Magic Bands - are they worth it?

largemarge

largemarge

Member
Original Poster
Good morning all! 31 days to go until my Halloween trip to Disney! I am counting down the minutes until I can start making my FastPass+ selections tomorrow. :) I have a couple of questions about MagicBands, for those who have the experience.

1. Are they worth it? I have had only one trip to Disney since this system was created and was at the parks for a day. I must admit, that having to dig out my ticket each time I wanted to use my FastPass was a bit of a pain. We will be there for 3 days this go round so I am thinking that purchasing one seems inevitable. We will only be using it for park entrance, and FastPasses however. I do not feel comfortable syncing up any payment information on it just because I am somewhat of a Paranoid Peter Pan. ;)

2. If we do decide to purchase Magic Bands, should we purchase ours before hand from the Disney site or should we wait and pick them out at the park? I wasn't sure if they have unique options at each park that you cannot buy elsewhere that we should hold out for. We will be going to MNSSHP on Halloween Night and I do know that they had a limited number of bands available for purchase at the party, but wasn't sure how difficult it would be to get my paws on one.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
Rob562

Rob562

Well-Known Member
largemarge said:
Good morning all! 31 days to go until my Halloween trip to Disney! I am counting down the minutes until I can start making my FastPass+ selections tomorrow. :) I have a couple of questions about MagicBands, for those who have the experience.

1. Are they worth it? I have had only one trip to Disney since this system was created and was at the parks for a day. I must admit, that having to dig out my ticket each time I wanted to use my FastPass was a bit of a pain. We will be there for 3 days this go round so I am thinking that purchasing one seems inevitable. We will only be using it for park entrance, and FastPasses however. I do not feel comfortable syncing up any payment information on it just because I am somewhat of a Paranoid Peter Pan. ;)

2. If we do decide to purchase Magic Bands, should we purchase ours before hand from the Disney site or should we wait and pick them out at the park? I wasn't sure if they have unique options at each park that you cannot buy elsewhere that we should hold out for. We will be going to MNSSHP on Halloween Night and I do know that they had a limited number of bands available for purchase at the party, but wasn't sure how difficult it would be to get my paws on one.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...


MagicBands for non-resort guests are strictly a convenience factor, mostly for the reasons you gave: not having to get your park ticket out when you are entering the park or using your FP+ reservation. And though you mention not wanting to link your credit card, there's actually no way for an off-site Guest to use their Band for purchases. That's for on-site Guests only. (And even then, the Band is PIN protected and only points back to your room charge account, not to your credit card directly)

Whether that convenience factor is worth the price tag can only be answered by you.

As for when and where to buy a Band, if you choose to get them... There are many, many designs and colors to choose from, ranging from the basic plain color Bands to limited edition designs. One problem with buying on-site is that not every location that sells bands will have all possible designs in-stock. If you go onto the Shop Parks app, you can see ALL desgins available and pre-order them if you want. (Or at least get an idea what's available) You can also use the app to locate stores that have each design in-stock, so once you know what design(s) you want you can then check to see if they're all available in one place.

Special Party designs will have to be bought on-site during the Party, though.

And linking the Band to your account is easy. If you buy ahead of time, you can link them using the serial number on the Band. If you buy on-site, the CM at checkout can use your park ticket to automatically link the Band to you.

-Rob
 
rob0519

rob0519

Well-Known Member
This brings up an interesting question. If someone who stayed onsite and has "free bands", can those bands be given to a friend who is staying offsite like the OP, to use so they don't have to spend $30-$40 on bands and can have a nice lunch or spend that money some other way?
 
MickeyMomV

MickeyMomV

Well-Known Member
rob0519 said:
This brings up an interesting question. If someone who stayed onsite and has "free bands", can those bands be given to a friend who is staying offsite like the OP, to use so they don't have to spend $30-$40 on bands and can have a nice lunch or spend that money some other way?
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Unfortunately not. The "free" bands are already linked to your MDE account when you receive them.
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
rob0519 said:
This brings up an interesting question. If someone who stayed onsite and has "free bands", can those bands be given to a friend who is staying offsite like the OP, to use so they don't have to spend $30-$40 on bands and can have a nice lunch or spend that money some other way?
Click to expand...

Once a band is linked to an account it cannot be unlinked and used with another account. The bands that come as part of your room stay, or those sent to AP holders are all linked before they are shipped and cannot be used by anyone else. If you purchased a band in the store, they do let you purchase them to be linked later, so those could be bought and given to someone else, as long as they were unused and not linked.
 
lilclerk

lilclerk

Well-Known Member
If you have Memory Maker, then MBs may definitely be worth it. They will automatically pick up any ride photos and they are the only way to get the videos at ToT and Seven Dwarfs, as far as I know.

If you don't have Memory Maker, I don't think they're as worth it since they're only good for park entry and FP+. You can get some cute ones though, they are a nice souvenir.
 
largemarge

largemarge

Member
Original Poster
I did crack and ordered a pair! My husband has been having a rough week so I splurged and got him the Magic Band with Chewbacca and Han Solo on it as a surprise. I got the Alice in Wonderland one for myself, although I really wish they had a Leia one. Booked our first day of FastPasses this morning! Happy to get a Toy Story Mania FastPass (will be our first time on it). Thinking about setting an alarm to try and get one for Frozen Ever After tomorrow morning! :hungover:
 
MickeyMomV

MickeyMomV

Well-Known Member
Weather_Lady said:
I find the MagicBands no more or less convenient than wearing a lanyard with a card sleeve around my neck (which is how I used to keep track of my KTTW card, back in the day). It all depends on your personal preferences.
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"back in the day"! Are you trying to make me feel old? It was just 3 years ago. Now if you said ticket booklets then that would be back in the day and..... before my time. :)
 
danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
Ever since Magic Bands first came out I was skeptical that they would be something that would be useful to me. I finally used them for the first time on my trip a few weeks ago and I loved them. I really like the convenience of them, especially when using them for purchases. The itemized receipt you get is really nice because it shows exactly where your made you purchase and even which band the purchase was made with if you have multiple bands for your party. I also liked how the band automatically links some of the on ride pictures write to your MDE account.
 

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