Magic Bands while camping?

[peg110]

Make sure to customize your bands within MDE ahead of time and they will arrive to you about 2-3 weeks prior to your trip.

Whether you go the the parks or not, you will get them.

Now FW has you re-entering the campsite with your bands and comfort stations.

Never fear happy camper, you will get your magical band! They love love to track your every movement and love to watch you spend willy nilly with no clue on how much your really racking up!

I do not allow Charging on the bands. First of all I don't want my children to have the ability (not that they would) but I also want to have complete visibility into what I spend my money on. It's far to easy to loose track when you can simply just charge it to the Room (or band).

Also as others have pointed out, you do get the bands for FW. We got ours in plenty of time. If you go to the MDE you can customize them so that you don't get just the grey ones. You can also link in tickets to your bands even if you bought them elsewhere. We usually get ours through AAA and had no issues linking them to our bands.

 

[peg110]

We have stayed there 3 times in the last 8 months and got magic bands 2 out of the three times. The only reason we did not get them the one time is because I literaly booked the site the night before. As long as you book a few days in advance you will get them. If it is too close to the checkin date you may not be able to customize them but you will get the grey bands upon checkin. In I think mid January I think they enabled your magic bands to unlock the bathrooms at night but other than that and them being an included suviner I have not seen any other use for the bands at the campground.

Other uses at the campground are if you have the Dining Plan. You use your band, also "Charging" to your "Room" (site) uses the band (if enabled). It also is used if you are driving in to the Campground. When we were there last time, sometimes the band worked, sometimes we had to use a "Card" (which they did supply us with for our stay)

 

[KristinU]

What is the name of the app?
TIA

I used My Disney Experience app

Yep, the My Disney Experience app

 

[LHARPSTER]

Yep, the My Disney Experience app

Thank you

 

[LHARPSTER]

Will they still give you a card at check in if you prefer to buy things that way?

 

[ilovedisneymm]

You don't have to have charging on your bands. But if you want to access the comfort stations, re-enter the park with ease and use fast passes, you will need a magic band.

I do not allow Charging on the bands. First of all I don't want my children to have the ability (not that they would) but I also want to have complete visibility into what I spend my money on. It's far to easy to loose track when you can simply just charge it to the Room (or band).

Also as others have pointed out, you do get the bands for FW. We got ours in plenty of time. If you go to the MDE you can customize them so that you don't get just the grey ones. You can also link in tickets to your bands even if you bought them elsewhere. We usually get ours through AAA and had no issues linking them to our bands.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

For those that have gotten them, are they really all that helpful? Do you think they're a must do? As we're at a campground and not using as a room key wasn't thinking we would do it this time. They didn't have them last time we were at Disney. We're not making a lot of dining reservations either, just a couple must do's and then winging it, making the day of or before, etc.

 

[peg110]

Even at the campground, I find them useful. If you are using the laundry (at all) or the comfort stations (after 11) then you need it to access them. The cards are more of pain (imo). The bands aren't an issue. I just wore mine the entire time. It was not uncomfortable, it's water proof and convenient. If you are going to the park they are also convenient particularly for Fast Pass+. If you have the dining plan, it's also very convenient. The kids actually loved it when they were allowed to scan for the meal. (They think they paid for the meal). If you use the photo pass, it's AWESOME as well.

Is it helpful? I guess if you only need to use the comfort stations during late night hours and don't do the dining plan, and pretty much stay at the campground the entire time, then it's probably not very helpful, but if you do anything (Disney) outside of FW, then it can be very helpful.

 

[KristinU]

Useful? To me I'd much rather have our admission tied to our bracelets than to juggle whose card is which at the park turnstiles (well, not really turnstiles anymore, but you know what I mean.) You'll receive them anyway, so I guess it is up to you whether or not you tie admission to it if you're not on a package.

We don't do the DDP but we do like having payment linked to them so we don't need to worry about carrying other stuff. We pretty much stick to the few reservations we make and the budgeted snacks and a couple of souvenirs, so having payment linked wasn't an issue for us getting out of hand. We gave DS (11) charging privileges as well and he liked being able to pay for meals and liked the independence of riding his bike to the Trading Post to pick up some after-dinner treats for all of us a couple of times. We gave him a budgeted amount and he stuck to it.