MagicBand+ battey life...is this normal?

[DLgal]

We just bought MB+ last weekend at DL. They were all discharged at purchase. When we got home, I updated all bands to latest firmware, fully charged them up, and linked them. Put them on a counter. Next day 2 of them were completely discharged again. The other said "partial charge". We didn't use them at all.

Is the battery just supposed to drain like that when not in use? I can't imagine we got 3 duds.

 

[maltdizzy]

Did you turn them off?

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/magicband-support/

Press and hold the button on the back of the band for about 6 seconds, until it buzzes twice, to power the device off.

 

[DLgal]

Did you turn them off?

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/magicband-support/

No. Didn't know you could. Thanks.

What a weird product. Didn't come with any instructions or anything.

So does this mean you have to manually turn it on and off everyday?

 

[DLgal]

Did you turn them off?

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/guest-services/magicband-support/

That didn't work on any of the bands.

2 of 3 bands turn red and nothing happens when I hold down the button.

1 band is still green 3 days after charging. But when I hold down the button, it starts flashing blue like it's looking to be paired. It's already paired. It doesn't power off.

 

[DWillowBay]

In our experience, we needed to re-charge them overnight every day.

 

[nekonekoneko]

The MB+s discharge at a much much faster rate than the first two iterations.

Best thing is to charge it overnight the night before you want to use it, and charge them again every night of your trip.

Way more annoying.

 

[soniam]

Make sure they are really fully charged. Look to see if all of the lights around the face are green when it's plugged in. Ours wouldn't fully charge until we had paired them. To power off, you need to hold down the button continuously until the red light shows. It will go through different lights for the length of time held. Also, they come unpaired sometimes.

 

[DLgal]

Make sure they are really fully charged. Look to see if all of the lights around the face are green when it's plugged in. Ours wouldn't fully charge until we had paired them. To power off, you need to hold down the button continuously until the red light shows. It will go through different lights for the length of time held. Also, they come unpaired sometimes.

Thank you. They are plugged in right now and will stay that way all night for Disneyland tomorrow.

They are all still paired to my app. I just checked.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thank you. They are plugged in right now and will stay that way all night for Disneyland tomorrow.

They are all still paired to my app. I just checked.

This may sound silly but are the DL versions the same as WDW? You may wish to ask your question in the DL forum as their bands came out later than WDW so possibly the technology is different?

Are bands transferable across parks? E.g. can the same band be used at both WDW and DL? The apps are different so possibly the bands are too?

After reading of all the battery and pairing struggles, I’m waiting until a second generation is brought out that fixes some of these challenges before purchasing. We’re going to use our old bands for our upcoming trip.

 

[buzzrelly]

I have two of the Plus bands (for WDW) and found they need to be charged every night for the light up features to work. Luckily, they still open the door without being charged because half the time I forget to charge them.

 

[PalmettoPath]

We just bought MB+ last weekend at DL. They were all discharged at purchase. When we got home, I updated all bands to latest firmware, fully charged them up, and linked them. Put them on a counter. Next day 2 of them were completely discharged again. The other said "partial charge". We didn't use them at all.

Is the battery just supposed to drain like that when not in use? I can't imagine we got 3 duds.

As others have noted, they need a daily recharge. I think they said they'd last one day during the initial launch. Even then, some people who use them actively (like the bounty hunter game in Galaxy's Edge) have reported them running out of juice by early afternoon. So not the greatest battery life. But if you plug them in nightly, then they seem to be okay. That's the case for us.

 

[erionm]

This may sound silly but are the DL versions the same as WDW?

They are identical. Even the DisneyBand+ being launched on DCL (starting on the Disney Wish) is identical.

Are bands transferable across parks? E.g. can the same band be used at both WDW and DL? The apps are different so possibly the bands are too?

Any MagicBand+ and DisneyBand+ can be used at DLR, WDW and on supported DCL Cruises.

The only reason Disney went with DisneyBand+ for the DCL MagicBands is due to European trademarks. Another entity likely already has the trademark for MagicBand in Europe.

 

[easyas123]

I hate to be so out of the loop...we have older magic bands and plan on using them next Jan. for our trip, but I was planning on buying 4 Magic Band+ for the other family members that are traveling with us. I had NO idea you have to charge them now!!! I better go read up on this.
How do you charge them, do they come with a cord or device for charging?


**just read up on things, looks like regular MB are still available...whew, one less thing to charge and we don't need the interactive stuff anyway

 

[erionm]

I hate to be so out of the loop...we have older magic bands and plan on using them next Jan. for our trip, but I was planning on buying 4 Magic Band+ for the other family members that are traveling with us. I had NO idea you have to charge them now!!! I better go read up on this.
How do you charge them, do they come with a cord or device for charging?

Yes, a charging cord is included. They only need to be charged for the plus features which includes the Bounty Hunter Game in Galaxy's Edge, interactions with the 50th Anniversary Statues and nighttime entertainment. Uncharged, they will work for room entry, park entry, LL/Genie+, etc.

 

[easyas123]

Uncharged, they will work for room entry, park entry, LL/Genie+, etc.

Perfect - thank you for that info.

 

[DLgal]

Yes, a charging cord is included. They only need to be charged for the plus features which includes the Bounty Hunter Game in Galaxy's Edge, interactions with the 50th Anniversary Statues and nighttime entertainment. Uncharged, they will work for room entry, park entry, LL/Genie+, etc.

Will they work for the remote photopass capture on WDW attractions in the uncharged state?

 

[DLgal]

I hate to be so out of the loop...we have older magic bands and plan on using them next Jan. for our trip, but I was planning on buying 4 Magic Band+ for the other family members that are traveling with us. I had NO idea you have to charge them now!!! I better go read up on this.
How do you charge them, do they come with a cord or device for charging?


**just read up on things, looks like regular MB are still available...whew, one less thing to charge and we don't need the interactive stuff anyway

You can use older magic bands but some features won't work at WDW (the on ride automatic photo capture for Photopass, for example).

You can also buy the new Magic Band+ if you want one with a cute design, and use them for almost everything in the uncharged state. But they do interact with rides by lighting up in themed color combinations and you will miss that if they aren't charged.

 

[erionm]

Will they work for the remote photopass capture on WDW attractions in the uncharged state?

No. If have have MDE loaded on a smartphone and you've granted MDE access to bluetooth, they are supposed to (or might not) link that way.

 

[DLgal]

No. If have have MDE loaded on a smartphone and you've granted MDE access to bluetooth, they are supposed to (or might not) link that way.

I am aware of that. But I have also heard that using Magic Mobile is a massive battery drain and my phone already has that problem, so I will likely disable that on my phone.

 

[KPeterso]

This may sound silly but are the DL versions the same as WDW? You may wish to ask your question in the DL forum as their bands came out later than WDW so possibly the technology is different?

Are bands transferable across parks? E.g. can the same band be used at both WDW and DL? The apps are different so possibly the bands are too?

After reading of all the battery and pairing struggles, I’m waiting until a second generation is brought out that fixes some of these challenges before purchasing. We’re going to use our old bands for our upcoming trip.

Yes, the same bands can be used at both Disneyland and WDW. I got my band for my Sept 2022 trip to WDW and when they were announced for Disneyland, I paired it to the DL app too. I have used it interchangeably at both parks (Sept & March at WDW, all the time at DL since we are locals). Once paired with each app, I have never had to do anything to re-pair to the other app as I travel from one to the other.

And yes, I charge mine everyday.