People who actually experienced Magic Bands

[fosse76]

In general, I didn't have any major problems using my Magic Band. The only problem I had was during EMH at MK when it wouldn't scan to verify I was an on-site guest. Fortunately I had a room key too, so it wasn't a major issue. Crowds were light, so I only needed FP for the Mountains, and Soarin', and TSMM. However, I still have some problems with the whole project:

1. Only 3 FPs per day in the same park.
Yes I know they are changing this, but as someone who park hops it was extremely irritating.
2. Reservations can be made 60 days in advance
This level of planning is obnoxious, since I often don't know what park I am going to until I get to the bus stop. I went during the off-season when crowds were low, but some FPs still were "sold out", and personally I think it should be "day of" reservations only.
3. Each attraction only allows one FP+ per day.
I know there is a loophole that allows you to book an additional FP for the same attraction on the same day if you do not hold a current reservation for it, but when I was there this hadn't been articulated. If legacy FP had still not been in circulation, I would have been really aggravated.
4. FP+ Return Time Selection is inadequate
Instead of chosing our own return times, Disney picks them for you. Changing them is a bit tedious. They should simply list all the available slots and let people pick and chose what they want from the get-go.
5. The back up at the FP+ entrance for each attraction was annoying.
It takes too long for the passes to be "approved". I don't really know if there is a practical way to resolve this.
6. Using the bands for purchase and room entry
I think anyone who really sings the praises of this feature must be really lazy. It often took longer because of the way the Magic Bands get scanned for room entry and credit purchases. That this is a major selling point for people baffles me.

Overall I do think it is more convenient, and I didn't HATE it. But I also was able to use the legacy system as well, so I was able to avoid many of the restrictions placed upon FP+ users. I know that Disney is tweaking the system, and much more to my liking. I still don't like that people can reserve so far in advance, and I absolutely HATED the band. I did not think it was at all comfortable, and there were times I felt that i needed to be flexible to get it to scan properly.

 

[Rodb]

We just used three fast passes each day and the longest wait we had was 5 minutes for big thunder. They are constantly handed out red cards to fast pass users to monitor the wait times. We even used a 4th fast pass in another park when we hopped at night. You can't use a 4th until the first three are used up, but you can use different attractions for different members of your party. However; i will tell you to group everybody togather in any initial choices since that time slot probaly won't be there the following day if a family member changes their mind. You then can go back and slot ones you want for the ones that don't want to do the attractions. I think the biggest problem is that a lot of people don't decide to put in their fast pass until they get to the park. By then ; most of the top attractions will be booked until the late afternoon or night and you will have to use a fast pass on a second tier ride in the mean time.

 

[Rodb]

In general, I didn't have any major problems using my Magic Band. The only problem I had was during EMH at MK when it wouldn't scan to verify I was an on-site guest. Fortunately I had a room key too, so it wasn't a major issue. Crowds were light, so I only needed FP for the Mountains, and Soarin', and TSMM. However, I still have some problems with the whole project:

1. Only 3 FPs per day in the same park.
Yes I know they are changing this, but as someone who park hops it was extremely irritating.
2. Reservations can be made 60 days in advance
This level of planning is obnoxious, since I often don't know what park I am going to until I get to the bus stop. I went during the off-season when crowds were low, but some FPs still were "sold out", and personally I think it should be "day of" reservations only.
3. Each attraction only allows one FP+ per day.
I know there is a loophole that allows you to book an additional FP for the same attraction on the same day if you do not hold a current reservation for it, but when I was there this hadn't been articulated. If legacy FP had still not been in circulation, I would have been really aggravated.
4. FP+ Return Time Selection is inadequate
Instead of chosing our own return times, Disney picks them for you. Changing them is a bit tedious. They should simply list all the available slots and let people pick and chose what they want from the get-go.
5. The back up at the FP+ entrance for each attraction was annoying.
It takes too long for the passes to be "approved". I don't really know if there is a practical way to resolve this.
6. Using the bands for purchase and room entry
I think anyone who really sings the praises of this feature must be really lazy. It often took longer because of the way the Magic Bands get scanned for room entry and credit purchases. That this is a major selling point for people baffles me.

Overall I do think it is more convenient, and I didn't HATE it. But I also was able to use the legacy system as well, so I was able to avoid many of the restrictions placed upon FP+ users. I know that Disney is tweaking the system, and much more to my liking. I still don't like that people can reserve so far in advance, and I absolutely HATED the band. I did not think it was at all comfortable, and there were times I felt that i needed to be flexible to get it to scan properly.

As a park hopper myself. it was very efficient to use our fast passes by noon in the park; go back to the hotel for swimming and then arranging a 4th at the park we picked for dinner that night. The only down side was the extra walking+ transportation, but when we left animal kingdom at 1:00pm and it just hit 100 degrees; i was glad we weren't just arriving. This system really works if you can plan 60 days out.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Just back from a 7 day trip, and had no problems whatsoever with using them.

I've been thinking about this topic for a while though, and whether or not the MBs offer any real advantage over the KTTW card. In short, I don't see any. In fact, I think in some cases, using MBs are more tedious and require more than the using the card did. For example: When dining at a Table Service restaurant, the waiter can scan your MB, and then ask you to enter your PIN, but then they must go and get the receipts for you to sign. It's minor, sure, but I don't fully understand the requirement to still have to sign the paper.

Overall, the MBs seem to offer the same experience and benefits as far as functional use, except for a few instances, where they are actually more difficult to use.

 

[flynnibus]

For example: When dining at a Table Service restaurant, the waiter can scan your MB, and then ask you to enter your PIN, but then they must go and get the receipts for you to sign. It's minor, sure, but I don't fully understand the requirement to still have to sign the paper

That is just a stupid design on the part of Disney. Portable credit card scanners with integrated printers are commonplace. In europe they are handed to the customer who acknowledges the total, enters a tip, enters a pin if needed, and the machine prints out the receipt or receipt to sign. Why they didn't just take that and integrate a RFID reader for the MB is beyond me.

 

[arko]

That is just a stupid design on the part of Disney. Portable credit card scanners with integrated printers are commonplace. In europe they are handed to the customer who acknowledges the total, enters a tip, enters a pin if needed, and the machine prints out the receipt or receipt to sign. Why they didn't just take that and integrate a RFID reader for the MB is beyond me.

or like many restaurants in the US, use these to order and pay. Ziosk would just have to modify them to accept RFID signals as well as credit card swiping. Chili's has these now and I have used them without issue several times to pay at the end of the meal.

 

[KingdomofDreams]

In general, I didn't have any major problems using my Magic Band. The only problem I had was during EMH at MK when it wouldn't scan to verify I was an on-site guest. Fortunately I had a room key too, so it wasn't a major issue. Crowds were light, so I only needed FP for the Mountains, and Soarin', and TSMM. However, I still have some problems with the whole project:

3. Each attraction only allows one FP+ per day.
I know there is a loophole that allows you to book an additional FP for the same attraction on the same day if you do not hold a current reservation for it, but when I was there this hadn't been articulated. If legacy FP had still not been in circulation, I would have been really aggravated.

4. FP+ Return Time Selection is inadequate
Instead of chosing our own return times, Disney picks them for you. Changing them is a bit tedious. They should simply list all the available slots and let people pick and chose what they want from the get-go.

Overall I do think it is more convenient, and I didn't HATE it. But I also was able to use the legacy system as well, so I was able to avoid many of the restrictions placed upon FP+ users. I know that Disney is tweaking the system, and much more to my liking. I still don't like that people can reserve so far in advance, and I absolutely HATED the band. I did not think it was at all comfortable, and there were times I felt that i needed to be flexible to get it to scan properly.

3. Is this a "loophole"? Maybe it is and I've misunderstood how it works? Isn't the system currently set up so that unlimited additional Fastpasses can be obtained one at a time once the initial 3 are used or expired? I don't recall seeing any restriction about repeating rides you've previously used FP for.

4. Omg YES! THIS! That is something they need to change ASAP. What an unnecessary hassle for the guest. And I would submit that this probably contributes significantly to the delays at kiosks. Just pop up the list of FP enabled attractions, gray out those that have no availability left for the day, let the guest choose their desired attraction and freely choose from ALL available time slots. In choosing the 2nd and 3rd attractions, I can understand disallowing times that overlap, but the way they have it set up now is a royal pain in the you know what.

 

[Rob562]

4. Omg YES! THIS! That is something they need to change ASAP. What an unnecessary hassle for the guest. And I would submit that this probably contributes significantly to the delays at kiosks. Just pop up the list of FP enabled attractions, gray out those that have no availability left for the day, let the guest choose their desired attraction and freely choose from ALL available time slots. In choosing the 2nd and 3rd attractions, I can understand disallowing times that overlap, but the way they have it set up now is a royal pain in the you know what.

There's a few problems with being "fully open" about what times are available and letting people choose them.

First and foremost, there's WAAAAAYYYYYYY too many possible timeslots. Most attractions distribute them in 5-minute increments (10:05-11:05,10:10-11:10,10:15-11:15, etc) That's 12 slots per hour, or 144 in a 9am-9pm operating day. What if it's as midnight or 1am closure? How can you possibly convey all that info? A scroll bar next to the list? For each attraction?

Second, there are way too many people out there who *don't* know the parks as well as you or I do. If the system doesn't do some thinking for the unknowing Guest you'd get Mrs. First-Time-Visitor standing at a kiosk in Adventureland choosing Space Mountain from 10-11, Splash Mountain from 11-12 and meeting Mickey in Town Square from 12-1. Now *that's* some crazy criss-crossing of the park.

Instead, when you tell the system the three attractions you want, it gives you suggested times that actually work. It takes distance between attractions into account when choosing those times to give you a logical progression from one to the next. It helps the newbie visitor not get too turned around insane from the choices, but also allows for seasoned veterans to go in and edit as they see fit.

-Rob

 

[Furiated]

There's a few problems with being "fully open" about what times are available and letting people choose them.

First and foremost, there's WAAAAAYYYYYYY too many possible timeslots. Most attractions distribute them in 5-minute increments (10:05-11:05,10:10-11:10,10:15-11:15, etc) That's 12 slots per hour, or 144 in a 9am-9pm operating day. What if it's as midnight or 1am closure? How can you possibly convey all that info? A scroll bar next to the list? For each attraction?

Second, there are way too many people out there who *don't* know the parks as well as you or I do. If the system doesn't do some thinking for the unknowing Guest you'd get Mrs. First-Time-Visitor standing at a kiosk in Adventureland choosing Space Mountain from 10-11, Splash Mountain from 11-12 and meeting Mickey in Town Square from 12-1. Now *that's* some crazy criss-crossing of the park.

Instead, when you tell the system the three attractions you want, it gives you suggested times that actually work. It takes distance between attractions into account when choosing those times to give you a logical progression from one to the next. It helps the newbie visitor not get too turned around insane from the choices, but also allows for seasoned veterans to go in and edit as they see fit.

-Rob

While I completely understand the logic in doing it this way, it almost seems like there should be an option to activate Advanced Mode or something like that. So people like us that know the parks or just want to really see ALL the times could do so, leaving the default mode as is for everyone else. Maybe even have that only available on the app so that people don't hog the kiosks scrolling through a million time slots.

 

[NormC]

They all worked fine for our family of 4 on our 8 day trip in February. We only had one glitch. A couple of the bands would not unlock the room on day 2. Front desk fixed it and the rest of the week was great. FP+, Dining Plan, lots of shopping and Memory Maker/Photopass all worked fine with bands. I did not find it to be uncomfortable. We did not have to make sure Mickey was right side up as one poster mentioned. As long as you touch the "tapstile" it turned green.

 

[Mista C]

We were there May 18-21 and our bands worked flawlessly the entire time. It was my first time using them and I was very happy with the results. Never had a problem getting into our room, LOVED using it for paying for things, and FP+ worked wonderfully. I was changing things on the fly all of our days there and never once had an issue. Sometimes when paying, it would take a couple of taps to get it green, but it did not happen very often. I fully embrace the bands now.

 

[NearTheEars]

Just thought I'd share this:

We are currently sitting at Pittsburgh International Airport waiting for a flight back home to Orlando and a family in front of us, with two kids in tow, are all sporting their magic bands already. The boy just got off the phone with grandma telling her all about how he can even wear it in the water.

Was just fun to see and hear how excited they are for their trip.

 

[NearTheEars]

Check that: I see 3 families now with bands on.

 

[Cesar R M]

Check that: I see 3 families now with bands on.

oh my god.. the magicbands are an infectious disease!

 

[NearTheEars]

oh my god.. the magicbands are an infectious disease!

Haha! They're everywhere! P.S. We got delayed. I hope these folks still have a magical vacation.

 

[LWB]

We had a great experience with the bands. I was surprised how much my kids (4 and 6) liked wearing them. Of course, they wanted to accessorize them

 

[SyracuseDisneyFan]

I just got back last week and I enjoyed the Magic Bands. So awesome to not have to carry a paper Fast Pass. I also loved not having to dig through my wallet to get my room key out.