Old Magic Band (not +) and Ride photos

[Earningmywings]

We have the old style Magic Bands from 2 years ago, not the Magic Band +. We used these last year fine, but I am worried about this year. I have read that people are having trouble getting ride photos with the old style. We have gone every year the past 8 years, usually just once a year, but plan on taking a break after this year.

Anyone have experience this year with the old Magic bands? I would rather not buy new ones in case they have been replaced again by the time we go back in a few years.

Thanks

 

[CarolynFH]

MBs that are only 2 years old should work fine for linking ride photos. If you allow MDE to use Bluetooth on your phone, they’ll also link that way, as a backup.

 

[tseitel]

We were last there in October with a large group for 9 days. Our experience was that those with the old style bands ( 2 years old) had zero photos link, but those with the new MB+ had no trouble.
The older bands worked fine for everything else, park entry, room key, lightning lane, etc. just not the photos.
YMMV, but this definitely happened to us,at all the parks

 

[lanejudy]

In the older style MBs there is a long-range battery that does eventually die and cannot be replaced. Some have found it to last much longer than 2 years, but others have not. That long-range battery is needed for ride photos. If you carry a phone with bluetooth as a back-up, you can continue to use the old MBs for "tap points" and the photos should be picked up by the phone.

The ability to "tap" for things like park entry, LL entry, purchases, room key, etc. should continue to work indefinitely.

 

[erionm]

Try and keep track of the date/time you go on rides. If the photos don't link, you can go to any PhotoPass location (typically in the camera centers) and they can pull them up by date/time. If found, you can manually link them to your account.

 

[sponica]

If you're concerned, you could always just buy ONE MB+ as a failsafe. The only long range photo I've ever had problems with is Frozen Ever After.

 

[LRdismom]

My older MB didn't link any ride photos. I had to keep my phone with me and have the bluetooth linked to MDE for ride photos to link.

 

[123SA]

My older MB didn't link any ride photos. I had to keep my phone with me and have the bluetooth linked to MDE for ride photos to link.

I had this problem, but my bluetooth wasn't consistently picking it up either. Well...hmmm, mine is always on but it is possible that my kids didn't always have it on and that was the problem.

Try and keep track of the date/time you go on rides. If the photos don't link, you can go to any PhotoPass location (typically in the camera centers) and they can pull them up by date/time. If found, you can manually link them to your account.

I did this at Epcot. The customer service people were very helpful, but it was just too time consuming. After the first day of doing this, instead I took notes of approximate times and what we were wearing (I just make sure I have a photo on my phone, never a problem) and contacted Photopass when I got home. They were able to find most of the photos, not all. The customer service at Photopass is excellent.


However, I like the ride photos and I always buy memory maker as my trip souvenir. I won't go with old bands anymore. For me, it's too much hassle.

 

[Earningmywings]

Thanks everyone, looks like we will be buying new bands. Don’t want to take the chance of missing photos if this will be our last trip for a few years. As I say that there is still a 50% chance we will be back again next year .

 

[HopperFan]

I get all my ride photos except for TRON. I've been on it at least 6 times and never got a photo. I don't want to have to buy a MB and hope that it works, so looks like next time I'll try carrying my phone with me and hope it picks it up.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Even with a brand new Magicband+ we were missing a lot of photos last year when we went. We filled out the missing photos form on the app and they found them. Last month I had on a 2021 band and same thing happened. Filled in the forms and again they were found. We always make a note at the end of the day as to what’s missing. Seems like there’s always something.

 

[babesboo99]

We used our old MBs and while it worked for the room and stores we did not get all the ride photos because the signal was not strong enough from what we were told. So we bought new ones for out trip in August