Should we get Magic Bands?

[Lookoutnc]

We will be there for the first time in Oct. We are staying off property and have the tickets that look like credit cards. Should we consider buying bands once we get there?

 

[Alesia]

If you want them.

You don't need them.

 

[Jarmo]

It's basically weighing cost vs convenience. For $13 each I consider it a great value... no more reaching into the pocket 20 times a day, and one less thing to keep track of.

 

[Accident]

When staying off site the 2 main reasons you might want to consider them are both convenience.
- You are wearing it so fastpass is tap your wrist and ride. Especially handy for kids.
- Ride photos and videos automatically detect who you are in the ride and store the photo in your account for later. With cards, you have to find the screens at the need of hte ride, find your photo and tap your card to put it in your account.

Other than that, there's really no advantages when staying offsite. I strongly recommend you do not buy one in advance, if you decide it's worth the cost, there is more options and designs and they will activate and associate them to your account immediately. There are special limited edition slightly more costly ones at the park also. It's an interesting keepsake/souvenir and they work for a couple years so you can use it again on the next trip.

 

[smiths02]

Maybe they will start cracking down on this, but when we were there in June and went to park, they didn't always ask to scan our bands, so if we had been off-site, we would not have paid for parking (And, in June, they were selling them to off-site people, plus we could have had them from a previous trip, but I guess parking people were so used to only on-site and APs having them that they didn't worry?)
I'm not saying you can count on it, just an observation, I actually couldn't believe it.

 

[LuvDaisy&Minnie]

I would

 

[jrmasm]

Maybe they will start cracking down on this, but when we were there in June and went to park, they didn't always ask to scan our bands, so if we had been off-site, we would not have paid for parking (And, in June, they were selling them to off-site people, plus we could have had them from a previous trip, but I guess parking people were so used to only on-site and APs having them that they didn't worry?)
I'm not saying you can count on it, just an observation, I actually couldn't believe it.

Parking where?

Stayed offsite last week, with magic bands and absolutely had to pay for parking. They never asked us about our bands when we pulled up to the payment huts.

OP, we found the bands and nice convenience and felt they were worth the price.

 

[smiths02]

Parking where?

Stayed offsite last week, with magic bands and absolutely had to pay for parking. They never asked us about our bands when we pulled up to the payment huts.

OP, we found the bands and nice convenience and felt they were worth the price.

I can't remember which parks, not MK because we only drove there once, but a few times at either AK/Epcot/DHS, they just waved us through. DH and I thought it was strange, but it didn't matter because we were onsite AND had APs. (We had no resort tag in our car or anything, so I figured it must have been them seeing the bands. Maybe their scanners were down?)

 

[jrmasm]

I can't remember which parks, not MK because we only drove there once, but a few times at either AK/Epcot/DHS, they just waved us through. DH and I thought it was strange, but it didn't matter because we were onsite AND had APs. (We had no resort tag in our car or anything, so I figured it must have been them seeing the bands. Maybe their scanners were down?)

Maybe the bands can be read as you approach their huts like EasyPass on the turnpike? I have no idea but we were not waved thru anywhere last week.

 

[Jarmo]

I can't remember which parks, not MK because we only drove there once, but a few times at either AK/Epcot/DHS, they just waved us through. DH and I thought it was strange, but it didn't matter because we were onsite AND had APs. (We had no resort tag in our car or anything, so I figured it must have been them seeing the bands. Maybe their scanners were down?)

Was it late in the day? I think I've seen them wave people through closer to closing

 

[kj2mom]

Absolutely no need but we did it. We ended up making them a bit of a souvenir by having the character on our band autograph our band for us. We were glad we had them but again definitely no requirement to do so.

 

[AngiTN]

The only thing you can get with the band that you can't get with the credit card type ticket is a ride photo from 7DMT. There is no machine to scan for those photos so those without MB can't get the photo.
I would buy a band for only 2 reasons,
1, you plan to return and would use it again
2, you want the ride photos.

If this is a 1 time trip and you don't have any interest in ride photos skip the bands.

 

[pooch]

My DD has an AP and is a Florida resident. Her roommate has a FL Res pass that has restrictions as to when he can use it (hers does not). When she goes through the the parking gate, they look at her band and wave her through. When he drives and pulls his out, they stop him. We have tried to see a difference in their bands and can't find one. But somehow the parking attendants can.

 

[Lookoutnc]

Thanks!
I would not have realized that about the ride photos! We did get a memory maker, so this might really make it worth the bands. Plus I have a 4 year old and would also help me not have to keep track of her ticket all day

 

[BobC]

Im excited to use mine just for the sheer convenience of not whipping out my wallet 10x a day... (first world problem?)

 

[kj2mom]

The videos on Memory Maker are pretty cool, not sure if you get those without a band?? We had fun tapping our band to our photos even though we were told we didn't need to. Just something cool about matching the Mickey with the Mickey, yes I know but my kids loved finding their ride photo and tapping their band.

 

[bc7ate9]

Thanks!
I would not have realized that about the ride photos! We did get a memory maker, so this might really make it worth the bands. Plus I have a 4 year old and would also help me not have to keep track of her ticket all day

The MagicBands are really convenient with Memory Maker - the photographer just scans your band (vs. having to get your card out/collecting multiple cards) and it vibrates a bit so you know it registered. Also, they can scan the band of anybody in your party who is attached to your Memory Maker account to add the photos. I think that is a good reason to get a MagicBand.

In my opinion, it was a pain dealing with our passes and paper FastPasses when we were at DL in CA and in Tokyo this year - it made us grateful for our MagicBands at WDW.

 

[AngiTN]

Thanks!
I would not have realized that about the ride photos! We did get a memory maker, so this might really make it worth the bands. Plus I have a 4 year old and would also help me not have to keep track of her ticket all day

Yes, I think for this reason alone it's worth it for you to have a MB.
Even the rides with scanners can be a pain to stop and scan. A couple of times we were delayed enough walking out that we couldn't see our pics on the screen. Since we have MB we didn't need to worry about it. If we had card tickets we'd have to stop at the counter and have them find the photo to scan it.
And having a MB is easier for photos in general too since you'll scan it all with your MB. Without a MB you'll use the old Photopass card instead.