Linking MagicBand to open room door without stopping at Front Desk??

[MamaKate]

Is there a way to get your MagicBand to work to open your room door without stopping at the front desk? My last few trips, our MagicBands did not work until the front manually did something to link them to the room reservation. This was never a problem a few years ago when all MagicBands active under your account would work. I know there is a "Digital Key" on the app, but I have never been able to get that to work... Has anyone been successful using the digital key at SSR?

We are staying at SSR and would rather the driver just drop us off at our room with our luggage. We have a red-eye flight and will be arriving extremely early and will be exhausted from our flight. I have booked the night before just so we can go straight to our room.

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Ours always work without stopping at the front desk. We can also us our MDE account on our phone. Heck, I never even went to the front desk at Pop last time. Didn't need too.

Do you have your magic bands listed in your MDE account? That might be the problem.

 

[MamaKate]

Ours always work without stopping at the front desk. We can also us our MDE account on our phone. Heck, I never even went to the front desk at Pop last time. Didn't need too.

Do you have your magic bands listed in your MDE account? That might be the problem.

Yes, we have several MagicBands each listed under our MDE account and our last couple trips (BWV and BRV) I had to go to the front desk because none of them worked without them fixing the problem. Both of those times, I tried the Digital Key, and would get an error.

Maybe Disney technology doesn't like me . It's promising that you have been able to get it to work. Maybe deactivate and reactivate the MagicBands we are bringing and see if that might work??? Fingers crossed either the MagicBands or Digital Key works when we arrive, so I don't have to lug all our stuff on the bus back to the front desk .

 

[Tigger's ally]

Yes, we have several MagicBands each listed under our MDE account and our last couple trips (BWV and BRV) I had to go to the front desk because none of them worked without them fixing the problem. Both of those times, I tried the Digital Key, and would get an error.

Maybe Disney technology doesn't like me . It's promising that you have been able to get it to work. Maybe deactivate and reactivate the MagicBands we are bringing and see if that might work??? Fingers crossed either the MagicBands or Digital Key works when we arrive, so I don't have to lug all our stuff on the bus back to the front desk .

Yeah, I constantly update everyone's MB's on the app and deactivate the ones that we don't take anymore. We all usually buy one every other trip so we have 2 activated on each trip using one as a spare.

I wouldn't deactivate any that you are planning to use though. How old are the ones that you are planning to use?

 

[drusba]

Stayed at SSR in May. Reservation, applicable Family and Fiends, and the fact that the occupants had magic bands, were all shown in my MDE account. We did pre-check in and received notice that our room was ready before we arrived (at about 3:30). Had no issue when going directly to room, and, in fact, we made sure each magic band could open the room door when we arrived. All the magic bands we were using were not the ones that have to be charged. I had one of those the prior time we went and it would not open the door.

 

[tjkraz]

I'm not sure there's anything proactive you can do to help avoid the non-working MB problem. Aside from going into your MDE account, pulling up the list of bands & cards on your account and deactivating any that are no longer being utilized. For years, CMs have claimed that most people who experience problems are those with a long list of active bands on their MDE account.

More often than not, ours work fine upon arrival. And when the band doesn't open the door, the function in the MDE app is another alternative. We've never had a situation where every band / app in our group failed to open the door.

When a band doesn't work, I believe a visit to the front desk is necessary to fix it.

 

[Tigger's ally]

Stayed at SSR in May. Reservation, applicable Family and Fiends, and the fact that the occupants had magic bands, were all shown in my MDE account. We did pre-check in and received notice that our room was ready before we arrived (at about 3:30). Had no issue when going directly to room, and, in fact, we made sure each magic band could open the room door when we arrived. All the magic bands we were using were not the ones that have to be charged. I had one of those the prior time we went and it would not open the door.

We went in October. My wife and I both used our MB's at Pop with no problem, never even going to front desk. Then, we moved to SSR when the rest of our clan flew in. Parked at the end of Congress park and walked to Springs for the morning. Got through security and the text came our room was ready. Did a 180 and walked right back to springs. Our MB's are the new ones that take a charger. They opened the doors just fine. The rest of our group arrived and all 6 of their bands worked right away. No problems. Never had any problems over many stays.

 

[MamaKate]

I'm not sure there's anything proactive you can do to help avoid the non-working MB problem. Aside from going into your MDE account, pulling up the list of bands & cards on your account and deactivating any that are no longer being utilized. For years, CMs have claimed that most people who experience problems are those with a long list of active bands on their MDE account.

More often than not, ours work fine upon arrival. And when the band doesn't open the door, the function in the MDE app is another alternative. We've never had a situation where every band / app in our group failed to open the door.

When a band doesn't work, I believe a visit to the front desk is necessary to fix it.

Maybe that is my issue. We have a lot of MagicBands on our MDE, but we do still have them all. I will minimize our list to 2 each and hopefully that solves the issue.

It's great to hear that so many do not have the same problem as me so that is encouraging. I arrive this Friday at the wee hours of the morning so I will let you all know how it goes

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Maybe that is my issue. We have a lot of MagicBands on our MDE, but we do still have them all. I will minimize our list to 2 each and hopefully that solves the issue.

It's great to hear that so many do not have the same problem as me so that is encouraging. I arrive this Friday at the wee hours of the morning so I will let you all know how it goes

They've wanted to delete many from mine in the past at the front desk with that given as the reason but I did not allow it. Nope - not after the BC/BCV front desk managed to duplicate everyone one time. Finally had a Disney IT person state they knew the # linked was a reason given but wasn't the issue.
My favorite MB often doesn't work but others will. Somewhat random on when. Last 3 trips it worked without issue but at the resort it almost never does without stopping at the desk, AKV Jambo, it once again did not work. I had brought back ups so didn't bother "fixing" it this time. SSR was a resort stay twice in the last 1 1/2 years and no issues with the bands working there. It doesn't mean your experience will be the same but I also don't think there's actions you can take on a pro-active basis ahead of arrival. My phone has worked to open the door though too.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

We have found that if we have a MB (or MB+) that doesn’t work opening the door upon arrival at the resort that we can avoid the trip to the front desk by using the app to deactivate the band, then immediately reactivating it. We do limit the number of active MBs in our MDE accounts to those we have taken on a particular trip. It’s easy to activate and deactivate bands.

 

[SleeplessInTO]

My last 3 trips, the MagicBands (two old ones, one of the new ones that we charged) didn’t work to open the door. We were able to use the app for two of those trips. One time I trekked to the lobby to get it fixed. I was told they had to call someone and I could leave the MB with them. It happened twice (AKL and GF). Have no idea what they did but took about 30 mins each time.

Just finished a trip to SSR and happy to report our MBs worked just fine without a stop at the main lobby.

Seems hit and miss.

 

[eticketplease]

We have been able to get into the rooms just fine but had to go to the front desk to have it activated for the pool at Poly. Never had an issue at BLT pool or Storm Along Bay.

 

[hokiekkghl]

We had no problems using our MagicBand+ at VGF for our July 4th trip his summer. However, we did a split stay over Labor Day and had issues with MagicBand+ and MDE app at BCV and PVB. Both times we had to trek over to the front desk to "activate" and both times they apologized and said they were aware of the issue. Hopefully it's now been resolved but I only have so much faith in Disney IT!

 

[MamaKate]

We have found that if we have a MB (or MB+) that doesn’t work opening the door upon arrival at the resort that we can avoid the trip to the front desk by using the app to deactivate the band, then immediately reactivating it. We do limit the number of active MBs in our MDE accounts to those we have taken on a particular trip. It’s easy to activate and deactivate bands.

I'm going to remember this tip!

At SSR, it's not the easiest trek to the lobby so I really hope at least one MB or the app works to open the door.

 

[disneydreamer781]

.

 

[TheLyinKing]

When we did a super split stay late october, we had no issues at the first two resorts we stayed at, but had issues at the last one. So I think it's just a YMMV thing...