Magic Cards not so magic

[jthelman]

I had all kinds of issues with the Magic Cards this past week. I'm not part of the test group, so we just had RFID cards for the park admission, and RFID cards to access the room.

Where to start?

• New benefit. Instead of being able to merge the park admission and room keys like in the past, you get to keep track of two cards per person. Magic Cards have no names on them so you better make sure to memorize the character on the cards (in addition to memorizing what finger you used for admission)! Sharpies seem like a good option.
  
• My room keys got set up wrong. Normally I attach a credit card to my room key and just carry the room. I *should* have just fixed it, but instead suffered through tens credit cards swipes at vendor stations. BTW: Vendors seemed annoyed that we just didn't use the RFID room key. I was still annoyed that we had to carry two cards, and the issues with the magic cards prevented me from dealing with another smiling, but useless person at a the front desk.
  
  
• And the topper: The park magic cards started failing on the second day at the parks. Somewhere along the line, my son's card and my card "merged" into one admission. Only one of us could get in (first one to light mickey each day). I had to wait in guest relation lines twice to get this fixed. When I literally pay a thousand dollars for admission to a park, you better get this fixed the first time. I lost about an hour on lines resembling soviet era bread lines to talk to guest relations. Had there been the need for a third trip to get this fixed, they probably would have had to escort me from the park.

I get that they are transitioning, but you can't screw people this bad in the transition process. Hopefully things get resolved and smooth out in 6 months.

 

[rainydayplay]

Just guessing that you weren't on a package? We had the RFID cards in June, it was still one KTTW card per person. They looked very similar to the old cards and could either be tapped on the RFID sensors or swiped. They were room and admission in one, as well as dining plan (tap the card on the sensor at the cashier to use your credits) and we had no trouble with them. Obviously, though, YMMV.

 

[Wishes Count]

I had all kinds of issues with the Magic Cards this past week. I'm not part of the test group, so we just had RFID cards for the park admission, and RFID cards to access the room.

Where to start?

• New benefit. Instead of being able to merge the park admission and room keys like in the past, you get to keep track of two cards per person. Magic Cards have no names on them so you better make sure to memorize the character on the cards (in addition to memorizing what finger you used for admission)! Sharpies seem like a good option.
  
• My room keys got set up wrong. Normally I attach a credit card to my room key and just carry the room. I *should* have just fixed it, but instead suffered through tens credit cards swipes at vendor stations. BTW: Vendors seemed annoyed that we just didn't use the RFID room key. I was still annoyed that we had to carry two cards, and the issues with the magic cards prevented me from dealing with another smiling, but useless person at a the front desk.
  
  
• And the topper: The park magic cards started failing on the second day at the parks. Somewhere along the line, my son's card and my card "merged" into one admission. Only one of us could get in (first one to light mickey each day). I had to wait in guest relation lines twice to get this fixed. When I literally pay a thousand dollars for admission to a park, you better get this fixed the first time. I lost about an hour on lines resembling soviet era bread lines to talk to guest relations. Had there been the need for a third trip to get this fixed, they probably would have had to escort me from the park.

I get that they are transitioning, but you can't screw people this bad in the transition process. Hopefully things get resolved and smooth out in 6 months.

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say "Magic Cards" I assume based on your description as them being Green cards with characters that you are talking about the ticket media.

First, tickets can still be added to your KTTW card by visiting the concierge desk at your resort. There have always been some types of tickets that cannot be added to the KTTW card, which has not changed. If you purchased tickets directly from Disney as part of your package they would have automatically been attached. If you purchased tickets elsewhere potentially they could not be added.

Second, If you were having an issue with the touch to pay or credit card linked to your room you should have visited the front desk, but you stated you didn't want to be bothered with it.

Third, I'm not sure what the problem was with your ticketing issues, sounds unusual, but others should be aware that this is not the norm.

 

[jthelman]

No package. I booked room only thru Disney, and bought the tickets 3rd party.

I've done this many time before without issue.

 

[jthelman]

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say "Magic Cards" I assume based on your description as them being Green cards with characters that you are talking about the ticket media.

First, tickets can still be added to your KTTW card by visiting the concierge desk at your resort. There have always been some types of tickets that cannot be added to the KTTW card, which has not changed. If you purchased tickets directly from Disney as part of your package they would have automatically been attached. If you purchased tickets elsewhere potentially they could not be added.

Second, If you were having an issue with the touch to pay or credit card linked to your room you should have visited the front desk, but you stated you didn't want to be bothered with it.

Third, I'm not sure what the problem was with your ticketing issues, sounds unusual, but others should be aware that this is not the norm.

Nothing like a surly attitude. Use that, and you can dismiss all the problems I had.

Yes, the green cards. On the "My Disney Experience site", the term "MagicBands and Cards" is used, I misread this as MagicBands and MagicCards.

The cards could not combined at the front desk to KTTW - I ASKED. They told me that the two cards could not be combined as the two systems were incompatible. Let me know which problem you wish to dismiss, either the people at the desk were clueless, or the systems really were incompatible.

Do you blame me for not wanting to stand in line for a fourth time for fix the credit card not attached to the account? I spent 1 hr fixing the park admission crap, and also spent time asking about combining cards.

Also note that I honestly couldn't care if this is "usual", but thanks for the opinion. It helps to know that only my vacation got affected.

I've been to Disney at least 10 times in the past, and all customer service was excellent. This year was the exception. Everyone was pleasant, but you can't be inept. For example, I waited 1/2 hr in line outside DHS to get the admission problem fixed. When I got to the window, the Guest Relation guy dismissed the problem. I asked him to recheck the cards, he took 5 seconds, and pronounced them "OK". The next day, at EPCOT we had an issue with the admission. The person at the admission turnstiles looks at his tablet and immediately tells me there is a big problem with my admission tickets. How can CMs differ that much??????? Off to the EPCOT guest relations, where they fixed the problem permanently.

 

[AuroraRora]

What the heck is a Magic Card I've never heard that term used, ever.

I'm not sure why your ticket and KTTW couldn't be combined at the front desk - it's possible they have having issues with the computer system or maybe the CM was new and confused about the new MagicBands and didn't understand how regular KTTW's work. The majority of guests (regardless of testing) DO get their tickets combined, and having to carry two cards is not something new as standard. But is it really a massive imposition to have to carry two cards? Complaining over having to remember who had which character doesn't really hold weight - everyone who stays off-site had to do the same thing and it's hardly a big deal. Every time my family went when I was a kid, we all were assigned a character and stuck with it, the first trip we wrote our initials on the tickets but then we stopped that because... it wasn't that hard. And god forbid you have to remember which finger you used to scan in! That's something that's not new and not going anywhere, even with MagicBands.

I don't understand why you didn't just go to the front desk and sort out your credit card issue one night, or while the kids were at the pool or something. If you were really having such a tough time with it, you could've asked for a manager and maybe some apology fastpasses would've made up for your hour's wait.

 

[jthelman]

What the heck is a Magic Card I've never heard that term used, ever.

I'm not sure why your ticket and KTTW couldn't be combined at the front desk - it's possible they have having issues with the computer system or maybe the CM was new and confused about the new MagicBands and didn't understand how regular KTTW's work. The majority of guests (regardless of testing) DO get their tickets combined, and having to carry two cards is not something new as standard. But is it really a massive imposition to have to carry two cards? Complaining over having to remember who had which character doesn't really hold weight - everyone who stays off-site had to do the same thing and it's hardly a big deal. Every time my family went when I was a kid, we all were assigned a character and stuck with it, the first trip we wrote our initials on the tickets but then we stopped that because... it wasn't that hard. And god forbid you have to remember which finger you used to scan in! That's something that's not new and not going anywhere, even with MagicBands.

I don't understand why you didn't just go to the front desk and sort out your credit card issue one night, or while the kids were at the pool or something. If you were really having such a tough time with it, you could've asked for a manager and maybe some apology fastpasses would've made up for your hour's wait.

My Disney experience uses the term "MagicBands and Cards" all over it. I misread this as MagicBands and MagicCards. I apologize for the mislabeling.

Ironically, I went to front desk late at night to get boarding passed printed, but they can't do that once the concierge is closed (something about no internet). I should have pursued the credit card issue then.

 

[CarrieR]

We found the systems to be a mess this week, too. You can put the OP down all you want, but when you are losing (cumulatively) hours of vacation because the Mouse has opted to roll out a system that is not fully functional, it DOES impact your trip.

God forbid you try to pay for anything not tap-to-pay... it got to the point where we would tell CMs, "I have a gift card. I know they don't work well down here (pin pad,) but you get yelled at if you use them up there (terminal,) so I'll keep swiping and you keep hitting clear. Let me know when it works."

It was a glitchy trip.

 

[kymom79]

OP, I'm not sure why everyone is piling on you here. Admittedly, not linking the credit card with the room key is irrelevant to us (we're never going to unless they make it mandatory, and if they do we might just not go to Disney), but I would be pretty aggravated if I had to stand in line for that long to fix that excluded admission problem you had. It doesn't matter if it isn't "normally" that way, if you're not traveling at a reduced price for the privilege of having this different, unique experience that you had, the fact that other people may not have had a similar issue is irrelevant.

And the anonymous pass business is a minor thing, but we went 3 years ago and our names were on our passes.....We'll be picking up our APs in a week and I'm really sad to hear that sometimes the names aren't on the passes....we have a big family and we might get confused -- even if they don't run out of characters for us.

 

[Missyrose]

I had all kinds of issues with the Magic Cards this past week. I'm not part of the test group, so we just had RFID cards for the park admission, and RFID cards to access the room.

Where to start?

• New benefit. Instead of being able to merge the park admission and room keys like in the past, you get to keep track of two cards per person. Magic Cards have no names on them so you better make sure to memorize the character on the cards (in addition to memorizing what finger you used for admission)! Sharpies seem like a good option.
  
• My room keys got set up wrong. Normally I attach a credit card to my room key and just carry the room. I *should* have just fixed it, but instead suffered through tens credit cards swipes at vendor stations. BTW: Vendors seemed annoyed that we just didn't use the RFID room key. I was still annoyed that we had to carry two cards, and the issues with the magic cards prevented me from dealing with another smiling, but useless person at a the front desk.
  
  
• And the topper: The park magic cards started failing on the second day at the parks. Somewhere along the line, my son's card and my card "merged" into one admission. Only one of us could get in (first one to light mickey each day). I had to wait in guest relation lines twice to get this fixed. When I literally pay a thousand dollars for admission to a park, you better get this fixed the first time. I lost about an hour on lines resembling soviet era bread lines to talk to guest relations. Had there been the need for a third trip to get this fixed, they probably would have had to escort me from the park.

I get that they are transitioning, but you can't screw people this bad in the transition process. Hopefully things get resolved and smooth out in 6 months.

Were you staying at a DVC resort? That could be why they said the systems were incompatible.

 

[MattRyan]

What the heck is a Magic Card I've never heard that term used, ever.

I'm not sure why your ticket and KTTW couldn't be combined at the front desk - it's possible they have having issues with the computer system or maybe the CM was new and confused about the new MagicBands and didn't understand how regular KTTW's work. The majority of guests (regardless of testing) DO get their tickets combined, and having to carry two cards is not something new as standard. But is it really a massive imposition to have to carry two cards? Complaining over having to remember who had which character doesn't really hold weight - everyone who stays off-site had to do the same thing and it's hardly a big deal. Every time my family went when I was a kid, we all were assigned a character and stuck with it, the first trip we wrote our initials on the tickets but then we stopped that because... it wasn't that hard. And god forbid you have to remember which finger you used to scan in! That's something that's not new and not going anywhere, even with MagicBands.

I don't understand why you didn't just go to the front desk and sort out your credit card issue one night, or while the kids were at the pool or something. If you were really having such a tough time with it, you could've asked for a manager and maybe some apology fastpasses would've made up for your hour's wait.

I know when I went as a MagicBand tester, I asked if the tickets could be linked to both the MagicBand and KTTW card at the same time, the CM said no and that it was one or the other. So, I'm guessing, our tickets were only linked to the MB, never tried using KTTW card as admission.

 

[Missyrose]

I know when I went as a MagicBand tester, I asked if the tickets could be linked to both the MagicBand and KTTW card at the same time, the CM said no and that it was one or the other. So, I'm guessing, our tickets were only linked to the MB, never tried using KTTW card as admission.

Right, but OP didn't have a MB, just an RFID ticket and KTTW. What we're trying to figure out is why they couldn't combine the RFID ticket and the KTTW (which they should have been able to if there weren't a set of special circumstances).

 

[MattRyan]

Right, but OP didn't have a MB, just an RFID ticket and KTTW. What we're trying to figure out is why they couldn't combine the RFID ticket and the KTTW (which they should have been able to if there weren't a set of special circumstances).

I'm assuming that it's because for now, the RFID tickets (which show up under the MB & Cards tab) are the equivalent of the MB for non-testers, so the same rule applies.

 

[Punzie]

We found the systems to be a mess this week, too. You can put the OP down all you want, but when you are losing (cumulatively) hours of vacation because the Mouse has opted to roll out a system that is not fully functional, it DOES impact your trip.

God forbid you try to pay for anything not tap-to-pay... it got to the point where we would tell CMs, "I have a gift card. I know they don't work well down here (pin pad,) but you get yelled at if you use them up there (terminal,) so I'll keep swiping and you keep hitting clear. Let me know when it works."

It was a glitchy trip.

So you're saying they want you to use the cards you can tap or magic band to pay for everything now and gift cards either are not working well or in some places can't be used

We leave in a week and usually just put each child's spending MOney on a gift card with their favorite character to keep track more easily . If its a hassle to pay with them we won't.

 

[bumbershoot]

Well I think it's important for the op to know hat this likely isn't the way it IS, but simply the way it was at that time. We dealt with problems back in Feb (should it really take two hours to put charging on the KTTW when the only reason you are putting charging on is to access the credit they've given you for another problem?) but don't think it's the new normal or a new benefit. Sometimes they can't put tickets on. Some CMs see it enough and think it is the way it is, while another cm knows a workaround.

Doesn't make it less frustrating, but reporting that this is the way it is now when it might not be doesn't share correct info.

 

[MattRyan]

So you're saying they want you to use the cards you can tap or magic band to pay for everything now and gift cards either are not working well or in some places can't be used

We leave in a week and usually just put each child's spending MOney on a gift card with their favorite character to keep track more easily . If its a hassle to pay with them we won't.

Every single magicband scanner at the stores and restaurants have a card reader on it...

 

[DisGirl819]

Right, but OP didn't have a MB, just an RFID ticket and KTTW. What we're trying to figure out is why they couldn't combine the RFID ticket and the KTTW (which they should have been able to if there weren't a set of special circumstances).

They should have been able to combine the tickets with the RFID kttw. We did this in July with tickets from undercover tourist no problem. I'm guessing they had some kind of special tickets. I know you cannot do that with military salute tickets for example. Op I am sorry you had so many issues, that stinks!

 

[DisGirl819]

So you're saying they want you to use the cards you can tap or magic band to pay for everything now and gift cards either are not working well or in some places can't be used

We leave in a week and usually just put each child's spending MOney on a gift card with their favorite character to keep track more easily . If its a hassle to pay with them we won't.

Gift cards were a huge pain to use in July. They had to be scanned multiple times to work.

 

[DisGirl819]

Every single magicband scanner at the stores and restaurants have a card reader on it...

And in July about 80 percent of the time the gift card scanners didn't work right.

 

[wen8jr]

Why should any guest have to go through all this? Why should a guest need to be "in the know" on how all think crap works and is linked up? What do we care if the name is Magic Card or what?

It is Disney's responsibility to make sure these things work the first time. It is not the guest's responsibility to have to stand in line to get it fixed and to think ahead and go to guest relations. A guest should be able to have a somewhat bother free and relaxing vacation, not deal with glitches.

I find it absolutely ridiculous anyone would say otherwise! If 45 days out from my vacation I still hear these types of complaints, I will not be keeping my reservation.

OP - I would send a complaint to Disney. You should be reimbursed for the loss of time in my opinion, as this is entirely on them. It is unacceptable you had to suffer through all these issues and loss of time because they are rolling something out. This is entirely different than a temp ride shutdown, etc. as it affects your entire trip.