is magic band + worth it

[scrappinginontario]

I've been using my regular MB for the past 3 or 4 trips. It was free and personalized with my name. My wife has the plus only because we couldn't find here old one and that is what they sold. I plan to bring mine until it stops working.

Old bands will stop working for distance things like ride photos but they will always work for tapping into the park, etc.

 

[FastPasser.]

Old bands will stop working for distance things like ride photos but they will always work for tapping into the park, etc.

I have a never used, still in the box, personalized MB that was issued to all CMs for the final test run before they were available to the public. I wonder if it would work at the entrance tap-stiles and for purchases?

Oh, are MBs worth it? For me, I never had the need to have one.

 

[way2tyred]

I think the MB+ prices are getting pretty outrageous. $70 for something that literally used to be free with your stay. I don't feel any of the features warrant the cost, unless you just view it as a pricey keepsake souvenir. I personally prefer the old Magicbands. No worries about charging, and they are (well, were) much cheaper/free.

Even the regular magic bands are $25 now. That's crazy to me

 

[FoxC63]

As a family of three travelling to WDW annually and staying onsite, we stopped using/buying them years ago. There's just no need for us to have them, your miles may vary.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I have a never used, still in the box, personalized MB that was issued to all CMs for the final test run before they were available to the public. I wonder if it would work at the entrance tap-stiles and for purchases?

Oh, are MBs worth it? For me, I never had the need to have one.

I'd keep it in the box as it might be a collectors item.

I have some (used) originals as we were part of the test group at Pop the summer of 2013.

 

[ilovebassets]

We just ordered some for our next trip, but that trip is nine nights so hopefully we'll really get our use out of them (and we ordered them at a discount since we're staying onsite). We also have a weeklong Disney cruise in June. Being able to use them on the ship was really what convinced me.

 

[lorileahb]

Nope, but this is our last trip before our two graduating seniors move on, so I let myself get suckered in. No regrets.

 

[Travelgrrl]

I know this is probably covered elsewhere but I haven't been to WDW for about 7 years (went to Universal in between because of how complicated Disney got with Magicbands, Genie, Lightning Lane etc) but we're heading back in September. Since we're just staying at Shades of Green and will have their key card to open the room doors, can you just have a (activated) Military Salute ticket to enter the parks and not a Magicband? Can you sign up for MDE with just the ticket info?

Because I'm fairly sure I have to get facile with MDE, at least for virtual queues. Hoping to beg off Magicbands, Genie+ and Lightning lanes if possible!.

 

[ucf_knight]

I love the original magic band and all the benefits but I don't see the need or purpose of buying the plus. Can someone tell me if I am missing something. Also we have some first time friends coming with us this trip can you still buy the original ones?

MB's in general to me aren't worth buying at all. We still have old free ones that we still use but once they die out we'll go back to the plastic cards for the kids and smart watches/phones for adults.

 

[NickC]

Old bands will stop working for distance things like ride photos but they will always work for tapping into the park, etc.

That's great. And since my wife has the plus version, they will still upload to our account.
It's like Facebook---I don't have an account, but my family can still see my kid's pics on her account.

 

[Flossbolna]

I know this is probably covered elsewhere but I haven't been to WDW for about 7 years (went to Universal in between because of how complicated Disney got with Magicbands, Genie, Lightning Lane etc) but we're heading back in September. Since we're just staying at Shades of Green and will have their key card to open the room doors, can you just have a (activated) Military Salute ticket to enter the parks and not a Magicband? Can you sign up for MDE with just the ticket info?

Because I'm fairly sure I have to get facile with MDE, at least for virtual queues. Hoping to beg off Magicbands, Genie+ and Lightning lanes if possible!.

You can link tickets in MDE and then activate Disney Magic Mobile. With that you create a card in your phone wallet (not sure if it works on Android, too, I have an IPhone). You can find it in the menu on the bottom right with the three lines. I exclusively used the phone for everything. The only place where it did not work was the Tron lockers.

 

[Travelgrrl]

You can link tickets in MDE and then activate Disney Magic Mobile. With that you create a card in your phone wallet (not sure if it works on Android, too, I have an IPhone). You can find it in the menu on the bottom right with the three lines. I exclusively used the phone for everything. The only place where it did not work was the Tron lockers.

Thank you very much!

 

[beccasmom]

They were not worth it for us. Much more problematic than regular MBs, with which we had very few issues over the years. I don’t recommend them.

 

[Bound4DisneyWorld]

They were not worth it for us. Much more problematic than regular MBs, with which we had very few issues over the years. I don’t recommend them.

Can you elaborate? I haven’t used them at Disney World, but we used them at Disneyland last summer and we didn’t have any problems with them. Wondering what to expect in Florida. Thanks!

 

[beccasmom]

Can you elaborate? I haven’t used them at Disney World, but we used them at Disneyland last summer and we didn’t have any problems with them. Wondering what to expect in Florida. Thanks!

We had issues with opening our hotel room door. Fortunately, we were staying at BRV and one of their CMs was kind enough to meet us at the room and he was able to access it, giving us key cards in case we ran into issues again (we did, but had the foresight to remember the key cards). We had just arrived from MCO, and one of our bags had “missed” our flight, so we were probably more annoyed with the situation than we would have normally been (the trip was not starting out too well! ). We offered the very nice CM a generous tip, which he politely declined. The bag arrived at the hotel in the wee hours of the morning.

The bands were not reading our admission media and not allowing us to enter the parks (one of us has an AP), which was easily handled by a CM, but when it continued on subsequent days, we just used the key cards for the remainder of the trip. The CMs were all very kind and helpful, but after a few days of glitches, it felt less stressful to go with the cards (which worked perfectly). On another trip a few months later, we didn’t even bring the bands, we just requested cards at the RR at check-in.

 

[RoyandWalt]

We used our old MB’s a couple of months ago. They are 6 years old and the ride photo feature still worked.

 

[Bound4DisneyWorld]

We had issues with opening our hotel room door. Fortunately, we were staying at BRV and one of their CMs was kind enough to meet us at the room and he was able to access it, giving us key cards in case we ran into issues again (we did, but had the foresight to remember the key cards). We had just arrived from MCO, and one of our bags had “missed” our flight, so we were probably more annoyed with the situation than we would have normally been (the trip was not starting out too well! ). We offered the very nice CM a generous tip, which he politely declined. The bag arrived at the hotel in the wee hours of the morning.

The bands were not reading our admission media and not allowing us to enter the parks (one of us has an AP), which was easily handled by a CM, but when it continued on subsequent days, we just used the key cards for the remainder of the trip. The CMs were all very kind and helpful, but after a few days of glitches, it felt less stressful to go with the cards (which worked perfectly). On another trip a few months later, we didn’t even bring the bands, we just requested cards at the RR at check-in.

Thank you for sharing. Will definitely get the key cards when we arrive in case we have the same issue.

It really is different in California. They still use turnstiles, so they had to use an iPhone to read the band. Never had a problem with those. They also don’t have resort room doors tied into the system, so they were worthless for that.

Will have MobileMagic as backup and key cards as a fail-safe.

Thank you, again!