New tickets for WDW vs. Old Non Expiration tix? Magic Bands?

[disneyfool_1202]

We surprised the kids on Christmas with a trip to Orlando next Summer. We have been DVC members since our honeymoon and the kids have been to WDW many times since they were babies, so now that they are teens we want to split our trip between WDW and Universal Orlando. However, this will be our first trip in which we can use magic bands (I was told I can order them closer to our trip from DVC Member services). We have old park passes with no expiration on them but I know I can't transfer these days onto the magic bands (or I don't believe there is any way to do so). I'm wondering if I should just save those tickets and buy 3 days, as we plan on doing 2 days at Universal and a day at the Water Park. I want them to get the full experience of using magic bands while in WDW.
What else can they / we use the bands for besides ticket entry?

 

[Meglen]

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/bands-cards/

 

[disneyfool_1202]

Thank you! That's pretty cool in terms of what the bands can do.

 

[Meglen]

yup! its nice for the time you are there. Dont need to bring a wallet unless you will have adults drinks and need the ID. once you get home you forget you cant just tab your wrist and pay lol

 

[bumbershoot]

I still bring ID, a cc (we rarely charge to the room and never did, but how do even more because my height and wrist flexibility make tapping the band to the oaypiint annoying), some cash, my insurance card (you never know when a day will end at the ER, and while they are supposed to treat you without it they can be super obnoxious until they get it), and any discount cards you might need (like Dvc card).

Plus the mb.

I find there to be no convenience in the plastic bangle, personally.

I even take it off to open the room door (if I’ve had it on), because of the same height and flexibility thing mentioned before.

 

[supersnoop]

Bands are simply linked to a profile in MDE. Tickets are linked to the profile. Any tickets linked are accessible via the band.

This can be a problem if you have multiple tickets. You may need to stop at Guest Services before you enter a park to ensure that the tickets are “prioritized” so the right ones are used.

 

[Halle]

Save the non expiring tickets for times you may go and only want to do one park day.

 

[cvjw]

You can most likely link the old tickets to your magic bands now. You just link them in your my Disney experience account using the number on each ticket. You can also call Disney if you can’t link them yourself.

If they are the old paper tickets, you will need to switch them out for the plastic rfid tickets when you get to Disney.

I would use the non expire tickets for a 3 day trip. That is a perfect use of those old tickets, as you hardly get any discount for 3 day tickets.

 

[CraigInPA]

You can most likely link the old tickets to your magic bands now. You just link them in your my Disney experience account using the number on each ticket. You can also call Disney if you can’t link them yourself.

Note that some of older tickets will not validate on MDE, and you'll need to go to guest services to redeem them. I have several 20 year old non-expiring tickets from back in the day where you bought x days of park admission and would get y days of admission to pleasure island and and z days of water parks thrown in as separate items. My tickets have all the water park admissions still available.

 

[pixieprincess925]

The most important part in all this is to prioritize your tickets correctly at guest services or a ticket window once you've added your non-expiring tickets. You cannot do this yourself - you HAVE to get it done at a ticket window or guest services. Otherwise you could end up using your non-expiring days when you intended to use the new ticket. You will have to re-prioritize anytime you add a new ticket to your account until the non-expiring ticket is used up. One cast member mentioned it always uses the oldest tickets first unless it is re-prioritized.