Question About Annual Pass and Magic Bands

[emnems34]

Hi guys, I have a few questions about the purchasing of tickets, upgrading them to APs, and buying Magic Bands:

- The last time we were at WDW, the Magic Bands were not in effect. I don't exactly know how they work. Would be be able to buy them seperately at the Disneystore.com and then have them hooked up to our tickets once we buy them in January? Or do they need to be bought at the same time?

- We are most likely going to be purchasing APs, but might just want to buy regular tickets now and then upgrade them when we get there. How does this work? Would they simply deduct the amount we'd already paid for our tickets off of the cost for APs and we would just have to pay the difference that day?

Thanks : )

 

[Robo]

Hi guys, I have a few questions about the purchasing of tickets, upgrading them to APs, and buying Magic Bands:

- The last time we were at WDW, the Magic Bands were not in effect. I don't exactly know how they work.

1. Would be be able to buy them seperately at the Disneystore.com and then have them hooked up to our tickets once we buy them in January?

2. Or do they need to be bought at the same time?

- We are most likely going to be purchasing APs, but might just want to buy regular tickets now and then upgrade them when we get there.

3. How does this work?

4. Would they simply deduct the amount we'd already paid for our tickets off of the cost for APs and we would just have to pay the difference that day?

Thanks : )

1. Yes.**
2. Nope.
3. Similar to doing upgrades in the past.
4. Yup. Be sure to actually USE your original tickets at least one time to
enter a theme park BEFORE you do any upgrade.



**Just to keep things as clear as possible-

There is no reservation info, or ticket info, or credit card info,
or FP+ info "put onto" a MagicBand.

The MagicBands just contain (and weakly "transmit") a unique serial number that is used to access the information that is stored in your MyDisneyExperience computer file.

So, even if you were to lose a MagicBand, the info stays locked in your file.
Disney can just set up a new band (different serial number)
to access the info in your MDE file.
Disney can also issue ADDITIONAL MB's to a guest and each
additional band can be used for the same purposes as the first band.
So, yes, there can be multiple MB's per person, and each of them can be used by that person.

The MagicBand works like the combination to a locked safe, or a key to a locked door.

The MB, itself, is not the file of info or the container of the info.
The MB just unlocks the file of info, allowing it to be accessed from your MDE account when needed.

 

[Fire14]

Hi guys, I have a few questions about the purchasing of tickets, upgrading them to APs, and buying Magic Bands:

- The last time we were at WDW, the Magic Bands were not in effect. I don't exactly know how they work. Would be be able to buy them seperately at the Disneystore.com and then have them hooked up to our tickets once we buy them in January? Or do they need to be bought at the same time?

- We are most likely going to be purchasing APs, but might just want to buy regular tickets now and then upgrade them when we get there. How does this work? Would they simply deduct the amount we'd already paid for our tickets off of the cost for APs and we would just have to pay the difference that day?

Thanks : )

You can buy Magic bands at anytime and link to MY Disney experience profile, If you are staying onsite you will get MB "free" as part of resort stay. You can link tickets at anytime.

You can buy regular tickets and later upgrade if within 14 days of first use. If you choose to upgrade it's best to use tickets at least once before upgrading and if done properly the CM will bridge your ticket to current gate price and give you that "credit" towards cost of AP.
So say my 8 day hopper ticket cost me 350.00, I use ticket to enter AK and decide I want AP so I go to guest relations and upgrade my ticket to AP the CM will bridge my 8 day hopper to current gate price of 375.00 giving me a credit of 375.00 towards cost of ap.

 

[emnems34]

You can buy Magic bands at anytime and link to MY Disney experience profile, If you are staying onsite you will get MB "free" as part of resort stay. You can link tickets at anytime.

You can buy regular tickets and later upgrade if within 14 days of first use. If you choose to upgrade it's best to use tickets at least once before upgrading and if done properly the CM will bridge your ticket to current gate price and give you that "credit" towards cost of AP.
So say my 8 day hopper ticket cost me 350.00, I use ticket to enter AK and decide I want AP so I go to guest relations and upgrade my ticket to AP the CM will bridge my 8 day hopper to current gate price of 375.00 giving me a credit of 375.00 towards cost of ap.

Okay, so what happens if I already have my resort reservation booked but I haven't purchased my park tickets yet? Will I get "free" Magic Bands once I buy my park tickets, or do you only get the Bands free if you book both at the same time, and thus I should just go ahead and order my bands seperately?

 

[dzneelvr]

...and same situation as you. I set up an account at My Disney Experience and loaded all dining reservations and FP+ picks into account. (Our resort rooms at ASMovies had been booked 10 months previous). You then order your magic bands, pick colors and name id that will be imprinted on each. I'm thinking my resort showed on the account and if it didn't I just called the customer service number for MDE and they loaded it.
The bands came 15 days or so prior to our trip and got us into our resort rooms, into the parks (with finger id upon entry), and on the first 3 FP at every Park. for some reason, we had a "free" FP loaded for ToT for all 4 of us too. I needed to upgrade my 6 day park tickets to an AP so I could buy our favorite dining plan: Tables in Wonderland. First morning I went to guest relations at EPCOT (prior to entering the park) to upgrade and purchase the TIW. All went smoothly the entire trip. It was wonderful having the convenient band on the wrist instead of searching for tickets each time. We went back for more Fps at only one park--most of the choices were used up by the time ours were gone. I definitely had reservations prior to the trip about the magic bands, but no issues ever occurred. I was told by a CM that the bands would probably be good to load another year or two (they are at no cost through the MDE).

 

[Fire14]

Okay, so what happens if I already have my resort reservation booked but I haven't purchased my park tickets yet? Will I get "free" Magic Bands once I buy my park tickets, or do you only get the Bands free if you book both at the same time, and thus I should just go ahead and order my bands seperately?

you should be able to log into MDE and choose your colors and name id's for each person on res. it's under mb's and cards heading if I recall right. once you get tickets you link each person's ticket to their mde profile

 

[nellypooh1]

May I ask why it is better to use my ticket first before upgrading to AP?

 

[Robo]

May I ask why it is better to use my ticket first before upgrading to AP?

The "use a day before you upgrade" is important if
there is a difference between what you originally paid
for your current ticket (if you paid LESS) and what
that same ticket costs at the gate the day you
upgrade.

This would be in the case of a ticket that you bought
as part of a Disney Resort Package, or under a special promotion, or a ticket that you bought from an authorized Disney ticket discounter.
(It will not work if you purchased your tickets directly from
a Disney Park ticket booth.)

BEFORE you use a new ticket, and try to upgrade, that ticket is considered to be a "trade-in."
So Disney will check to see what you paid for the ticket (or even WORSE, what the ticket discounter paid WHOLESALE for that ticket)
and charge you the difference from THAT price to the gate price of the upgraded ticket.

AFTER you use any part of a new ticket, and then do the upgrade, that ticket is considered to be a normal "upgrade."
So Disney will only charge you the difference price as if you had just purchased your current ticket at the gate and only charge the difference between that value and the upgraded ticket.

And, it's so easy to use the ticket first, anyway.
Then, at some later point in your trip (same day, the next day, etc.) when you take a couple of minutes' break, do the upgrade.

NOTE: You must do all upgrading only as late as the same day that you use your last ticket asset. Meaning that if you are using your LAST "park day" on the ticket, you need to do any upgrades -at least- by the end of that day.

Otherwise, all upgrades must be done within 14 days of when the ticket was fist used.

 

[illinidp]

Okay, so what happens if I already have my resort reservation booked but I haven't purchased my park tickets yet? Will I get "free" Magic Bands once I buy my park tickets, or do you only get the Bands free if you book both at the same time, and thus I should just go ahead and order my bands seperately?

You will get a set mailed to you for an on property stay regardless of whether or not you buy park tickets. If you upgrade park tickets to APs, you will get another set of MBs mailed to you after.

 

[dbenlee]

This is some great information that I have been wondering about. I have an additional question. How does this work with the DVC discount? Are you still able to get the DVC discount when upgrading Park Hoppers to AP's?

 

[Robo]

This is some great information that I have been wondering about. I have an additional question. How does this work with the DVC discount? Are you still able to get the DVC discount when upgrading Park Hoppers to AP's?

DVC does not really have a "discount" for APs.
DVC APs are simply a different price than standard APs (a distinction without a difference, I guess.)

Regardless, yes, you can upgrade a MYW ticket to a DVC AP.
The method is the same.

 

[dbenlee]

DVC does not really have a "discount" for APs.
DVC APs are simply a different price than standard APs (a distinction without a difference, I guess.)

Regardless, yes, you can upgrade a MYW ticket to a DVC AP.
The method is the same.

Thanks for the info Robo. I appreciate the information you give to people on these boards.

 

[emnems34]

you should be able to log into MDE and choose your colors and name id's for each person on res. it's under mb's and cards heading if I recall right. once you get tickets you link each person's ticket to their mde profile

Thanks so much! I hadn't realized I still needed to do the customization. How soon will they come? If my time says "customize before February 4, 2015 will they ship that day, or will they ship earlier if I customized them and clicked "done"?

 

[Robo]

Thanks so much! I hadn't realized I still needed to do the customization. How soon will they come? If my time says "customize before February 4, 2015 will they ship that day, or will they ship earlier if I customized them and clicked "done"?

They ship about 4 weeks before check-in date.

 

[emnems34]

They ship about 4 weeks before check-in date.

Ok, perfect! Thanks!