Just Returned From Disneyland Resort and I Missed My Magic Band

DVCOwner

DVCOwner

A Long Time DVC Member
Original Poster
My wife and I just returned from a five day trip to Disneyland Resort with two other couples. All of us go to Walt Disney World several times a year. The one thing all of us said was that we missed our Magic Bands. All six of us agreed we wish we had them. We really missed the little things like using them to open the resort room doors without having to dig out a key card, photo pass was really much harder looking for a photo card, for ride photos we had to all use the same photo pass, and I have to say that I just like one thing to do everything else (fast passes, charging, tickets, etc). The overall trips where great, but I wish they had Magic Bands.
 
DVCOwner

DVCOwner

A Long Time DVC Member
Original Poster
Sage of Time said:
I can't wait to go to Disneyland again and not have to have a band on and plan for FPs and dining and all the other headaches that come with MM+.
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Sorry for the bad news, but we had all the same problems. To get into the good restaurants we had to book 60 days in advance. If we would not have planned what Fast Passes we where going to do and in what order, we would have never got on all the rides we wanted to do. Wait time for all the e Tickets where over an hour. All Fast Passes for Cars where gone in the first two hours of the day. Had to Fast Pass early in the day for Fantasmic! and World of Color. I think it was really harder at Disneyland than it is at Walt Disney World. So do not get your hopes up to much.
 
Sage of Time

Sage of Time

Well-Known Member
DVCOwner said:
Sorry for the bad news, but we had all the same problems. To get into the good restaurants we had to book 60 days in advance. If we would not have planned what Fast Passes we where going to do and in what order, we would have never got on all the rides we wanted to do. Wait time for all the e Tickets where over an hour. All Fast Passes for Cars where gone in the first two hours of the day. Had to Fast Pass early in the day for Fantasmic! and World of Color. I think it was really harder at Disneyland than it is at Walt Disney World. So do not get your hopes up to much.
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Uhhhhh... No? None of my Disneyland experiences have involved those problems. WDW forces you into planning. Disneyland does not.
 
PinnySmart

PinnySmart

Well-Known Member
We missed our bands the last 2 times that we went to Disneyland and encountered the same problems you did. We are premier passport holders and our tickets never worked properly because we purchased them in Florida, at least that's what we were told. Same issues with Fastpasses being all gone very early in the day and thank goodness I planned ahead and got dining reservations. The one night I thought we would just wing it was a disaster. We ended up eating fast food.
 
Sage of Time

Sage of Time

Well-Known Member
DVCOwner said:
That was not my experience, it just started at a later date then WDW (60 days out vs. 120 days out). I am a planner and planning the vacation is part of the fun. So I do think that I am a little bias in that Walt Disney World provides me a lot more opportunities to do that.
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Yeah, I can't stand over planning and really preferred the relaxed atmosphere of DL.
 
jaklgreen

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
I too am one of those who enjoys the planning process. I much rather book my reservations ahead of time then wait and press my luck when I am hungry with hungry kids in tow. Nothing worse then being hot and hungry and not being able to get someplace decent to eat.
 
jaklgreen

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
I too am one of those who enjoys the planning process. I much rather book my reservations ahead of time then wait and press my luck when I am hungry with hungry kids in tow. Nothing worse then being hot and hungry and not being able to get someplace decent to eat. I don't call that over planning, I call that smart preparation. But as a Mom, you learn to do things smarter not harder.
 
habuma

habuma

Well-Known Member
Same experience when at DL May 20-24. I was skeptical of MagicBands and FP+ when it came to WDW. But going back to the old way while at DL was uncomfortable and inconvenient. We each had *2* cards...a room key and a park ticket card. And I carried a 3rd PhotoPass card. And when purchasing anything with our room key, we also had to pull out a driver's license. Then we were usually carrying around at least one set of FastPass tickets.

On one day, I attempted to get a jump on things and get FP for my entire family while they were still getting ready. That doesn't work, because their tickets won't work in the FP machines unless they have actually entered the park. (In contrast, I can obtain all of my WDW FP+ selections without any of us even being in Florida.)

Not to mention that the little zip-loc lanyard pouches to carry all of that stuff are undersized for carrying all of that stuff. By the end of the trip, they were broken and useless.

After having lived through the old way and the new way within a 5 month period, I can say that I much preferred MagicBands and FP+. My only complaint currently with FP+ is the initial limit of 3 FP+ selections per day. By the time you use those, it's slim pickings at the kiosks. I'd ask to bump it up to 4 or 5. But aside from that, we like MagicBands and FP+ better.
 
Jon81uk

Jon81uk

Well-Known Member
habuma said:
I'd ask to bump it up to 4 or 5. But aside from that, we like MagicBands and FP+ better.
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Only issue is the only park that could handle 4-5 FP+ per person is Magic Kingdom, there isn't enough at the other parks (thats why EP and DHS have tiers of course) to allow every single guest to get that many FPs.

They need to add the ability to get a 4th to the app though...
 
DVCOwner

DVCOwner

A Long Time DVC Member
Original Poster
One other thing we really missed without having Magic Bands; we purchased the Photo Package and where given a lanyard with a photo pass. Other members of our group also had photo passes link to the account, but they did not work with the photo on rides. Only the one given to us with the package worked on rides. So each time someone went on a ride that had photos we needed the original lanyard and had to go to the photo counter to link every one in our group.
 
habuma

habuma

Well-Known Member
Jon81uk said:
Only issue is the only park that could handle 4-5 FP+ per person is Magic Kingdom, there isn't enough at the other parks (thats why EP and DHS have tiers of course) to allow every single guest to get that many FPs.

They need to add the ability to get a 4th to the app though...
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True about the other parks not needing it. I was thinking that when I wrote it. In fact, as it is now, AK barely needs FP at all. But I when ahead and said it anyway.

And yes, using the app to get the 4th (5th, 6th, etc) would be awesome.
 
Miceberg

Miceberg

Well-Known Member
PinnySmart said:
We are premier passport holders and our tickets never worked properly because we purchased them in Florida, at least that's what we were told.
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I'm a Premier pass holder too. The pass I have now was purchased in CA and I've probably had the same problems you've had. No matter in which state you purchase the pass, the number assigned to it is a Florida sequence number and the registers at DLR/DCA don't recognize them properly (that's why the CM's have to key in the number when you make a purchase).
 
LdyApxr

LdyApxr

Well-Known Member
Having done DL several times(on property) and just recently in 13, the Radiator Springs Racers were out of FP within 45min(and this was a year after it opened) and still have that problem within a couple hours. Carthay Circle(amazing food and drinks) meant a reservation the day the reservation window opened or you were severely limited in time slot if you got in at all. I am looking forward to using the MB at WDW this coming May for our first trip and not needing a lanyard, a separate photopass, a room key and park ticket. But that may be just me. I like planning, I do not overplan. I plan for what we want and prep for what we would "like" to do if we can fit it in. I fully intend on planning ADRs but we also do not have little ones since our sons are 26 and 17 and we are taking my 13yr old niece. We do Disneyland since we are NorCal residents and it is much easier but looking forward to WDW!!
 

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