Chaperoning my son's band and new technology - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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My son's high school marching band will be traveling to WDW in March to march in a parade and visit WDW. I am a chaperone. We were just told last week at a chaperone meeting that we will not be getting Magic Bands because Disney is having some kinks in using them with groups. As part of a large group, we have not been given any individual confirmation numbers.
My question is this, without Magic Bands, how can my kids use the new FP+? I don't know if they will have smart phones or not. I am guessing they can use the kiosks to set them up, but when I chaperoned two years ago, we only had flimsy plastic tickets and not the regular credit card style key, so I am concerned these type tickets won't hold onto the FP+ for them.
My son's high school marching band will be traveling to WDW in March to march in a parade and visit WDW. I am a chaperone. We were just told last week at a chaperone meeting that we will not be getting Magic Bands because Disney is having some kinks in using them with groups. As part of a large group, we have not been given any individual confirmation numbers.
My question is this, without Magic Bands, how can my kids use the new FP+? I don't know if they will have smart phones or not. I am guessing they can use the kiosks to set them up, but when I chaperoned two years ago, we only had flimsy plastic tickets and not the regular credit card style key, so I am concerned these type tickets won't hold onto the FP+ for them.
Does anyone have any experience with this?
They will probably have to do it at the Kiosk.
I am curious to see how it works for you. My son is going with his high school marching band in April. They are staying off premises though so they will be using the kiosk. We are going but not chaperoning. I think a 24 hour bus ride full of teenagers was not something I wanted to do .
The marching band went in 2011 also. They stayed at ASMu on that trip. They stopped at AK when they first got there. They were given their park tickets at that time. This trip is similar except they are stopping at Blizzard Beach first. This year they are marching at WDW and have a workshop at Epcot.
My son's high school marching band will be traveling to WDW in March to march in a parade and visit WDW. I am a chaperone. We were just told last week at a chaperone meeting that we will not be getting Magic Bands because Disney is having some kinks in using them with groups. As part of a large group, we have not been given any individual confirmation numbers.
My question is this, without Magic Bands, how can my kids use the new FP+? I don't know if they will have smart phones or not. I am guessing they can use the kiosks to set them up, but when I chaperoned two years ago, we only had flimsy plastic tickets and not the regular credit card style key, so I am concerned these type tickets won't hold onto the FP+ for them.
Does anyone have any experience with this?
Even without Magic Bands, you should still be able to use My Disney Experience to make FP+ selections. The big wrinkle is that you must have a confirmed resort reservation and a park pass linked to your MDX account in order to make selections in advance. You may not be getting individual confirmation numbers, but it's worth trying to enter the group's overall confirmation number into your MDX account to see if that enables FP+ selection.
Others have reported similar problems with large groups - no confirmation numbers and no advance tickets, means no advance FP+ selections. Which, IMHO, stinks on ice for those unlucky enough to be going to WDW as part of a large group.
Worst-case scenario is that each member of the group will have to abide by the off-site Guest rules, which are that they can make 3 FP+ selection per day, same-day only.
My advice is, rock the boat! Complain, both through the band's coordinator, and by calling Disney yourself, about the fact that your group is being denied perks that all on-site Guests are supposed to get, namely advance selection of FP+ and Magic Bands.
Aside from that, be sure to advise all of the chaperones and parents that they should create MDX accounts for each person (adult or kid) who is attending. Each person can still link their tickets and dining ADRs (when they get them), and can still use the accounts for PhotoPass access and to modify their FP+ selections in-park, even if they can't make those FP+ selections in advance. And, each person link the others in the group to their account as a Friend, thus allowing everyone in the group to view the whole group's PhotoPass pics.
Besides, if Disney does get this mess with Magic Bands and FP+ straightened out in time, already having an MDX account will make it that much easier for each person to use them.
If the kids use the kiosk, will the kiosk save their Faspass+ to their tickets?
We are staying at ASM and its really agravating they don't have this all worked out!
This is my second time chaperoning them, and it's a lot of fun. But I dread the 16 hour bus trip each way!...
Well, two things:
1: Nothing is "saved to" your ticket. Your ticket has nothing saved on its magnetic strip or RFID chip other than its own unique identifying serial number. Everything is saved on the WDW computer system, and the ticket serves as a key to unlock that saved stuff - just like your money is saved in the bank, not your ATM card, and your ATM card merely allows you to access your bank account.
2: Yes, if you don't have a Magic Band, your park tickets do act as the access method for FP+ selections. When you make the selections at a kiosk, you tap your park pass to the lighted Mickey-head reader to access your MDX account, and when you enter a FastPass Return queue at a ride, you tap your ticket on a similar reader to prove that you do have a FP+ selection at that time.
Hm... 16 hours on a bus full of teenagers. With musical instruments. Hello, is this Hell? Yeah, listen, I've got a great idea for your next expansion room...
YogaKitty when are you going? I'm also chaperoning our band in March. Our kids are doing workshops instead of marching.
Yes, the bus ride will be a joy.........................
We've been told that we will have magic bands for our hotel but not our passes -
Stephaniechiz - we are leaving this Saturday and arriving on Sunday morning. We did the workshops two years ago.
We have been updated that we will have Magic Bands only for room keys. Our park tickets will be the tyvek type cards. AND I have been told by the travel agent NOT to link our tickets to MDX or it will cause all kinds of chaos!!! Just this morning got a reservation number for my room, but without tickets to tie in guess we still can't do any FPs ahead ot time.
When will you be there? Thsi is my second time to chaperone this trip and that bus ride is really looooong!
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