Magic band guru??? Anyone???

[I Love Pluto]

I need some help with My Disney Experience. On the site - they claim that for 2 people, I must order 2 Magic Bands for our Passholder tickets.

They also claim that I must order 2 more Magic Bands for our room key, etc. Help!!!!! Do I really have to order FOUR Magic Bands for 2 people?????

It is difficult being in your 60's when the rest of the world uses computers like 16-year-old genius creatures!!!

Thank you to all of the intelligent ones out there!

 

[SolitaryPhoenix]

I need some help with My Disney Experience. On the site - they claim that for 2 people, I must order 2 Magic Bands for our Passholder tickets.

They also claim that I must order 2 more Magic Bands for our room key, etc. Help!!!!! Do I really have to order FOUR Magic Bands for 2 people?????

It is difficult being in your 60's when the rest of the world uses computers like 16-year-old genius creatures!!!

Thank you to all of the intelligent ones out there!

I have a couple of computers in the house, a smart phone, a tablet, and consider myself as tech-savvy as a non-IT person normally is, yet I have the same question as you, and was looking for the answer as well!

We've received our bands for our upcoming April stay, and our AP bands are on the way - do we have to keep both on us or is the hotel stay programed onto the AP band?

 

[VelvetGloves]

Based on my previous experiences, you do not have to have both bands on you. I have actually been collecting bands with each stay. I have multiple colors and change them out based on my outfit. The last CM told me that since I had a fourth one, it may start causing trouble. I think she was just struggling with the system, as a CM later that day said it didn't matter how many I had.

 

[smbowtie]

I need some help with My Disney Experience. On the site - they claim that for 2 people, I must order 2 Magic Bands for our Passholder tickets.

They also claim that I must order 2 more Magic Bands for our room key, etc. Help!!!!! Do I really have to order FOUR Magic Bands for 2 people?????

It is difficult being in your 60's when the rest of the world uses computers like 16-year-old genius creatures!!!

Thank you to all of the intelligent ones out there!

Disney has decided to give APS MBs to link to your MDE to be able to make FP+s. But anyone that is staying at a Disney Resort also gets MBs. It doesn't matter if you alresdy have MBs, they will give you more any time you stay onsite. Even a split stay gets you 2 sets. It's dumb but that is the way it is set up right now.
Both MBs will do the same thing if linked to MDE, so you don't need to have both with you.

 

[IsThatYouTigger]

I think that the short answer is yes you will end up with multiple magic bands for both your AP and resort stay. If they are both linked to your MDE acct you will be able to use them interchangably. DH and I stayed in October (received Green and Blue bands) and are heading there again a week from today (yay!) and also received Red and Pink bands for this trip. I have heard people say they are basically collecting them to get all the colors to be able to color coordinate with their outfits ;-).

 

[POOHsie]

I don't think the number of Magic Bands you have matters. They all work equally until the battery wears out. If our family collects enough of them from our many WDW split stays, we'll decorate them and string them around the Xmas tree in place of garland.

P.S. Still waiting for a purple magic band. I've seen pictures of it...

 

[ucfknight]

I don't think the number of Magic Bands you have matters. They all work equally until the battery wears out.

Even when the battery dies, a MagicBand will still work just fine for everything important (park entry, FastPass return, touch-to-pay).

 

[POOHsie]

Even when the battery dies, a MagicBand will still work just fine for everything important (park entry, FastPass return, touch-to-pay).

Thanks. Good to know!

 

[Elevationist]

If our family collects enough of them from our many WDW split stays, we'll decorate them and string them around the Xmas tree in place of garland.

Now THAT is what I want to see a picture of!

 

[RogueKnits]

Even when the battery dies, a MagicBand will still work just fine for everything important (park entry, FastPass return, touch-to-pay).

What exactly does the battery do? I know RFID does not require a battery, so I'm wondering what else the MBs do that would require a battery...

 

[nickcirc]

What exactly does the battery do? I know RFID does not require a battery, so I'm wondering what else the MBs do that would require a battery...

Maybe for the HF modes that allow for long range detection of the bands?

In short, bands are Active, cards are Passive. Active uses a battery, passive does not

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/my-disney-experience/frequency-technology/

 

[scottrc]

I've used the same single Magic Bands for 2 trips. You only need 1 a piece. I'm sure this is something that Disney will have to revisit in a couple of years as I'm sure they are hemorrhaging cash with magic bands people don't need.

For example, I'm a DVC member with an upcoming trip in October. That trip has 2 different reservation #'s so I "could" get bands for each reservation. I'm also an AP, so I "could" also get one for that as well. But i don't need to. I could still use the bands I've already used for 2 trips, but we wanted different colors.

Bottom line, you only need 1. Just make sure the one band you're each going to use is linked to your room reservations/tickets within the My Disney Experience site/app.

Once you do that, it's your room key, room charge, park ticket and fast pass all in one handy water proof device!

 

[POOHsie]

After the last two comments, I was curious if the magic bands had a battery.

My first link to an article said it had a battery. http://blog.wdwinfo.com/2013/05/17/first-look-disneys-mymagic-magicband/

"The center part of the MagicBand where the large Mickey Mouse head is located is the only firm part of the whole band. It holds the actual RFID chips and the battery inside."​

Second link to a disney site says the magic band doesn't require battery. It doesn't say it doesn't have a battery. nickcirc's post points out the possible 2 uses for magic band: RFID for short range, HF for long range (battery use?). https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/bands-cards/how-to-use-magic-band/

"MagicBands are always operational. They don’t require batteries or have an on/off switch."
​

It's not that I care. I have the option to use an RFID card and skip the magic band. But if the magic bands have a long range use, that might refer to tracking guest movement in the parks (in general ways, not personally spying). Perhaps WDW is trying to figure guest traffic patterns over the course of hours, days, month of the year, etc. All speculation on my part.

 

[nickcirc]

). Perhaps WDW is trying to figure guest traffic patterns over the course of hours, days, month of the year, etc. All speculation on my part.

I would say they have made no attempt to hide that fact. In fact they tell you right up that the bands will be used for tracking purposes.

At high range they can easily track you simply walking onto a ride, hey why not auto detect your doing a ride that you had an FP+ for later, and offer to change it? Or have a cast member pop out and call you by name from behind a door

And once again, as you say and they make quite clear, cards are available for those that don't want the bands

 

[BlueGiraffe]

We are are staying at POFQ for the first 5 days of our trip, and our 21 day tickets are linked to the bands that we'll pick up there (mine's orange). We are then moving to an offsite villa, but have 1 night booked at GF, and will be given another 4 bands for this stay (mine's yellow) - which I was quite pleased with as we'll then have all the colours. But I did wonder if I'd get myself into a muddle with one band for the parks, and another for our room key, etc.

So, from what I've read here, will I be able to use my orange POFQ band to get in and out of my room at GF? And/Or will I be able to use my yellow GF band to access the parks?

Thanks to anyone who can help me make sense of it

 

[Kate and Family]

If you end up with multiple bands and if they are all tied to your MDE, then does it matter which band you use?

Also wouldn't this be a good back up in case you hooked your band on something and lost it? Just carry the second one with you in a safe place.
What happens if you use your back up and someone else finds your first band and tries to use it?

 

[ucfknight]

If you end up with multiple bands and if they are all tied to your MDE, then does it matter which band you use?

Doesn't matter which you use. Both will work the same.

Also wouldn't this be a good back up in case you hooked your band on something and lost it?

Sure

Just carry the second one with you in a safe place.
What happens if you use your back up and someone else finds your first band and tries to use it?

As soon as you notice the first band is lost, you can go and deactivate it in My Disney Experience.
Before then, anyone finding the band wouldn't be able to use it for park entry (because their finger is different than yours) and they wouldn't be able to use it for purchases (because they don't know your pin).

 

[ucfknight]

What exactly does the battery do? I know RFID does not require a battery, so I'm wondering what else the MBs do that would require a battery...

Maybe for the HF modes that allow for long range detection of the bands?

In short, bands are Active, cards are Passive. Active uses a battery, passive does not

Close.

MagicBands are both Active AND Passive. There are actually 2 radios inside of each MagicBand. One radio is active (requiring the battery) and one radio is passive (no internal power is used).

The passive HF radio in the MagicBand is used for short range communication and is powered by the touchpoint they are held up to. When you touch the Mickey head of the MagicBand to the Mickey head on the touchpoint scanner, the radio waves sent out by the scanner power the passive circuit inside the MagicBand. The passive circuit in the MagicBand is then able to transmit its identification to the scanner, which then uses that identification number of the MagicBand to find your information in the database. This passive circuit is what is used at all touch points, and is why I said the MagicBand will continue to work just fine for most important things if the battery dies. You can still use the band for park entry, touch-to-pay, room locks, and FP+ return since these all use the passive radio.

The active RF long-range radio in the MagicBand is what uses the battery. This is used to pick you up on sensors from afar since the MagicBand uses this radio to constantly send out its identification information. This technology is used when you go to Be Our Guest for lunch so they can detect where you are sitting. It may be used in the future to detect you in ride vehicles to show you something personalized on the ride. This battery powered long-range radio is what privacy advocates worry about since Disney can use it to track your location through the entire park.

 

[nickcirc]

Close. MagicBands are both Active AND Passive. There are.... This technology is used when you go to Be Our Guest for lunch so they can detect where you are sitting....

Having JUST eaten there 3 hours ago, I was interested to know how they were doing that.. Thanks that solved that mystery!!

 

[I Love Pluto]

THANK YOU so much for your answers! I have learned a LOT from the knowledge which many of you shared.

AGAIN - thank you for explaining!