Linking credit card to magic band

[EvanAnderson]

I turned my magic band in at the gate to the gate attendant... I was on my 3rd, non of which worked with any regularity... I always used my AP to enter the park because my magic band caused me to show ID every time.
My last day with a band, I was going to use my AP to enter and the Attendant said "wait just use you band to enter" I told him "no, the band requires ID to enter the park" and he said "No it doesn't" then after my band failed he said " I do need to see your ID" so I show him my ID and said " please toss my band in the garbage for me and have a magical day"
The band never retained my FP, the rest of my family worked, but not mine..

Wow you're nice. You have to show your ID because it sounds like you have a ticket tag on your ticket that says you don't want to place your finger on the reader, and that means you require an ID to enter. A magic band and a card linked to the right person will both work the same. Do you have several accounts? Do you frequently travel with others? Try going to GR to ask nicely, and don't throw anything at them.

 

[Chi84]

I was not a happy camper leave the park and go back to the resort (waste time) and straighten out or stay in the park and not eat --Stayed in the park. CM at POFQ was not very sympathetic told the same random glitches usually on the 5th day. Chi84 post your reply if you get one

I expect they will call me, but whether phone call or email, I will relay whatever response I receive. I emailed George Kalogridis (the president of WDW) and Bill Thompson (the general manager of SSR).

 

[Chi84]

@John park hopper As expected, I received a phone call this morning from a very pleasant woman from George Kalogridis' office - Disney prefers phone calls over emails when responding to complaints. I should mention that in roughly 50 trips beginning in 1984, this is only the second complaint email that I've written - the first involved the parking fees.

Anyway, the person was adamant that each "glitch" is somewhat unique, and there was no admission that our problems were related to the authorization holds. She was very focused on assuring me that notes had been made in our account to alert IT of the problems for future visits, and she said that Disney did not expect this kind of problem in the future. So I don't have any solid, helpful information to pass on. That's immaterial. In any customer service setting, there are two responses - the one given to the customer and the one used internally to address whatever the heck is going on. They are aware of the problems that are occurring with guests having their form of payment disconnected when their credit card is charged.

I believe it is important for guests who are experiencing problems with MB charging to email both the resort GMs and george.kalogridis@disney.com. Be very specific in describing exactly what happened.

 

[John park hopper]

@John park hopper As expected, I received a phone call this morning from a very pleasant woman from George Kalogridis' office - Disney prefers phone calls over emails when responding to complaints. I should mention that in roughly 50 trips beginning in 1984, this is only the second complaint email that I've written - the first involved the parking fees.

Anyway, the person was adamant that each "glitch" is somewhat unique, and there was no admission that our problems were related to the authorization holds. She was very focused on assuring me that notes had been made in our account to alert IT of the problems for future visits, and she said that Disney did not expect this kind of problem in the future. So I don't have any solid, helpful information to pass on. That's immaterial. In any customer service setting, there are two responses - the one given to the customer and the one used internally to address whatever the heck is going on. They are aware of the problems that are occurring with guests having their form of payment disconnected when their credit card is charged.

I believe it is important for guests who are experiencing problems with MB charging to email both the resort GMs and george.kalogridis@disney.com. Be very specific in describing exactly what happened.

Thanks I will be contacting George Kalogridis' office I don't think they realize or want to admit how frequently this occurs .

 

[Chi84]

Thanks I will be contacting George Kalogridis' office I don't they realize or want to admit how frequently this occurs .

They may throw in something for your trouble

 

[Jon81uk]

Not the same technology at all. A key card that you swipe or insert into a door is not something a hack could clone simply be walking up close to you. A magic band doesn't need to be inserted into anything you simply need the hacking tools and someone to walk close to the target... All a team would need to do is have two guys stay in a Disney resort and in the morning one of them watches some people leaving the rooms to get on a bus, make a not of the rooms they left and then get on the bus with them... pass by each one for a couple of seconds to get the magicband RIF number and use their cell phone to send the info back to their partner... Now go watch to make sure they really enter the park as expected and at that point let the partner know they are in and then he could easily go rob all the rooms they watched. This is much easier than it would be to do on a cruise ship since a person a ship might return at anytime to their room, a person that has entered a Disney park is more than likely going to be out of the room for a long time.

Now the pins are bit different, it would require a person to clone the RIF number then go try to buy something cheap and guess the pin... if it doesn't work just pay with cash and move one. Give that people often used simply pins like a single number repeated 4 times... 1111 is used by a little more than 6% of people picking 4 digit pins so simply cloning 20 different phones and buying 20 soft drinks would give you pretty high probability of having one of the people with a 1111 pin, and once you get one you could then go buy some expensive things.... In fact if you wanted to maximize your return as a thief you would go follow people that got off a monorail from the resort since the monorail resorts have higher charge limits on their magicbands... There have been articles in cyber security sites that have gone through lots of issues with the magic bands with some hacker doing proof of concept runs to show that it is possible. You can also easily find charts that will give you the top pins used, the top 20 of which cover more than 25% of the pins used. Many people are simply too predictable, 2580 is another popular pin since its just the numbers straight down the keypad...

As for spreading fear, talking about potential problems with a system isn't spreading fear as much as it is letting people know not to do things that could bite them... like picking a pin number that is easy to guess.

Several hotels I've stayed in recently have upgraded the technology away from magnetic stripe cards to RFID cards, same as Disney has done, you just tap the card and the door opens. If you are worried about hotel RFID key card cloning I suggest you may not wish to ever stay in a hotel again anywhere.

Most hotels for room charges just ask for the room number and your signature. There is very little stopping someone walking into a hotel bar, ordering a drink and claiming to be from room 1234 and then signing the bill. Until you get the bill at check out and then the hotel has to find the signed docket and refund you. Disney's PIN system is far more secure than the signature based system they had previously and that a majority of worldwide hotels still use.
If someone chooses to pick a stupid PIN, that is on them, the system is secure but some people are idiots.

 

[NormC]

So, if you use Disney GC and keep them in an RFID protected wallet, would this work? Or any card, for that matter. Also, if the wifi isn't working in the park, would that effect your ability to use a cc or gc. or magic band? Asking because someone reported awhile being told they couldn't use their GC to pay because the wifi was down, so they paid cash.

Disney GC are not RFID. They are magnetic stripe. WiFi does not affect band use or any pay system but if it was a network outage you could have problems.

 

[Jon81uk]

Disney GC are not RFID. They are magnetic stripe. WiFi does not affect band use or any pay system but if it was a network outage you could have problems.

The mobile snack carts probably connect to the network via secure (not the public one) WiFi network. So its still a network outage, but also WiFi at the same time.

 

[NormC]

Yes.

 

[MAGICFLOP]

Wow you're nice. You have to show your ID because it sounds like you have a ticket tag on your ticket that says you don't want to place your finger on the reader, and that means you require an ID to enter. A magic band and a card linked to the right person will both work the same. Do you have several accounts? Do you frequently travel with others? Try going to GR to ask nicely, and don't throw anything at them.

My post said nothing about being impolite nor throwing anything... you read between lines.. I went to GR multiple times... they gave me 3 bands over a year's time..

I was an FL-AP holder for 15 years.. which the card allowed me to use my finger and NO ID.... but if your band fails, then the attendant asks for you AP w/ ID.

 

[John park hopper]

Thanks I will be contacting George Kalogridis' office I don't think they realize or want to admit how frequently this occurs .

Have not gotten a response from Disney yet

 

[mdcpr]

Trying to follow this thread. So, is it good to link your CC to your Magic Band so you can make purchases or not? So if you don't, your Magic band is just your ticket?

 

[NormC]

There is nothing stored on the band. All of your personal information resides on a Disney secure server. Your CC is part of your resort portfolio and your MDE account.

 

[mdcpr]

There is nothing stored on the band. All of your personal information resides on a Disney secure server. Your CC is part of your resort portfolio and your MDE account.

I was seeing posts about hackers following you and stealing your pin. Kind of funny actually.

 

[John park hopper]

Trying to follow this thread. So, is it good to link your CC to your Magic Band so you can make purchases or not? So if you don't, your Magic band is just your ticket?

On check in at the resort you can have on file a credit card (I'm no IT whizz so I'll call it linked) to your MB for purchases (food, drinks, snacks etc). You scan your MB at time of purchase and enter a pin number (4 digit) you create at time of check in. All charges are kept track of at the resort and at check out you are given a print out of charges you pay at check out. It makes it easy -- but with the potential IT glitch you may get stuck with out MB charging. So carry cash or a credit card while in the park we learned the hard way.

 

[John park hopper]

It has been 5 days since I contacted Disney about my initial post no response so I guess they don't think it is a problem for guests

 

[larryz]

It has been 5 days since I contacted Disney about my initial post no response so I guess they don't think it is a problem for guests

Maybe they saw your involvement in this thread and figured you already had your answer...

 

[Chi84]

It has been 5 days since I contacted Disney about my initial post no response so I guess they don't think it is a problem for guests

That’s really odd. I’ve always received at minimum an automatic response saying I would be contacted soon. Did you cc the resort manager? Maybe something went wrong in the transmission? I would try again because this seems out of the ordinary.

 

[John park hopper]

That’s really odd. I’ve always received at minimum an automatic response saying I would be contacted soon. Did you cc the resort manager? Maybe something went wrong in the transmission? I would try again because this seems out of the ordinary.

Checked my email sent box went through yea I was surprised as I have all ways gotten a response will resend

 

[Tom P.]

FWIW, I would be far more concerned about housekeeping staff stealing things from my room than someone going to the trouble of executing a relatively complex plan to duplicate the RFID information from my MagicBand and enter my room. In reality, I'm not worried about either of them really, but I would venture to say that the former is far more likely than the latter.