Convoluted Trip and MagicBand/MDE questions

[sshindel]

So, this year is going to be a very special, and highly convoluted trip to WDW.
We arrive in just over 3 weeks and check in to CBR. Running the Wine and Dine 1/2 (so the resort stay portion of this trip was booked by a travel agent). Staying a couple of days at the Caribbean Beach and then are heading off-site to stay at a time-share with family. We're using 2 different sets of tickets, some existing (non-expiring) tickets we have from a previous trip, plus newly purchased tickets from Undercover Tourist to fill out the remaining days of the trip.
When I jumped on My Disney Experience this morning to finally be able to link in my Disney resort reservations numbers for the on-site stay, it suggested to me to order my MagicBands, which I did. I dont know what that'll actually buy me at this point, since I didnt book a traditional package or anything, but who knows, I think I have some bands in the mail (I fall in the pro-data-mining camp).
I know that I can go in and link existing tickets via serial numbers on the tickets in the My Disney Experience site/app.
So, my questions, if anyone knows:
Does this link the tickets into the MagicBand?
If so, since I have some pre-existing tickets, which would have myself and my wife bio-linked (the fingerscan), how does it work to know what ticket goes to what band?
Also, how does it work since I'll have multiple different types of tickets? Is that going to play funky with the MagicBands, or should it all integrate together somehow?
Does the MagicBand somehow "turn off" after my checkout date, or will it stay active for the payment / ticket options after I check out of my resort and head off-site?
Lastly, if I do link my tickets in, am I now stuck with FP+? Since this trip is a big tangle of mess, I wont know what park we're hitting what day for any of the trip really until each day happens, so I'm NOT booking FP+. I'd like to just use regular FP. If I link in my tickets, am I then stuck?

Should I just call Disney Customer Support and assail them with questions, or does anyone out here know some of the answers to these?

 

[sshindel]

Based on the overwhelming response I'm getting here, looks like me and Disney Customer Service are going to be getting well acquainted.

 

[wogwog]

Based on the overwhelming response I'm getting here, looks like me and Disney Customer Service are going to be getting well acquainted.

I don't like your chances of a good answer from Disney. They can't even solve simple issues according to locals and visitors I know. I would use all possible backup, KTTW, paper receipts, carry credit cards and such if you even put anything on a rubber band. Every day or so a new "glitch".

Protect your vacation and sanity. Hope it is magical despite the next gen fiasco.

 

[Rob562]

OK, I'll see what I can do to answer your questions based on what I've heard and read.

-Magic Bands aren't part of a package or anything. Anyone staying at a Disney resort that's in the testing window (which is now pretty much all of them) gets them, even if you don't have tickets at all.

-Don't think of the tickets being linked to the Band. TIckets are something closer to an e-ticket with the airlines. Disney has shuffled everything around so that the hub for each Guest is their MyDisneyExperience (MDE) profile. A ticket is linked to the profile. A MagicBand is linked to a profile. A FP+ reservation is made on a profile. When the Band is used to enter a park it looks up the profile and then looks for associated tickets. When the Band is used to try and enter a FP+ entrance, it looks up the profile to see if there's a FP+ for that attraction at that time.

-When you go into the MDE site to link the tickets, after entering the numbers off the ticket it will ask you to specify which person's profile that ticket should be linked to. Make sure to do this carefully as it's a pain to undo or correct it after the fact. If you have Bands on their way to you, you probably already have a profile for each person in your party, but if not you should definitely do that ASAP.

-When you link multiple tickets to your account you can set the "priority" for the tickets, meaning in what order the ticketing system will apply the tickets toward admission. You can give it a try, but I've read from multiple people who've been there during testing where CMs are suggesting that even though the system *should* work as intended, they're suggesting to only associate one ticket, use it up, then associate the next ticket. (My guess is that they just don't want to deal with any potential problems. Glitches may have been worked out on this by now)

-The Band will still work for park admission even after you check out of your hotel, as long as there is still a valid park ticket associated with your profile. Credit card charging should also still work, but each individual charge will probably go through to your card individually rather than grouped together like they do with your room charge.

-During testing, Disney resort guests are able to use both FP+ *and* regular FP. You can still get regular paper FP's using the ticket you used to get into the park that day (which is one tricky part of associating two or more tickets to your profile) So there's no reason to totally avoid FP+ this trip. Use it where and when you want, use regular paper FP when you want to.

-When you go to make FP+ reservations, you're limited to the number of days that your ticket is good for. So if you only have a 3-day ticket on your profile, you'll only be able to make three days' worth of FP+ reservations. Adding the second ticket should add those additional days to the number of days you can make FP+ for.

-Rob

 

[Tigger1988]

-During testing, Disney resort guests are able to use both FP+ *and* regular FP. You can still get regular paper FP's using the ticket you used to get into the park that day (which is one tricky part of associating two or more tickets to your profile) So there's no reason to totally avoid FP+ this trip. Use it where and when you want, use regular paper FP when you want to.
-Rob

This is one thing I'm mildly confused about. How do I go about getting a paper FP if my ticket that day is technically the Magic Band? I'll be turning in an AP voucher upon arrival, will I still get a traditional pass even though I have Bands?

 

[sshindel]

OK, I'll see what I can do to answer your questions based on what I've heard and read.

-Magic Bands aren't part of a package or anything. Anyone staying at a Disney resort that's in the testing window (which is now pretty much all of them) gets them, even if you don't have tickets at all.

-Don't think of the tickets being linked to the Band. TIckets are something closer to an e-ticket with the airlines. Disney has shuffled everything around so that the hub for each Guest is their MyDisneyExperience (MDE) profile. A ticket is linked to the profile. A MagicBand is linked to a profile. A FP+ reservation is made on a profile. When the Band is used to enter a park it looks up the profile and then looks for associated tickets. When the Band is used to try and enter a FP+ entrance, it looks up the profile to see if there's a FP+ for that attraction at that time.

-When you go into the MDE site to link the tickets, after entering the numbers off the ticket it will ask you to specify which person's profile that ticket should be linked to. Make sure to do this carefully as it's a pain to undo or correct it after the fact. If you have Bands on their way to you, you probably already have a profile for each person in your party, but if not you should definitely do that ASAP.

-When you link multiple tickets to your account you can set the "priority" for the tickets, meaning in what order the ticketing system will apply the tickets toward admission. You can give it a try, but I've read from multiple people who've been there during testing where CMs are suggesting that even though the system *should* work as intended, they're suggesting to only associate one ticket, use it up, then associate the next ticket. (My guess is that they just don't want to deal with any potential problems. Glitches may have been worked out on this by now)

-The Band will still work for park admission even after you check out of your hotel, as long as there is still a valid park ticket associated with your profile. Credit card charging should also still work, but each individual charge will probably go through to your card individually rather than grouped together like they do with your room charge.

-During testing, Disney resort guests are able to use both FP+ *and* regular FP. You can still get regular paper FP's using the ticket you used to get into the park that day (which is one tricky part of associating two or more tickets to your profile) So there's no reason to totally avoid FP+ this trip. Use it where and when you want, use regular paper FP when you want to.

-When you go to make FP+ reservations, you're limited to the number of days that your ticket is good for. So if you only have a 3-day ticket on your profile, you'll only be able to make three days' worth of FP+ reservations. Adding the second ticket should add those additional days to the number of days you can make FP+ for.

-Rob

Thank you for this. Very detailed, and honestly, MUCH more info than I had anticipated!

I'd love to be able to get the MagicBands to work, honestly, as much to help Disney learn to work with complex situations that they'll have to deal with in the future. I might be willing to work with them to really make sure that this all is workable now, maybe it'll help highlight a shortcoming that is better handled now than later.
I will say though, I'm still a touch nervous as to it actually working the way we want it to work in the end. I noticed yesterday that my reservation through the travel company placed 4 adults on the reservation for my room, when it's 2 adults and 2 kids (one under 3). Disney assured me that from a MagicBand perspective, it doesnt matter on an "Adult" vs. a "Child", BUT, I was not able to link the profile I already created for my children with the magic bands, because it would only pull up "adult" members of my party to allow them to be linked. I'm concerned if I link in a children's ticket, it will not allow me to link it to the magic band that was set as an "Adult" in the same way.
I honestly think I'm going to try and call them and work through all of it. It'd be great for us to get experienced in the new way of vacationing at WDW, and really, it might help them train folks in how to handle complex situations on their end.
If it ends up being too complex for them, or requires massive changes, then maybe I'll let it drop, keep my paper tickets, and wait until next time.

 

[Rob562]

This is one thing I'm mildly confused about. How do I go about getting a paper FP if my ticket that day is technically the Magic Band? I'll be turning in an AP voucher upon arrival, will I still get a traditional pass even though I have Bands?

When you get your AP, you'll get an RFID card that still has a mag-stripe on it, which will act as your "paper" ticket when dealing with the old FP machines.

-Rob

 

[Rob562]

I will say though, I'm still a touch nervous as to it actually working the way we want it to work in the end. I noticed yesterday that my reservation through the travel company placed 4 adults on the reservation for my room, when it's 2 adults and 2 kids (one under 3).

Odd that the travel agency did that. You might want to make sure you're not paying for additional adult per-night fees on your hotel room for having more than 2 adults in the room...

-Rob

 

[sshindel]

Odd that the travel agency did that. You might want to make sure you're not paying for additional adult per-night fees on your hotel room for having more than 2 adults in the room...

-Rob

I'm going to call them and check on it, have them fix it. It was a package deal with the 1/2 marathon, so I think that the room price was standard and not impacted, but I'm checking and going to have them correct it.
I typically don't deal with travel companies, but it was my only way into the race this year, having decided to run it after the standard registration was already full.