Magic Bands

[weewuvvdisney]

We are in the process of planning a trip to Disneyworld. Our last trip was before Magic Bands.

Does DW mail magic bands to Canada? I think I saw somewhere that we have to get them when we check into our resort? Is that true?

Also, how difficult it is to make reservations and fast passes? We are 6 adults and 2 children.

I'm kinda of worried since I will most likely be the one taking care of the reservations & fast passes.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[DavidL]

Magic Bands will be available at your resort at the check-in desk. We've got 5 sets of magic bands now. Each time we go, we customize the colours and also make sure that our names and year are on the bands. (ie: Daddy18) for 2018. If you don't customize the colours, you will get the standard grey colour. It is easier to keep the magic bands sorted if everybody has a different colour.

Be sure to sign up for "My Disney Experience" online. That's where you will do the customization of the magic bands, and will also do all of your fast passes.

Book your fast passes as early as you can (60 days in advance of check-in) for maximum options and rides.

 

[weewuvvdisney]

Thank you DavidL. I'm surprised that Disney hasn't found a way to reuse the Magic Bands. When you say customize the colors, does that mean purchasing the bands? My dd has found some of the character bands and I am sure that is the way that she will want to go. I feel like such a Disney beginner. Been many times but all before Magic Bands.

Just a couple more questions - when I sign up for "My Disney Experience" - will I set up everything for the entire group. We are 3 couples (one with two kids)? Do they set up "My Disney Experience" accounts and if so, can we co-ordinate. I'm sure all this info is available once we sign up but since I am the one gathering all the info in advance.....

Thanks for your help!

 

[Etch]

I'm surprised that Disney hasn't found a way to reuse the Magic Bands

Magic Bands from previous trips can be reused as long as their battery is still good (I think i've read 2 or 3 years battery life is average). Disney gives you the option to decline new MB's on subsequent trips if you want.

When you say customize the colors, does that mean purchasing the bands?

Once you're signed up for MDE you will be able to "customize" your MB's which simply means choose a colour and assign each band to a particular individual in your party. You will be able to buy the character bands your DD is talking about once you are at Disney. I believe they will not ship these bands to Canada because they are a RFID device.

You will be able to coordinate your whole group on MDE but I will leave the specifics of that to someone else as i've never done it before.

Hope this helps!

 

[mab2012]

Also, how difficult it is to make reservations and fast passes? We are 6 adults and 2 children.

Fastpasses are not at all difficult at 60 days, except for the newest and most popular rides (Flight of Passage, probably both of the new Toy Story rides, and, to a lesser extent, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train). You might need to book some of those at 60 days from your check-in date for a day later in your trip (ie. 63-64 days in advance). It does help to have a rough plan of what you want to do and where you will be, but most rides are pretty easy to get anytime before the 30 day window.

Dining reservations for very popular restaurants can go quickly as far as 6 months in advance, but most places have availability a couple of months out. If you don't see what you want, just keep checking. Because of the absurdity of making reservations 6 months out, many people will make multiple reservations for the same night and then release the ones they don't want once their plan firm up. There is also a lot of movement in dining availability at the 24 hour mark, as people change their plans or cancel before the no-show deadline. Bottom line: if you have specific restaurants in mind it's best to make your reservations as early as possible, but otherwise there's no real need to stress over it.

Just a couple more questions - when I sign up for "My Disney Experience" - will I set up everything for the entire group. We are 3 couples (one with two kids)? Do they set up "My Disney Experience" accounts and if so, can we co-ordinate. I'm sure all this info is available once we sign up but since I am the one gathering all the info in advance.....

You can either list everyone as "managed guests" under one account, or each adult can create their own account and be linked to your account as a "friend". Kids under thirteen can not have their own accounts, so they will be managed guests under someone else's account. You can make plans (fastpasses and dining reservations) for anyone in your "friend" list, whether they have their own accounts or not. Just beware that if your friends have separate accounts, they can also change YOUR plans. If you will be doing all of the planning, the only real advantage to setting up multiple accounts is to allow your group to see your plans. Note that if you purchase Memory Maker, you'll also be able to download photos for anyone in your friend group.

If you're a planner who likes to know what you're doing in advance, I recommend spending some time reading the other boards in this forum, particularly "Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies". Tons of useful information that will help with your planning!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

Thank you DavidL. I'm surprised that Disney hasn't found a way to reuse the Magic Bands. When you say customize the colors, does that mean purchasing the bands? My dd has found some of the character bands and I am sure that is the way that she will want to go. I feel like such a Disney beginner. Been many times but all before Magic Bands.

Just wanted to let you know that you can reuse the bands. You just have the option of a new every time you book a resort stay.

I have numerous bands, all different colors and all active. I use whichever band matches what I am wearing that day.

You can also decorate your band. For example, I added white pearl dots to my red band, and it looks like Minnie's skirt. Search on this site for some more ideas. It is cheaper than buying a band that is decorated.

 

[dvcdisney]

Magic Bands from previous trips can be reused as long as their battery is still good (I think i've read 2 or 3 years battery life is average). Disney gives you the option to decline new MB's on subsequent trips if you want.

Yes, Disney does give you the option. I didn't realize this was possible until last year when I had an issue with my account not showing the MB order. When I called, they told me that the reason why the system was having an issue with my account is that I had too many MB on the system. They said the only way to get rid of some of them is to take them to the parks and scan them through and if the battery is dead, it will immediately remove itself from the system.

The CM suggested that since we go often, I can just decline new ones and reuse my other ones. She said there was at least 27 bands per person in my account...could be more, she can't tell...apparently, this wasn't an issues for most since the majority of the people have much less. I do deactivate the ones I am not using, but that doesn't make a difference.

But now there are a few they are noticing that are like us (perhaps DVC members) who visit more frequently and creating a backlog on the system. The strange thing is that all those MBs are not showing when I log in, just a few. The CM said that they are working on it...not sure what they're doing. Perhaps, for accounts like mine, they would be able to just manually remove them from the system. I can't see all of them so I can't make the mistake of reusing something they remove. Or the system could automatically remove the 11th MB thereby limiting the amount on the account to 10 or 5...

 

[WDW_Diane]

Yes, Disney does give you the option. I didn't realize this was possible until last year when I had an issue with my account not showing the MB order. When I called, they told me that the reason why the system was having an issue with my account is that I had too many MB on the system. They said the only way to get rid of some of them is to take them to the parks and scan them through and if the battery is dead, it will immediately remove itself from the system.

The CM suggested that since we go often, I can just decline new ones and reuse my other ones. She said there was at least 27 bands per person in my account...could be more, she can't tell...apparently, this wasn't an issues for most since the majority of the people have much less. I do deactivate the ones I am not using, but that doesn't make a difference.

But now there are a few they are noticing that are like us (perhaps DVC members) who visit more frequently and creating a backlog on the system. The strange thing is that all those MBs are not showing when I log in, just a few. The CM said that they are working on it...not sure what they're doing. Perhaps, for accounts like mine, they would be able to just manually remove them from the system. I can't see all of them so I can't make the mistake of reusing something they remove. Or the system could automatically remove the 11th MB thereby limiting the amount on the account to 10 or 5...

Do you think that if my Magic Bands have dead batteries that they will still show up on MDE? I still see many of them from our past trips. My husband and I will need to use old ones on our next trip since we may be staying at the Swan on this next trip and they won't issue Magic Bands to us. I think my husband's last band is from Feb. 2016 but my last one is from March 2017. Fingers crossed that those will still work!

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

They will show up until you take them off.

MDE has no way of knowing the strength of the battery.

 

[dvcdisney]

Do you think that if my Magic Bands have dead batteries that they will still show up on MDE? I still see many of them from our past trips. My husband and I will need to use old ones on our next trip since we may be staying at the Swan on this next trip and they won't issue Magic Bands to us. I think my husband's last band is from Feb. 2016 but my last one is from March 2017. Fingers crossed that those will still work!

I was told that it will show up on your MDE even if the battery is no longer working. The only way to remove them from your MDE account is to take them through the gate and scan them. If the battery is dead, it will remove them automatically. This was what I was told and she had suggested that I take a couple with me next time if I wanted to remove them from my MDE since they are still showing on the system. As I mentioned, they are trying to find a way to remove the excess MBs but I'm not sure how much effort is being done for that purpose because she said that the majority of the guests don't have a lot.

When I asked how long they usually last, she said "years" but she can't say for sure. She did say if we go 3 times in one year, we can use the same one. When I asked her what happens if we decline new one and bring one that didn't work, she said they would just need to issue us new ones. But in your case, I'm not sure that would work for you. If you are not originally issued one, they may not give you one if your MB doesn't work. You can call them and see.

Also, it is possible that the "new" ones you receive have been sitting with the battery in it for a while...I recall about 2 yrs ago when we picked up our MB at the resort (we're Canadians so it's not shipped to us), none of the new bands worked. They had to issue new ones. They said the battery was dead in all 4 of them.

Perhaps Disney should develop the MB so there's a way to turn it off to increase battery life.

 

[KNovacovschi]

You can also purchase them online at the Disney store if you want them ahead of time and have them shipped, it is expensive though. I bought one that was $27.99 US and after exchange, shipping, fees it cost me $80 CDN. Now if I buy them I use a mailbox on the US side and have them shipped there.

 

[ky.]

How do Canadians go about changing the puck? My group wants to swap pucks so that we all have 2 tone bands, but we are traveling from canada and not checking any luggage so I doubt we'll be allowed onboard with a screwdriver. Will they have a screwdriver at the front desk or somewhere that we can borrow?

Alternatively, does anybody know the exact size of the magic bands? I have a friend with a circuit machine but I can't seem to find anywhere that shows the dimensions. Now we're thinking of just making little mickey heads to put over the one on the puck (not covering the whole puck, just the mickey) but I can't seem to find this info anywhere online.