News Disney will be ending complimentary MagicBand distribution to Disney Resort hotel guests and moving to smart devices

[denyuntilcaught]

Unfortunately, I think this is how TDO views everything they do that nudges up prices or removes things previously bundled that they want to start charging extra for... The question is, how many $10-$25 extras will you obsorb along with annual price increases before it hits a point you aren't comfortable with?

Just one. MagicBands.

 

[VJ]

wdwmagic forums then: HOW DARE DISNEY MAKE ME USE MAGICBANDS! EVERYONE HAS A PHONE!
wdwmagic forums now: HOW DARE DISNEY MAKE ME USE MY PHONE! EVERYONE HAS A MAGICBAND!

 

[kbmum]

If you have a MagicBand from a trip within the past year, can it be reused for an upcoming trip?

 

[peter11435]

If you have a MagicBand from a trip within the past year, can it be reused for an upcoming trip?

Any previous MagicBands can be used for future trips.

 

[rreading]

Well, I'd expect for unused magic bands to still be used.. that would be absolutely egregious if they were just thrown away.

It's great that cast members encourage re-use.. it really is.. but the policy itself of giving guests new free magic bands for every single resort stay pretty much ensures that it doesn't happen. It's not a knock on cast members. But it was an incredibly wasteful program. Google "Magicband Garland" to get to get a glimpse into what I'm talking about.

Agree completely. We will sometimes stay at two resorts during a vacation and if we don't watch it, will get two magic bands per person per trip. Such a waste!

 

[networkpro]

If you have a MagicBand from a trip within the past year, can it be reused for an upcoming trip?

For short range uses like room keys and FP Mickey heads yes, for long range like on ride photos the battery is good for about 2 years.

 

[Jon81uk]

We were sold the idea that they'd use them to improve guest experiences - things like pop-up meet-and-greets to handle crowded areas of the park and other such things. My assumption was that it was more likely used to figure out where to have merchandise/food carts open and where they could reduce staffing during certain times, etc. - not necessarily things that would improve guest experiences but things that might be saving/making them money.

Would be interesting if they were effectively getting no benefit for anyone at all from the bands in this regard.

I don’t think Disney directly mentioned anything like that, it was discussed and speculated on but I don’t recall anything firmer.

 

[Jon81uk]

I guess the whole multi billion dollar program that Disney had to develop is getting flushed and this is step 1. I thought that there were 2 main selling points to the Disney Company. One being the ability to track people which you have control of on your phone. And the other being the payment option which I assume was to help with the swipe fees and people not being able to track their spending as easily. The other items were just ancillary. With regards to the phone I don't think that they will make you tape the phone or watch I think it will more like DL where you scan a barcode. Works very well at DL.

I think next they will eliminate Magic bands altogether as the popularity declines.

The payment option already existed, you could charge to your room account using the old key to the world exactly the same as the magic band.

 

[Jon81uk]

I’m curious what the replacement choice will be for room keys, surely they won’t force someone without a smartphone to buy a MB just to access their room?

Plastic key to the world card.

It’s mentioned in the quote from the Disney blog https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/myma...istribution-to-disney-resort-hotel-guests.htm

 

[Jon81uk]

I don't trust Disney not gathering data off my cellphone

I assume you are already using the Disney app though to manage your reservation and fast passes?

 

[sjhym333]

It's kind of funny to me how one small announcement from Disney sends people on flights of fancy. Disney decides not to give free magicbands anymore to resort guests. They say it's because they want people to use their smartphones. Though we know that it will save them a lot of money. This is just the next logical step as the Disney Genie gets closer to launching. Having said that you still have several options:
1) Use an existing Magicband from a previous visit. Some of you have dozens.
2) Buy one if you really want one. Resort guests will get a discount
3) Use your room key if your tickets are connected to it
4) Use your park ticket or AP card.
5) Use your phone when that becomes live.

Most of these options are free.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Children won't need to use anything now.

If you have a full battery at the start of the day and it dies before the end of your day, consider putting your phone down for a couple of hours while enjoying family time, or investing in a newer better phone.

MagicBands will still be available, and the magicband batteries last for 2 years.

Cell phones aren't a distraction if you're only using it for reservations.

Sometimes it's okay to accept change and move with the evolving technology and times.

This, to me, seems like a bad attitude for Disney to have toward their customers when designing the park experience: if our system is a problem for you, get a better phone and put the damn thing away if you're so worried about battery life.

They had better also make sure their wi-fi is reliable for all the international guests without mobile data.

It just adds another layer onto the growing layers of planning and thinking through the practicalities of a Disney vacation that have progressively drained the fun out of it.

That's exactly what I was thinking. I have three in a box sitting somewhere, and even if I had to pay for them, after dropping a couple thousand on a WDW trip, I'm not going to complain about $10 more.

Disney realising their guests think this way and that they can nickel and dime us however they please is another way the parks are becoming less enjoyable.

 

[DisneyOutsider]

For short range uses like room keys and FP Mickey heads yes, for long range like on ride photos the battery is good for about 2 years.

My magic band has been in use for about 5 years and still captures the on-ride photos. The batteries can last much longer than two years in both cases. YMMV, but I think 2 years is very much on the short end of the spectrum.

 

[donsullivan]

There is a mountain of mixed up issues floating around in this thread. The massive investment Disney made was not for Magic bands but for the entire infrastructure of My Disney Experience which includes hotel reservations, FP+, Dining Reservations, swapping out turnstiles to tapstiles at the gates, Replacing every single room key reader on the property, replacing every single payment terminal on the property, and so much more.
The MagicBand is nothing more than the physical tool needed to gain access to that platform and the entitlements you have purchased for your visit.

The technology used by the Magic Band is pretty common stuff nowadays and is available in most every modern smartphone and most modern smartwatches. One of the barriers to them swapping out earlier to using something like an AppleWatch to replace the NFC functions of the Magic Band is that Apple has historically restricted access to that chipset in their phones to their own ApplePay platform only. If Apple (Developer COnference is on Monday) is going to open that up in the next iOS release, then Disney will have access to use the NFC chips in both Android and Apple phones to replace the NFC functionality used for theme park access and payment access. That seems like a win right there. They can integrate the entitlement access into the MDE app, and I can either swipe my phone or, in my case, my AppleWatch and gain access to my admission entitlement or FP+ reservation. When the services come available on iPhones (already available on most android phones), then no new hardware needs to be installed at any of these locations, just updated MDE software, and these devices can then replace a MagicBand for those services. You'll still be able to purchase MagicBands and use those if you want, or you can just use your phone or appropriate smartwatch. To me, that seems like a no-brainer.

As for the BTLE stuff that is used for things like on-ride PhotoPass, again, they just need to have the MDE app communicating, so the beacon on the ride sees it and links the photo/video to your MDE account. They could do this now if they wanted to but it makes sense to wait until you could complete replace the MB before starting down this path.

And for the privacy advocates (I'm one of them) yes, you can choose to turn off the BTLE access for that app and those functions will no longer be available to you.

This seems like an inevitable progression of the platform to me. They don't have to throw away, or replace any part of the infrastructure, just enable new devices to access the platform via software.

 

[denyuntilcaught]

Disney realising their guests think this way and that they can nickel and dime us however they please is another way the parks are becoming less enjoyable.

As others mentioned, you don't have to purchase a MagicBand. I understand Disney's nickel and dime nature, I do, but I'm not going to cry foul in this particular instance.

 

[FutureCEO]

While good for the environment somewhat and I always found it odd how Disney gave you free MagicBands after MangicBands (tons of money wasted), I have never paid with my phone so I'll probably go with the card.

 

[Hcalvert]

I do not own Apple products (personal choice), so I guess I will be using my cell phone and my data because Disney wifi stinks.

 

[DisneyJayL]

Key to the World?!?

 

[donsullivan]

I do not own Apple products (personal choice), so I guess I will be using my cell phone and my data because Disney wifi stinks.

The ability for them to do this was always available on Android phones but has been historically restricted on Apple devices. I'm guessing Disney has data on the ratio of iOS vs Android users on MDE and determined it wasn't worth it until they could do both at once.

 

[emar68]

This is a placeholder for the future outrage when Disney migrates from this 2021 BTLE/ smartphone approach to straight up facial recognition technology.