I just returned home from my first trip to WDW using the magicband. First, I have to admit it was nice being able to unlock our room with the band and not having to dig for our card. Second, we had no issues using it for charging privileges either. Although punching in my pin code was a different story. I dont think I have big fingers! The keys are super small and almost every time I punched in the code I did it incorrectly. Yes, thats not a big deal, just something to be aware of. Almost every castmember commented on the keys being small and almost everyone having the same issues. Glad I wasnt the only one! Third, as it was girls only trip, we each had a separate pin code so as to keep our purchases, tips, etc. separate. This worked out great. We confused many of our servers at our meals but they went with it and we had no problem. We ate at DTD, Raglan Road, using our table service credit for our meal. We assumed wed be able to add the tip to the bill at the end but since they are not affiliated with Disney they were going to do a separate charge of 1 cent and then we would add a tip to the 1 cent. We had cash so we just separately left her a cash tip. Our server mentioned to us that there were many times when people just did not leave her a tip due to this process. Maybe Im not explaining it well but its not done the same way as Disney owned restaurants. She had mentioned the night before she had waited on a table with a $150 tab who tipped zero and that it happens quite frequently.
As for fastpass+. We did run into fastpass lines. One particular one was the safari at Animal Kingdom. It was a long line that snaked outside the actual starting point. If I remember right it took us around 20 minutes to get to the front. Not really that bad but Im wondering what it will be like during peak crowds. We have a trip planned during Thanksgiving which scares me a bit. As for tiered fastpasses, I was lucky and a month ago or so there was a glitch in the system that I read about here on the Disboards.
I switched my Epcot fastpasses to include both Test Track and Soarin. I had no problem using each of these on our Epcot day. Yes, I broke the rules. Sorry folks! Sometimes the Disboards are a wonderful thing. We skipped most of the rollercoasters this trip since my friend is not a rollercoaster lover. No biggie since Ill be back in November with the family. With that being said, our family will definitely miss having unlimited fastpasses available to them. We always collected more than three a day, with boys thats a given. It should be interesting to see how our next trip works out. Im afraid that the family will be disappointed. We seemed to walk a ton more on this trip also. Going from park touring to fastpass selections. I thought keeping track of the fastpasses was more difficult also. I kept having to open up the iphone app to remember what we had selected. Maybe its my old age too. Haha. Not a big deal just different. I was glad I bought a morphie so I had a back up battery for my phone. I was out of battery my mid day each day.
In closing, there were portions of the magicband that I loved and there were portions that I wasnt in love with. Im praying Disney adds at least one more fastpass+ to the current number. While I dont think 4 is enough either Ill take whatever I can get. I really dont believe fastpass+ changed my touring style either. We were still at each park before rope drop so we could do as much as possible without a lot of standing in line. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. This is just my opinion and I wanted to share my experiences as so many have previously. Thanks for reading!!!!! Happy Planning All!
As for fastpass+. We did run into fastpass lines. One particular one was the safari at Animal Kingdom. It was a long line that snaked outside the actual starting point. If I remember right it took us around 20 minutes to get to the front. Not really that bad but Im wondering what it will be like during peak crowds. We have a trip planned during Thanksgiving which scares me a bit. As for tiered fastpasses, I was lucky and a month ago or so there was a glitch in the system that I read about here on the Disboards.
I switched my Epcot fastpasses to include both Test Track and Soarin. I had no problem using each of these on our Epcot day. Yes, I broke the rules. Sorry folks! Sometimes the Disboards are a wonderful thing. We skipped most of the rollercoasters this trip since my friend is not a rollercoaster lover. No biggie since Ill be back in November with the family. With that being said, our family will definitely miss having unlimited fastpasses available to them. We always collected more than three a day, with boys thats a given. It should be interesting to see how our next trip works out. Im afraid that the family will be disappointed. We seemed to walk a ton more on this trip also. Going from park touring to fastpass selections. I thought keeping track of the fastpasses was more difficult also. I kept having to open up the iphone app to remember what we had selected. Maybe its my old age too. Haha. Not a big deal just different. I was glad I bought a morphie so I had a back up battery for my phone. I was out of battery my mid day each day. In closing, there were portions of the magicband that I loved and there were portions that I wasnt in love with. Im praying Disney adds at least one more fastpass+ to the current number. While I dont think 4 is enough either Ill take whatever I can get. I really dont believe fastpass+ changed my touring style either. We were still at each park before rope drop so we could do as much as possible without a lot of standing in line. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. This is just my opinion and I wanted to share my experiences as so many have previously. Thanks for reading!!!!! Happy Planning All!
