There is no "once Disney has decided to go through with the band." They're in play and not going away. They've invested a billion dollars, the bands are the new normal for Disney trips.
we used our KTTW card to enter the turnstiles and we had to just touch the new little machines and then place our finger on the little part next to the key one. Also, we had to just touch our KTTW card to the resort door to unlock it...Kinda cool but scary at the same time...