Trip Report The “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket…or Two….or Three” Christmas Experience.**Completed**

So here we are again for another fun filled journey that is sure to include some poor spelling, beer, poor grammar, great food, beer, plenty of animals, a fourth wheel, park visits, beer, and judgement for said poor spelling and grammar. For those ignorant to the primer for this journey you may read all the funivities HERE. The Cliff’s Notes version is we’ve got five nights in the bubble at one of the most beautiful resorts on property and are accompanied by two teens that can watch each other so lets get this ball rolling!!!


Sunday December 17th


So yesterday after a viewing of The Last Jedi we made our way to the half way point, Tifton, for a night’s stay. Not being a complete barbarian, insensitive to his three female traveling companions, I offered to get up this morning at 04:45 to get breakfast for the tres muchachas while they get ready because, you know, ladies be taking forever to get ready in the AM. Hats off to the trio as they were downstairs by 05:30 and we were on our way to the bubble. A very uneventful three and a half hours and we hit the Super Target on 192 to pick up some cold staples before making our way home!
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After dropping our gear off with bell services I needed to head to the front desk to make sure the 4th wheel’s band and charging privileges would work, OH BOY, what an ordeal!!! What should have been simple ended up taking an hour with an overly confident CM, Jeff. At one point he had lost the 5-day hopper pass associated to her band and had to call IT to get it back! He instructed me that he had set 4thWheel’s limit at $400, corrected her band, and that all our bands were ready to use. A bonus of it taking so long was our room became available while we waited and it wasn’t even 11:00!!! During my interaction with Jeff I specifically asked that he verify that all bands would work. I even made mention that “I guarantee at least one of these bands will not open our door”. He thought all the issues he was having with charging and losing the ticket had me worried, I assured him it was experience that had me worried. So, with Jeff’s assurance we made for room 5130! Guess what? 3 of the 4 bands WOULD NOT open our door! So I told the ladies to head inside, call bell services, and I would take care of the bands. I made my way back down to see Jeff who was probably tired of seeing me by now and politely let him know. Jeff said one thing that really bothered me and that was “You have too many magic bands and that is why you can’t get into your room”. He followed that up with “You do know you can decline the bands, you don’t have to get one each time”. He then proceeded to count all the bands I had on my MDE account. I didn’t care for being blamed for Disney’s lack of foresight or design so I asked Jeff if Disney had a rule on the number of bands a guest may have associated with an MDE account to which he answered “no”. So then I pointed out that I was playing by the rules and the number of bands should have no bearing. So another 10 minutes and he assured me the bands where set and then asked where we were headed this evening. I told him HS and he gave us our first golden ticket of the day to ride RnR.
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So back up I went and thankfully the bands worked! Bell services had arrived and the teens were itching to get to MK so the DW and I said go! That’s when the 4th wheel informed us that her ticket was no longer showing up on her MDE account!!! Back to see Jeff! Another 15 minutes with Jeff and the ticket was back with further reassurances that it would work. This lead to our second golden ticket of the hour! Jeff gave the girls a golden ticket for 7DMT and they made their way to MK but not before being forced into taking one of the only picture we would get of them this trip
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Still to come: Room 5130, Sanaa, our third Golden Ticket, and I promise a lot fewer issues going forward.
 

MinnieM123

Premium Member
Jeff said one thing that really bothered me and that was “You have too many magic bands and that is why you can’t get into your room”. He followed that up with “You do know you can decline the bands, you don’t have to get one each time”. He then proceeded to count all the bands I had on my MDE account. I didn’t care for being blamed for Disney’s lack of foresight or design so I asked Jeff if Disney had a rule on the number of bands a guest may have associated with an MDE account to which he answered “no”. So then I pointed out that I was playing by the rules and the number of bands should have no bearing.

Well, that will teach you, bad guest!! :eek: :p Seriously though, what a ridiculous response he gave you. Good grief.
 

riverside

Well-Known Member
Wow--all that drama in such a short amount of time! I would have been very aggravated. At least the Golden Tickets help make up for it
somewhat!! I know what you mean about "knowing from experience" that a band isn't going to work....I've seen too many issues myself...

For one of my trips last year MDE was not giving me the option to get a magic band.When I called they told me it was b/c I had to wait until I came back from my upcoming trip to be able to order one for the next one.:rolleyes: I pointed out that is not the case b/c I had another trip booked further out than that & was able to pick one for that trip. I don't think he knew what the problem really was b/c that's when I got the "Do you realize how many active magic bands you have?" speech(which, as I'm sure you're aware, is not the issue). I felt like I was being criticized for having too many but frankly, my fear is if I decline mine & the rest of the party doesn't somehow something is going to get fouled up along the way.....again, it's all about experience:arghh:
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Well, that will teach you, bad guest!! :eek: :p Seriously though, what a ridiculous response he gave you. Good grief.
I know, right, im such a terrible patron. I know he was frustrated with the system he is forced to use and having to call IT twice didn’t make him any more chipper. But, yeah, blame the system not the guest.

You should have hinted to Jeff that you would rather have a beer voucher! ;)
Technically the third golden ticket we received could have been used for that but that story is pending.

Wow--all that drama in such a short amount of time! I would have been very aggravated. At least the Golden Tickets help make up for it
somewhat!! I know what you mean about "knowing from experience" that a band isn't going to work....I've seen too many issues myself...

For one of my trips last year MDE was not giving me the option to get a magic band.When I called they told me it was b/c I had to wait until I came back from my upcoming trip to be able to order one for the next one.:rolleyes: I pointed out that is not the case b/c I had another trip booked further out than that & was able to pick one for that trip. I don't think he knew what the problem really was b/c that's when I got the "Do you realize how many active magic bands you have?" speech(which, as I'm sure you're aware, is not the issue). I felt like I was being criticized for having too many but frankly, my fear is if I decline mine & the rest of the party doesn't somehow something is going to get fouled up along the way.....again, it's all about experience:arghh:
Thankfully most all the drama was limited to that first afternoon and, yes, I got the “active bands” speech which is why I countered with “is there a rule against it?”. IMO, their whole MDE/Magic Band implementation and follow up has been poorly executed. So much more functionality should be available! I shouldn’t need to tote around an AP card or a DVC card to prove what I have. Anyway, it is what it is and this trip only gets better!
 

riverside

Well-Known Member
I know, right, im such a terrible patron. I know he was frustrated with the system he is forced to use and having to call IT twice didn’t make him any more chipper. But, yeah, blame the system not the guest.


Technically the third golden ticket we received could have been used for that but that story is pending.


Thankfully most all the drama was limited to that first afternoon and, yes, I got the “active bands” speech which is why I countered with “is there a rule against it?”. IMO, their whole MDE/Magic Band implementation and follow up has been poorly executed. So much more functionality should be available! I shouldn’t need to tote around an AP card or a DVC card to prove what I have. Anyway, it is what it is and this trip only gets better!
I totally agree with you. I hate digging in my bag to pull out my license & card but like you said—it is what it is. And the way I see it—we pay for those magic bands whether we take them or not. Ultimately the consumer pays for everything. And I’m not complaining about it, just don’t criticize me for having “too many”. Having “too many” tells me that we are repeat customers!!

Looking forward to the rest of your report!!
 

myhappyplace

Crazy Cat Lady
We have many magic bands too, and forgot to decline them for the last trip, and even though we didn't need them, they still gave us the gray bands at checkin. Which also doesn't make sense to me, that they can't see that we had an AP and had AP bands?? I do always make sure to "deactivate" the bands that I won't be using on any one given trip...I didn't think you could have more than one activated, but could be wrong on that.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Can't wait to hear more about your trip - and to find out the scoop on the three signature restaurants you teased about in a different thread.
Forthcoming! Overall we had excellent dining experiences this trip.

May I comment if I promise not to correct any poor spelling or grammar?
Girrrrl...you can say whatever you want and you know this! How else will my sass and orneriness become grammatically correct if not called out on it?!?!? I now know how to spell Tambu but choose not because of the entertainment factor, amiright @wdisney9000?

And I’m not complaining about it, just don’t criticize me for having “too many”.
Especially if there is NO RULE against having to many!

.I didn't think you could have more than one activated, but could be wrong on that.
You can have multiple active and they can all open the door to your room unless, apparently, if you have too many :banghead::confused:
 
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Tuvalu

Well-Known Member
So now that I have the go-ahead......

During the first 12-18 months of the MM+ roll out, I had accumulated quite a few MagicBands (shocker!) and began having difficulty opening room locks. At two different resorts I was told that the system got wonky (my term) if there were more than 8 active bands on my account. When it happened at a third resort, the CM said 6 active bands were about all I should have at one time if I didn’t want to have door opening issues. He suggested deactivating ones I no longer used (this was before the “decline” option.) So now I make sure I have 6 (or fewer) active bands at any given time. When I receive a new band, I deactivate one. Since then I have never had a problem with a door lock or at a tapstile.

YMMV.
 

lostpro9het

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday December 17th cont.

So with the teens on their way to MK I was still a little concerned about their bands working but was also excited to check out our room. 11 months prior I was up bright and early to book this room since the values tend to get taken up pretty fast. There are a few benefits to the value rooms at Jambo. Firstly, the points to book are less than a standard room. Second, all the value rooms are close to the lobby so there is no worry about long walks back to your room. With the good there is some bad, kinda. First the rooms are marginally smaller and only have the one bathroom in the 1-bdrm villas compared to the two bathrooms you get at Kidani. Second, you are rolling the dice in what type of view you may get. You could get a super parking lot view, a decent pool view, or a partial savanna view. We were fortunate to get a partial savanna view this trip:


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So we got settled into the room and it was closing in on lunch time. We decided to walk to Kidani and grab some grub at Sanaa. We got our picture downstairs:

One a little awkward
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And one a little less awkward
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The walk to Kidani is easy and short. The weather outside today, like every day this trip, is fantastic! The lobby of Kidani was far less busy than Jambo but far more cozy. Its hard to pic a favorite, they are both great in their own way. The cozy lobby does mean a cozy tree.
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So we made our way down to Sanaa but they still had a few minutes before they opened, 11:30. We asked about walkup seating but was told we could at the bar. I didn’t care for that this go around so we looked on the app and saw reservation time for noon. I didn’t feel like waiting half an hour either so DW suggested I ask again, which I did. They took my number and told me it would be a few minutes. We walked out to the savanna for some animal time while we waited

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Up next: Sanaa, did the kids make it into MK, and pool time.
 

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
So now that I have the go-ahead......

During the first 12-18 months of the MM+ roll out, I had accumulated quite a few MagicBands (shocker!) and began having difficulty opening room locks. At two different resorts I was told that the system got wonky (my term) if there were more than 8 active bands on my account. When it happened at a third resort, the CM said 6 active bands were about all I should have at one time if I didn’t want to have door opening issues. He suggested deactivating ones I no longer used (this was before the “decline” option.) So now I make sure I have 6 (or fewer) active bands at any given time. When I receive a new band, I deactivate one. Since then I have never had a problem with a door lock or at a tapstile.

YMMV.
Same thing happened to me. I had a polite CM show me how to deactivate bands and we have not had any issues since.
 

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