Fear of Magic Band not working

[automaticsoap]

It happens to some people, but for 99% of people things work just fine.

Glitches happen but why waste energy worrying about it now? If it happens, it happens - you won't be able to do anything to prevent it beforehand. For the record, we've never had issues with MBs at all.

I'm definitely of this mindset! I'm currently on my 5th trip using MBs, and I haven't had any issues at all.

 

[100acreHiker]

For our family of four, staying for 7 days last November, not once did our MBs fail, and we were in and out of parks and charging food and souvenirs to them all day long. I worried about it (a bit) before our trip, too, but I could not have been happier with the whole thing and process. I do wonder if getting tickets from third party sellers (even legit ones) increases the likelihood of glitches and problems ever so slightly; I'm tempted to save $50 this fall and get our tickets through UCT, but I wonder if I would come to regret it if I encountered any problems.

 

[Robo]

For our family of four, staying for 7 days last November, not once did our MBs fail, and we were in and out of parks and charging food and souvenirs to them all day long. I worried about it (a bit) before our trip, too, but I could not have been happier with the whole thing and process. I do wonder if getting tickets from third party sellers (even legit ones) increases the likelihood of glitches and problems ever so slightly; I'm tempted to save $50 this fall and get our tickets through UCT, but I wonder if I would come to regret it if I encountered any problems.

The CM was flat-out GUESSING as to why the MBs didn't work.
UT tickets are regular WDW tickets, printed and issued by WDW and shipped to UT for resale.

The fact that the tickets were from UT is about 10% likely to be the issue with MB not working.
(But, standing there with angry/disappointed faces all around, the CM has to blame SOMETHING.)

It is also extremely unlikely that the CM has any knowledge whatsoever about UT tickets.
I have seen so many times when a CM will tell a guest that they should not ever buy from an outside source... when that practice is actually designed and approved by the Disney Company.

 

[Flamingeaux]

I had this fear for our one and only MB trip. I will have some fear for our next trip when we will use old tickets.

 

[caracarn]

Like any system there are always possibilities for problems. Granted what I am about to share was from a time when the bands were new and it was right after their beta testing. We had 10 people, our family of 8 and my parents who live down in FL and joined us for many days of the trip. My parents got their one bands for their FL season passes. Our bands works very well for the whole trip. My parents on the other hand spent about 60 minutes each day at the parks Guest Services building getting their magic bands back in order, only to have them break again with the system refresh overnight and do it again. This happened every day for the 7 day trip. It was very frustrating for them and it certainly stunk that we started each day without the grandparents and then they had to catch up with us later. Not sure if Disney ever did anything to compensate them for all this disruption, and it was also frustrating that they could not issue new magic bands because there were none at the parks, I guess they get supplied and shipped to your home from a third party, or at least that was the case back in 2014.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

even the Tyvek tickets could have the same issue if they got demagnetized.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I like knowing that it's a possibility so I'm not totally caught off guard if it happens, but it's not something I'm going to fret about. We've had MB failures at some point on every single one of our trips (thought never at park entrance that I remember), and it never ruined our trip. On our first MB trip, my husband's MB had some failure that the CMs had never seen before (this was very early in the initial rollout) and they wanted him to stand there while they figured it out, and he declined. For some unknown reason both myself and my husband (but not our kids) had been issued two extra MBs so he had a backup and just said he's use that rather than waste time while they tried to figure things out.

FWIW, there are a ton of things that can ruin RD and/or pre-planning in general, including transportation delays, illness, and the weather. I wouldn't stress about MB failure any more than I'd stress about any of those other issues.

 

[bumbershoot]

FWIW, they blamed it on us having gotten 3rd party tickets (through UCT) and said that caused them to not link properly. They could see them under my account, but the MB scanners weren't recognizing them for some reason.

They will pull out ANY reason they can to blame it on ANYone but themselves. Ugh.

During our last AP trip DH's wasn't working part of the time. PART of the time. No one wasted our time by talking but I bet they felt like somehow blaming it on us.

Or the resort CMs blaming MB glitches because you had too many in your account, or you didn't get the exact one scanned, or or or any little bit of MB voodoo they can think of. When we have done just fine when they scan (? do something behind the counter to) ONE MB of alllll of the MBs we have, and alllll of our MBs can work interchangeably. No voodoo required.

They just don't understand what a glitch is.

Glitches happen but why waste energy worrying about it now? If it happens, it happens - you won't be able to do anything to prevent it beforehand.

All the yesses to you.

 

[FeralCatRogue]

Only really annoying issue I had with magic bands was when I bought two new themed magic bands in the same day and they both had to be linked and it caused all my magic bands to stop working as room keys, luckily my moms still worked so we could get in the room. I get blue mickey sometimes, but its always they said from using a different hand or last time I had entered park for MNSHHP and not used the finger scanner and next day it had issues for some reason.

 

[momimouse27]

I know others have had issues, I can only speak to my own experience. We just got back and had hardly any issues with our bands. There were only two. Once, when my mom was bringing my son into the park to meet us, they couldn't get his band to match with his finger. So, they took a photo I'm told. But its possible my mom misunderstood which finger he was using to get in. The rest of the trip he got in just fine.

The only other time was my daughter went to a store where the MB reader wasn't working, so she had to use her spending money to buy something instead of charging it to the room. The rest of the time, we had zero issues with the Bands.

 

[popriv]

I plan on making a small purchase at the resort using MB.. if there a problem we should be able to deal with it then…???
I guess that may only show that I can Charge… may not show I have valid tickets???

I haven't had a problem in the past...


Steve

 

[AlohaAnnie]

We have never had a problem with any form (magic band, RFID, or Cards) of entering the park or our room.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I have this fear of our first day getting to the parks early for rope drop and our magic bands not working. Hence, needing to go to information to get it sorted out and losing a lot of time. Anyone else have that fear or had any problems with their magic bands?

We had no.issues at all with our MBs in November. I was a little concerned, as you are, but thankfully we had no problems!

 

[skibum25]

Just don't do anything crazy like enter the park without ID and backup forms of payment.

I think I was going to do something crazy! (thanks mom2rtk!) Was planning on not bringing my wallet because of the charge capability on the MB. Do most guys still bring their wallet? Or do they just bring an ID and a backup credit card with some cash? I do have a money clip, I could bring that for ID, CC & cash.

 

[Robo]

I think I was going to do something crazy! (thanks mom2rtk!) Was planning on not bringing my wallet because of the charge capability on the MB. Do most guys still bring their wallet? Or do they just bring an ID and a backup credit card with some cash? I do have a money clip, I could bring that for ID, CC & cash.

I never go anywhere at WDW without a legal photo ID.
It has saved me multiple times over the years.
And, my legal photo ID does not go anywhere without my wallet.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I think I was going to do something crazy! (thanks mom2rtk!) Was planning on not bringing my wallet because of the charge capability on the MB. Do most guys still bring their wallet? Or do they just bring an ID and a backup credit card with some cash? I do have a money clip, I could bring that for ID, CC & cash.

My husband didn't bring a wallet...until he got locked out of our room with no way to pay for the breakfast he was supposed to be running to get for us. Ever since then we always have a backup. And ever since then we've needed it once each trip.

He doesn't bring his full wallet. We have a little business card holder that's like a mini wallet, so we throw our IDs, AP cards, TIW card, a credit card, and $20 in there.

 

[skibum25]

Thank you Robo and jtowntoflorida for your replies.

Robo, I like you never go anywhere without a wallet but we will be doing water rides at MK and AK. What do you do with your wallet on water rides?

 

[Robo]

Thank you Robo and jtowntoflorida for your replies.

Robo, I like you never go anywhere without a wallet but we will be doing water rides at MK and AK. What do you do with your wallet on water rides?

Locker.

 

[skibum25]

Never used a locker. They have lockers close to the water rides? You put it in the locker before the ride then pick it up after?

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We didn't have a fear of magic bands not working - my sons didn't once but I had bought our tickets from undercover tourist and brought the hard copies with us so we showed it to the person with the ipad along with the other tickets who did work and they fixed the problem.

We've not had them work when it came to pay but I always carry other forms of payment with me.
I wouldn't worry about it - if something does happen and you miss rope drop, ask nicely for an anytime FP (or two) for your group so you can make up the time.

Also if you are in a park and MDE quits working - make sure you have a copy of your FP+ times handy so you don't miss any. When I went, MDE wasn't working one day to change FP+ times or charge for food/souveniers but the band itself worked to let me into the FP+ lines that I'd booked.