Don't Wait For Wristband Too Early

[seashoreCM]

At Epcot on Jan. 6 the wristbands for the extra magic evening hours were not ready on time at all the distribution locations, notably the rear entrance.

I cautiously suggest that if you experience this, simply continue on and go without the wristband for awhile, finding another distribution point later in the evening.

If you have a PS coming up, do that first and then worry about the wristband.

Also I suggest that you not walk way out of your way to get your wristband. On Jan. 6, they (at Epcot) were telling people at Canada* to go all the way to Mexico (all the way across the park) to get a wristband. I wouldn't. None of the World Showcase attractions were participating in that extra magic night, and there were other more convenient wristband locations once you got to Future World where the open attractions were.

Guests without wristbands riding, which someone reported on another thread? Perhaps this was a stopgap (a desirable stopgap) until wristbands became available.

Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

* Correction (1/10/05) I meant France

 

[bjakmom]

Thanks for the heads up !
How were the crowds and did you enjoy the EMH night? - we'll be trying our first one at MGM on the 30th.

 

[danny1649]

Thank you for sharing

 

[SueM in MN]

Also I suggest that you not walk way out of your way to get your wristband. On Jan. 6, they (at Epcot) were telling people at Canada to go all the way to Mexico (all the way across the park) to get a wristband. I wouldn't.Disney hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

Mexico isn't really that far away from Canada, but I would probably just wait and get a wristband later.
We went to the first extra hours at MGM on 1/2. Since we were just coming into the park when they started handing them out and there wasn't a very long wait, we did get ours right away. But, there were lots of places to pick them up later.

 

[cyndibelle]

thanks for the info.....

 

[bananiem]

The way I understand it you have to be staying at an official WDW resort to do the late hours, right? So why don't they have it so you can pick it up at your hotel before you even leave? I think it's dumb to have to stop whatever you're doing or be late for PS's or whatever to go get the wristband.
Maybe I'm missing something...

 

[jjarman]

The way I understand it you have to be staying at an official WDW resort to do the late hours, right? So why don't they have it so you can pick it up at your hotel before you even leave? I think it's dumb to have to stop whatever you're doing or be late for PS's or whatever to go get the wristband.
Maybe I'm missing something...

My thoughts exactly!!!

 

[noladave]

I can think of at least 2 or 3 reasons they don't give them to you at check-in:

1. if you get it at check-in, then you could sell, or give away, your bracelet to a person not staying on the premises.

2. Also, they want you in the park at bracelet give away time, maybe forcing you to spend more hours ($$$) waiting around in the shops, or eating, or doing other revenue producing activities.

3. Crowd control. How many people decide to just go home for the day, or simply don't know about EMH hours? If you automatically get it at check-in, the crowds would be much bigger (imo), and thus not so "magical".

Just a thought or 2...

 

[mel64]

Are the wristbands like the hospital ones that have to be cut off? Do they put them on you or just hand them to you? What keeps people from using their room key card and then letting someone that does not have one use it? Just curious, Just asking.

Thanks
Melanie

 

[tjkraz]

So why don't they have it so you can pick it up at your hotel before you even leave? I think it's dumb to have to stop whatever you're doing or be late for PS's or whatever to go get the wristband.
Maybe I'm missing something...

A few reasons I can think of:

1. Who wants to wear the wristband all day? We couldn't get our kids to keep theirs on for a couple hours during MVMCP.

2. Staffing - Do you really want to wait in line at the front desk behind a dozen people waiting to check in? You could be in that line for a half-hour. If they were to have dedicated CMs at each resort, you're talking about 1 or 2 CMs at over twenty resort hotels to hand out wristbands. Guess who would end up paying those extra costs in the end?

3. Location - Not all of the resorts are centralized where it's easy to pass through the lobby regularly. We spent a week at Saratoga Springs and went to the lobby exactly once--to check in. The lobby at SSR is about 1/2 mile from our room, while the parking lot and bus stop were 100' from our door.

Each park has multiple locations to pick up the wristbands. Chances are you'll stumble across one of them before you really need it.

Are the wristbands like the hospital ones that have to be cut off? Do they put them on you or just hand them to you? What keeps people from using their room key card and then letting someone that does not have one use it? Just curious, Just asking.

Yes they are like the hospital wristbands. The CMs put them on for you. It takes about 5 seconds per person.

What keeps people from using their room key card and then letting someone that does not have one use it? Just curious, Just asking.

Hopefully a little honesty. No system would be fool-proof. Those who have their minds set on finding a way to beat the system will usually succeed.

But I think it's probably rare that a group touring together would have some people staying at a Disney resort and others off-site.

 

[liznboys]

Thanks for the tip!!

 

[GOOFYFREEK]

I thought you can only pick them up 3 hours before the park closes?