***NEW MyMagic & FastPass+ Official Information & FAQ Thread***

[steves1019]

Today was 60 days, FP+ made

 

[n2mm]

Thanks! Good to know that you were able to do FP+ with it that way! Please let me know how things go once you get there. I'm curious to see if APs will be put on magic bands or not

We just returned last weekend and we are ALL premium AP holders (non-florida). We have our APs linked to our Magic Bands. I was able to link my daughter and family members' active PAP to their MBs prior to them arriving. My husband had a will call voucher and was able to link his, but I could not link my active PAP and had to do it upon arrive. It was a rough start, but after a day of going from cast member to cast member, guest relations to guest relations, I finally got it fixed and linked and was able to get copied to all of my family members FP+ selections.....I did get comp fast passes for the times that were no longer available (esp. TSM) attached to my MB so that I could ride with the family (which has to be done by a CM in guest relations).

This is my first hand account of activating a will call voucher (that was what my husband had). It was horrible. It took 40 minutes at the guest relations window at International gateway. We had to listen to the CM go on and on about will call APs should NOT be linked to MDE accounts. It really messes up the system. The CM said that when you link a will call certificate to a MDE account, it reverts back to the day you purchased the will call certificate and make it active on that day. Then the CM had to search on the certificate to find the actual purchase date, and void out the AP and reissue the AP with the new date. It took a very long time to get this done and there was an angry mob behind me waiting. While I had no clue that this could not be done, I did, in my defense, tell the CM, if it can't be done, then why was it accepted when I linked it to my husband's account? By the time he got done fixing it, my husband had been issued 3 APs. I asked if the new AP was linked to his MDE account and he said it was. I was skeptical, so that evening I went to the guest relations location at EPCOT and asked to use the VIP lounge to access my account (there were some other issues too regarding changing FP+ times, and it took our family of 6 and gave us all different times). I logged onto my husband MDE account and as I suspected the AP was not linked, so I linked it myself and I also made sure the expiration date was correct. That's when I noticed he had many APs issued to him. I was also able to clean up the FP+ messes too. I found out about the VIP lounge (BTW---that means 1 computer) from a guest relations CM that was hanging near one of the FP+ kiosk. I thought I could clean up the FP+ mess ups at the kiosk but she told me that you can only make day of additions and changes. That's when she told me to go to guest relations at EPCOT and tell them "she" sent me. I asked why there was no computer at the resorts that we can use. She didn't have an answer. I told her I know what I'm doing, but the internet connection in my room was so horrible, I needed something better. She said you have to go to your guest relations counter at your resort and they will help you. I just couldn't see taking up so much time from these cast members for something I could do myself. Hopefully this problem will be addressed after the test is complete. Some CMs said that when you make changes to your FP+ selection with your phone (which I had), it messes up the times or shows fast passes that are not really active. They suggest you make the changes at the kiosk during the testing. (That's why some of my fast pass times got jumbled up for some family members). Later in the trip I did make some last minute time changes and it worked perfectly. While I had both a laptop in my room (sometimes I could use it if I was patient and got on first thing in the morning) and both my husband and I have Iphone5, we still had issues. I can't imagine how some folks are going to manage. While using my FP+, they always worked, but every time we went to a line there were always folks getting pulled to the side and was with a CM trying to sort out their times. We saw many folks turned away too. One day while waiting to scan to get into TSM, one family was turned away and told their FP was for ToT not TSM. I am pretty computer savy and found it to be alot of work to sort out my issues, but the FP+ usage went smoothly for us. Many folks were overwhelmed, the FP+ kiosk were always busy and not easily found, sometimes too far away. I was waiting for husband at Star Tours and wanted to make some changes while he rode. I asked the CM where the nearest kiosk was and was told at the "tip board".....wow, that was not convenient at all. (There was one near ToT too -- those were the only 2 I found at the Studios?)

If anyone wants to ask me anything, feel free or PM me. I was there for 2 weeks (Oct. 18 to Nov. 2) and probably experienced every hiccup there was. I have to admit though, when I used my FP+ choices it worked great -- you do scan your band twice, once to enter, and again further down when the attraction is merged with standby. It is funny that at some attractions the CMs refer to you by name as your "icon" and name comes up on the screen when you scan your band (it's a "big brother/sister" watching thing).

We had our share of issues, but it is testing on both sides, so try to take it all with a grain of salt. By the end of our trip, things got better. We had broken Magic Bands and lost Magic Bands from the granddaughter. My daughter used her band for room entry, AP/park entry and dining credits, while we used ours for room charges. When you dine at the TS locations the servers do scan your band to check to see what type of dining plan you might be on and in my case they scanned for room charge. Of course I still carried my room card, TiW card, DVC card, and picture ID.

 

[TeresaMRoberts]

Not sure if I'm posting in the right place or if its been covered on previous pages. My questions is about the Magicbands and Photopass+ on of my friends got back from DW in September she said her photopass was on her MB. But she didn't know if she had photopass+ or not. I had it for our last trip it was awesome. But we got TONS more pics because it was red card not blue card. So if its on my MB do they know I've prepaid and will be getting these photos? lol I'm going to get the same service as before? and something I read said that the ride photos can't accept MB yet? but that was back in September that it was written. Just curious if anyone has had Photopass+ latley with MB?

 

[DVC4US]

Thanks! Good to know that you were able to do FP+ with it that way! Please let me know how things go once you get there. I'm curious to see if APs will be put on magic bands or not

I will let you know how it goes!

...This is my first hand account of activating a will call voucher (that was what my husband had). It was horrible. It took 40 minutes at the guest relations window at International gateway. We had to listen to the CM go on and on about will call APs should NOT be linked to MDE accounts. It really messes up the system. The CM said that when you link a will call certificate to a MDE account, it reverts back to the day you purchased the will call certificate and make it active on that day...

Thanks for the heads up. I will have to see how ours goes when we get there in December. Ours are all AP renewals so don't know if that will change anything but we will see.

 

[ruthma]

I will let you know how it goes! Thanks for the heads up. I will have to see how ours goes when we get there in December. Ours are all AP renewals so don't know if that will change anything but we will see.

I had AP renewal and added it to my AP that was already attached to MDE. My original runs out 12/12 and this renewal will kick in 12/13. My dates are dec 9-13 no problem. When I added the renewal I was than allowed to do fast passes for the 13th.

 

[smallblackstars]

Sorry if this has already been asked (I got fed up looking for the answer, LOL!) For anyone who has had their Magic Bands shipped directly to their resort, how long was the option to customize your Magic Bands available? My given last date to customize was 18th October but still MDE is prompting me to customize my Magic Bands??? We leave on Sunday from the UK and under Magic Bands it says something like 'you still have time to customize your bands but act quickly as your order may be shipped soon' Is this just normal for people who are collecting their bands when they check in? I just feel it is quite close to our arrival for the bands not to have been shipped.

 

[SRUAlmn]

We just returned last weekend and we are ALL premium AP holders (non-florida). We have our APs linked to our Magic Bands. I was able to link my daughter and family members' active PAP to their MBs prior to them arriving. My husband had a will call voucher and was able to link his, but I could not link my active PAP and had to do it upon arrive. It was a rough start, but after a day of going from cast member to cast member, guest relations to guest relations, I finally got it fixed and linked and was able to get copied to all of my family members FP+ selections.....I did get comp fast passes for the times that were no longer available (esp. TSM) attached to my MB so that I could ride with the family (which has to be done by a CM in guest relations).

This is my first hand account of activating a will call voucher (that was what my husband had). It was horrible. It took 40 minutes at the guest relations window at International gateway. We had to listen to the CM go on and on about will call APs should NOT be linked to MDE accounts. It really messes up the system. The CM said that when you link a will call certificate to a MDE account, it reverts back to the day you purchased the will call certificate and make it active on that day. Then the CM had to search on the certificate to find the actual purchase date, and void out the AP and reissue the AP with the new date. It took a very long time to get this done and there was an angry mob behind me waiting. While I had no clue that this could not be done, I did, in my defense, tell the CM, if it can't be done, then why was it accepted when I linked it to my husband's account? By the time he got done fixing it, my husband had been issued 3 APs. I asked if the new AP was linked to his MDE account and he said it was. I was skeptical, so that evening I went to the guest relations location at EPCOT and asked to use the VIP lounge to access my account (there were some other issues too regarding changing FP+ times, and it took our family of 6 and gave us all different times). I logged onto my husband MDE account and as I suspected the AP was not linked, so I linked it myself and I also made sure the expiration date was correct. That's when I noticed he had many APs issued to him. I was also able to clean up the FP+ messes too. I found out about the VIP lounge (BTW---that means 1 computer) from a guest relations CM that was hanging near one of the FP+ kiosk. I thought I could clean up the FP+ mess ups at the kiosk but she told me that you can only make day of additions and changes. That's when she told me to go to guest relations at EPCOT and tell them "she" sent me. I asked why there was no computer at the resorts that we can use. She didn't have an answer. I told her I know what I'm doing, but the internet connection in my room was so horrible, I needed something better. She said you have to go to your guest relations counter at your resort and they will help you. I just couldn't see taking up so much time from these cast members for something I could do myself. Hopefully this problem will be addressed after the test is complete. Some CMs said that when you make changes to your FP+ selection with your phone (which I had), it messes up the times or shows fast passes that are not really active. They suggest you make the changes at the kiosk during the testing. (That's why some of my fast pass times got jumbled up for some family members). Later in the trip I did make some last minute time changes and it worked perfectly. While I had both a laptop in my room (sometimes I could use it if I was patient and got on first thing in the morning) and both my husband and I have Iphone5, we still had issues. I can't imagine how some folks are going to manage. While using my FP+, they always worked, but every time we went to a line there were always folks getting pulled to the side and was with a CM trying to sort out their times. We saw many folks turned away too. One day while waiting to scan to get into TSM, one family was turned away and told their FP was for ToT not TSM. I am pretty computer savy and found it to be alot of work to sort out my issues, but the FP+ usage went smoothly for us. Many folks were overwhelmed, the FP+ kiosk were always busy and not easily found, sometimes too far away. I was waiting for husband at Star Tours and wanted to make some changes while he rode. I asked the CM where the nearest kiosk was and was told at the "tip board".....wow, that was not convenient at all. (There was one near ToT too -- those were the only 2 I found at the Studios?)

If anyone wants to ask me anything, feel free or PM me. I was there for 2 weeks (Oct. 18 to Nov. 2) and probably experienced every hiccup there was. I have to admit though, when I used my FP+ choices it worked great -- you do scan your band twice, once to enter, and again further down when the attraction is merged with standby. It is funny that at some attractions the CMs refer to you by name as your "icon" and name comes up on the screen when you scan your band (it's a "big brother/sister" watching thing).

We had our share of issues, but it is testing on both sides, so try to take it all with a grain of salt. By the end of our trip, things got better. We had broken Magic Bands and lost Magic Bands from the granddaughter. My daughter used her band for room entry, AP/park entry and dining credits, while we used ours for room charges. When you dine at the TS locations the servers do scan your band to check to see what type of dining plan you might be on and in my case they scanned for room charge. Of course I still carried my room card, TiW card, DVC card, and picture ID.

Oh my!!! I was so excited to finally have an AP this year and now I'm so worried that its going to be a big headache! I have a voucher that I've linked in MDX. Our big trip is in July, but we're taking a quick trip in Jan and prob won't have FP+ as an option bc I have to stay off site for a convention. If I activate my AP and don't have a MB in Jan I hope it won't mess me up for July! Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

[yolie912]

Are MB activated when mailed out? Or does the front desk do that?

 

[ruthma]

Are MB activated when mailed out? Or does the front desk do that?

I'd like to know that answer also.

 

[DVC4US]

I had AP renewal and added it to my AP that was already attached to MDE. My original runs out 12/12 and this renewal will kick in 12/13. My dates are dec 9-13 no problem. When I added the renewal I was than allowed to do fast passes for the 13th.

If you read my post above you will see that I also was able to link our AP renewals and do all the FP+ reservations for our upcoming trip with no problems. Part of my post that you quoted was in response to n2mm's post about having trouble activating her DH's AP because it was a voucher and the CM told them that the vouchers should not be linked to MDE because it causes problems. I was stating that ours is a renewal so hopefully we won't have the problems she did.

 

[n2mm]

If you read my post above you will see that I also was able to link our AP renewals and do all the FP+ reservations for our upcoming trip with no problems. Part of my post that you quoted was in response to n2mm's post about having trouble activating her DH's AP because it was a voucher and the CM told them that the vouchers should not be linked to MDE because it causes problems. I was stating that ours is a renewal so hopefully we won't have the problems she did.

Yes, my husbands voucher was for a new ticket. I will be joining you guys because my pass will run out 2 days into my January trip. So looks like I will be buying my renewal too and hopefully linking it to my MDE account.

 

[MI MICKEY]

I'd like to know that answer also.

Pretty sure they are active before mailing. I got mine a couple weeks ago, and when I look on the MDE web site, there is a statement that they are active. Also, My travel agent told me you can use them on the Disney Express shuttle service to the parks, but I can't verify if that is true yet.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Pretty sure they are active before mailing. I got mine a couple weeks ago, and when I look on the MDE web site, there is a statement that they are active. Also, My travel agent told me you can use them on the Disney Express shuttle service to the parks, but I can't verify if that is true yet.

It looked like they were all set up for that at ME check-in when we were there in July. You don't go to the desk anymore, you just get in the line number for your resort, and they meet you at the front with a little portable podium and a scanner - they scanned our vouchers, but I'll bet they work for MB too.

 

[rlbklein]

Pretty sure they are active before mailing. I got mine a couple weeks ago, and when I look on the MDE web site, there is a statement that they are active. Also, My travel agent told me you can use them on the Disney Express shuttle service to the parks, but I can't verify if that is true yet.

Yes, they are active when they are shipped to you. Yes, they work to check in for the Magical Express. The packaging will tell you to not put them in your checked bags because you'll need them for DME.

 

[ruthma]

Yes, they are active when they are shipped to you. Yes, they work to check in for the Magical Express. The packaging will tell you to not put them in your checked bags because you'll need them for DME.

Got my email this morning for my magic bands. Will be delivered by 10:30. Excited.

 

[ruthma]

Got my bands at 10:05 am. Excited.

 

[jensen]

I'm still 71 days out and, as expected, FP+ is showing that we are not allowed to book, yet. But just for kicks, I clicked on the fastpicks under FP+ and it chose Epcot for us. Then it allowed me to book fastpasses for Soarin', Living with the Land and Mission Space. Then, I tried to book something in fastpicks for the next day and it would only offer me Epcot and it offered the same three rides.

When I tried to delete them, it wouldn't allow me to delete them.

So, in my case, it appears that the new tiered system at Epcot is causing a glitch in the fastpicks system.

I'm not going to worry about it... it'll iron out in the end, I'm sure. Just thought I'd post my experience for others information.

 

[ougrad86]

My friend contacted WDW and was told that they are now allowing guests to make FP+ reservations through the end of March...anybody hear anything on this? I haven't seen anything on the threads I have subscribed to, and I am thinking this may be more CM misinformation. I am wondering if maybe the MB customization availability may have just opened, but haven't heard anything on that. We are arriving mid-April, so am trying to be ready when the time comes.

On a related note, she sent me this info from World of Walt:

Swan And Dolphin Testing
In separate but related news, Disney will start testing MyMagic+ for guests staying at the Walt Disney World Swan and Walt Disney World Dolphin Resorts. This testing will take place from November 4, 2013 through January 12, 2014.
This will be the first test of the new technology with people who aren’t staying at a Disney Resort Hotel.
However, there is a key difference between the experience that guests of the Swan and Dolphin will have versus the experience guests of all the Disney-owned Resorts will have.
Guests at the Swan and Dolphin will not get MagicBands, and they will not be able to make their FastPass+ reservations in advance. However, they will be able to make same-day FastPass+ reservations by visiting a MyMagic+ kiosk in the park.
These changes – no MagicBands and having to make only same-day FastPass+ reservations – are pretty big differences.
Could this be a preview of the perks that Disney Resort Hotel guests will get – meaning that only Disney Hotel guests will get the bands and advance FastPass+ scheduling?
Or does this just mean that Disney is just testing a different combination of elements as part of the overall testing process?

That does not bode well for off-site guests; we were looking into possibly doing SOG instead, but would not want to give up FP+ during the Spring Break crowds. There would be hardly any FP's left when we entered the parks that morning, and the last thing I would want to do is go to a kiosk first thing in the morning when I would like to get to the rides!

 

[AmyKat]

I'm going at the beginning of February. I can customize my MBs but I can't make FP+ selections.

 

[jdd]

Please excuse this question, as I'm sure it has been asked and answered, but I couldn't find the info on the main page, and I couldn't get through this whole thread!

Are there restrictions on what rides you can get FP+ for? For example, at Epcot, we'd like to get 2 for Test Track and 1 for Soarin', but is this allowed? At HS, we'd like to get 1 each for Toy Story, RnR and ToT - would that be allowed? Way back when I had heard that there would be limits, I'm just not sure if it was ever settled. Thanks for any help!!