Magic Band Plus--Is it worth it? (Especially if you have actual in the parks experience!)

[cakebaker]

My grandson was absolutely obsessed about finding every statue at every park on our trip a few weeks ago and is super excited now to use an MB+ to look for them all over again. I'm a sucker for new gadgets, I loved the anniversary band, it was $10 off... why not.

 

[_19disnA]

We rather enjoy the Disney parks then spend lots of time looking at our phones or doing whatever those updated Magic Bands let you do. I would stick with the older bands.

 

[shystalips]

We rather enjoy the Disney parks then spend lots of time looking at our phones or doing whatever those updated Magic Bands let you do. I would stick with the older bands.

+ this. More is not always better!

 

[jwhtewolfd]

The Partners band was the only design I REALLY liked, so I went ahead and ordered it. If that one hadn't been available, I'd probably not bother and just use my old Fox and the Hound MB. Not too interested in the features, just based it on how much I liked the new designs.

 

[isabellea]

We have one last trip to WDW in December before moving on to other destinations now that my kids are older and I’m planning on pre-ordering M+ bands for them and I will use one of my old band. Since we’re always together or as duos with one kid, the fact they have the M+ will assure we get the long-range capabilities (ride photos) without any issue since our newest M2 is from 2019. We are in Canada so they will wait for us at the resort. Therefore, I’m waiting before ordering to see if they announce a room promo for our dates this fall in case I need to change our room reservation. I just hope they will have many styles available when I’m ready to order them!

 

[hmansionlover]

I really don't have any to add to the discussion. Just wanted to say love your avatar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nursemanit]

Magic band + is an absolute idiotic waste of money.....

especially when you buy 5 in different colors to coordinate with your park shirts.

 

[harleyquinn]

Well after day 1, I feel like an idiot. Waving at statues and getting excited when they finally talk to me. I also didn’t have the Play App downloaded so I apparently didn’t check off any of the ones I found. Early night tonight as we’ve been up since 3am. Tomorrow is Epcot, so we’ll see if I do any better. Getting the statues to go off is not as easy as it sounds and hopefully I get better at it!

Im here for a week, so let me know if you have any specific questions!

 

[Jonfw2]

We’ll after day 1, I feel like an idiot. Waving at statues and getting excited when they finally talk to me. I also didn’t have the Play App downloaded so I apparently didn’t check off any of the ones I found. Early night tonight as we’ve been up since 3am. Tomorrow is Epcot, so we’ll see if I do any better. Getting the statues to go off is not as easy as it sounds and hopefully I get better at it!

Im here for a week, so let me know if you have any specific questions!

See you on monday!

 

[harleyquinn]

See you on monday!

Just look for the blonde waving at statues while her husband tells her to wave slower or faster or further away or closer!

 

[Maleficent_Hades]

just for the designs alone i think its worth it for me. theres at least 6 designs that i love. my husband is kind of sad he just got the may the 4th limited magic band when we were there on may 5th cuz he really wants the grogu mb+ now lol. i'm super torn between the purple with minnie, the park snacks, and the stitch but i thankfully still have 160ish days still to pick one. knowing myself though i'll still be deciding up until the last day i can do it pre arrival lol

 

[harleyquinn]

Had a much better time getting things to work at Epcot. I open the play app and then wave like an idiot and it’s working and registering that I found them. I wish they were more spaced out at Epcot.

My daughter noticed that my band was red white and blue in France, so maybe it lights with the countries’ flag colors? didn’t notice in Canada.

We plan to do Harmonious tonight and HS tomorrow, so I’ll be able to really give my opinion!

 

[fla4fun]

It won’t work for me until I update my phone later this year. However, I do like the designs on a few of them and my old MB is getting pretty worn, so I will probably buy one later this year. I don’t have any interest in the games, statue hunt, or flashing during fireworks, and I do have concerns about my phone battery dying (since I generally keep my phone off). I just like the design, and like the possibility that they may come up with a use in the future that appeals to me.

 

[harleyquinn]

In case anyone cares, we didn’t end up staying for Harmonious and Batuu was too crowded this afternoon with others doing the bounty game because we got back there too late. We’re going back tonight to do SR and unless it’s too crowded I will at least give it a try. I did start to play another game through the parks app in Batuu that seemed like a scavenger hunt, but I’m sorry, it’s too crowded and hot and my feet hurt to play a game right now. Maybe when the newness wears off.

At this point, I definitely don’t think the MB+ is super amazing or anything, but I’m happy to have one for the future. Charging hasn’t been an issue, because we take afternoon breaks and I charge it then. But I’m sorry, there is no way I’m playing BBH for 90 minutes to let you all know how much battery it sucks. Love you all, but no.

 

[set88]

Anyone have any further thoughts? I let myself get suckered into buying them so I'd love to hear they're cool lol.

I'm particularly curious to know if anyone has further knowledge on whether the charge will allow them to keep working indefinitely for ride photos.

 

[SkyGuy]

We thought the only redeeming feature of MB+ was the entertainment value of watching people frantically wave at statues or get disgusted while waiting in the long lines at the Bounty Hunter interactions. We had a pre-teenish-age boy behind us in line for MF who complained quite extensively about how it was no fun because it took too long to wait in a line for a clue that he already knew was there and didn’t discover himself because of said line. I thought they were kind of clunky and seemed bigger to me than a regular MB. I actually considered tearing off the adult part to make mine the kid-sized one. They would randomly buzz on our arms (and not at the same time), and we felt kind of stupid looking around to try to figure out what prompted it - we never figured that out. We aren’t really the target demographic - mom and college-aged son (or maybe we are since we foolishly put $ down for two of them), so maybe it would be cute and fun with younger kids. I don’t know if I’ll bother taking them again or stick with our regular rotation of MBs.

 

[set88]

We thought the only redeeming feature of MB+ was the entertainment value of watching people frantically wave at statues or get disgusted while waiting in the long lines at the Bounty Hunter interactions. We had a pre-teenish-age boy behind us in line for MF who complained quite extensively about how it was no fun because it took too long to wait in a line for a clue that he already knew was there and didn’t discover himself because of said line. I thought they were kind of clunky and seemed bigger to me than a regular MB. I actually considered tearing off the adult part to make mine the kid-sized one. They would randomly buzz on our arms (and not at the same time), and we felt kind of stupid looking around to try to figure out what prompted it - we never figured that out. We aren’t really the target demographic - mom and college-aged son (or maybe we are since we foolishly put $ down for two of them), so maybe it would be cute and fun with younger kids. I don’t know if I’ll bother taking them again or stick with our regular rotation of MBs.

Well... that sounds lame. Maybe we won't try the game until everyone else has already gotten sick of it, haha.

I'm also hoping they add more features someday, but who knows.

 

[_19disnA]

We don't go to Disney that often. While it was convenient to wear a band while @ Disney, they get put in a drawer once we get home. As long as the old ones still work, have zero plans to buy newer ones no matter what added 'features' they include.

 

[danceintherain]

I may buy one. The kids can fight over it.

 

[raidermatt]

Only worth it if you think the design is worth it. The statues and bounty game are minimal and do not always work.

It works pretty well during the fireworks, but do you want to look at your wrist or do you want to look at the fireworks and projections? "Glow with the Show" was a similar idea, but that COULD work well if everybody was wearing them. Seeing all of the colors through the crowd was cool, and you could still actually watch the show. But of course even that only worked at media events when they gave the ears away for free. The rest of the time there was hardly anybody wearing them so it was pointless.

With the band, the only way it would really enhance the experience would be if everyone had them and everyone held them up during the show. But that is not going to happen.

So it gets back to whether you just like the design and want to wear it for that, and maybe a little interactivity when you have nothing else to do.