Magic Bands Info [include room key + ADRs + FPs, anything else? When to customize?] About This Page:

[JKB]

Headed back to WDW in Feb. 2014. Taking my DD for her 25th birthday! Got my paperwork back and noticed that we can use the magic bands. Been looking for info and here is what I have found. They take the place of your "key card" that is your room key and park ticket. Your dining reservations (already made) are on the band and you can put 3 fast passes per day when you are 60 days out. Is this all correct? Anything I am missing? Can we customize the bands now even though we cannot put fast passes yet? Just want to make full use of these and looking for advise.

[stardust190]

We are going a little before you and have been able to customize our bands on the website. You have until about a month before the trip to do so. I'm not sure if there's an exact date that you can start customizing them as we just recently were able to do ours, but it might be because they just opened up the "testing" to us or are getting ready for the full roll out.

As for FP+ you should be able to make those 60 days out. And the band replaces the cards, but I think you can get the cards too.

[WillCAD]

Don't think of the Magic Band itself as being anything special. A Magic Band is just an alternative form of ticket/identity media, just like the old Key to the World cards were.

The big differences come from the My Disney Experience web site. On MDE, you can make your dining ADRs, schedule FastPass+ options, and link those things to your room or package reservation. You also link your park passes to your MDE account. And, you can provide a credit card number to the web site, which will be used to enable the "charge purchases to my room" feature.

This makes everything having to do with planning your WDW vacation centralized in the MDE account, and you can access it to make changes, additions, or subtractions via the MDE web site, or the Android and iPhone apps. The site will also allow you to perform an Online Checkin long before you actually arrive, which allows you to get off the plane and go straight to a park without having to check in at your resort; your room number will be texted or emailed to you at numbers/addresses you provide during Online Checkin.

Magic Bands are one of the ways to access all of these features when you're at WDW. WDW resort packages include free Magic Bands for each member of your party. Once you have completed the Online Checkin process, you will be able to click the Customize Magic Bands option on MyDisneyExperience, and choose colors for each member of your party's MBs. The MBs also have your name printed on the inside, and you can choose how you want your name to appear. You have until 30 days prior to arrival to make your MB selections.

At the 30 day mark, your Magic Bands will be mailed to you at home.

Magic Bands are plastic bands containing an RFID chip. Each MB has a totally unique serial number. Your MBs are linked to your MyDisneyExperience account, and can be used to access anything that is in the account - your Disney's Magical Express reservation, your dining ADRs, your FastPass+ selections, your park passes, your WDW resort room's door lock, your Disney Dining Plan credits, and even the "charge to room" feature - it's all in your MDE account, and it can all be accessed with your Magic Band.

Thus, when you get off the plane, you wave your MB at a reader to get onto the DME bus. When you arrive at WDW, you can go straight to a park, and wave your MB at a reader to enter the park, because your park passes are already in your MDE account. When one of your FastPass+ return times comes up, you wave your MB at a reader to get into the FastPass line of the attraction. When you go to a restaurant for lunch, you wave your MB at a reader to access your Disney Dining Plan credits. When you buy a souvenir, you wave your MB at a reader to charge the item to your room.

If you lose one of your MBs, don't worry, they can be deactivated and replaced, just like a lost ATM or credit card, because none of this stuff is "on" the Magic Band itself; all of your info, park passes, and reservations are in the WDW computer system. The MB is just a form of ID that you use to access all of that stuff. Replacements will be plain gray, though; you only get the pretty colors when you customize your MBs in advance.

And, when you arrive at WDW, you will find a number of accessories available in the gift shops to customize the look of your MBs, including slipcovers and dangling charms.

My Disney Experience, Magic Bands, and FastPass+ are all still in the testing phase, until at least January. Once the testing phase ends, some of the rules may change; for example, while they are in testing, you will be issued an old-style KTTW card when you arrive at your resort, as a backup for the MB in case it doesn't work properly (they're still ironing out a few wrinkles in the system).

Eventually, PhotoPass will also be integrated into the MDE system, allowing you to wave your MB at a reader when you get a PhotoPass pic taken, instead of scanning the current barcoded cards. But this may not happen for quite a while, so don't hold your breath.

[Starwind]

It is my understanding that if you do Online Checkin you STILL have to checkin in person at your resort. When you do, you will have to cough up a government-issued photo ID like a driver's licence, and you will have to produce the credit card that you want to use for charges to the room and to pay off any balance still owing for the room (can be the same card for both). At least, that was my experience in September; we did online checking but still had to do all those things when we checked in at the "online checkin" counter at the resort when we arrived. IIRC, we even had to sign some paperwork.

Other's experience may differ.

-SW

[JKB]

Thanks for the advise!

[Sue M.]

We were able to customize our bands for upcoming late January trip around the 80 day mark.

Last August we were part of the testing group. We were able to pick 3 FPs each day at one park. Any attractions, parades, fireworks.

Now they are changing all that. FPs will be tiered :-( and you can only pick 1 headliner, and 2 other FPs that you really don't need FPs for (IMO). And you will not be issued a kttw card anymore.

I can honestly say I'm not happy with how FP+ is evolving! and it's very disappointing. I get to do my FP selections at the end if the week, and sadly not looking forward to it. The program started out fine, with being able to get 3 FPs for headliners. Now I get to choose between Sorin or Test Track? Ride one then have an hour standby or longer for the other? No, not happy.

[cindybelle]

I got to try out the Magic Bands system in early November and will be going back in late February. I wasn't crazy about the FP+ system in November and that was with the ability to choose 3 headliner attractions. Now to read that you can only have 1 headliner is a bummer.

One thing I hope they'll change is that in November I was "assigned" three FP+ attractions even if I only wanted to choose 1. Then, after getting into a park, I discovered I couldn't get any Fast Passes because I'd already been "issued" my 3. Wha-aat? A Cast Member told me that most guests don't get more than 3 Fast Passes a day.

Yeah, well at DHS I would like to get Tot and TSMM only -- but the system gave me Star Tours anyway. I told the Cast Member I'd gladly trade in the Star Tours FP I hadn't asked for if I could get another ToT -- but nope, couldn't do it.

Like I said, I'm hoping they'll change that. Are they really going to make us go back to the E-ticket days of choosing one headliner and then some "lesser" attractions? That seems crazy. For example, when have you ever needed a FP to do Spaceship Earth? Come on!

I enjoyed the Magic Bands except for the FP+ experience. Here's to some real improvements.

[Sue M.]

Hopefully Disney will hear "us". There's a lot of people dissatisfied with only being able to pic 1 headliner.
Not happy I have to choose between Sorin or TT at Epcot. I did email my opinion to Wdw guest service. Perhaps if enough people tell them they're not happy with this, it will change. It is still in testing phase. So there's hope?

[NurseLesley]

Will it still be in testing phase in April when we go again? I am hoping its all up and running because I am dying to use them!!!!!

[WillCAD]

Originally Posted by NurseLesley

Will it still be in testing phase in April when we go again? I am hoping its all up and running because I am dying to use them!!!!!

Originally, the testing phase was supposed to end at the end of December, but Disney has pushed it back to the end of January because the system still has some bugs and glitches. I think the chances are very good that the bugs and glitches will all be worked out by April.

However, aside form the bugs and glitches that need to be worked out, I think Disney also has yet to make firm decisions on the rule differences between day Guests, Passholders, and on-site Guests. I think we may see some tweaking of those rules after the bugs are all worked out, and that tweaking might extend the testing phase a little.

Personally, I'm hoping for three distinct sets of rules, one for day Guests, one for Passholders, and one for on-site Guests. So far, it looks like they are pretty much set on the "3 per day" thing, which recently changed to "1 major 2 minor per day", so maybe they can keep that and allow on-site Guests to select up to 60 days in advance, Passholders to select up to 8 days in advance, and day Guests to select same-day only.

[Silvercat]

Consider the extremely unhappy international traveller.

1) Having booked our vacation package directly with the Walt Disney Travel Company UK, we hadn't been made aware of the fact that we were going to be issued with Magic Bands until we actually checked into OKW three weeks ago. Therefore, we were never given the option to choose our colour, and ended up with two grey ones, neither of which were personalised so we had to make sure we kept them separate, as they were then linked to our fingerprints. I had set up the My Disney Experience application on my iPad, and was able to pre-link my resort reservation, but was never allowed to link my tickets to it as they were merely ticket vouchers that we had, not actual tickets.

2) Had I not taken my iPad with me, we would have found it really difficult to pick FP+ passes, as our USA cellphone is not a smartphone, and we were only able to book the passes on a daily basis in the parks, and for the next 2 days at the Concierge desk at our resort.

3) We HATED the fact that you can only pick FP+ for one of the major attractions in each park, e.g. you can have EITHER Soarin' or Test Track. but not both at any one time. This is fairly understandable, as they don't want all the big FPs going out quickly, but it is not easy picking between one or the other!

4) The Haunted Mansion in the Studios now ONLY has a FP+ option, the regular FP machines no longer exist. Therefore, if you are not in possession of a Magic Band, you cannot have a FP for this attraction at all. That is surely discriminatory against anyone who is not staying onsite?

5) If they are getting rid of the ordinary FPs in the near future, how will that affect anyone staying offsite? Or day visitors? A lot of International travellers stay in villas, as this is a cheaper option for them, particularly if they have children. Does this mean that FPs become an exclusive option for those staying onsite? Again, this strikes me as being discriminatory. We understand that the 'best perks' should be kept for onsite guests, but as onsite guests we do get a lot of really nice perks, and exclusive use of the Fastpass system was never intended to be one of these, I believe.

6) I have heard that Disney will not ship these bands overseas. Therefore, we are never going to have the option to personalise our bands with names and/or colours. This strikes us as being extremely unfair. I understand that posting the bands to the UK is prohibitively expensive. However, I can assure you that booking a WDW trip from the UK is also extraordinarily expensive and I see no reason we should receive a second class service from Disney, as we don't pay a second class price. If we have to speak to a US operative we have to pay for international calls. I just accept that, we are booking from another country. Disney should also accept if they take bookings from other countries their postage and packing will be more expensive. They are providing us with a service we pay for, not a favour.

7) The addition of this new FP+ system has had a significant effect on queue wait times, for FP queues. We have NEVER before had to wait for up to 30 mins in a FP queue, yet this is exactly what happened on our last visit to Soarin' - we were there for 25 minutes! The FP queues now extend way out of the FP entrances to attractions, to the shock of most people trying to get into the attraction.

Summary : We did like the bands, and having the room key, dining plan, and park entrance all linked onto this one implement was extremely useful. However, we were not happy with several aspects of the whole process, and we will be emailing Guest Services with our frustrations/comments/feedback.

[HiddenMickey]

Here's something new I learned yesterday (others probably already knew this).... When you customize your Magic Band, the name you give it is printed on the inside of the MB.

[cindybelle]

Glad to see more opinions expressed here since yesterday. I made a this morning to the My Disney Experience line, waited 20 minutes, and then spoke with a nice but defensive gentleman, and sorry but I failed to get his name. So this is straight from one horse's mouth.

The idea behind limiting the # of FP+ we can get and of making us choose one E-ticket type experience per park is to make the system MORE FAIR TO EVERYONE. But he also said guests who stay on-site get better Fast Passes than off-site guests get -- but he didn't explain that. He said that guests who visit frequently (guess that would nclude me ) have "gamed the system" by getting multiple Fast Passes and then we don't use them all. He reminded me that the Fast Pass system is only about 10 years old and so nothing in that system is "permanent."

I told him I very much appreciated getting a FP+ for TSMM without having to run through the park at rope-drop, and he was pleased to hear it. But he bristled when I said, "I really didn't want to be assigned three Fast Passes for various attractions when I only wanted one." He told me the other two were "bonuses."

He reiterated that this is still the TESTING phase and that guests do not have to participate in it. He said some guests opt out and continue to use the regular Fast Pass system or simply wait in line.

Unless they completely tick me off, Disney knows I'll be back twice a year no matter what. However, I think that for my February trip I'll get the FP+ for one trip on TSMM only -- the other days, we'll just go into a park and take our chances that we can get Fast Passes another way. Or that the lines will be short enough that we won't need a Fast Pass.

He told me their intention is to make our vacations LESS REGIMENTED, but in November we felt EXTREMELY REGIMENTED -- had to show up at each of our three FP+ attractions during the assigned hours.

He's right that it's still being tested, so let's all exercise patience.

Oh, one more thing -- I asked if we could use the Magic Bands we'd received in November rather than get new ones, which seems like a waste. He said the bands are recycled at Disney so we can bring them back with us. He suggested I go ahead and order new Magic Bands for this trip but then when we arrive at the resort, they can reactivate our November bands. Well OK, but it sure still sounds like a waste.

But I was happy to hear the bands can be reycled.

[cindybelle]

A couple more things, for those who will be trying out the Magic Bands soon.

1. DME wasn't tied to the Magic Bands in early November -- I wouldn't expect that during the testing phase.

2. Security: You make up a 4-digit PIN that you use every time you charge anything with your Magic Band. So that's a safeguard against you losing your band and someone else picking it up. (That said, the bands stay on your wrist just fine -- you can tighten/loosen them to your comfort level. Just don't start taking it off while you're in the park and you won't lose your band.)

3. Slipcovers: You may notice the band chafing a bit, especially if your arm gets sweaty. I'm so glad I purchased a slipcover set my first day there -- way more comfortable. You just have to "feel" for Mickey's head or memorize where his head appears on your slipcover.

You'll get the hang of wearing your Magic Band. For the most part, I liked having that on my wrist rather than reaching for my KTTW and Annual Pass cards all the time. Try it, and let us know what you think.

[Happymommy]

We found photopass was already linked to our magic bands. They used my magic band when we had our picture taken, but the absolute craziest thing was, some of our ride pictures came up on our photopass site, a few days after we got home-. The thing that sort of freaked us out, was we did not use our magic band to have the pic put on our account--- one of the pics had not been even seen by anyone in our group as we were running out of the ride to meet up with my 13 year old who does not enjoy RNRC, who was waiting for us on one of the benches outside-- we never even looked at the picture. We thought it was crazy that somehow they knew the exact car we were in. The only thing I can think of was we did use our bands to fastpass--- but still to pinpoint the exact car. The same thing happened on Splash.