Magic Band vs. Phone for LLs

[jldeahl]

Hello! I'm planning my family's first trip in a few years. We have 7-year-old Magic Bands. I'm trying to figure out what I do:
A: Take a gamble on these old bands working and use them
B: Buy new Magic Bands (a hard pill to swallow since they are so expensive...)
C: Just use my phone to swipe in for our LLs (or is this too unweildy for a family of 5 and using one phone for multiple people)

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Old MBs should still work for scanning into LL or the park. That part of the function still works for MB+ when they run out of charge, even

It's likely that they won't work for the ride photos where they get automatically dropped into your account. That will be based on whose phones are properly set up with Bluetooth and/or someone having MB+.

You could compromise and just order the new ones for the kids who are likely going to care the most about the things on their wrist lighting up during fireworks. Then you'll have a device that will grab the ride photos, they kids will be pleased, and you won't have spent the money x 5 for the new bands.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We use our old bands and have phone set up with bluetooth. Has worked well for a number of trips. I don't feel the need to purchase MB+ for either my DD or me. Neither of us miss it.

I would not recommend trying to scan in for all of you on phone. Causes a lot of unnecessary time for you and the people behind you in line. A great option is to just get the free cards the CMs can give you when you tap in the first time and use those for park entrance, LL, etc.

 

[MagicDVC]

Old bands will work at the touch points. It just won't work for photos or anything needing the transmitter. I prefer using MBs for LLs, so easy to tap and go.

 

[elvispursley]

Ugh! I beg you to please be considerate of those behind you and either 1) use old MB, 2) buy new MB, or 3) get a free KTTW card to scan in to all’s. It really is annoying to get stuck behind party (especially a larger one) while they fumble through the phone, trying to scan everyone in.

 

[HeiHei2018]

We use old bands or KKTW cards. Most of the photos load via Bluetooth, but some do get missed. We don’t buy them, so not a worry for us.

 

[Dave006]

Hello! I'm planning my family's first trip in a few years. We have 7-year-old Magic Bands. I'm trying to figure out what I do:
A: Take a gamble on these old bands working and use them

As others have indicated your existing MB will work for park entry, and LL tap points. Do your existing MBs have each person's name printed inside?

They don't disappear from your MDE Account and should be active but it is easy to check in the MDE app under your Account > Profile > MagicBands and More.

Dave

 

[gottalovepluto]

It’s not even a gamble. Old MBs work at WDW. The MB won’t track your photo in rides as the battery is dead. Anything you tap will work as the power comes from the tap point, not your MB.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We have old MB's and they work for the resort room door, park entry, making purchases, LL's, everything except ride photos, as others have mentioned.

 

[mickeymom629]

We use old MB and never realized that may be the issue with some of our photos not showing up. Do photos show up with KTTW (cards)?

 

[BrianL]

You can use your old MBs for tap points, but also set up your phones to do the ride photos if you want that - best of both worlds.

As others have said, anything at a tap point will always work. The RFID chips do not need batteries and draw power from the reader itself (think like office key-cards). They will theoretically never die unless damaged somehow. As long as those bands show active on your MDE profiles, you are good to go with them.

 

[brockash]

Hello! I'm planning my family's first trip in a few years. We have 7-year-old Magic Bands. I'm trying to figure out what I do:
A: Take a gamble on these old bands working and use them
B: Buy new Magic Bands (a hard pill to swallow since they are so expensive...)
C: Just use my phone to swipe in for our LLs (or is this too unweildy for a family of 5 and using one phone for multiple people)

Your old bands will work just fine. We've used super old ones (like within the first cpl. yrs. of magicbands being a thing and never had an issue.)

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Do photos show up with KTTW (cards)?

No. They show up if your phone Bluetooth is reading correctly or if you have a charged MB+.

For what it's worth, I had a few trips where we only had old MBs and both mine and my husband's phone bluetooth was supposedly connected properly. I'd say that I had to request 80% of the ride photos that autodrop into the account. They all showed up eventually, but I had to make tickets on the photopass site and have those folks find the photos.

Then, our 4th of July trip, we had 5 people with MB+ and I still had to do maybe 50% of my auto-load ride photos as lost photo tickets.

I wish they just had the screens at the end of the ride. To make sure I get my photos, I take a picture at the boarding area (assuming I remember) for every ride where photos autoload and then go through in the morning to compare and see what I'm missing.

 

[WinterSolider]

A: Take a gamble on these old bands working and use them

There is no gamble. They'll work, period.

C: Just use my phone to swipe in for our LLs (or is this too unweildy for a family of 5 and using one phone for multiple people)

This will be unwieldy and people behind you in line will become very annoyed and frustrated. LLs aren't really the problem, the bigger issue is entering the park when you try to squeeze everyone in as you tap your phone, and they scan their fingerprint.

You can also just use your plastic room key if you're staying at a Disney resort, or get a free plastic card from the ticketing window if you're not.

 

[WinterSolider]

We use old MB and never realized that may be the issue with some of our photos not showing up. Do photos show up with KTTW (cards)?

Long-range bluetooth requires a not-dead battery. That means a MagicBand less than ~2 years old, or a MagicBand+ that's charged, or Bluetooth enabled on your phone with permissions allowed for the Walt Disney World app.

 

[jldeahl]

As others have indicated your existing MB will work for park entry, and LL tap points. Do your existing MBs have each person's name printed inside?

They don't disappear from your MDE Account and should be active but it is easy to check in the MDE app under your Account > Profile > MagicBands and More.

Dave

They don't have names on them but I will check MDE - thank you!!

 

[Dave006]

They don't have names on them but I will check MDE - thank you!!

You just need to match them up to each individual to use them. They are not interchangeable since a ticket needs to be assigned to each band / person.

Dave

 

[jldeahl]

You just need to match them up to each individual to use them. They are not interchangeable since a ticket needs to be assigned to each band / person.

Dave

I really appreciate this reminder - thanks again!

 

[zackiedawg]

I'll add a small caveat - it's POSSIBLE an old MB may not work, though almost all will. They can go bad - I've had around 14 MBs over the years, back when they used to come free when you checked in - I would get different color bands for fun. I later purchased a 50th anniversary one in 2021 and still use that one most of the time now. My blue MB stopped working in 2022 - it was about 5 years old and I had CMs at the hotel desk try to figure it out and they reported it was broken/dead, so that one got thrown out. I still have one of the original 2014 MBs (That didn't have the pop-out center piece) as well as a bunch of the gen2 versions and they were still working fine up to a few years ago.

 

[lilmc]

I take a picture at the boarding area (assuming I remember) for every ride where photos autoload and then go through in the morning to compare and see what I'm missing

Oh I’m using this!