Resort Magic band vs. AP magic band

ELG13

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
On MDE I can pick magic bands for everyone in our group. Two of us (so far) also have annual passes. Eventually we all will I'm just doing a few at a time. Anyways....I have heard we will all have 2 magic bands(one resort and one AP. I know we won't have to use both though) . Where do I go to pick our AP magic bands? I know they are the same options but I believe we also get an AP slider and I was hoping I could order my mom's and give it to her for her bday so she can see it and know we got her an annual pass so she can go every time we go. Thanks yall!!!
 
Monty

Monty

Brilliant...and Canadian
In the Parks
No
I'm Canadian, so it's different for me, or any "foreigner". If you live in the US, I believe the following applies:

AP Magic Bands are mailed to your home. I believe you have to use the AP before the option to choose bands shows up. So your AP MBs won't get sent until after your first visit. The AP MBs will show up on your MDE account to choose colours then. So getting the AP MB won't work for letting your mom know you got her an AP since she needs to visit the parks using the AP before you can choose her MB.

The resort MBs will be mailed to you before your trip if you live in the US.

MBs for foreigners get picked up at check-in. I haven't been able to figure out how to get AP MBs as a foreigner. I can select a colour, but it says it'll be delivered at check-in, but I've never actually had one there when I next checked in.
 
ELG13

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monty said:
I'm Canadian, so it's different for me, or any "foreigner". If you live in the US, I believe the following applies:

AP Magic Bands are mailed to your home. I believe you have to use the AP before the option to choose bands shows up. So your AP MBs won't get sent until after your first visit. The AP MBs will show up on your MDE account to choose colours then. So getting the AP MB won't work for letting your mom know you got her an AP since she needs to visit the parks using the AP before you can choose her MB.

The resort MBs will be mailed to you before your trip if you live in the US.

MBs for foreigners get picked up at check-in. I haven't been able to figure out how to get AP MBs as a foreigner. I can select a colour, but it says it'll be delivered at check-in, but I've never actually had one there when I next checked in.
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Hmmm...ok. so for people who live near enough to not need resort reservations, they just don't get their bands until the day they show up? So will we get something in the mail as far as tickets go so we are able to get in??
 
Monty

Monty

Brilliant...and Canadian
In the Parks
No
ELG13 said:
Hmmm...ok. so for people who live near enough to not need resort reservations, they just don't get their bands until the day they show up? So will we get something in the mail as far as tickets go so we are able to get in??
Click to expand...
If you don’t have a reservation, you don’t get a Resort MagicBand.

AP MBs are different. You have to activate the AP before you can choose MBs. Once you’ve visited a park, the option to choose should show up in MDE. The MBs are mailed after you choose.

ETA: Sorry, I forgot the ticket question. If you ordered tickets online and you don’t get them mailed, you’ll need to go to a ticket booth or GR to get them. If your APs haven’t been activated, a ticket booth or GR can do that too.
 
Last edited:
Monty

Monty

Brilliant...and Canadian
In the Parks
No
If this is your first visit anyone who doesn’t have a Resort reservation won’t have an MB unless they purchase one when they get there. If you’ve got MBs from a previous visit they’ll work, if they are more than a couple of years old the battery might be dead, but the MB will still work for entry and FP+, it just won’t work for on ride PhotoPass detection.
 
ELG13

ELG13

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monty said:
If you don’t have a reservation, you don’t get a Resort MagicBand.

AP MBs are different. You have to activate the AP before you can choose MBs. Once you’ve visited a park, the option to choose should show up in MDE. The MBs are mailed after you choose.

ETA: Sorry, I forgot the ticket question. If you ordered tickets online and you don’t get them mailed, you’ll need to go to a ticket booth or GR to get them. If your APs haven’t been activated, a ticket booth or GR can do that too.
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Ok that works. I guess I just assumed once we got the APs we could get our MB and when we went to the park the first time and scanned them, they activated. I'll just order everyone's resort magic band now. I was going to wait to get everyone's AP magic band at once. It's so confusing lol! Thanks for the help!!
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
ELG13 said:
Ok that works. I guess I just assumed once we got the APs we could get our MB and when we went to the park the first time and scanned them, they activated. I'll just order everyone's resort magic band now. I was going to wait to get everyone's AP magic band at once. It's so confusing lol! Thanks for the help!!
Click to expand...

Since when you guy an AP online, you are just technically buying a voucher, they won't send you the MB until you have actually converted it to a live pass. I believe you could reassign the voucher to someone else, and keep reassigning it prior to activation, so if they sent out AP MB prior to activation, you could just keep passing the voucher around and ordering MBs for everyone.

If you NEED the AP MB on your first trip, some people have had luck asking at Guest Services (or the MB service centers when those were a thing) and receiving a plain band at that point.
 
jaklgreen

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
Order your MB for this trip. And then after you activate your AP, you will be able to go in and order your AP MB. To activate your AP at guest services, you will need your ID and the CC that you used to pay for it.
 

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