make up when their internal systems mess up. They like to blame it on guests.
You only have to use the MB once to open your room door for it to open the gate. I definitely had the gate didn’t work when using a spare magic band that I didn’t use to open room door.
 
I have entered by the returning gate more than once without tapping my band at the room's door.

I think this is one of those fake issues the CMs make up when their internal systems mess up. They like to blame it on guests.

I don't think its a fake issue as I too have had trouble getting a MB to work when it wasn't used on the door yet. Now, that is not to say that some are not successful, but definitely have been people, myself included, that had issues.
 
In my experience, either of those bands may not work for anything except possibly park admissions when you first arrive. For one trip, using a magic band from a prior visit, I had to go to the front desk to have my magic band “activated” for room charging to work after I was unable to charge lunch to the room using the band. No chance to use it to open the room door prior to that time since we had not yet been given a room number. They told me this was because I had not yet used the band to open the room door. Now I use MDE to access any band that I want to use for a particular visit once we have arrived on site, deactivate the band and immediately reactivate it. That usually fixes things without a trip to the front desk.
We had extra MBs that weren't working on the room door and I deactivated and reactivated them. As soon as I did that, they all opened the door. So there's definitely something to this.
 

















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