Staying Off Site--Not getting Magic Bands?

[luvmytwins02]

So last time we stayed on Disney property and used Disney transportation. This time we will have our car and will be staying off site.

If we do not get magic bands (because we are staying offsite), what will our tickets look like? Will they be loaded on a card? will they be paper tickets?

Other than charging tickets/meals to magic bands, is there any other + to having them?

 

[luvmytwins02]

also, if we don't have magic bands, how will we keep track of our FPs? Will they be paper tickets like they used to be?

 

[luvmytwins02]

I just found a thread that says we can purchased Magic Bands at the parks or at Downtown Disney. Would you suggest doing that? If we purchase bands at time of trip...how then do I link my previously scheduled FP to those new Magic Bands?

 

[disneyderns]

We just got back a couple of weeks ago from an offsite visit. Here are my two cents...

We were not able to get magic bands and to be honest - now that I have the option to get them...I still wouldn't.

All you have to do is hold your card up to the Mickey head scanners - no need to line up the Mickey head on the band. Every single person I saw who had problems were people with magic bands. Everyone using hard tickets - right on through. If you have small children in your party it is also more challenging to get their wrists at the right angle to get the heads to line up. My 6 year old liked using his ticket.

Here was our process...
I was in charge of the tickets - which were plastic - like a gift card. When we entered the park I handed the tickets off to everyone (Me, DW, DD-12 and DS-6). Each person scanned their card and put their finger on the reader and boom we were in . For FP+ return we did the same process. There are 2 readers where cards are read in the FP+ return line. Once the cards were scanned the second time I just collected them all again and away we went.

If you have a smart phone - get the MDE app. It was helpful for wait times, and had I had the ability to schedule my FP+ I would have used it to schedule and to modify my times. Of course that ability started the day after our vacation ended.

Let me know if you have any other questions and have fun planning and traveling!

 

[kj4msu]

also, if we don't have magic bands, how will we keep track of our FPs? Will they be paper tickets like they used to be?

I too am curious about this. We are going next week with magic bands while my mom will be there for just one day. She was able to pick out her fastpasses to coincide with ours but now I am wondering will she get paper fastpass tickets when she picks up her tickets at will call? Does she still have to go to a kiosk?

 

[disneyderns]

No paper fast passes at all, it is all linked to the ticket. If you can take a picture of your FP+ reservations on your phone, do that. This is a back up to prove that your mom has a FP+ for the same time. Or...if at least one person in your party has a smart phone/ipod (because you have wifi in the parks) download the app and link your mom's ticket to your MDE account. You should then see the FP+ reservations for all in your party.

 

[DebbieB]

If you are staying offsite, you can't charge to the band. That an only be done if you have a room account, just like the old KTTK.

 

[luvmytwins02]

Ok so we will get plastic cards (like when we went in 2010). So, can I still reserve FP+ times 30 days before and it will link to my card? Will we be mailed our cards BEFORE vacation (we are going Aug 16-23)? I think last time they were given to us at the time of arrival at our Disney hotel. but since we are not staying at a Disney hotel, wonder how we will get our cards?

 

[kj4msu]

No paper fast passes at all, it is all linked to the ticket. If you can take a picture of your FP+ reservations on your phone, do that. This is a back up to prove that your mom has a FP+ for the same time. Or...if at least one person in your party has a smart phone/ipod (because you have wifi in the parks) download the app and link your mom's ticket to your MDE account. You should then see the FP+ reservations for all in your party.

Thanks. Yeah she is already on my family list so all her stuff shows up in my plans too. Pretty cool!!

 

[CinderElsa]

Ok so we will get plastic cards (like when we went in 2010). So, can I still reserve FP+ times 30 days before and it will link to my card? Will we be mailed our cards BEFORE vacation (we are going Aug 16-23)? I think last time they were given to us at the time of arrival at our Disney hotel. but since we are not staying at a Disney hotel, wonder how we will get our cards?

You have to have the ticket in your hand in order to link it to MDE, so without the cards, you can't make FP+ reservations. If the hotel hasn't indicated otherwise, they probably plan to give you the tickets upon arrival, so you'd be able to link them & make FP+ reservations from your phone/computer at that time.

 

[chipndales]

We are staying off site. Got hard tickets. You scan your ticket to enter the park and head to a kiosk to make your FP ressies. Or you can link your tickets online and reserve FP that way. I suggest that because once you're in the park, most slots are gone. Or that's how we found it. I have a windows phone (hate it) so I couldn't dl the iPhone or android app to help me out so I took a picture of the FP reservations and had them email it so I had it that way as well. It was annoying to have to keep looking at my phone to remember which FP was what time but all is well at Disney!!

 

[disneyderns]

You have to have the ticket in your hand in order to link it to MDE, so without the cards, you can't make FP+ reservations. If the hotel hasn't indicated otherwise, they probably plan to give you the tickets upon arrival, so you'd be able to link them & make FP+ reservations from your phone/computer at that time.

Actually you can link tickets without having them in hand. I ordered our tickets online and picked them up at will call because we waited until 1.5 weeks before our trip to buy. When we ordered we were given a single confirmation number sent to our email. I simply logged into my account on My Disney Experience and entered that number. I then assigned each ticket to a person in my group. On our first park day at HS we got there 40 min before opening and while my wife got in line at rope drop, I went and picked up our plastic tickets.

Truthfully, my experience using the hard ticket was painless. I would definitely echo the previous post about scheduling FP+ ahead of time. When I booked in the park no offsite people could schedule ahead of time and lines were nuts after 10AM. I went on a ride at rope drop and scheduled right after that. The only place I didn't get what I wanted was HS because every FP+ for Toy Story was gone before the park even opened.

 

[luvmytwins02]

thank you for all the great information! Right now we are booked a Marriott...but that could change yet. Haven't completely decided what I want to do. We got a great 2 bedroom (1 room king, 1 room 2 queens), full kitchen and LR and 2 full bathrooms for $122/night. We did disney value resort the first trip and while the disney transporation was awesome, not sure I could stay in a small hotel room for 7 nights! not to mention we now have a 3 year old as well as the two 11 year olds!

 

[luvmytwins02]

and we get free breakfast every morning at the Marriott

 

[CinderElsa]

Actually you can link tickets without having them in hand. I ordered our tickets online and picked them up at will call because we waited until 1.5 weeks before our trip to buy. When we ordered we were given a single confirmation number sent to our email. I simply logged into my account on My Disney Experience and entered that number. I then assigned each ticket to a person in my group. On our first park day at HS we got there 40 min before opening and while my wife got in line at rope drop, I went and picked up our plastic tickets.

Truthfully, my experience using the hard ticket was painless. I would definitely echo the previous post about scheduling FP+ ahead of time. When I booked in the park no offsite people could schedule ahead of time and lines were nuts after 10AM. I went on a ride at rope drop and scheduled right after that. The only place I didn't get what I wanted was HS because every FP+ for Toy Story was gone before the park even opened.

You're right! I'm just not sure if that will work for the OP, since she didn't purchase directly from Disney.

 

[joedplumber]

Just wrapped up our vacation off site and we purchased magic bands in MK on day one. It is so much easier not having to take out all of the family passes at each fast pass. The kids just slapped the bracelet to the FP+ gate and done.

I spoke with a cast member and in the future they will be rolling out the ability to link a CC to your magicband and charge with it whether you are on site or not.

 

[luvmytwins02]

huh, wonder how long into the future that will be?

 

[joedplumber]

It's all about making it easier for the guest to spend their money. Lol