I love the MyMagic+ and Magic Bands.

[k5jm]

Still not sold on MagicBands, but don't mind the FP+ part as much.

The MB work fine but I don't like having it in my wrist. Ok you say, don't wear it in your wrist. Well then it goes in my pocket, which it doesn't fit we'll in. I'd rather just use my RFID enabled AP which is easy to carry. Not only that but I need it for discounts anyway.

This!!!

 

[KristEn87]

I got the chance to use the Magic Bands while in WDW for Marathon Weekend and I LOVED them! I went into this experience remembering that it was a test, and after hearing (admittedly I haven't read most of the MB threads) about some of the issues that people were experiencing, I didn't go in expecting much.

My cousin and I were lucky enough to have a flawless experience with the bands. I know that was not the same for many people traveling at the same time, but for us they were great! We used them to get on to Magical Express and then to get into our room. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and since that resort is pretty spread out I was worried that they wouldn't work to open our door and it would take forever to get fixed, but luckily that wasn't the case. The night we arrived I decided to see how last minute FP+'s would work so I went to the MK. On the bus ride over I got on the MDE app and tried to get a FP for Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. Since I was getting to the park about 1.5 hours before the park closed I was only able to really get 1 FP+ and it was for Space Mountain. I had no problems getting into the park with my MB and annual pass attached and went straight to Space Mountain where I tried FP+ for the first time and got the green light.

This pattern continued throughout the 4 days that we were there. One thing that I think OKW Lover commented on was that since I had the MB on and it was linked to my Annual Pass, I was constantly forgetting to ask about AP discounts. Then when I did remember or the CM asked me if I had one, I would have to take out the card. Thank goodness I remember to bring it to the park with me!

Hopefully more and more people will continue to have good experiences with it. I was skeptical at first about over planning and having to make FP+ reservations before I leave, but as a mom of a 4 year old I think it will be helpful. I know he will love the independence of being able to use his band to use his own FP+ and open the door. I like that I won't have to fiddle with a bunch of cards while trying to keep tabs on him!

 

[DisneyKentucky]

I got the chance to use the Magic Bands while in WDW for Marathon Weekend and I LOVED them! I went into this experience remembering that it was a test, and after hearing (admittedly I haven't read most of the MB threads) about some of the issues that people were experiencing, I didn't go in expecting much.

My cousin and I were lucky enough to have a flawless experience with the bands. I know that was not the same for many people traveling at the same time, but for us they were great! We used them to get on to Magical Express and then to get into our room. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and since that resort is pretty spread out I was worried that they wouldn't work to open our door and it would take forever to get fixed, but luckily that wasn't the case. The night we arrived I decided to see how last minute FP+'s would work so I went to the MK. On the bus ride over I got on the MDE app and tried to get a FP for Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. Since I was getting to the park about 1.5 hours before the park closed I was only able to really get 1 FP+ and it was for Space Mountain. I had no problems getting into the park with my MB and annual pass attached and went straight to Space Mountain where I tried FP+ for the first time and got the green light.

This pattern continued throughout the 4 days that we were there. One thing that I think OKW Lover commented on was that since I had the MB on and it was linked to my Annual Pass, I was constantly forgetting to ask about AP discounts. Then when I did remember or the CM asked me if I had one, I would have to take out the card. Thank goodness I remember to bring it to the park with me!

Hopefully more and more people will continue to have good experiences with it. I was skeptical at first about over planning and having to make FP+ reservations before I leave, but as a mom of a 4 year old I think it will be helpful. I know he will love the independence of being able to use his band to use his own FP+ and open the door. I like that I won't have to fiddle with a bunch of cards while trying to keep tabs on him!

I ran the half and the fact I could wear the key to my room and it being attached to my CC helped make it easy for me to carry as little as possible.

I do agree with park hopper stuff needed as well as the AP discounts. I'd also love for somehow my Tables in Wonderland to be attached.

 

[SaraMc]

We're half way through our vacation, were all hooked up with MB and all it encompasses. We had problems with setting up my magic plus, took disney IT two days to fix. First day in the park our AP's were on each other's bands and our four year old was listed as a adult. After 3 visits to guest services it was fixed. Fast passes need a bit more flexibility, but today when we missed our FP by 2 minutes , I tried changing it on the app and it let me for an extra hour. Made me say"oh cool!" Just not a fan of only 1 "e ticket" in the three parks and two crappy choices I know I really don't need a FP for. I like it for the most part just need the rest of the kinks out.

 

[Kristina4109]

My last peak season trip to WDW was in 1976. No, that is not a typo. Since that trip, I have always gone off season. So the idea of having to pre-plan FastPasses would not have appealed to me. Seriously, our last trip December 1st - 9th in 2009 I think I used Fast Pass ONCE.

But now that my daughter is school aged (and we have a very strict school district when it comes to absences) we NEED to go during peak season, or not go at all. (Which is not. An. Option.) So I LOVE the idea of getting FP+ to our "must do's" in each park.

Consequently, I know there's not been a lot of info about this tech going West, but the idea of getting on Radiator Springs Racers without standing in line to get into CA at 6:50 AM is very, very appealing.

 

[DisneyKentucky]

We're half way through our vacation, were all hooked up with MB and all it encompasses. We had problems with setting up my magic plus, took disney IT two days to fix. First day in the park our AP's were on each other's bands and our four year old was listed as a adult. After 3 visits to guest services it was fixed. Fast passes need a bit more flexibility, but today when we missed our FP by 2 minutes , I tried changing it on the app and it let me for an extra hour. Made me say"oh cool!" Just not a fan of only 1 "e ticket" in the three parks and two crappy choices I know I really don't need a FP for. I like it for the most part just need the rest of the kinks out.

I still think they open the amount of FP+ for tier 1 as they develop the system.

 

[hockeymomNS]

I check in on Sunday and am very excited to form my own opinion. So far it has been great booking ADR's and FP. I will be glad when park hopping comes, and I'm sure that it will.

This trip is my life long best friend and myself, could be a different story if I was booking for the family.

 

[misstheworld]

DH and I have been back for about a week and we had an easy time with the Magic Bands and all that entails. However, I'd like to add my two cents to the thread...

- We noted that while we didn't really have any issues getting FP's, we wondered if that would be the case in a busier time of year. Often, we'd have a FP, but be able to walk right on a ride, so we'd just reschedule that FP for something else later in the day.

- The wifi in the parks was great for scheduling FPs and checking on dining availability.

- We never had any issues with the Magic Bands working. That being said, they're a bit of a pain when entering your room at the resort. I am all for being safe and I understand that you need to make direct contact, but when you're holding your squirmy 9m old and you have to make VERY SPECIFIC contact with that little gray square...holy moly is it frustrating.

 

[AlohaAnnie]

We are looking forward to trying the FP+ in 44 days on 3/28/14. I really don't see much of a problem for us using FP+, I would like a few more FP in MK but we will be ok with it and will just change the way we tour to adjust.



June 2013 we used the tap method on our AP's and our room keys for charging with a PIN number from what I have been reading Magic Bands seem the same to me you just wear them on your wrist like a watch. I don't mind wearing watches so it is ok with me. I am actually really excited about receiving those adorable MBs. They ship out for us around 2/28/14.


44 days today!!

.

 

[dixiegirl]

DH and I used the MBs back in October and we really enjoyed them. We are looking forward to using them again this October. We encountered no major issues with them - only the random times when one of us didn't have the mickey heads match up (usually because we weren't paying attention)
That being said - we went into the trip with a completely open mind about the new system and assumed that we may encounter issues as they are still getting bugs out of the system. DH and I don't have problems with adjusting to change - we are pretty easy going.
Now I will say that for the commando wdw vacationers - I can definitely see that the limitations would be disappointing but that has never been our style so the new system works really well for us.

 

[Sooze]

I was going to start a thread with the exact same title!!

My quick story:

In 2011, we went to WDW at Christmas time. We knew the crowds were going to be big, but we were still disappointed in how LITTLE we were able to do.

In 2013, we went to WDW again at Christmas time. We did EVERYTHING we wanted, with little to no wait... because of Fast Pass+!

We didn't have to get to DHS at rope drop and send DH running with the bulls to get TSM FP. We just booked them in advance and waltzed onto the ride at our chosen time.

I LOVE THEM!!!

I love not digging into my wallet or purse to get tickets out at the turnstile. I love not digging into my wallet or purse to get my room key when we return home for the night. I love not digging into my wallet or purse to find my credit cards or cash. The magic bands and the FP+ were AWESOME!

So glad to hear someone else loves it too!!

 

[hockeymomNS]

I am just back from a week using MB and FP+. Travelling at this time of year, on site and only two people, we had absolutely no issues at all. I did enjoy having everything at hand (tickets, meals, room key).

 

[db57me]

I've read through all the comments on this thread, seeing there are both positive and negative thoughts about the MagicBands and FastPass+. Our visit in June will be the first in far too many years. My only visit to WDW was in 1972, at 14 years old, so I'm looking forward to not worrying about buying the right number of E tickets. I'm looking forward to using this new technology, it amazes me, and I'm tech savvy enough to understand and use it. I like the idea of using my iPhone app to make and change plans on the fly. I don't get the concerns about the bands and the radio chip. Are people that worried about being tracked?

 

[DisneyKentucky]

I've read through all the comments on this thread, seeing there are both positive and negative thoughts about the MagicBands and FastPass+. Our visit in June will be the first in far too many years. My only visit to WDW was in 1972, at 14 years old, so I'm looking forward to not worrying about buying the right number of E tickets. I'm looking forward to using this new technology, it amazes me, and I'm tech savvy enough to understand and use it. I like the idea of using my iPhone app to make and change plans on the fly. I don't get the concerns about the bands and the radio chip. Are people that worried about being tracked?

Some people are upset there is a limit to the # of fastpass in a day. I think this will increase over time.

 

[Brit_Jude]

After reading all the nightmares from people prior to arriving I was ready for long waits and an urge to throw my iPhone into Bay Lake. That did not happen. I had the Memory Maker, Annual passes and everything set up in advance of arriving on the My Disney Experience via the website and made changes on the fly via My Disney Experience App. Sure, it's at times sluggish or has errors but, the thing I think people forget is this is super user friendly from my perspective. Not to mention the lack of needing to walk to a fastpass ticket machine or even talk to people to cancel a reservation or add a reservation with the app.

Yes, there are some park hopper fastpass+ options needed to be added but, those will come. I made an effort to thank Guest Relation and other Cast Members for Magic Bands and FastPass+. They all were shocked I was thanking and not complaining.

Figured I would leave a positive report since most are negative. FWIW, DisneyParks Youtube account posted some great promo videos today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRS2yHZDIo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D-jpc741rw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry35MziPBAI

I'm with you! I like the new Fastpass+. We are annual passholders and had an onsite vacation back in the autumn at WDW. We received our magic bands. I loved that we didn't have to rush to the parks to get fastpasses, I could change them with the app and if we didn't have any plans I could look to see what was available and go and ride on a whim. Made our vacation much more relaxing. Now we have our bands and passes linked and I can book what I want if we head to the parks.

 

[Iggipolka]

Another happy Magic Band and FP+ report here. We were at WDW 2/16/14 - 2/23/14 and it was Crazy busy with Presidents Day weekend, the New York/New Jersey schools being out and the Princess Marathon weekend.

Even with high crowd levels, I was able to schedule FP's at night for the next morning and while in the park, change them to later in the day or to different attractions as needed. Really easy.

The bands were great and we linked up our Annual Passports to the bands prior to going to WDW as well as linking my daughter's military ticket and our Memory Maker photo card. It was great to just have the band for everything, although I agree that having to line up the Mickey on the band exactly to the Mickey on the door/pad/entry to park, was a PIA. If you're not right on a tiny spot, it won't register.

I was concerned how the kids would do with the bands, but both my 20 mth old and 4 year old loved the bands and insisted on wearing them all the time. My 20mth old even insisted on scanning her band at the gate and at FP+ attractions, even though she didn't have a valid ticket! It was cute.

My complaints are the same as everyone else's - I want more than 3 FP's a day and I want to be able to make FP's at more than one park. What's the point of spending money on a park hopper if you can't get FP's at another park? We typically go to one park in the morning, back to the resort after lunch for naps and to a different park in the evening. It was frustrating not to be able to get FP's for both parks.

We also burn through three FP's quickly and would have loved to have been able to get more, just like we used to be able to do with paper FP's. Don't understand why this isn't an option and I really hope that Disney looks at these issues and changes them.

Another thing I'd love to see on the Disney Mobile Application, is the ability to track DDP credits. We always loose track of how many TS, CS and Snack credits we have left and it would be great to have that information on the Ap.

 

[DisneyKentucky]

Another thing I'd love to see on the Disney Mobile Application, is the ability to track DDP credits. We always loose track of how many TS, CS and Snack credits we have left and it would be great to have that information on the Ap.

This is a great idea but, I'd hate to see the work for them to add that. I guess it shouldn't be too hard but, I'm not a programmer.

 

[alicemouse]

We also had a net positive experience with My Magic + in December. The room key, admission, FP+ features, and charging privileges all worked perfectly.

We only ran into one very minor snag--about half a dozen of our photopass pics were not on our accounts when we got home. We were trading off whose band got scanned and we think we scanned every time but when you're saying hello and goodbye and thank you and juggling bags and cameras and things, it's hard to remember what you did or didn't do for sure, so there's a possibility that that was the issue. It wasn't a huge deal because I never buy the photopass pics, but I do usually pull them up and look at them just in case.

I love having the ability to plan my fast passes ahead of time because I know what I'm going to ride and approximately what time I'll want to ride it. The thing I hated about the old system was that it required a lot of wasted time crisscrossing the park and back tracking to get your FP and you had no opportunity to request a specific time. We actually hardly ever used paper fast passes except for Soarin, Test Track, and TSM. We're taking two trips in the spring with family members who have some minor health and mobility issues. I really love being able to schedule FP ahead of time and pick a return time that is convenient for us so that we can minimize their walking in the parks.

I also really like not having to dig my ticket out of my wallet while I'm still putting my bag back together from bag check and approaching the front gate. I don't have to check to make sure I remembered my ticket 50 million times because its right there on my wrist.