MagicBand vs. Card

[julies1234]

Hi guys,

We haven't been to WDW since they've become so...modern. Am I correct to understand that the MagicBand is simply more convenient than pulling out your ticket card at various rides? We are not staying at a park resort so for our party it would cost $12.95 x 5, which seems high for a minor inconvenience. Looking for opinions though! Thanks in advance!

 

[mesaboy2]

Hi guys,
We haven't been to WDW since they've become so...modern. Am I correct to understand that the MagicBand is simply more convenient than pulling out your ticket card at various rides? We are not staying at a park resort so for our party it would cost $12.95 x 5, which seems high for a minor inconvenience. Looking for opinions though! Thanks in advance!

That's pretty much it.

I bow to Disney's ability to turn this little fact into much, much profit.

 

[lilclerk]

The only other thing they're useful for is automatically getting ride photos and videos associated with your MDE account if you have the Memory Maker, instead of stopping at the photo counter and tapping your card.

If you don't have Memory Maker, I personally don't think it's worth purchasing them.

 

[Tiki Sean]

Personally if I had to pay for i would not. While the Magic Bands are easy to use especially if you are at a Walt Disney World Resort paying to use it to enter the parks and fast pass i don't see it as much of an inconvenience.

 

[mkla2015]

If you aren't staying on property- I wouldn't bother buying magic bands. They're nice and we love them but I wouldn't pay $65 for them (unless you are going on multiple trips).

 

[BrianL]

You actually don't have to have Memory Maker for the photos to attach to your MDE account, you'll just have to pay for them individually if you want them later, but you can review all of them with or without MM.

 

[bc7ate9]

You actually don't have to have Memory Maker for the photos to attach to your MDE account, you'll just have to pay for them individually if you want them later, but you can review all of them with or without MM.

I believe 7D Mine Train photos only get added if you have a Magic Band. There isn't a place to view and claim them when you get off the ride.

 

[lilclerk]

You actually don't have to have Memory Maker for the photos to attach to your MDE account, you'll just have to pay for them individually if you want them later, but you can review all of them with or without MM.

I know, I just assume you'd only care about getting them ALL if you have MM. If you only want a specific few, it's not as big a deal to stop and tap the card for them.

 

[Goddesstree]

The only disadvantage to using the cards is that you have to tap twice in the FP+ queues, so you have to keep the cards out until you get to the second tapstile. People ahead of us kept putting them away, and then made us all wait while they dug them out again, sigh.

 

[Jarmo]

$65 to join the in-crowd. If they had that option for high school I would have taken it.

 

[scdak]

Can someone answer this for me please? I have not gone since FP+ was started and although I have not made my reservations yet since my trip is a few days from 30 days for me but I have played with it some to get used to it. There's just 2 of us going on this trip, when I make the reservations I make them for both of us at once, do the reservations then become associated with each persons ticket +/or MB? Currently I have one MB linked to our MDE but I am having terrible luck with the other MB (bought from Amazon) and have sent 2 of them back already and am now waiting on one from Disney Store. Will the FP+ reservations show up for both of us on the MB I have that is linked or will they be in each person's name on either MB or on our hard tickets? I am not feeling very hopeful at this point about linking the Minnie Mouse I bought from the Disney Store - I have terrible electronic gizmo luck ! We actually weren't going to buy MB's but they ones we wanted were just cute and we wanted to try out the MB craze since I am sure that Disney will think of something else in the future LOL, I can't tell you how many kinds of tickets I have had from them over the years! As long as one band is working for Photopass pics I am happy, I have survived for many, many years with tickets in my small wallet or on a lanyard!

 

[BrianL]

Don't think of it as anything "goes on" the Magic Band. The band is simply a link to your My Disney Experience account. You have your tickets already associated with the account and assigned to the person. When the MB comes, you can then associate that band with the person on your account...then anything that is set up for that person will be accessible through the band, including tickets and Fast Passes. All associations occur on your account, the band is just an RFID number that the tap-point uses to look up your account and see what is there. It should all work fine once you get the band, though it looks like you may have a cautionary tale to tell about buying them from a third party.

 

[amcnj]

we were surprised to find so many photos linked to our account (we weren't signed up for any photo package). Some we had stopped for and we swiped the band so we expected those, but there were lots of ride photos that left us wondering how the ride knew where we were sitting. Are there readers in each car somewhere? you only scanned the band well before you actually boarded the ride. Anyone know how this is done?

 

[bc7ate9]

we were surprised to find so many photos linked to our account (we weren't signed up for any photo package). Some we had stopped for and we swiped the band so we expected those, but there were lots of ride photos that left us wondering how the ride knew where we were sitting. Are there readers in each car somewhere? you only scanned the band well before you actually boarded the ride. Anyone know how this is done?

It's magic (or RFID readers on the cars.)

 

[2Gma]

Save your money to spend on something else (like high priced souvenirs)! We stayed offsite in May and found using our "credit card like" tickets were easy to use for entry, FP+ and ADRs. Sure we had to dig them out of our pocket a few times, no biggie. You won't be the only "outsiders" They might be nice for ease of use for ride photos or MM but still not absolutely necessary for either of those.

 

[BrianL]

For the purposes of the photos, the bands have the long range RFID transmitters that can detect your location from at least a few feet away, i.e. you do not have to "tap" or get within just an inch or so of the readers like you do for FPs and park entry. This is a function that cards do not replicate, and it's also why the bands have a battery in them. Normal RF cards can gain their power from the reading device and thus work forever; a band's battery will eventually die (though the passive RF would probably still work).

 

[Summertinkerbell]

Hi guys,

We haven't been to WDW since they've become so...modern. Am I correct to understand that the MagicBand is simply more convenient than pulling out your ticket card at various rides? We are not staying at a park resort so for our party it would cost $12.95 x 5, which seems high for a minor inconvenience. Looking for opinions though! Thanks in advance!

As someone staying onsite, it was wonderful. The magic band enabled us to get in the parks quickly and easily; used FP+ with it; we redeemed our dining plan credits with it; paid for merchandise with it; used it for photo pass; got into our room with it; entered other resort parking lots with it...

I'm very "low-tech," and I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I absolutely loved it. No more fiddling with cards, making sure not to lose them. Everything was so much easier and faster. I wish I had a magic band to use at home instead of a debit card and keys.

Ours were free. Would I pay for them? Yes. For that level of convenience, I would. My DH found a magic band that had a design he really liked and did not hesitate in buying it. DD & I stuck with our originals.

 

[Summertinkerbell]

Just another thought...

Lines got jammed up by people using cards. The magic bands got us through quickly, but waiting for the people with cards (especially large groups) was kind of annoying and seemed unnecessary.

I understand not wanting to spend the money this time, but if you get a chance to stay onsite and get the magic bands for free, I really think you will love them.

They are kind of awesome...IMO.

 

[disnut8]

If you get the bands for free, they are fine. If you have to pay for them, I wouldn't. My husband LOVES his MagicBand since he doesn't have to dig for his wallet during the day to get out a card. My Band is fine but I don't wear it on my wrist so I have to dig it out every time so it's not really an "improvement" for this aspect.

 

[bdiddy]

On our recent trip, I was there with my best friend and we were using cards for a long weekend, then I was with my family and we had Magic Bands for a week. Using them both back to back like that I can't even tell you how much more convenient the Magic Bands were. I would probably buy them if they were only $12.95 a person. Especially since they can be used in the future. Keeping track of cards for 5 people and having to pull them out over and over will get old quickly. It really is just the convenience factor though.