Explaining the Magic Band system to someone

scottriehm

Member
Original Poster
Later this week, I'm going to be arriving at WDW with some extended family that has never been. One of them is extremely paranoid about Big Brother and being tracked and all that. What do y'all think the best way to explain to him about the long-range readers and what they do, like automatically being able to add ride pictures to our account, or if we shouldn't even tell him unless he starts asking questions. I know we could just get him a normal plastic card, but obviously, that would mean going to the front desk or guest services.

Anyone else have to do something like this and have any suggestions?
 

DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
Later this week, I'm going to be arriving at WDW with some extended family that has never been. One of them is extremely paranoid about Big Brother and being tracked and all that. What do y'all think the best way to explain to him about the long-range readers and what they do, like automatically being able to add ride pictures to our account, or if we shouldn't even tell him unless he starts asking questions. I know we could just get him a normal plastic card, but obviously, that would mean going to the front desk or guest services.

Anyone else have to do something like this and have any suggestions?
If he would think that getting rid of a magic band due to the long range reader is sufficient to not be paranoid about Disney being Big Brother and gathering data, then he is not paranoid enough - Disney was gathering data about movements and purchases and what you eat and when you eat and what rides you ride and when you ride them before Magic Bands were introduced.
 

scottriehm

Member
Original Poster
Well, he would be going completely off of the information we gave him. If we can avoid it, we would just keep him from knowing about all of their tracking but I don't know that we'll be able to keep it up for a week with normal conversations including pictures. At that point we might be able to convince him only the Magic Bands are involved in tracking.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Later this week, I'm going to be arriving at WDW with some extended family that has never been. One of them is extremely paranoid about Big Brother and being tracked and all that. What do y'all think the best way to explain to him about the long-range readers and what they do, like automatically being able to add ride pictures to our account, or if we shouldn't even tell him unless he starts asking questions. I know we could just get him a normal plastic card, but obviously, that would mean going to the front desk or guest services.

Anyone else have to do something like this and have any suggestions?

Say:

  1. A MB stores only one thing: a unique identification number, and absolutely nothing else about you.
  2. That number is linked to your online account.
  3. Your online account has all your personal information encrypted. It also has information related to being at Disney: your FastPasses, your Ticket information, your Room if staying at a Disney resort, and the ability to charge in-park purchases to your hotel room, which has your credit card.
  4. Wherever you 'tap' your MB, that point of tap reads the ID# and looks up what you're entitled to, e.g., entrance to the park because of your Ticket.
  5. Certain rides that have photos will read your MB as you pass by in the ride so as to mach the photo with your account.
  6. You can't go to Disney without it, or their plastic ticket-card, which also has an RFID chip, just like the MB.
  7. Yes, Disney may be tracking you while in the park, but that's as far as it goes. It's just like being tracked by closed circuit TV when in a department store.
 

The Pho

Well-Known Member
Do you have an old Magic Band (a few years, even a 1.0)? Give him one with a dead battery and the long range detection doesn’t work. He won’t get photos added automatically, but could still use it for admission and fastpasses.

Edit: apparently don’t do this, it’s not allowed.
 
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aliceismad

Well-Known Member
If he's that paranoid, I’m betting he will come to his own conclusions about Disney’s tracking abilities. :) Personally, I probably wouldn't tell him anything until he found out or started asking questions. Maybe switching to a card would make him feel more warm and fuzzy?
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
They’ve transferred them for me before with no issue as recently as December.

That's... contradictory to several years of anecdotal evidence.

To be clear, you took a MB that was linked to one MDE account and had it linked to a different person's MDE account? And if yes, how did you do that?
 

The Pho

Well-Known Member
That's... contradictory to several years of anecdotal evidence.

To be clear, you took a MB that was linked to one MDE account and had it linked to a different person's MDE account? And if yes, how did you do that?

Had the band removed from one person and added it back onto another. We use the same account for everyone. So same account different person. And a cast member did it for us over the phone, and not the first time. We have so many extra bands, it’s a waste to not reuse them, dozens of them for each of us. If that’s not allowed than I’ll change my earlier comment to not suggest it.
 

MisterPenguin

President of Animal Kingdom
Premium Member
Had the band removed from one person and added it back onto another. We use the same account for everyone. So same account different person. And a cast member did it for us over the phone, and not the first time. We have so many extra bands, it’s a waste to not reuse them, dozens of them for each of us. If that’s not allowed than I’ll change my earlier comment to not suggest it.

Well, I don't doubt that they can do it. It's just so many people have reported they refused to. So, this might be a change in policy. Especially with so many MBs being given out to frequent vacationers.
 

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