Linking a (very old) Magic Band

[ChanaC]

I'm planning a WDW trip in a few weeks, and while we are staying on site I decided not to buy new Magic Bands. Then after digging around my house I found three of my old Magic Bands. I used to be a CM and one of the bands was when they gave them out to CMs when they rolled out the system back in 2013. The other two bands were from resort stays probably around 2014-2015. So these bands are the old versions and who knows if the batteries in them are still good. I thought it might be neat to link one of these bands for my upcoming trip, but they don't automatically show up in my account and when I try adding them to MDE I get an error that they are already linked to someone else. What I think happened is that I had one MDE account, and in the time between those previous trips and this one I created a new MDE account. I have the same name and info, but I think the bands are linked to that old account. Any tricks or tips to connecting these old bands? Will I have to get on the dreaded hours long Disney help line? Really, if these don't link up it's no big deal, I don't mind using a room key or phone for things, but if there is an easy way to connect them I figured I might as well try.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Once a band is linked to an account, it cannot be re-linked to another account.

As far as the battery, the tap functions (park entry, lightning lane, etc) will work forever. The battery is only needed for long range functions like ride photos and the batteries typically last about 3 years.

 

[Bahamontes]

Best shot is to hit up guest services in person. Had a super involved (actually, mildly involved at most, but I like hyperbole) MB issue with a pal a few trips back, and they had him sorted in minutes.

 

[ChanaC]

In case anyone is in the same boat as me I thought I would give an update. Turns out yes, I did have two accounts, but unfortunately one now had my Disney resort reservation on it and one had the Magic Bands. I called Disney and after waiting about an hour and a half I finally got a really nice CM on the phone who was able to confirm the two accounts and merge them together, so now I have everything on one account! I could have waiting until I got to WDW and talked to guest services but it was nice to clear everything up ahead of time.

 

[4disneybound]

I'm planning a WDW trip in a few weeks, and while we are staying on site I decided not to buy new Magic Bands. Then after digging around my house I found three of my old Magic Bands. I used to be a CM and one of the bands was when they gave them out to CMs when they rolled out the system back in 2013. The other two bands were from resort stays probably around 2014-2015. So these bands are the old versions and who knows if the batteries in them are still good. I thought it might be neat to link one of these bands for my upcoming trip, but they don't automatically show up in my account and when I try adding them to MDE I get an error that they are already linked to someone else. What I think happened is that I had one MDE account, and in the time between those previous trips and this one I created a new MDE account. I have the same name and info, but I think the bands are linked to that old account. Any tricks or tips to connecting these old bands? Will I have to get on the dreaded hours long Disney help line? Really, if these don't link up it's no big deal, I don't mind using a room key or phone for things, but if there is an easy way to connect them I figured I might as well try.