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

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
It would make PR sense if Disney kept magic bands and for all those people with magic bands sitting in a draw have a program to recycle and you get a magic band as a free replacement. Promote recycling and saving the environment, I would think they could replace the battery and reprogram and use again. Remember the big PR deal with plastic straws replaced with paper. I have several MB in my closet.
I thought there was a way to recycle your MB by turning them in to the front desk concierge and then they "recycled" them? I know the Disney Mom's panel isn't the "authority" but this is what I found online...
https://plandisney.disney.go.com/qu...s-heard-somewhere-property-takes-back-407959/
 

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
If they made an access panel they couldn't give them to kids. Choking/battery hazzard
That hasn't stopped every toy made that doesn't come with a pre-installed rechargeable battery from working, which I can comfortably say after Christmas, is still plenty.

If requiring a screwdriver to open is enough for toys kids of all ages play with unattended, surely it would have been enough for a Magic Band.

Disney just either didn't want to pay the cost involved in making this possible with waterproofing, etc. or deal with the added bulk it might have created.

If I had to take a guess, it was all about making them as cheaply as possible, though.

Personally, I think the addition of the smart devices makes sense and is the direction they should be focused on going. That said, this move takes away yet one more thing that helped justify the inflated costs of staying on property.

A more consumer-friendly move would have been to keep providing the bands at no-additional-charge* but make them opt-in optional rather than kind of pushed on guests the way it always was. That way, people would need to take an extra step to get them but they still could for family members where it made sense (kids, older relatives without smart devices, moms who want to go to the pool, anyone who has trouble keeping track of stuff, etc.) and not be expected to pay more for yet something else that was once include when prices were lower but is now a paid add-on to an increasingly nickle-and-dime experience.

They could then have made a long-term plan to phase them out or stop offering them when the bulk of society had zero use for them. Smart phones aren't a 1/1 replacement and despite Apple's success with their watch, most people still don't have one.

I'd be fine personally with using my phone (I'd even prefer it) but that doesn't work for my eight year old or for a lot of other people. Disney knows they'll be selling these for a good long while and turning a previous cost into a profit.

*I say "no additional cost" because I feel like a lot of people don't understand what the word "Free" actually means when it comes to Disney. When you're paying what you pay to stay in a Disney resort, considering the amenities at that price, about the only thing you can say is free is the air you're breathing. Everything else, you're paying for. Every cut they make should be viewed as a loss in the product that you are not seeing any discount or even slowdown of price increase to compensate for. I guarantee, that's how Disney sees it and is exactly the reason they do what they do with cuts that so many people seem okay with.
 
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JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
That hasn't stopped every toy made that doesn't come with a pre-installed rechargeable battery from working, which I can comfortably say after Christmas, is still plenty.

If requiring a screwdriver to open is enough for toys kids of all ages play with unattended, surely it would have been enough for a Magic Band.

Disney just either didn't want to pay the cost involved in making this possible with waterproofing, etc., deal with the added bulk it might have created.

If I had to take a gues, it was all about making them as cheaply as possible.
Well it always is, I agree with you
 

MrPromey

Well-Known Member
Well it always is, I agree with you

I can't say I blame them when they were giving the bulk of them away at no-additional-charge and also paying to ship them.

... But at $16+ a pop, it doesn't seem like a hard ask that they make a change if the only way to get one is to now buy it separately.
 
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John park hopper

Well-Known Member
I can't say I blame them when they were giving the bulk of them away at no-additional-charge and also paying to ship them.

... But at $16+ a pop, it doesn't seem like a hard ask that they make a change if the only way to get one is to now buy it separately, now.
I would bet the markup on MB is substantial --it probably costs Disney a fraction of what they are charging guests $16 a pop --pure profit. Just another way to make a buck- guests be damned.
 

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
I would bet the markup on MB is substantial --it probably costs Disney a fraction of what they are charging guests $16 a pop --pure profit. Just another way to make a buck- guests be damned.
Guests aren’t being damned. MBs are an accessory and QUITE fashionable. You aren’t purchasing a room key and park ticket. You‘re purchasing a statement. MB is all I wear to weddings, graduations, holiday soirées, and shopping trips on Park Ave. I am the centerpiece of each event, none of which start until I arrive.
 

icc2515

Well-Known Member
So what happens to the make your magic photos on the rides which would scan your bands and make automatic photos/videos to your account?
Your smart devices won't allow that nor will the cards...
Facial recognition?

This whole cell phone thing, in my opinion, is just a stop gap until the real (controversial) tech hits. I think Disney will eventually use a combination of facial and apparel recognition to ID you. They can do a decent scan facial scan when you walk in and at the same time take note of the cloths, shoes, accessories you are wearing. They already have a couple of patents for this stuff.

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando...patent-wants-to-track-guests-by-scanning.html


The cameras are mostly already there. It's just a matter of getting the software in there too. Disney has a pretty impressive collection of cameras at the entrances to the parks. One has to wonder if those cameras are already doing some facial recognitions. Maybe checking for people that have been banned.
 

JJJ

Well-Known Member
So what happens to the make your magic photos on the rides which would scan your bands and make automatic photos/videos to your account?
Your smart devices won't allow that nor will the cards...
Your phone actually already works with this system! It's how the disney parks play app awards badges after you ride a ride. It's powered by bluetooth beacons.

But, that being said, it might not work as reliably as the magic bands. Most phones disable the tech that powers it in low battery mode, which after a long day at Disney everyone's phones will be in, especially if the disney parks app is constantly searching for nearby beacons and being scanned at nfc touch points.
 

Epcot_Imagineer

Well-Known Member
I can't believe I'm so far out of the loop on this -- but does MDE already have full phone capabilities in terms of being a MB? Does my phone with MDE work as an entrance ticket, fastpass, etc?
 

Ldno

Well-Known Member
The uh app already tracks your movement and progress, it would be easy for them to share your ride pictures and videos with you I Imagine genie might play heavily into this.

I like how no one’s talking about the 100 charge EVERYTIME you use the magic band on the bank account, oh my gosh they messed up my total balance so many times because of the pre loading balance of the hotel and waiting for the returns, yeah Apple Pay and cards is easy. I freak out more at the weird balances at Disney more than ever, I used an atm once on a hotel in Kissimmee and got robbed from Russia haha that put a hinder on my finances the first day of my trip.

Very curious to see how they implement this, I love having my name on the screen while exiting small world, but still, it’s highly possible for them to implement a means of them tracking each time you ride a photo pass ride with videos...
 

JKfamily

New Member
Unless I have missed something and I may have, what about when your at a waterpark, I am not taking my phone around a waterpark to get drinks, food ect charged to my room or on a dinning plan, unless Disney is looking at Universal Studios Volcano Bay and issuing wrist bands to everyone when they enter the park, then they will have to upload your details onto the band and at the end of the day give them back ensuring your details have been wiped. sounds like it could lead to guest issues. I said from day one when the magic bands first came out why can you not just change the battery, that way you would not need to keep having new wrist bands every 2-3 years when the battery ran out, you just got the battery replaced like we all do with our watches that have batteries or better still have them that you can charge them wireless like we can with our smart devices, think Disney dropped the ball with the original thoughts on the wrist band, We as a family like them as its quick and easy to use and not everyone wants a smart watch. I respect that a lot of bands have been issued and a lot end up in landfill sites that Disney want to reduce the costs of making the bands and also the waste but the charging solution or battery replacement would have help with these numbers, we as a family over the years have had over 100 bands where as a simple recharge or battery replacement would have kept this number below 10.
 

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
Unless I have missed something and I may have, what about when your at a waterpark, I am not taking my phone around a waterpark to get drinks, food ect charged to my room or on a dinning plan,
If you don’t want to use your phone at the water parks then don’t. You can use a MagicBand or a card just like you do now.
 

icc2515

Well-Known Member
Unless I have missed something and I may have, what about when your at a waterpark, I am not taking my phone around a waterpark to get drinks, food ect charged to my room or on a dinning plan,
I am sure that it has been stated here already, but Disney will offer you a free RFID card just like they would in the past. These cards work almost exactly like a magic band and are waterproof. You can put them in a lanyard or a wrist holder or pocket at the waterpark.
unless Disney is looking at Universal Studios Volcano Bay and issuing wrist bands to everyone when they enter the park, then they will have to upload your details onto the band and at the end of the day give them back ensuring your details have been wiped. sounds like it could lead to guest issues.
No information is stored on the wrist band/magic band/RFID card. These only have a serial number written to them. When you scan the item a computer looks up that stored number in a database and matches it to your information.
I said from day one when the magic bands first came out why can you not just change the battery, that way you would not need to keep having new wrist bands every 2-3 years when the battery ran out, you just got the battery replaced like we all do with our watches that have batteries or better still have them that you can charge them wireless like we can with our smart devices, think Disney dropped the ball with the original thoughts on the wrist band, We as a family like them as its quick and easy to use and not everyone wants a smart watch. I respect that a lot of bands have been issued and a lot end up in landfill sites that Disney want to reduce the costs of making the bands and also the waste but the charging solution or battery replacement would have help with these numbers, we as a family over the years have had over 100 bands where as a simple recharge or battery replacement would have kept this number below 10.
Replaceable batteries are a difficult thing to have when you are trying to make an item small. There are only so many standard size batteries on the market and then you have to build a holder for them in the device, which takes up a lot more room than just using a tiny non standard battery that is soldered in. Look at any of the new smart phones and smart watches. Non of them have a user replaceable battery. I just want to point out that you can still use all your old magic bands at the parks. A dead battery does not stop the band from working for entry, charging, fast passes, scanning the band at say test track for the photo. About the only thing the battery was used for was long range communication like on the rides with auto pictures. Oh and the biggest use for the battery was to track you around the park. As a matter of fact the whole idea of the magic band system was to track you around the park. When this system first came out a congressman started asking questions about Disney tracking children. Igor got really really angry, in my opinion because they were caught, and said that they were not using the system for tracking. So the whole battery thing is kind of a non issue. I still use my original magic band (the old rectangular ones) sometimes they still work fine.
 

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