MagicBand+ - A Cautionary Tale

[Gypsybear]

So, we were at the parks on the 29th of October. We went in and purchased a MB+ for myself, but held off on a 2nd one for my hubs, until after would have him try the one on for size. He has a VERY thick wrist (9 inches). Needless to say, it fit him (so they have actually lengthened the bands a bit.

HOWEVER, we were unable to link the back to our account. We tried, several times. No luck. We went to the shop where we purchased it in DCA, and spoke with the CM. She pulled out a blue laminated card that they received. We followed those instructions as she watched us. No luck. She directed us to the Guest Services umbrella at the entrance. They didn't even try. She directed us to the main Guest Services area near the fountain across from Carthay. We waited and finally got to a CM. She looked, and tried, and no luck either. As luck would have it, they happened to have an IT person standing there working on a laptop. He stopped what he was doing, and took a look, and also tried. He had no luck. After fidgeting with it for a bit, he was able to determine that the developers hadn't accounted for our particular SAMSUNG phone. We have Note 10 5G phones.

Sooooo, he ended up asking for permission to get all my phone settings, etc, and was able to submit the info to the developers, so that they could update the system to accommodate for Samsung Note 10 5G phones going forward. All in all, we spent 1.5 hours getting it linked. As an aside, we tried linking to an I-Phone. No issues whatsoever. When we left, we were fully functional using our Samsung phones. Hubs bought his own band, and using the info we got, we were able to link his as well. The CM ended up giving us several multi-experience passes for our troubles, to "make up for lost time".

So, if you can't seem to link, and you have a non-apple phone, try going to the Guest Services location across from the fountain at Carthay Circle. They should be able to fix you up. You just have to remember to be a bit patient with them as they work on it.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Thank you for this informative post. I'm glad they were able to get the band linked, and tried to do something to compensate you for your time.

 

[DizMe]

Thank you for this information! I have a Samsung S21 5G so it's not a Note. Do you know if the "regular" Samsung models are good to go?

 

[Gypsybear]

Thank you for this information! I have a Samsung S21 5G so it's not a Note. Do you know if the "regular" Samsung models are good to go?

From what the IT guy said, it's the OS that Samsungs work on. So you should be good, as they took all the latest models and accommodated for them. As always, be aware that this is coming from the IT guy, and NOT a developer.

Also, forgot to mention above, that the linking/touching the band to your phone is different for Samsungs and Apples. Apples use the upper right corner of the phone (backside of course), and Samsung you touch to the CENTER of the backside of your phone.

 

[Kender]

From what the IT guy said, it's the OS that Samsungs work on. So you should be good, as they took all the latest models and accommodated for them. As always, be aware that this is coming from the IT guy, and NOT a developer.

Also, forgot to mention above, that the linking/touching the band to your phone is different for Samsungs and Apples. Apples use the upper right corner of the phone (backside of course), and Samsung you touch to the CENTER of the backside of your phone.

This has to do with where the NFC sensor is located in those devices.

For what it's worth to contribute to this thread I had zero issue with my Pixel 5. But that's a Google device, not a Samsung.

 

[Gypsybear]

This has to do with where the NFC sensor is located in those devices.

For what it's worth to contribute to this thread I had zero issue with my Pixel 5. But that's a Google device, not a Samsung.

Yes, can confirm. And they stated that "some" Google devices were problematic like the Samsungs.

 

[Kender]

Yes, can confirm. And they stated that "some" Google devices were problematic like the Samsungs.

Not sure what you're confirming?

 

[Gypsybear]

Not sure what you're confirming?

I was confirming your comment about the NFC sensor locations. Not everyone knows where they're located.

 

[Blue32]

How did you like using them at DLR?

 

[MousetersInc]

As a software engineer, there are plenty of bugs I get for our app that are labeled "Samsung only"; I've sometimes joked "How about if we say we support iPhones and all Androids except Samsung?" There are some funny things, like running Android but then handling some web display settings in a Safari way. Of course, there are also plenty that are "iPhone only," so no judgement. At any rate, it's painful to be the consumer who discovers a bug; my commiseration.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given the track record of Disney tech in general, but I do give some side-eye to the development team that failed to catch this. I would think they would test something as critical as band-linking with actual physical phones. The Samsung Note 10 was released in 2019, which is neither too old to support nor so new that they haven't had time to account for them. I would hope that this was actually a known bug that the local IT guy just hadn't heard about.

 

[Gypsybear]

How did you like using them at DLR?

I enjoyed using them. It was very quick and easy to get thru the turnstiles without reaching for my phone all the time. Also, we used them for the Bounty Hunter game in Batuu (just for fun, and to try it out).

 

[Gypsybear]

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given the track record of Disney tech in general, but I do give some side-eye to the development team that failed to catch this. I would think they would test something as critical as band-linking with actual physical phones. The Samsung Note 10 was released in 2019, which is neither too old to support nor so new that they haven't had time to account for them.

This all day long. Given that Disney is very into Apple, it's really no surprise. The part that surprised me, as you mentioned above, was that our phones aren't that old.

 

[starlite_]

Glad to hear it got sorted out relatively quickly and that you were given MEPs.

 

[DLgal]

This all day long. Given that Disney is very into Apple, it's really no surprise. The part that surprised me, as you mentioned above, was that our phones aren't that old.

The 10s are old at this point. They are up to Galaxy 22. The 10 is 3 model years behind. This is common with Samsung Galaxy line. You never want to be more than 2 model years behind because they stop pushing out software updates at that point and apps increasingly require newer operating system versions when they release updates as well.

 

[Gypsybear]

The 10s are old at this point. They are up to Galaxy 22. The 10 is 3 model years behind. This is common with Samsung Galaxy line. You never want to be more than 2 model years behind because they stop pushing out software updates at that point and apps increasingly require newer operating system versions when they release updates as well.

Didn't they jump from the Note 10 to the 22?

 

[MousetersInc]

The 10s are old at this point. They are up to Galaxy 22. The 10 is 3 model years behind. This is common with Samsung Galaxy line. You never want to be more than 2 model years behind because they stop pushing out software updates at that point and apps increasingly require newer operating system versions when they release updates as well.

That's advice for a consumer, but it's really not old enough for Disney to refuse to support it, and if they did so in the proper way, if you tried to download MDE on an unsupported phone, you simply wouldn't find it listed in the Google Play Store. The fact that you do find it means they haven't consciously added it to their list of unsupported devices.

 

[DLgal]

Didn't they jump from the Note 10 to the 22?

No, there was a Note 20.

 

[DLgal]

That's advice for a consumer, but it's really not old enough for Disney to refuse to support it, and if they did so in the proper way, if you tried to download MDE on an unsupported phone, you simply wouldn't find it listed in the Google Play Store. The fact that you do find it means they haven't consciously added it to their list of unsupported devices.

My son has a Samsung Galaxy A3 (or something like that) and the app is super glitchy on his phone. He often ends up with a black screen when redeeming DAS rather than barcodes.

The Google Play store will let you download apps that are not compatible with your phone. It will just give you a warning that it may not work properly. My son's app works most of the time, but the app works all of the time on MY phone which is an S22.

 

[bwvBound]

So, if you can't seem to link, and you have a non-apple phone, try going to the Guest Services location across from the fountain at Carthay Circle. They should be able to fix you up. You just have to remember to be a bit patient with them as they work on it.

Thanks for the informative and helpful post!

 

[CodeGoddess]

As a software engineer, there are plenty of bugs I get for our app that are labeled "Samsung only"; I've sometimes joked "How about if we say we support iPhones and all Androids except Samsung?" There are some funny things, like running Android but then handling some web display settings in a Safari way. Of course, there are also plenty that are "iPhone only," so no judgement. At any rate, it's painful to be the consumer who discovers a bug; my commiseration.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised given the track record of Disney tech in general, but I do give some side-eye to the development team that failed to catch this. I would think they would test something as critical as band-linking with actual physical phones. The Samsung Note 10 was released in 2019, which is neither too old to support nor so new that they haven't had time to account for them. I would hope that this was actually a known bug that the local IT guy just hadn't heard about.

All of this is spot on (software engineer too). Android works great except for the hacked to all devil's version that Samsung distributes. I had one Samsung device and changed over to a Pixel. The experience is 10x better and things just work.