Not going to parks, can I skip MDE & MB fiasco?

[jodifla]

I'm not interested in spending hours setting up MDE and dealing with "Magic" (Don't Work Half the Time) Bands.

Can I just get a room key? We've already decided to bag Disney Parks and do Universal instead.

 

[sissy_ib]

I'm not interested in spending hours setting up MDE and dealing with "Magic" (Don't Work Half the Time) Bands.

Can I just get a room key? We've already decided to bag Disney Parks and do Universal instead.

I didn't set up magic bands for my last trip which was a split stay. For the AKV stay they sent me one for OKW it was waiting for me at check in to use as my room key.

 

[Paging Tom Morrow]

I think you are putting too much on the horror stories of MBs. The reality is that they use RFID technology just like the old resort keys did. You can probably ask for a traditional RFID key, but there's no real difference between having it on a card or in the band.

 

[erionm]

We had three resort stays using MagicBands and have had only minor issues with the MagicBands. The touch points at the parks didn't seem to like my finger scan (didn't work with MagicBand or RFID AP Card) and I had problems once with room charging. Other than that, no issue entering our room.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I'm not interested in spending hours setting up MDE and dealing with "Magic" (Don't Work Half the Time) Bands.

Can I just get a room key? We've already decided to bag Disney Parks and do Universal instead.

Frankly, I wondered this last year. Since I wasn't doing parks, what did I need MBs for? Although Disney insisted, all I ever used mine for was as a room key (now I don't know if you can get room keys any other way except by using MBs).

 

[dwelty]

Same here, two MB trips so far, zero problems. A vocal minority can seem like a bigger group on the internet.

 

[dsneygirl]

Same here, two MB trips so far, zero problems. A vocal minority can seem like a bigger group on the internet.

It's so much easier to have the "card" on your wrist than in your wallet. No fishing for a key late at night. Use it for charging at your resort.

I've done 2 trips and I love the MB and am so glad they went to them. Heck at Great Wolf Lodge 5 years ago your wristband opened the room.

That being said I am sure you can ask for a card but it's not much different. We had an issue with a couple bands not unlocking our room but that has happened with cards in the past as well.

 

[disneynutz]

Frankly, I wondered this last year. Since I wasn't doing parks, what did I need MBs for? Although Disney insisted, all I ever used mine for was as a room key (now I don't know if you can get room keys any other way except by using MBs).

MBs mean money for Disney. They have announced that guests using MB's tend to buy more and charge to their room more due to the convenience. Increased spending of between 15% and 20% have been reported.

Bill

 

[MouseMomx2]

You are putting far too much stock in the horror stories. Far more guests have reported having no problems with the new technology.

We have used the MBs for three trips which covered more than 20 days and we have had no problems at all.

 

[LisaS]

I don't know if they will still issue a room keycard or not. Some people have had problems setting up and using the bands but most have not. It took me less than 10 minutes to enter our PAP confirmation number, and set up the bands for DH and me. Most of that time was spent choosing a color!

If you don't want to customize your bands in advance online (pick a color, add a name) they will give you generic gray ones when you check in. So you end up with bands either way, but not very pretty ones.

We had one minor issue with our bands. We enjoyed using them. Much easier than fishing my room key out of my little park purse when coming back to the room. Since they are waterproof we wore them in the pool so no more issues with where to stash the room keys while we're in the pool. Very convenient.

 

[erionm]

You are putting far too much stock in the horror stories. Far more guests have reported having no problems with the new technology.

We have used the MBs for three trips which covered more than 20 days and we have had no problems at all.

I agree. Typically, those that have issues (and those that just like to complain) tend to be far more vocal that those that don't have issues.

 

[jodifla]

I didn't realize you could pick colors. We leave in a couple weeks, so I'm sure it's too late now.

Thanks for all the tips, guys.

 

[erionm]

I didn't realize you could pick colors. We leave in a couple weeks, so I'm sure it's too late now.

Thanks for all the tips, guys.

Check MDE, you may still be able to customize them.

If you customize more than 30 days before check-in, they will ship out at 30 days prior to check-in.

If you customize less than 30 days but more than 10, they will ship shortly after you customize them.

 

[LisaS]

I didn't realize you could pick colors. We leave in a couple weeks, so I'm sure it's too late now.

Thanks for all the tips, guys.

If you watch this video you'll get to see most of the colors available. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/bands-cards/

 

[erionm]

The picture below contains all of the current colors. They are not an exact match as it appears to be a computer created image. The green MagicBand for instance is actually darker than in the image.

 

[jodifla]

Do I need two sets of magic bands? We have a split stay.

 

[erionm]

Do I need two sets of magic bands? We have a split stay.

You will have the option to customize two sets, but you can use the same MagicBand for both reservations. Since the MagicBands are linked to MDE profiles, all MagicBands assigned to an individual can be used interchangeably.

If you don't want two, you can leave one set un-customized and have the resort recycle the grey ones that will be waiting for you.

 

[bwvBound]

We had the Bands for our non-park visit in January. Two days into the stay we requested simple room keys and these were supplied easily. I found that my room key sat flat in a pocket while the MB did not.

FWIW, I don't wear a watch on my wrist and very rarely wear any type of jewelry. I found the band very uncomfortable and grew annoyed when it would get caught in my (conference-issue) backpack straps. Ugh. I tried it but simply didn't like it.

 

[rkold]

If worse comes to worse and you personalize your MB late, aka within 2 weeks of your trip, they'll have them waiting at your resort for you and then you won't be able to use them for the Magical Express. You'll get the personalized ones at check in though. We had that happen in October 2013.

I've used MBs 3x now and I really like them. It's nice when you want to go to the pool or for a jog not have a card that you need to find a location for.

Any issues we've had with MBs haven't been intrinsic to MBs and we've had the same problems with keycards. In fact to be honest, I've had fewer problems with MBs than with keycards.

I was told in January by CMs that Disney was no longer giving out keycards after that week.

 

[jodifla]

Are they going to be giving out Magic Bands for each trip and mailing them out? Seems like that would get expensive.