Here now....magic bands have been great...after being worried.

[lillykat]

We are here now. I was nervous to be honest. Last May we had a ton of technical problems including the fact that my card said I had a magic band before they were testing them. So far it has been a breeze. No paperwork for ME, no problems buying items.

As far as rides...we got 6 FPs the other day and 5 most days. Kiosks have had no lines. I went up to a CM and said I want x ( picked thinks with 40+ min waits and got a FP for them where we could ride right away. Repeat. We prebooked our FPs for things like A&E, ETWB, PP, Splash, etc. All our photos have shown up by the time we come back to the room in the afternoon for our memory maker. We did not get to ride splash or BTMR yet but no fault of disney per se. The first time we tried splash yesterday it was a five minute wait. We got to the loading dock and it was shut down (standby not FP). They gave us anytime FPs good until the end of the month. BTMR was also down at the same time. It was back up and running for a while but we were busy with other things. We came back with the anytime pass and our real FP later but thunderstorms had shut both down. The nice CM gave us more anytime FPs. We plan to use them Friday when we return. They were good for several rides including the mountains.

I will say it feels very crowded. Walkways are very congested compared with past trips. Rides times seem very inflated. 20 mins at speedway, buzz, HM, pirates, Ariel were really 5-10 at most. 70 mins at mickey's show was just a wait for the pre theater area to fill and doors open (5 mins maybe). We have gotten so much done including extra rides on things kids asked to repeat. We did three rope drop mornings and one sleep in at the AK, and today and tomorrow are sleep in later days for us. It has been nice to get the FPs we need without rushing to various parks bc the FP times might be too late or gone. And not having to run to get a FP for soarin while hitting TT at rope drop. I know this won't work for most but we made our FPs at HS the other day to get TSM. But rope dropped at EPCOT. We got right on soarin and the first to open the right side theater so we were right in front. Everything else was 5 min waits.

The only disappointment was we got to EPCOT after MK yesterday around 330. Soarin was sold out. Test track, maelstrom, character spot were all available though. Just soarin was gone. My girls don't like TT so that wouldn't work for us...but expected it to be gone. Sorry this will be our last trip for a while because it has been our least stressful, most fun trip in the past 3 we have taken.

Etd to add... We have used Easywdw as a guide but made minor changes to suit our character needs. Also this trip the character interactions have been MUCH better. In the past they have always rushed us. This trip they spoke a lot with the kids, danced, took tons of photos, even let them greet separately at times. In the past they have rushed us through. Such a difference.

 

[~Fisharefriends~]

great to hear your experiences with the magic bands, espiecally as you were apprehensive about them before. its sounds like you were able to make FP+ really work well for you and your family.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[lillykat]

great to hear your experiences with the magic bands, espiecally as you were apprehensive about them before. its sounds like you were able to make FP+ really work well for you and your family. Thanks for sharing.

Yes. In the past one person ran around collecting passes for us. No running around. We just stopped by a kiosk after we used our three and hit whichever one we walked by.

We got as many or more than in the past. I like we can pick times now as we can get on immediately or for a few hours away if we want a break.

One caveat...I am not totally clear about and got two different answers. Do you have to use three in the first park before getting a fourth or can you not use your last one, let it expire, then park hop and get one at the kiosk?

When it was raining we had a FP for splash. We wanted to leave and go to EPCOT. They said it would be done for a while due to the weather. One said just let it expire (we had 125-225 and it was 215). They other said no they have two choices waiting for it to come back online and ride then or if we want to park hop we have to pick another FP and use it. The kids wanted another POTC ride on the way out and it was a 40 wait due to the rain so we got one immediately and rode that. But I am still unclear....if you can't ride due to weather can you just park hop and use the kiosk or do you have to use the three or your out of luck?

 

[Brad Bishop]

My main complaint is that there are certain places where it's just awkward, like when you go back to your hotel and you have the band on your wrist and it doesn't quite reach the reader (this is driving up) and you have to bend your arm just so to make it flat (unless they've fixed it).

The other thing is that TiW should be able to be put on it.. I don't know if the DDP are able to be associated with it, yet.

I have 4 Magic Bands on my account and, just as a test and out of curiosity, I'm going to see if they all work on the hotel room, at the parks, etc. In theory they should.. In theory my Annual Pass is associated with the account and it is RFID and it should work everywhere but it wasn't able to open the room last time.

 

[kaybird]

My main complaint is that there are certain places where it's just awkward, like when you go back to your hotel and you have the band on your wrist and it doesn't quite reach the reader (this is driving up) and you have to bend your arm just so to make it flat (unless they've fixed it).

The other thing is that TiW should be able to be put on it.. I don't know if the DDP are able to be associated with it, yet.

I have 4 Magic Bands on my account and, just as a test and out of curiosity, I'm going to see if they all work on the hotel room, at the parks, etc. In theory they should.. In theory my Annual Pass is associated with the account and it is RFID and it should work everywhere but it wasn't able to open the room last time.

The DDP does show up on your band. All your bands should work, if your have trouble with the door, just take it to the front desk and they will fix it. We have 4 sets now, only one out of 8 had a glitch, took the CM about 30 seconds!

 

[lillykat]

My main complaint is that there are certain places where it's just awkward, like when you go back to your hotel and you have the band on your wrist and it doesn't quite reach the reader (this is driving up) and you have to bend your arm just so to make it flat (unless they've fixed it). The other thing is that TiW should be able to be put on it.. I don't know if the DDP are able to be associated with it, yet. I have 4 Magic Bands on my account and, just as a test and out of curiosity, I'm going to see if they all work on the hotel room, at the parks, etc. In theory they should.. In theory my Annual Pass is associated with the account and it is RFID and it should work everywhere but it wasn't able to open the room last time.

This was an issue for my father as well....she started coming in the gate closet to the guard instead....lol.

 

[BethA]

does the memory maker card have to be linked to your magic band? Did not see where to do it? Do I have to go anywhere like I did to redeem photopass+ or is this card it? Thanks. Did you get a fast pass for the fireworks?

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Glad to hear a good report! It seems like things are smoothing out with MB and FP+

The only disappointment was we got to EPCOT after MK yesterday around 330. Soarin was sold out. Test track, maelstrom, character spot were all available though. Just soarin was gone. .

This would have been the case even with Legacy FP. You could rarely get one for Soarin (or Toy Story for that matter) after noon.

 

[katt789]

Awesome time it sounds like you're having!!! Glad that the bands haven't been giving you any hassle and you've really been working with them well!!

I will agree, we were there a few weeks ago, and the walkways seemed very crowded, and wait times were not really what was posted! However every time we walked past the fp+ kiosks they were lined up like no tomorrow!! Hopefully that's not true next week!