We just returned from our trip today. We used our MagicBands for the room entry, park entry, and FP+. We disabled the "swipe to pay" as we had cash to cover expenses (cash works best for budgets). I put together a pre-trip report on setting FP+ up about a month prior. It was very easy to set up and move the ride times around. However, I wasn't keen on committing to a particular park on certain days and times.
On a side note, Disney's Guest Services are filled with helpful people. I was booked at Port Orleans and saw that Wilderness Lodge had just steeply discounted rooms for this week. Though I was within 48 hours of my trip, they still booked me there and moved everything (including my FP+ reservations and Magical Express) to the new booking. This truly helped us have a magical trip as it is so nice to stay at the WL.
We arrived at MCO and could have made life easier by having the bands on before we left the plane. Note to others: Using Disney's Magical Express is a trifle quicker, check-in wise, if you have your bands on as they have readers at the line. Not to worry as they still can check us in manually.
Arrived at Wilderness Lodge, checked in, and went to the room. Using the band is kind of awkward as you have to twist your wrist around to line up the reader on the door and your band's "happy point". Aside from that, it worked great all week (except when carrying two drink mugs filled with soda).
Went to MK and our bands worked perfectly to get into the park. Still, no real improvement over the "Key to the World" but I guess that the band is handier to have ready. We went in and walked up to the FP+ reader for our first ride. I was curious about how well it would work. Surprisingly, no issues. Put the band to the scanner for about 5 seconds, the scanner turns green, and off we go. It was nice not to have to sift through the detritus in my pocket to find my paper Fastpass.
The lines to FP+ weren't long at all except if you went right when your window opened. Even then, it was a very quick moving line. I didn't have any issues that others had mentioned. Also, I did mine old school as I didn't have a smart phone to use the app's with. I printed out my itinerary and pretty much memorized my schedule. Also, the ride lines did not seem to suffer any real impact but it was also not a busy week.
One day, we didn't use our FP+ times as the weather was a little sketchy. I went later in the day and was able to rebook two completely different rides with the FP+ Kiosk. Again, no line and it was somewhat easy. It took me some time figuring out how to do it but thankfully a Cast Member was onsite to help.
I did see a large number of people using the "swipe to pay" and there were no issues there either. It does probably make it a little easier. I just wanted to use cash as that really helps me keep in line with the budget.
Overall, it worked fine. I didn't feel that it made my visit any better except that I knew when I was riding three rides.
On a side note, Disney's Guest Services are filled with helpful people. I was booked at Port Orleans and saw that Wilderness Lodge had just steeply discounted rooms for this week. Though I was within 48 hours of my trip, they still booked me there and moved everything (including my FP+ reservations and Magical Express) to the new booking. This truly helped us have a magical trip as it is so nice to stay at the WL.
We arrived at MCO and could have made life easier by having the bands on before we left the plane. Note to others: Using Disney's Magical Express is a trifle quicker, check-in wise, if you have your bands on as they have readers at the line. Not to worry as they still can check us in manually.
Arrived at Wilderness Lodge, checked in, and went to the room. Using the band is kind of awkward as you have to twist your wrist around to line up the reader on the door and your band's "happy point". Aside from that, it worked great all week (except when carrying two drink mugs filled with soda).
Went to MK and our bands worked perfectly to get into the park. Still, no real improvement over the "Key to the World" but I guess that the band is handier to have ready. We went in and walked up to the FP+ reader for our first ride. I was curious about how well it would work. Surprisingly, no issues. Put the band to the scanner for about 5 seconds, the scanner turns green, and off we go. It was nice not to have to sift through the detritus in my pocket to find my paper Fastpass.
The lines to FP+ weren't long at all except if you went right when your window opened. Even then, it was a very quick moving line. I didn't have any issues that others had mentioned. Also, I did mine old school as I didn't have a smart phone to use the app's with. I printed out my itinerary and pretty much memorized my schedule. Also, the ride lines did not seem to suffer any real impact but it was also not a busy week.
One day, we didn't use our FP+ times as the weather was a little sketchy. I went later in the day and was able to rebook two completely different rides with the FP+ Kiosk. Again, no line and it was somewhat easy. It took me some time figuring out how to do it but thankfully a Cast Member was onsite to help.
I did see a large number of people using the "swipe to pay" and there were no issues there either. It does probably make it a little easier. I just wanted to use cash as that really helps me keep in line with the budget.
Overall, it worked fine. I didn't feel that it made my visit any better except that I knew when I was riding three rides.
