I have a few questions about Magic Bands that I'm hoping someone can help me with.
We are going in 34 days (YAY!!!) and we just selected our magic bands. We are going with another family who live in another state. They made the resort reservation but we each bought our own tickets.
- Will our magic bands be shipped to us?
- If so, when should we expect to receive them and where will they be shipped -- our address or the other family's address?
- If not, how do we go about getting them? We arrive before the other family and plan to go to the parks before checking into the hotel.
TIA
To expand on what others have said... It sounds like you and another family booked a ROOM ONLY reservation, and purchased separate tickets... Similar to our trip in November (my wife, our son and I have annual passes, and our friend from South Carolina purchased her own), so I can use us as an example...
MagicBands for a resort reservation are mailed to the LEAD GUEST on the reservation, however when submitting the order you will get prompted to confirm or change the ship to address. Bands for all guests on the reservation will be sent to the single address. So in our case, I select the bands for all four of us, confirmed my ship to address, so all for bands, including our friend's, will come to my house (there is no option to split and ship our friends to her, and ours to us).
When purchasing tickets, if you select to have them shipped (rather than will call pickup at the parks), they will be mailed to the guest purchasing them. So in our case, our friend purchased her tickets and the plastic card was shipped to her. If I recall correctly, they have shipping options of Will Call (Pickup at park or guest services at WDW), USPS (7-10 days), both of which are free, or you can pay for express shipping.
As for the timing.... Tickets are usually shipped within a day or two from the order being completed/paid for. They usually take 7-10 business days if you select USPS. As for MagicBands currently they can take up to a week for to process (but usually its 2 or 3 business days), then they ship them out. The lead guest will see a notification in the My Disney Experience web site saying they shipped and the USPS tracking number. They may also get an email (but its not consistent). Unfortunately I've never seen notification of bands shipping in the app on my phone. In the past, when only free bands were available, Magicbands didn't process until 30 days to check-in, and shipped about 27 to 25 days to check in for arrival at your home about a week or two before check in. That changed (last year I think?) when they started including graphic bands you can pay to upgrade to, and then they started processing once you select your bands, and pay if you selected any upgraded bands.
If you arrive before your family who has your bands, bring and use your plastic card/ticket (each person has their own and would need it!) until the family member with the band arrives. The cards can be used anywhere you need to "TAP" your band or card (think to check in at Magical Express at the airport, Theme Park Entry, to pay/charge purchases to room, with photopass photographers to link your photos, room entry, pool entry, etc). The only thing you will lack using the card is "long range RFID" that the bands have, and the cards don't. This is only an issue to get ride photos on Pirates, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, and any other rides that "auto link" your PhotoPass photos, or if you have Be Our Guest reservations for breakfast or lunch (where its quick serve and pre-covid they brought your food to your table).
The other option is, if you have the option to change the Ship To for the band order... ship them to the people who will arrive first. Have the later arrival people use their card until they meet up with the early arrival... Again I'll use us... The 3 of us are arriving early and heading to the parks. We will have our friend's band with us, she will use her plastic ticket to enter the park and meet up with us, where I'll give her her band.