How many times have you scanned a MB, and how many times didn't it work?

[surferdave]

This whole thread misses the symptoms people have been generally experiencing. It's not issues reading the MB, it's issues in the MM+ system processing the information it receives from the MB.

Problems with the RF transmitters in the bands are almost certainly going to be rare, unless one has a drained battery or broken seal that makes it less water resistant or something. The problems that are plaguing some guests are probably data corruption issues in some of the My Magic Plus system databases, such that (for instance) problems in the resort reservation database causes problems to some guests' park entry, or loses their FP+ reservations, or unlinks the MB ID from their MM+ account.

 

[disney212]

Total of 29 days, 0 failures. Including going in/out of room, fp, purchases, well over 200 times.

 

[jco_direwolf]

This whole thread misses the symptoms people have been generally experiencing. It's not issues reading the MB, it's issues in the MM+ system processing the information it receives from the MB. Problems with the RF transmitters in the bands are almost certainly going to be rare, unless one has a drained battery or broken seal that makes it less water resistant or something. The problems that are plaguing some guests are probably data corruption issues in some of the My Magic Plus system databases, such that (for instance) problems in the resort reservation database causes problems to some guests' park entry, or loses their FP+ reservations, or unlinks the MB ID from their MM+ account.

Even a drained/bad battery will only cause limited missed reads since FP+, park entry, and Photopaas are all based on the embedded passive RFID tags.

A magic band ( according to the FCC approved documents) has 3 RFIDs in it. 2 passive ones operating on different frequencies and an active one (which us why it had to be approved).

The active one is used for distances over a a fraction of a meter or so. The ones that you have to touch to a pad are just like your HID card for work totally passive and should last years. .

 

[rajak73]

All of you that the MB have worked with little or no issues, you either have to be Disney Apologist or looking at Disney through rose colored glasses. and I already see a post that proves my point.

 

[summerlady]

Early March, 3 adults, 5 days, 4 parks, dining plan, charging: worked fine, every time, for all three of us.

 

[Aurora0427]

The only time our MB did not work was for charging. The cast member who activated them upon check in didn't do something he needed to in order for us to charge beyond $10. I discovered this at Epcot while attempting to shop at Mouse Ears. I just used my cc. It happened again at Roaring Forks the following morning, and we had a great CM who picked up the phone and it was fixed in 60 seconds.

No issues for the duration of our six day stay.

 

[Aurora0427]

In 6 visits ranging for several days to day trips we have only had 1 issue. The issue was when we were staying at AKL in June for my son's birthday. The magic band did not open the room. When we went back to the front desk it was taking a while. The CM asked if it would be okay of someone took us to our room and let us in while she worked on the bands. We said fine and she said she would personally bring the bands to our room. When she did bring them she explained they were defective and got us new ones in the colors we choose. She also brought my son a stuffed Mickey and autograph book for his birthday, the manager called the room a little while later and apologized foray trouble and gave us $100 resort credit.

Now that is Disney magic! What wonderful problem resolution!

 

[catra121]

So far I've had one trip with MBs last September. Me for 7 days and my cousin joined me for 5 days. It was a split stay so I had two magic bands. I linked my annual pass to my MB and an undercover tourist ticket to my cousin's with room only stays at both Pop and AoA. I charged everything back to the room including all meals, did a lot of park hopping, and even threw in some mid day breaks...so I definitely used my MB more than 5 times a day. I would say 10 times a day is a low estimate but I guess that's what I will use.

Times MB Worked (estimate): 120
Times MB Didn't Work (actual #): 0

Worked every time and had zero problems. I alternated between my two bands the entire trip from the split stay and had no problems with either of them. A third person was on the reservation who cancelled last minute and HIS band worked as well for opening the room doors (no ticket attached so couldn't be tested for anything else). We loved the MBs, loved FP+, and had an amazing time. Looking forward to my next trip this September when we will have the deluxe dining plan and will be staying at a different resort.

 

[puffkin]

Of our 5 bands we only had two issues the entire week....we used it for room entry, resort parking gate, charging, FP, park entry and photos.

1. At Typhoon Lagoon they couldn't get my husbands to work when he was buying icecream at a cart. The CM told him the pads were fairly new and they were having a lot of trouble with that particular one.

2. On an EMH morning, we drove to MK. They were scanning bands at the TTC before letting you onto the ferry. My kept reading that I was not a resort guest but everyone else in the family was fine. I had no problems opening our room all week (this was towards the end) so not sure what the issue was but they let me through.

Other than those two very minor issues, we had no problems. The bands work great.

 

[MIGrandma]

DD and I were in the magic band test group at Port Orleans last September.

As I recall she never had an issue with her band.

Mine didn't work at the turnstile getting into the Magic Kingdom (or was it Epcot, I can't remember). I was pulled over to the side and waited for a CM with an iPad, and it took maybe a minute and they let me in. That is the only time for the week that mine didn't work properly.

We used them for park entry, fastpasses, food, in the gift shops, our resort room door. We loved them!! Loved having "hands free" access to our room, if we had our hands full no digging out the key card to open the door.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We have 4 bands. Last visit a month or so ago, 8 days. No errors with any use of a band for anything.

 

[ammag]

Four bands, we had one time we had to redo it but then it worked no issue no need for a trip to customer service or anything

 

[HM]

Mine worked every time
DD had to have her's reset at Epcot after trouble entering the park one day and then we had no problems after that. (so, one time)

 

[Disneylover99]

3 trips and 3 bands and my band would never scan green at an attraction. My families bands would scan intermittently.

 

[Sparkly]

A few minor issues with scanning our MBs at TS restaurants to pay with TS credits and 1 instance where I couldn't enter our room. No blue Mickeys at park entrances or at FP+ scanners as far as I can recall. Maybe one or two due to human error on my part as I got used to the process.

 

[butterfly71076]

First week of March, 6 nights, the only time our MB didn't work was on our last day. I had scheduled a FP+ to meet Mickey, but had to change it. MDE only changed one of the FP+ and not all 3. So, mine worked, but DH and DS could not get in. The kiosk CM's couldn't figure it out, went to desk, they gave me a paper FP because no one could figure out how to fix it. Other than that, everything worked fine. Room key, tickets, dining plan, charging, and other FP+, not a problem.

 

[wench]

This whole thread misses the symptoms people have been generally experiencing. It's not issues reading the MB, it's issues in the MM+ system processing the information it receives from the MB.

Problems with the RF transmitters in the bands are almost certainly going to be rare, unless one has a drained battery or broken seal that makes it less water resistant or something. The problems that are plaguing some guests are probably data corruption issues in some of the My Magic Plus system databases, such that (for instance) problems in the resort reservation database causes problems to some guests' park entry, or loses their FP+ reservations, or unlinks the MB ID from their MM+ account.

The problems may lie within MM+, but since the MB is the conduit for us to utilize everything linked to MM+, this board can absolutely capture the info. If the MB doesn't work for something that it should, it means there was an issue with MM+. Hence, if someone says their MB failed 20 times & lists when, that gives an idea of where MM+ failed. And if someone says their band never had a problem, that means MM+ was a success for them. I don't think anyone is arguing the bands themselves are the problem, but they are the "symptom" by which we can diagnose the disease.

 

[JaydaNicole]

Our party of 8 just got back from a 2 week trip with a split stay and APs (so multiple magic bands per person). I had 3 problems during my trip. Once was when I was entering a park one day, and it was resolved by the people with the ipads at the gate in about 2 minutes. The second was a ride photo linking the wrong ride photo to me (was the car in front of me). The third was photos at an event not linking to my band, but I'm pretty sure that one was due to an error by the PP photographer, not an issue with the band itself. Everything else worked great which was a pleasant surprise, given the number of issues I have seen on this board.

Just curious...does an AP holder always get a separate MB? I am staying onsite & it is the first time being an AP. I will just have 1 MB, correct? Besides having 2 different colors of bands, would there be a NEED for more than 1 MB?

 

[PrincessNelly]

Just between the two of us, we probably used our bands about 120 to 150 times.
I had three instances where I got a blue Mickey while trying to charge to the room but the CM always said it was because it was the first time I had used my band in a couple hours, so it needed to reaclimate itself. I would tap it again immediately after and it would turn green.

During our Typhoon Lagoon day, DFI magic band completely stopped working. At first he would get a blue Mickey, then it wouldn't scan at all.
We figured that maybe water got inside. We planned to go get him a replacement the next morning but like magic, it worked when he charged dinner to the room about 5 hours later.

 

[ethanwa]

Our bands (family of four) have scanned 100's of times and we've never had a blue Mickey. We are locals and go at least once a week.