Magicband nonsense trip II- Here we go again....

[china mom]

Also, when you get to the hotel, you can just say "no thanks" and they recycle them.

 

[wrighter]

If you have extra Magic Bands, sell them on eBay. People buy them to either collect them or use them to unlock content on the Disney Infinity game. It will make the cost of your trip a bit cheaper!!

Unlock content on Disney Infinity?

 

[wordwitt]

It may be wasteful, but it won't impact your trip or plans at all. As others have said, the information on MDX is technically "on" any and all activated bands. So relax and breathe. This is not a thing.

 

[islandtimect]

Our trip was cancelled due to flight issues and we rebooked for April. So we never used our original MBs, which we have. We got a new email for the April trip to customize our bands before they are shipped to us. I don't need to customize another set of bands, correct?? The CM who helped change my dates explained that MBs use cloud technology and are tied to our MDE account, and nothing is linked to our bands until we check in at our resort. Which is why we have to check in and can't go straight to the parks for now.

 

[DreamIsaWish]

Unlock content on Disney Infinity?

Yep. Put the band on the second character spot while you play in Toy Box. Eventually (it can take a while) you'll get a surprise added. Keep it there longer and you'll get a few more surprises. I want to say it took around 30 minutes for everything to unlock. Just keep playing and you'll hear music announcing your surprises every so often.

 

[sethschroeder]

What happens if your battery dies and your in the park and now your stuck without a working MB. That is likely why they send new ones each time. What they need is a way for them to 99.9% reuse the bands. If you get a new one you can drop the old one off at guest relations at checkin.

 

[wordwitt]

Our trip was cancelled due to flight issues and we rebooked for April. So we never used our original MBs, which we have. We got a new email for the April trip to customize our bands before they are shipped to us. I don't need to customize another set of bands, correct?? The CM who helped change my dates explained that MBs use cloud technology and are tied to our MDE account, and nothing is linked to our bands until we check in at our resort. Which is why we have to check in and can't go straight to the parks for now.

I don't think this is true at all. If you were using Magical Express, you'd scan your bands at the airport-- and that is always before check-in. If you want to be on the "safe" side, do online check-in. But I can't see a reason at all that you'd need to check in at the resort before going to the park as long as your new reservation is linked on MDE. I can tell you that we did a split stay in September with one night at the Pop and the remaining nights at BWV. We never made it to the Pop and didn't check in, but our bands worked for Magical Express, and to open our door at BWV, and for park admission-- even though at the time BWV wasn't even testing the bands.

 

[linzbear]

What happens if your battery dies and your in the park and now your stuck without a working MB. That is likely why they send new ones each time. What they need is a way for them to 99.9% reuse the bands. If you get a new one you can drop the old one off at guest relations at checkin.

The battery powers the wifi rfid chip (there are 3 chips in the band). That's the personal experience thing ("Hi, YOURNAME, happy birthday!"). The other 2 chips don't require power, so room/park/FP+ should work with a dead battery. Even so, the button battery RFID chips have existed for years in toll transponders. Mine lasted over 10 years before it stopped working.

 

[kathie859]

What happens if your battery dies and your in the park and now your stuck without a working MB. That is likely why they send new ones each time. What they need is a way for them to 99.9% reuse the bands. If you get a new one you can drop the old one off at guest relations at checkin.

ITA---I thought I read about the "shelf" life of the MB's not being all that.. I'd rather have a new one each trip BUT would like to recycle IF it would do any good. Having seen how the MB are constructed (someone posted a dissection of a MB) I'm not sure recycling by Disney is practical. Maybe just pitch your extras into your local recycling efforts?

 

[Jennasis]

I wouldn't sell your band on ebay. Isn't your info still tied to it?

 

[Kimmers127]

This might be a stupid question but... Can you have multiple active bands at once? I have bands from my trip in October (mine is pink, husband picked gray). I have a split stay coming up in May that MDE wants me to customize 4 more bands for. If I get two more colors, will all 3 sets work? So I could wear pink one day, switch to red another day, etc? (Yes I know incredibly wasteful, and I'd be happy to just keep my existing pink, but if they are sending me 4 more regardless...)

 

[siskaren]

This might be a stupid question but... Can you have multiple active bands at once? I have bands from my trip in October (mine is pink, husband picked gray). I have a split stay coming up in May that MDE wants me to customize 4 more bands for. If I get two more colors, will all 3 sets work? So I could wear pink one day, switch to red another day, etc? (Yes I know incredibly wasteful, and I'd be happy to just keep my existing pink, but if they are sending me 4 more regardless...)

Yep. The band is just a link to your MDE account. It's no different than having more than one key for your car.

 

[Kimmers127]

Yep. The band is just a link to your MDE account. It's no different than having more than one key for your car.

Thank you! Well, if I can't cancel the 4 they want me to customize, I guess I might as well get new colors for better outfit matching lol.

 

[bumbershoot]

Totally agree it is a waste of time and money, however do not fear. The tickets are not linked to your bands, they are linked to your MDE. Whether you use the old bands or the new bands you will receive at check-in, they will all work (as long as they are showing as 'active' on MDE).

I do hope that, eventually, Disney will introduce a method of annotating on MDE that you do not need a new MagicBand. However, it is my opinion that there will still be people who want to collect all the different colours so will still order new bands even though they don't need them.

Nothing's loaded on the band itself. It's on MDE. The band links to the account. That's all.

You think that's bad, talk about a waste of money, we are leaving on Friday, doing a split stay TWO reservations(4 people in the room).....guess how many sets of MB I have received





FIVE!!!!
I have 20 magic bands currently in my possession seems like a good way to spend money huh!

This is abnormal. Only 2 reservation numbers should have yielded 2 sets.

What happens if your battery dies and your in the park and now your stuck without a working MB. That is likely why they send new ones each time. What they need is a way for them to 99.9% reuse the bands. If you get a new one you can drop the old one off at guest relations at checkin.

They are sending extra sets because they are still testing it, and they don't have "how it's going to be" solidly in place yet. I recently saw that they are changing how the MBs are being set...I think they tested out the overnight, and now they are testing out normal shipping. Test test test.

I wouldn't sell your band on ebay. Isn't your info still tied to it?

Just go into MDE and disassociate it from your account.

And even if you forgot to, in order to charge anything you have to know the PIN, and I'm not even sure you CAN charge once you've left your onsite resort. (ooh I should have tried that last month, darn!) I personally think they'll change to being able to charge a card, not just your resort account, in the future...but you would still have to have a PIN.

This might be a stupid question but... Can you have multiple active bands at once? I have bands from my trip in October (mine is pink, husband picked gray). I have a split stay coming up in May that MDE wants me to customize 4 more bands for. If I get two more colors, will all 3 sets work? So I could wear pink one day, switch to red another day, etc? (Yes I know incredibly wasteful, and I'd be happy to just keep my existing pink, but if they are sending me 4 more regardless...)

Yes. I have 6. Only color I'm missing is yellow. I have used them interchangeably. People buy multiple bracelets, and that's no less wasteful than this, if we're going to wear/use the MBs. While they are doing this, I'll take advantage of it.

 

[FlipHipster]

This might be a stupid question but... Can you have multiple active bands at once? I have bands from my trip in October (mine is pink, husband picked gray). I have a split stay coming up in May that MDE wants me to customize 4 more bands for. If I get two more colors, will all 3 sets work? So I could wear pink one day, switch to red another day, etc? (Yes I know incredibly wasteful, and I'd be happy to just keep my existing pink, but if they are sending me 4 more regardless...)

If they are sending you extras, I don't think its wasteful if you are actually using them. Choosing different colors is a wise move. I can tell you my girls would love to be able to pick their band color day-to-day. If/when "designer" bands hit the streets I bet there will be more than a few collectors with many bands to pick from.

 

[islandtimect]

Thanks all we will link the new set to be safe. And our daughter will be happy to select colors again.

 

[lhall7]

I understand that the bands are linked to my account. I have a blue one from previous trip and getting a pick one for upcoming trip. Do I need to show the old blue one at check-in to be able to use it as room key? Didn't know if that was linked to account or just to the band. I would hate to leave my room wearing my old blue one and not be able to get back in.

 

[shyjade]

They have to figure out a way to stop the waste.

They have: price increases and fewer discounts/promos for the general public!

 

[john398]

They have: price increases and fewer discounts/promos for the general public!

But that does not stop the waste, that just pays for the waste IMHO

 

[bumbershoot]

Thanks all we will link the new set to be safe. And our daughter will be happy to select colors again.

It should already be linked.

I understand that the bands are linked to my account. I have a blue one from previous trip and getting a pick one for upcoming trip. Do I need to show the old blue one at check-in to be able to use it as room key? Didn't know if that was linked to account or just to the band. I would hate to leave my room wearing my old blue one and not be able to get back in.

During our 4 checkins last month, they wanted to see one MB, they tapped it on the doohickey while staring at their computer, and told me it would be fine. I got the impression that they were trying something...anything...to try to minimize the problems they've been having, and this was one.

Others have been told to have each person in the party tap their current bands to open the door to "activate" it.

The latter...didn't matter for us. At our first resort my son was into opening the door so we both were indeed testing them out, but the next 3 we weren't doing that and it all worked just fine.

Between us we had 11 MBs and while I doubt we cycled through them all, we only showed ONE at each checkin, didn't tap them all to the door at the beginning of each stay, and we never got locked out.


I'm not sure there is any one thing they can DO to prevent glitches. Glitches are glitches, there's no rhyme or reason.