D23 announcements for Disneyland-Magicbands!

[CodeGoddess]

It was crazy that they didn't include a physical media pass with Magic Keys - basically requiring people to use their phones for everything.

I ended up printing a homemade Magic Key card with my access code on it. Same as what you're describing - it's so much faster than dealing with the phone - I can pull it out of my wallet, scan it, and put it away, all without having to fumble through the app to pull up my access code.

It's especially helpful at restaurants - until relatively recently, servers had to grab people's phones and manually jot down their Magic Key number for discounts. (They've since given some of them devices to take to the table to scan the code off their phones.) I just throw my "MK card" in with the check, and it's like old AP times.

There are a few spots that don't have cell service, too. One of the bartenders at Carthay Circle Lounge noted that the area around the bar is a cell phone dead zone. She said she told her regulars to screenshot their passes so that they wouldn't have to run outside to pull it up.

Getting ready to buy my Magic Key for Halloween. Is it just a barcode? If so I am probably going to print up some cards.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I'm going to be THAT group, sorry. All DL first timers 2 adults (Grandmas) 3 kids ages 5, 7 ,9. And I absolutely am horrible with scanning on the phone. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we might have magic bands by August trip. Then at least it would just be photos. The other grandma barely does anything but texting and facetiming on her phone l. So everyone's tickets, reservations, dining will ge on my phone. I'll be doing all the Genie, mobile ordering, etc. Planning on bringing clear pockets to attach to a lanyard to put everyone's ticket on. At least scanning that will be less stressful for the rest of the trip if magic bands don't happen, and the non smart phone user grandma can have a ticket in case we have to split up.
One of our party is a DAS user. They have to take her picture for that, will she need to do photos at entry again?

Yes. Scan at gate.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Getting ready to buy my Magic Key for Halloween. Is it just a barcode? If so I am probably going to print up some cards.

CMs have said that they are not allowed to accept printed cards, Exception is an official paper MK which you can ask for at the ticket booths. Be prepared to pay $20, although many people have reported receiving their paper MK for free.

 

[brightlined]

Getting ready to buy my Magic Key for Halloween. Is it just a barcode? If so I am probably going to print up some cards.

It's neither a bar code nor a QR code - it's kind of its own thing. After you buy your MK - on the Tickets page in the app, there'll be something like a card - top half is your name and MK level, bottom half is a wide pattern code.

I took a screenshot of that and emailed it to myself. Cropped it down to just the "card". I had some leftover photo paper, and printed it on that.

Nerd note: rather than resize the image to fit the card - I upped the screenshot resolution from 72 dpi to something like 400dpi to maintain the detail. Took a couple of test prints to get it to feel like the right size - I was trying to match the physical size that would be on my phone. (Though I'm not sure the exact size matters all that much.)

You probably won't want to go as far as I did - I'm enough of a perfectionist that I wanted it to look real-ish.

(Full details: I scanned the MK logo from the welcome package map. I printed the front and back separately on the same piece of paper, and cut them out oversize. Cut out a third blank piece of the same size from the remainder of the paper. I put spray adhesive on both sides of the third piece, and glued the front and back to it. Then cut it down to be the same size as an AP card. The third piece gave it enough thickness and hardness to almost feel like the real thing.)

 

[CodeGoddess]

It's neither a bar code nor a QR code - it's kind of its own thing. After you buy your MK - on the Tickets page in the app, there'll be something like a card - top half is your name and MK level, bottom half is a wide pattern code.

I took a screenshot of that and emailed it to myself. Cropped it down to just the "card". I had some leftover photo paper, and printed it on that.

Nerd note: rather than resize the image to fit the card - I upped the screenshot resolution from 72 dpi to something like 400dpi to maintain the detail. Took a couple of test prints to get it to feel like the right size - I was trying to match the physical size that would be on my phone. (Though I'm not sure the exact size matters all that much.)

You probably won't want to go as far as I did - I'm enough of a perfectionist that I wanted it to look real-ish.

(Full details: I scanned the MK logo from the welcome package map. I printed the front and back separately on the same piece of paper, and cut them out oversize. Cut out a third blank piece of the same size from the remainder of the paper. I put spray adhesive on both sides of the third piece, and glued the front and back to it. Then cut it down to be the same size as an AP card. The third piece gave it enough thickness and hardness to almost feel like the real thing.)

View attachment 664940

I'm all about this! My spouse and I are makers. This is right up my ally.

 

[brightlined]

CMs have said that they are not allowed to accept printed cards, Exception is an official paper MK which you can ask for at the ticket booths. Be prepared to pay $20, although many people have reported receiving their paper MK for free.

From my experience, the gate CMs prefer not to take my fake card - I don't bother to use it there. (I tried it a couple times at first, with mixed results - it didn't seem like it was worth it.)

LL is really where it's most useful. (With LLs, you're kind of on your own anyway. One CM saw me use it and immediately said: "oh my god, that's so smart.")

Restaurant CMs seem to like it, too - especially before the Restaurant CMs were given devices. (I think it's just easier for them to deal with it, especially at bar seating.)

Broadly speaking - if any CM seems to hesitate at all, I pull out my phone.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

From my experience, the gate CMs prefer not to take my fake card - I don't bother to use it there. (I tried it a couple times at first, with mixed results - it didn't seem like it was worth it.)

LL is really where it's most useful. (With LLs, you're kind of on your own anyway. One CM saw me use it and immediately said: "oh my god, that's so smart.")

Restaurant CMs seem to like it, too - especially before the Restaurant CMs were given devices. (I think it's just easier for them to deal with it, especially at bar seating.)

Broadly speaking - if any CM seems to hesitate at all, I pull out my phone.

We put our paper MKs from the booths into a retractable lanyard. Easy to scan at rides and at shops and restaurants. The one time we tried to give a CM a home printed MK (at CCR), he said he could not accept it. After that, we stuck with the Disney printed key.

 

[brightlined]

We put our paper MKs from the booths into a retractable lanyard. Easy to scan at rides and at shops and restaurants. The one time we tried to give a CM a home printed MK (at CCR), he said he could not accept it. After that, we stuck with the Disney printed key.

I'm actually glad you mentioned that the paper MK was a thing - when they first started selling MKs, it seemed like the general vibe was that they wouldn't offer such a thing. (One of the gate CMs said that they had to scan it off my phone.)

 

[COASTIEandMATE]

We’ll be a family of 10 next week clogging up the line.

Have fun on your trip!!

 

[starlite_]

More info about about the MagicBand+

A recently updated FCC filing shows more of Disney’s upcoming MagicBand+ device. Disney has previously said that MagicBand+ will debut at both Disney World and Disneyland this year but has not given a recent update on the device. As you can see in the photos below, this will be Disney’s first rechargeable MagicBand and it will feature haptic vibrations and lights. Here are the announced new features of MagicBand+:

• Customizable color-changing lights
• Haptic vibrations let you feel the magic with light vibrations that bring experiences to life
• Gesture recognition—your movement enables magical surprises!

Pics in the link!

 

[mouschievous]

I'm starting to lose hope that the MB+ will be available for DL before our trip in July...But I really really really hope it is!

 

[StormyCA]

Wowsers! Tell ya what, guys, those new MB+ are gonna cost a LOT more than the current range of $15 'generic' - $50 'fancy'. I'm betting the price point will be no less than $75.00 for a 'plain' one to 'the sky's the limit' for the limited editions.

 

[CodeGoddess]

Wowsers! Tell ya what, guys, those new MB+ are gonna cost a LOT more than the current range of $15 'generic' - $50 'fancy'. I'm betting the price point will be no less than $75.00 for a 'plain' one to 'the sky's the limit' for the limited editions.

At this point I would do them as holiday presents for my family.

 

[Lillebelle]

CMs have said that they are not allowed to accept printed cards, Exception is an official paper MK which you can ask for at the ticket booths. Be prepared to pay $20, although many people have reported receiving their paper MK for free.

I tried to do this today (get a printed MK at the ticket booth) and was told a) they aren't doing it unless you literally were buying the key right then and there, and b) if they did try to reprint it, it would cancel all current reservations and I'm pretty sure she said "corrupt the file" but I could have misheard (I did not press her on which file might get corrupted). At any rate, I was rejected from getting one, $20 or no. I don't know if I would have gotten a different answer from someone else or if the policy changed but she was pretty adamant that printing them was not a thing.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I tried to do this today (get a printed MK at the ticket booth) and was told a) they aren't doing it unless you literally were buying the key right then and there, and b) if they did try to reprint it, it would cancel all current reservations and I'm pretty sure she said "corrupt the file" but I could have misheard (I did not press her on which file might get corrupted). At any rate, I was rejected from getting one, $20 or no. I don't know if I would have gotten a different answer from someone else or if the policy changed but she was pretty adamant that printing them was not a thing.

I would try again (ask for a lead, if necessary). This is from the T&C for Magic Keys on the DLR website as of today, 4/27/22:
PHYSICAL PASS CARDS: A Passholder may request a paper Pass card at a Disneyland® Resort Main Entrance ticket booth. A non-refundable fee of twenty dollars ($20.00) may be required to obtain or replace a paper Pass card. Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to receive a printed paper Pass card.

 

[StormyCA]

At this point I would do them as holiday presents for my family.

I'm up in the air about them if I'm close on the prices. Unlike the current ones where the batteries fade/die and certain functions stop working, since the 'upcoming' MB+ are rechargeable theoretically once you lay out the cash you shouldn't need another MB for future trips, unless they come out with a MB+++ or something. BUT, we travel cross country towing our trailer and are of a 'certain age' so we treat each WDW trip as potentially our last. Would we want to lay out a theoretical $150 for two MB+ in the knowledge that it may be a bit of a gamble how much use we'd get out of them? Now, if the WDW/DL versions are absolutely the same with absolutely all the same functions, I know we'd be up for one for me since I do both parks. nDH doesn't do DL but does do WDW.

Interestingly enough ShopDisney is only offering FIVE 'fancy' MBs for sale, and none of the 'generic' plain ones . Normally they have a good sized range of all types. I wonder if this 'lack of stock' means the release of the new MB+ is imminent.

 

[mdmost]

So these have popped up at WDW already. I'm sure we're still a ways behind on getting them at DLR but there's at least some movement. I was hoping they'd move to this for the summer so it's one less time I have to pull out my phone.

 

[CodeGoddess]

So these have popped up at WDW already. I'm sure we're still a ways behind on getting them at DLR but there's at least some movement. I was hoping they'd move to this for the summer so it's one less time I have to pull out my phone.

We were at WDW two weeks ago and the MB+ was still not out unless it happened in the last week. I have seen speculation they are having supply issues with the new MB+.

 

[mdmost]

We were at WDW two weeks ago and the MB+ was still not out unless it happened in the last week. I have seen speculation they are having supply issues with the new MB+.

Right. I think at DLR, it's that and having to change over the technology a bit.

 

[katyringo]

Magic band plus has arrived at DisneyWorld! Literally.. no announcement, but they are on sale at DisneyWorld today being reported by bloggers.