Just Back, Magic Band Issue

[aidtrismommy]

Just back from 7 days at OKW. The 2 bedroom villa was wonderful, we always enjoy OKW for it's low-key serenity after a long day at the parks.
I customized our magic bands several weeks ahead of time(or the earliest time I was allowed to, I can't remember the exact time) and booked fast passes for all seven people in our party under my MDE account well before the trip. We booked three per day and were able to get all the fast passes we wanted for all the headliners before the tiering came into effect. I printed out the itinerary, one page for each day which listed the three fastpasses.
Our magic bands worked for entry into the parks. We had parkhoppers and experienced no issues here.
Only two people in our party had magicbands that worked for the fastpasses. At the majority of the rides, the CM's stated "you don't have fast passes". I whipped out my piece of paper showing that I indeed did have them and they manually let us through. At a some of the rides they had a CM standing by with a tablet that scanned my wristband and it showed that I did have fastpasses so we were let through that way as well. One time, at TT, the CM with the tablet was adamant that we did not have fastpasses, my sister showed her the proof on paper, but still gave my sister a hard time. Eventually they were let through. That was the only time that it was a negative experience.
We knew there would possibly be glitches with this, but I was still a little disappointed because I did everything right, I booked everything for the family early on and had made two calls to technical support when I encountered issues prior to the trip.
Despite this, the CM's were mainly understanding and supportive, and we had a wonderful trip with short (ish) lines. I am glad I had them all on paper to show the CM's, I am sure I could have pulled it up on my iphone, but it was easier for me to have it in my hand on paper, especially if the app was slow or not working.
Overall, trip was great and I like the magicbands. I hope next year they will work as planned.

 

[FiggieFan]

Thanks for the update. I just hit our 60 day mark on Friday and made all of our fast-pass reservations. I have been worried about that and have print-outs of everything. I can see them on-line and on my Disney phone app but still worried they will disappear, which is why I will carry paper printouts. I already had one dining ADR disappear and when I called they said someone must have gotten the number transposed and accidently cancelled mine - that wasn't too comforting!
Fingers crossed and hoping for a bit of pixie dust!

 

[pigletto]

Thank you. Someone earlier in the week posted that they had the same issue. I will be taking screen shots of our fast passes and printing them out. Hopefully I won't need them but I sure plan to bring them. I would be livid if I had to argue to get the fastpass+ reservations I booked 2 months ahead of time considering I didn't even want to do it in the first place.

 

[PinkBudgie]

We will be getting 10 day park hoppers. I guess I'll have to bring a book with me full of ADRs and ride schedules. Ironic how all this new technology just makes you use more paper!

 

[ArwenMarie]

We had a lot of random ipad scanning going on too...three of us would get whether through the gate or FP and then the fourth person wouldnt. I think they were pretending to scan sometimes but just waving us through. And it wasnt always the same person. Room keys and charging were more consistent...I was the one whose band/card couldnt do either for the whole trip, so A for consistency there

 

[Otter49]

See, this is working out perfectly. No more paper to keep track of, no more reaching into pockets or backpacks to find a paper fastpass.....

Oh...never mind.

 

[JAG107]

I can't believe the CM's are giving guests a hard time because their system is screwing up...and constantly, from what it sounds like. How exactly is this enhancing the guest experience? Having to bring printouts to prove you have the reservation? I guess it's helping Disney because it's using YOUR printer paper and ink, not theirs anymore...
I wonder how much longer it's going to take to get this all straight?

 

[vdoucet78]

We had the same issue our first day and were directed to our hotel concierge to have our bands reprogrammed which we did. It worked fine after that, except for one day. All we had to do was show them our FP+ on the MDE app and they manually changed it at the first scanner to let us through. We are on day 8 of an 11 day trip and so far that's been our only issue. I'm sure we're in the minority here (and may depend on crowd levels though this supposedly slow week has been packed), but we are loving the bands and FP+. We've only pulled a paper fastpass once and only hit rope drop once (to ride Everest multiple times) and it's been a relaxing change for us. Love being able to change FP times on the fly as needed.

 

[aidtrismommy]

I thought about going to guest services because I heard they could re-program, but I was afraid, to be honest, that I would lose my selections and I had them before the tiering so I did not want to lose those fastpasses!
What struck me as odd was that most of the CM's said "you don't have fastpasses", they could have said "The system isn't showing that you have fastpasses" or something similar without placing the blame on me.
I did like that I could change my selection on a whim. I did it only one time and it worked great and it was actually the ONLY time all of our fastpasses worked.

 

[Babsy]

What struck me as odd was that most of the CM's said "you don't have fastpasses", they could have said "The system isn't showing that you have fastpasses" or something similar without placing the blame on me.

That is a very good point. Disappointing that WDW hasn't trained CM's to use non accusatory language, especially since there are so many glitches in the system that the fault is likely their own!

 

[vdoucet78]

I thought about going to guest services because I heard they could re-program, but I was afraid, to be honest, that I would lose my selections and I had them before the tiering so I did not want to lose those fastpasses! What struck me as odd was that most of the CM's said "you don't have fastpasses", they could have said "The system isn't showing that you have fastpasses" or something similar without placing the blame on me. I did like that I could change my selection on a whim. I did it only one time and it worked great and it was actually the ONLY time all of our fastpasses worked.

I was worried too, we also booked before tiering and I didn't have a paper copy with me. But luckily it worked out okay. They also told us "you don't have fastpasses" and I agree they should've used more non-accusatory phrasing since it seems like it's been a common issue.

 

[rebbyparker]

see, this is working out perfectly. No more paper to keep track of, no more reaching into pockets or backpacks to find a paper fastpass.....

Oh...never mind.

lol!!

 

[seashoreCM]

I would be tempted to go to Guest Services --- not to report problems with the Magic Bands but rather to report the CM giving guests a hard time. And to request another round of fastpasses to make up for the time spent with this exercise.

 

[Brian_WDW74]

Per the Looking for the Live Report and Just Back Threads? sticky thread, I have moved this to the Disney Trip Reports board.

 

[Magpie]

We had the same experience!

On our first day, we got a spectacularly unhelpful CM at the entrance to the Tower of Terror, who told us we didn't have FPs. I knew we did, so we stood there and debated it for a moment until she said, "I could let you through, but that might mess up all your other FPs for tonight!" Then she directed us to the kiosk right in front of the Tower of Terror.

We were a bit grumpy about that, but when we got there we found a Guest Services lady waiting for us who said all the right things. She thought the problem was that I'd booked our FP+ before the tiered system, so she put a fix in for all of our days at Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Then she told us to take a picture of our FP+ selections for the day before we left, just to be careful. Finally, she had another CM walk us back to the Tower of Terror and escort us right on to ensure we didn't have any more issues with that previous cast member.

Now, after that, all of our Epcot and Hollywood Studios FP+ worked perfectly. None of our Magic Kingdom worked (we didn't have any Animal Kingdom FP+). But it was no hassle just whipping out our phone and saying, "See? Our FP+ is right here!" The cast member would peer at it, and then wave us past.

I agree with everyone else that I wish they could come up with something else to say besides, "You don't have fastpasses," though I did get pretty used to just coming back with, "Yes, we do and here's the proof!"

Other than that first cast member, no one gave us a hard time and we didn't have to carry anything extra other than our phone with the picture (which we would have on us anyway). We didn't have access to the app, as we had a Blackberry.

In general, I like the MagicBands and FP+, and I'm looking forward to when they work the bugs out!

 

[ktlm]

Well, it is good to at least hear that they are letting people through that can show the FP+ on their phone or on paper. When we were there Oct 5-13, we witnessed several occasions where the bands scanned blue and the people tried to show the CM on their phone that they did in fact have FP+, and the CM said showing it on the phone was not good enough and they would not let them in if the band did not scan green and they needed to go to Guest services if they thought it was scanning wrong.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Well, it is good to at least hear that they are letting people through that can show the FP+ on their phone or on paper. When we were there Oct 5-13, we witnessed several occasions where the bands scanned blue and the people tried to show the CM on their phone that they did in fact have FP+, and the CM said showing it on the phone was not good enough and they would not let them in if the band did not scan green and they needed to go to Guest services if they thought it was scanning wrong.

I think it's up to the discretion of the CM. We were only waved through because most of us would have it, it just wouldn't be working for one of us.

 

[Magpie]

I think it's up to the discretion of the CM. We were only waved through because most of us would have it, it just wouldn't be working for one of us.

Neither of our bands worked in the Magic Kingdom, on any day we were there, and we were waved through as soon as we showed the picture on our phone.

Only... it's not so much "waved through" as they'd push a button, have us tap our bands again, and then it'd turn green. And it'd be green on the next checkpoint, too.

Maybe the CMs got an update/new policy this past week!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Neither of our bands worked in the Magic Kingdom, on any day we were there, and we were waved through as soon as we showed the picture on our phone.

Only... it's not so much "waved through" as they'd push a button, have us tap our bands again, and then it'd turn green. And it'd be green on the next checkpoint, too.

Maybe the CMs got an update/new policy this past week!

I think that's what they were doing for us too actually. It seemed to me sort of a electronic wave-through LOL