More Detail on Disney World’s MagicBands
By Dave Shute
“MagicBands” are Walt Disney World wristbands that take the place of Disney World hotel rooms keys, park tickets, and–for now–Fastpass+.
MagicBands have been in a limited test for a while, and I’ll be testing mine in a couple of weeks, as part of a bigger September and October test.
(See this and its links for more on MagicBands and Fastpass+.)
In this post, I’m just detailing–memorializing for history??–the ordering and delivery process.
ORDERING AND CUSTOMIZING YOUR DISNEY WORLD MAGICBAND
To order a MagicBand, you have to be in the test. See the link above to see how you find out if you are in.
If you are in, then you can customize your MagicBand on MyDisneyExperience.com once you’ve logged in.
There’s multiple color options you can choose from among–you can pick the same color for everyone in your group, or mix and match. See the image at the top of the page for the colors available.
In addition, you can add text that will show on the inside of the Magic Band–both fun, and handy if your kids (or husband) all want the same color.
The text is limited to nine characters, so I couldn’t put on mine “Dave Shute”–just “Dave Shut.” So I opted for “Dave.” (I hear there’s a movement to convince Disney add more characters, so that my MagicBand could read “Dave, Shut Up.”)
GETTING YOUR MAGICBAND FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD
A few days later this parcel–about the size of a shoe box–came in the mail.
Inside you’ll find the MagicBand box–which, frankly, I like even more than the MagicBand…
My trip is solo this time–though I’m hoping to connect with Josh, as I owe him lunch–so my MagicBand sat in regal yet lonely splendor in the box.
Here’s how it looks right out of the box…
…and on my wrist.
I’ll be using it–and my Fastpass+–in later September: the 20th at the Magic Kingdom, 21st at Hollywood Studios, and 22nd at Epcot.
So since I’ll probably be posting and tweeting about the MagicBand and my overall experience with Fastpass+ (which I haven’t had a chance to test til now), you should probably…
….follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter!
50 comments
Is there a way to confirm magic express online?
I requested via phone when making hotel reservations.
Thank you 🙂
Heather first, if you have not yet set up your MyDisneyExperience account online, you should do that now! You’ll need it to customize your magicbands, set up your fastpass+, etc. Second if you are unsure about Magical Express, just call back and have them check for you…
With breakfast reservations at 9:45 at Cinderella’s castle. Is there time to ride anything before?
🙂
Heather, yeah, you can do one or two of the quick rides in Fantasyland–e.g. Peter Pan
Hi Dave. I’ve been mulling this over since we got back. We had a wonderful time in Disney World. We stayed at the All Star Music Resort in a family suite. We had no issues with checking in, enjoying our resort and the parks. There is only one thing that I wanted to mention. When checking in, we had our magic bands hooked up to our credit card so we could charge anything at the parks. We didn’t want to worry about carrying cash or cards around and possibly losing them, or having them stolen. One thing the front desk staff did not mention to us, at the value resorts, they put a cap on your spending. My husbands CC does not have a limit, but about three days in, I was informed that I was over my limit. We were concerned, and called the CC company, and they told us it was not them that cut us off. So, when we got back to the resort, we went to the front desk. they told us about this $500 limit. Once you hit $500, they won’t let you charge any more. You have to call the front desk, and ask them to put the charges through to your CC, then it will be free again to charge. Once we figured this out, we were good. I just wanted to give you a heads up that at the value resorts the limit is $500, and moderates are more, and deluxes are more. I wish the front desk staff had told us of this limit. It did not affect our trip. We enjoyed it very much. I also noticed that some of the cast members did not like the magic bands as they said they had a lot of guests with issues. I personally think the magic bands are wonderful. there was only one place where they did not accept the bands, and that was at the Magic Kingdom, at a small stand selling light up toys. they only accepted cash. I think once the kinks have been worked out with the bands, they will be an awesome tool to see the World.
Hi Jennifer, and thanks for the thoughts and follow-up!
Hi Dave,
There are 14 of us travelling together (7 adults and 7 kids) made up of 3 different families. Do we just need to buy one memory maker between us all? Or do we need 3 separate memory makers? Have been researching online but getting more and more confused about it!
Cheers
Emma, I’ve never done it myself, but am pretty sure you can get just one. See this: http://mousequestpodcast.com/2014/07/disneys-memory-maker-is-pure-magic-for-large-groups/
Hi Dave, I am confused about one aspect of the magic band. There are several riders which I booked FP+ for our whole group, but which I might not want to ride. I am not interested in booking something else for myself. Is it possible to give my magic band to my husband and have him ride the ride a 2nd time? I know they do fingerprinting for some things, but I’m not aware if for the rides. If I didn’t ride the ride and he wasn’t allowed to, would we have to wait for our FP window to be over before being able to get more FP? Thanks!
Jane that should work just fine! And if you don’t use your third fp, you have to wait til its window is over to get more–but you can also chnage your third.
MagicBands are AWESOME!!!! Although I would suggest anybody especially people with young kids and adults to invest in BitBelts for the whole family, helps keep them from falling off and loosing them because they are prone to come undone. I just got back from our vacation with my 2 year old while everything moves so quickly and having to pick him up to get on rides and so forth my Magic Band came unsnapped 3 different times but I had the BitBelt on and thank goodness it held it on. I’m not saying that yours will come undone I made sure each time a snapped it back that I heard the little click but like I said dealing with a 2 year old somehow it came undone. So Magic Bands are awesome just go to BitBelt.com and order some for the bands before your trip very worth it to make sure it doesn’t happened to yours and you loose yours. Disney will replace the band but who wants to wait around for a new band when you can just secure it with a BitBelt. That’s my little Disney tip for all you guys……..Have a magical day! 🙂
Thanks, Lena!!
Leave a Comment | Ask a Question | Note a Problem