Magic bands for off site guests : will you get one?

[jrmcvay]

Any offsite guest with a TICKET can pre-book Fp+ 30 days in advance if they have linked it to a My Disney Experience account.

A MagicBand is not a necessity - it is equivalent to a hard, plastic ticket for offsite guests.

Having a My Disney Experience account with a ticket linked to it gives anyone the ability to pre-book Fp+.

The only guests who have to book day of Fp+ are those who buy their ticket right before they enter the park. CMs also have to wait to do day of booking.

Is this brand new?? I've been stressed about being offsite and having to stand in a crazy long FP kiosk line every day at the parks. This will be great!

 

[Itinkso]

Is this brand new?? I've been stressed about being offsite and having to stand in a crazy long FP kiosk line every day at the parks. This will be great!

Yes! It begins tomorrow!

 

[michaelsr]

Yes! It begins tomorrow!

Any advice for how to buy magic bands as an offsite guest? I tried this morning on MDE and could not figure out where to click to purchase magic bands. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[disneynutz]

Disney will continue to roll out special features that will require magic bands. They may restrict features available to the card.

Magic bands also have a limited life for some features thus repeat sales.

The possibilities are endless with the technology.

Bill

 

[ddesi]

What kind of special features? How do you find out about them?

 

[disneynutz]

What kind of special features? How do you find out about them?

You can be sure that Disney will feature them in their commercials when they roll out. So far we know the MD's are being used for crowd control, photos taken while on a ride can magically appear in your photo pass account, info from your MDE account can be made available for character meet and greats, a child's name and celebration for instance. There are also rumors of interactive walls or props while guests are in a ride queue.

Just think, you don't have a band and the person next to you walks by mirror in the Haunted Mansion queue, a ghost appears and calls his name. You walk by without a MB and nothing happens. You will go and spend the $12.95 to be included.

Bill

 

[redrosesix]

What's the point of them? If your an off siter, will you buy one? We may purchase one just to unlock the dragon in infinity, but I don't think anyone will actually want to wear it, so what's the point? I'd rather just be the ticket holder so I know my kids won't lose it. Thoughts?!

If I had a choice, I would have used a card. The MBs don't work as well with the scanners and some of them are just duds ie. they don't work well at all.

They don't do anything for you that an RFID card can't do, but you can swim with them on.

 

[SA mom]

The benefit is pre booking your FP+


Resort guest get 60 day

Offsite with MB get 30 day

Offsite w/o MB have to do day of in park FP

Not quite correct: You do not need a MB to get the 30 day scheduling window. I do not have a MagicBand but was able to book FP for the next month this morning. I have non-expiring tickets linked to MDE.

In answering the original question, I will not purchase a MagicBand, but my two daughters will be buying them. They just want the souvenir. They'd really like to be able to order ahead of time so that they jazz them up.

 

[lizabu]

I might buy one next time but only if I do memory maker. Last time I had my RFID ticket in my lanyard pouch with the memory maker card. I had to remove it to scan into the park and for FP+ because if you try to scan through the pouch the memory maker has it's own chip and it screws up the scan and someone has to come over with an iPad. I was the only one carrying the MM in my party. Everyone else was ok to scan through their pouch. You still have to have your cards on you even if you have a MB. I saw one family getting lectured when they tried to enter the park and the MB wasn't working. They didn't have their cards on them. I'm not sure but I think they were going to have to go all the way back to their resort to get the tickets and everyone seemed very upset about the situation.

 

[msquoted]

We are getting them as souvenirs. We also like that they are linked to our ADRs, tickets, and memory maker. Plus, since we have our cell number linked to our MDE we can be contacted by a CM if one of our kids get lost.

 

[SA mom]

Good point about Memory Maker. I might consider purchasing for myself.

 

[dmunsil]

I could see one reason to get a MagicBand. If you have older non-RFID tickets, either unused or non-expiring, buying a MagicBand is a faster way to get something you can use to enter parks and redeem FP+ than waiting in line at Guest Relations to swap your old tickets for new ones.

This is all assuming you can get your old tickets linked in MDE. But assuming that works, I would gladly spend $13/person in advance to get my entry media squared away.

 

[michaelsr]

From Disney's Website:

"If you are not staying at a Disney Resort hotel and are not a Passholder, you will receive a card when you purchase park admission—and you have the option to purchase a MagicBand at Disney theme parks and Downtown Disney area."

 

[erionm]

I could see one reason to get a MagicBand. If you have older non-RFID tickets, either unused or non-expiring, buying a MagicBand is a faster way to get something you can use to enter parks and redeem FP+ than waiting in line at Guest Relations to swap your old tickets for new ones.

This is all assuming you can get your old tickets linked in MDE. But assuming that works, I would gladly spend $13/person in advance to get my entry media squared away.

According to WDWMagic.com, you have to have an RFID ticket or existing MagicBand in order to purchase a MagicBand.

At the time of MagicBand purchase, you must already have an RFID ticket or existing MagicBand. The Cast Member will link the new MagicBand to your ticket, and My Disney Experience account if available. This means that you cannot buy additional bands for other people not present, as each band must be linked at the time of purchase.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/mymag...-you-need-to-know-about-buying-magicbands.htm

 

[dmunsil]

According to WDWMagic.com, you have to have an RFID ticket or existing MagicBand in order to purchase a MagicBand.

Ah. Too bad; the current way they're handling old non-expiring tickets seems unnecessarily annoying. Why they won't let you swap tickets via mail is beyond me.