Magic Bands Queries

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Hi
Flying out to Orlando on 6th August (less than 30 days now....exciting) this is our third time but this will be the first time we have ever used magic bands so I have some queeries about them.

Ok firstly i'm from the UK and can't order the bands online and we are staying off site. We booked through virgin holidays and we are staying in a villa so we won't have them as part of our hotel bookings as I understand is the normal way to get them.

I think we are all hoping to get character bands over the solid colour ones if at all possible but not opposed to the solid colour options either, just the characters would be preferable. I've tried doing some research on them and I already know there are 3 on demand stations but if i've researched correctly these are ones you get printed while there rather than buying character bands off the shelf that have more design to them than the ones you print yourself I believe.

So what this essay is getting to me asking is:

• where can I buy the off the shelves character bands?
• can we get them from anywhere in Disney Springs?
• is it advisable to buy the bands on the 7th August (a day we are not planning on going to any of the theme parks only ESPN wide world of sport) so that we have them ready before we hand over our paper work to get our tickets?

Last time we visited in 2014 we were offered magic bands at the ticket booths of Magic Kingdom but opted instead for the credit card style tickets, but this time as we are taking children we feel it's more beneficial and less hassle to opt for bands but I think i am right in thinking that getting a band from one of the ticket windows will just get us a solid colour band right? I can't seem to find anywhere online that gives information on which shops sell magic bands in either the parks themselves or Disney springs it just says "from select retailers around parks & disney springs"

Also I have some questions about using magic bands. As part of our package with virgin holidays it included memory maker and i've linked our virgin tickets + memory maker via My Disney Experience and that all shows great on the app and on my account I just can't work out how we go about linking magic bands up to all that and how all our photos we get with memory maker get linked to the bands.

Also on MDE it says that memory maker is for adult ticket holders only so I have some questions about that. There are 3 what I call official adults and 2 kids, however one of the "kids" is 11 and the other is 9 which makes the 11 year old officially an adult and therefore I believe he has memory maker associated with his ticket but the 9 year old does not right?

So I guess i'm asking how that works, does it mean the 9 year old can not have his photo taken on his own with the characters because his ticket is not associated with memory maker? or does it mean he can have photos taken on his own just his photos would have to be associated with one of the bands of the adults who have memory maker? Any help much appreciated.

 

[networkpro]

Disney wants you to buy magic banda so there's a good selection of them at World of Disney at the springs. As long as you link your profile with your children's in MDE any picture that is tagged with their magic band's electronic serial number will show up in your photopass gallery. Sometimes pictures get misplaced so if you can try and keep track of locations and times they can look them up.

 

[Rob562]

The short answer to most of your questions is that as long as everything is linked to your profiles properly (tickets, MagicBands, PhotoMaker), they will all work together just fine once you're there.

The "adult" warning on Memory Maker just means that only an adult can actually purchase Memory Maker.

Bands are sold in multiple places all around the parks, hotels and Disney Springs. If you'd like to get an idea of what's available and where they're sold, download the Shop Disney Parks app. There's a whole section for MagicBands, and for each item you can click on a "find on map" button to bring up a map of WDW property with a little marker showing all the stores that particular item is sold in.

When buying the Bands, the cashier can link the Band to your MDE profile automatically. They'll just scan your park ticket to link it to "you" in the MDE system. The same goes for each person in your party, so make sure you keep the tickets straightened out between people.

-Rob

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Thank you for the responses guys, these things really help. I will download the disney parks shop app now and take a look that's super helpful to know.

Great to also know the 9 year old can have his photo taken alone with characters (this may not be something we want to do but nice to know it's an option)

I am taking a note book and pen to make notes for my blog so i will use the notebook to also keep note of where we have photographs done and when, wouldn't want our photos misplaced as this would be the first time virgin have included Memory maker in with the package so we want to make decent use of it.

Thanks once again for responses, much appreciated and very helpful, off to download that app to find out where things are sold.

 

[dreamfinder]

I am taking a note book and pen to make notes for my blog so i will use the notebook to also keep note of where we have photographs done and when, wouldn't want our photos misplaced as this would be the first time virgin have included Memory maker in with the package so we want to make decent use of it.

Just take a picture at the same time yourself with your phone. Then you can check in MDE to see if the Photopass pictures came over. If you have a picture that Photopass doesn't, stop at one of the Photopass counters and have them try to locate it and add it to your account. Most will show up within 5-10 minutes of getting taken, but they may take up to 24 hours to be viewable in your account.

 

[Rob562]

And as a side note, I think you gave one too many e's in the title of your post...

-Rob

 

[dreamfinder]

And as a side note, I think you gave one too many e's in the title of your post...

-Rob

Some people do find Magic Bands to be a little strange....

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Thanks I couldn't download that app it will have to wait until I'm in Florida by the looks of things

Re: the spelling I thought so but my Mac corrected it to that so I thought it knew what it was talking about

 

[Lillies]

We saw loads of character bands at various shops in Disney Springs (it was Downtown Disney when we visited), so you should be able to get them easily. Our memory maker was linked to both of our accounts, for ages it was only me scanning my band for pictures but we soon found that actually both of us could do it. I'm pretty sure that your son could have his photo taken and then they could scan your band? Not sure though, as we were usually both in our photos. Enjoy your trip!

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

We saw loads of character bands at various shops in Disney Springs (it was Downtown Disney when we visited), so you should be able to get them easily. Our memory maker was linked to both of our accounts, for ages it was only me scanning my band for pictures but we soon found that actually both of us could do it. I'm pretty sure that your son could have his photo taken and then they could scan your band? Not sure though, as we were usually both in our photos. Enjoy your trip!

Thank you and I'm still so torn between which character band to get hopefully I can decide in 23 days time!

I've managed to link my mum's account with mine so all fast passes she is selecting logged into her own MDE account is showing up on my account, so I'm guessing me & my mum can scan our bands for photos but I'm not sure how that will work for the other 3 party members who don't have their own accounts but are down as guests/party members on my own account and managed by me....for a complete novice with these bands they are hard to get your head around with very little info on them to be found beyond generic stuff like "what is a magic band?" And "what can they be used for?" Etc

 

[dreamfinder]

Thank you and I'm still so torn between which character band to get hopefully I can decide in 23 days time!

I've managed to link my mum's account with mine so all fast passes she is selecting logged into her own MDE account is showing up on my account, so I'm guessing me & my mum can scan our bands for photos but I'm not sure how that will work for the other 3 party members who don't have their own accounts but are down as guests/party members on my own account and managed by me....for a complete novice with these bands they are hard to get your head around with very little info on them to be found beyond generic stuff like "what is a magic band?" And "what can they be used for?" Etc

Anyone who is "Friends and Family" with the person who bought Memory Maker can have their pictures show up in the account. If the settings for the F&F were set to "Share pictures" then they will show up in the other persons account. So if you bought Memory Maker with your account, any pictures from managed accounts you setup (IE you created profiles for children) should automatically show up in your account. If your mom has her own account, you would need to check if the Friends & Family settings are configured to share photos. Then you would do all the edits and download the pictures.

There isn't much to understand that is specific to Magic Bands. They are simply a different form of ticket medium. If someone doesn't have or want the band, they can still use a plastic card as their ticket, room key, and Photopass card. The Magic Band is basically a ticket you wear on your wrist. All of the above point back to your MDE account. So as long as you have everything setup correctly in your MDE account, Magic Bands are really trivial.

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

Anyone who is "Friends and Family" with the person who bought Memory Maker can have their pictures show up in the account. If the settings for the F&F were set to "Share pictures" then they will show up in the other persons account. So if you bought Memory Maker with your account, any pictures from managed accounts you setup (IE you created profiles for children) should automatically show up in your account. If your mom has her own account, you would need to check if the Friends & Family settings are configured to share photos. Then you would do all the edits and download the pictures

That's the difference we didn't physically buy memory maker it came with our holiday package from booking with Virgin Holidays so from what I can make out memory maker is attached to all of our tickets rather than just the MDE account of the person who purchased it

 

[dreamfinder]

That's the difference we didn't physically buy memory maker it came with our holiday package from booking with Virgin Holidays so from what I can make out memory maker is attached to all of our tickets rather than just the MDE account of the person who purchased it

I'd be shocked if they granted the entitlement to all members of your party, instead of just one to the entire party. If they actually granted a Memory Maker entitlement to everyone, than you could in theory spread out redeeming those over several trips as one entitlement can be used to download the pictures of any of your Friends and Family that show up in your Photopass stream.

Every member of your party can have their pictures downloaded through the single entitlement.

According to the Photopass Memory Maker Q&A page
Memory Maker – Frequently Asked Questions

Q.
I have purchased Memory Maker. How do I manage which member of my group it is assigned to?

A.
Before you download any photo or otherwise redeem your Memory Maker purchase, you can reassign the Memory Maker entitlement to any person who has a Disney account and who is connected to your Family & Friends list. Once assigned, that individual will become the owner of the entitlement.

To reassign Memory Maker, locate your Memory Maker in My Reservations in My Disney Experience and select the “Reassign” link.

So especially if most of the people on your trip are "Managed By" accounts, you most likely only got one Memory Maker. You should be able to check and see using the above directions.

 

[DonaldDuckQuackers]

I'd be shocked if they granted the entitlement to all members of your party, instead of just one to the entire party. If they actually granted a Memory Maker entitlement to everyone, than you could in theory spread out redeeming those over several trips as one entitlement can be used to download the pictures of any of your Friends and Family that show up in your Photopass stream.

Every member of your party can have their pictures downloaded through the single entitlement.

According to the Photopass Memory Maker Q&A page
Memory Maker – Frequently Asked Questions


So especially if most of the people on your trip are "Managed By" accounts, you most likely only got one Memory Maker. You should be able to check and see using the above directions.

It's listed on every one of our tickets so I don't know as I've never purchased it before to know what it would look like if only one person had it, common sense tells me you are probably right but I really don't know because we didn't purchase it ourselves