Reviews of MagicBand
Reviewed by San Review Date: 04/24/2019
Rating: (5) Recommended
Magic bands and small children
Pros:
Hopefully Disney will come up with a solution for this because it is a waste of everyone's time.Cons:
I come to Disney world once a month with a different subset of Grandchildren. All the smaller children have a problem every time with the fingerprint scanner. I cannot put my fingerprint on their band, since their parents bring them also. I wish there was a better way to do this with the small children.Reviewed by Anonymous Review Date: 10/01/2018
Rating: (5) Recommended
Up until this last trip, I would have rated the MagicBand much higher. For me, it worked about 99% on the first try when entering the parks. Unfortunately for my husband, it worked once on the first try when entering the parks. We spent 9 days having his band reset, his picture taken, changing the finger he used, and cast members telling him he was pressing to firmly, not firmly enough, move his finger back a little, move his finger forward a little, etc. It was totally frustrating and a little comical by day 9.
Pros:
Great for opening resort doors, paying for food and merchandise.Cons:
When it doesn't work and there is no solution to fix the issue.Reviewed by mmc55 Review Date: 03/04/2014
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
Great convenience to enter your Resort room. No problems when entering the parks. Somewhat cool to wear - makes WDW even more special. But - and this is a big but - it's easy to lose track of your spending. Just see something you want or eat and instantly you have it - works real good. I was at CBR and a lady in front of me in line was proud how easily she completed her Magicband transaction, she said she had lots of practice - I said that's a bad thing - she didn't laugh. I bet I beat her by the end of our visit.
Pros:
Convenient/FashionableCons:
Too ConvenientReviewed by rlaneyd Review Date: 01/29/2014
Rating: (5) Not Recommended
NOT A FAN OF THE BAND!!! Sorry, but I do prefer the Key to the World card that I slip in/out with ease in my Passporter pouch holder. No matter how I adjusted it the band just wasn't fitting me to suit. Sometimes it would work in the restaurants, sometimes it wouldn't. My husband had trouble with his band entering the parks a few times. Disney needs a better option for people who do not want wear the band around their wrist and fearful of losing it if attached elsewhere, like looped thru my wristwatch band.
Pros:
Everything loaded on itCons:
Didn't function properly every time, not comfortableReviewed by para522 Review Date: 11/19/2013
Rating: (5) Recommended
We visited the World for a short visit (long weekend) November 15-18, 2013, specifically to see the new things (i.e. Fantasyland) and the Christmas events/decorations. The bands basically worked great, except my DH had a hard time getting the hang of it and it took him a while to get through sometimes. It was easy for purchases, photopass, etc. DD10 LOVED using it. Basically a great system. The drawback and the reason I only give it a 5 is the Fastpass+ system. Others have mentioned this - you get three FP per day in one park - period. We did not know this ahead of time and I've looked through the site and I can't find mention of this, at all. So, we made FP for morning times and then found that we had to wait in line the rest of the day. Wasn't that big of a deal this time of year, but I can't imagine going through that when it is more crowded. I hope that is something they consider changing in the future.
Pros:
convenient, fun, fastCons:
Fastpass+Reviewed by teller7 Review Date: 04/08/2014
Rating: (6) Recommended
Husband and I had a couple issues entering the parks. Also if you have large wrist it could be tight on you my husband carried his with him. Otherwise convenient for fast pass and charging items to your room. You also had to pick a pin number to use it for charging this put my mind at ease in case you lose it.
Pros:
use for everythingCons:
entry to parks/not large enough if u have large wristReviewed by hello12345 Review Date: 02/03/2014
Rating: (6) Recommended
Jury is still out on this one. I was able to connect my room key, annual passes, and charging on the band. In the past I would have to carry a stack of cards for passes and room key. Disney also offers accessories for the bands to make even more $$. Well played Disney, well played! We did not have any issues with the bands and they worked fine. However, I did notice multiple issues when entering the parks. One bad band or problem will hold up an entire line. One morning at Hollywood Studies the entry line was moving at a snails pace due to the entire system running slow. What happens if system crashes even for 15-20 minutes? I'm giving the bands a solid 6 because it is a good concept. I can't say the same about Fastpass+.
Pros:
Everything goes on bandCons:
Slows down park entranceReviewed by MouseDaddy Review Date: 01/04/2014
Rating: (6) Recommended
Like a lot of other posters I've seen here, I was REALLY excited when I got my MagicBand invite in the mail. I was aware of the Beta testing and intrigued by the idea. I love techie stuff like this and the idea of having my room key, park pass & charging privileges on my wrist was totally cool. I'd already downloaded the MDE app on my phone a while ago and was excited about the capabilities I'd have there with park info, dining res, FP+ etc. Disney for the 21st Century!! But I'm also a realist and knowing it was still in Beta stages, I expected we'd encounter some glitches.
Note: I encountered some issues with the MDE website/app both during setup and while in the parks. Also had some FP+ issues. I'll post those reviews in the forums AllEars has established for those topics.
I had received my MB invite about a month prior to our trip. I went online and began the process of setting up my MBs. I had myself, DW, DS & DD 12 yo twins and my mom & MIL on our room res (I know, I'm goin' right to heaven, right?). Eventually got room, dining res & park tickets linked to the bands and my daughter and I selected colors for each band. We liked the idea of being able to personalize the bands with color as well as name. The bands came in the mail less than 2 weeks later, surprisingly enough. Pretty short turnaround. The bands themselves were really neat...bright, vibrant color...soft rubber with our names on the back. They came in a cool Elastagirl box! Love The Incredibles.
First glitch...about 2 weeks after that (maybe a week before out trip), I get an email and snail mail advising me that my MB package will be waiting for me at our resort. Weird. I've already got my 6 bands...what's up?
When we arrived at SSR it was later in the evening...around 10pm. During check in, I mention the issue and cast member brings us one MB for my son, but in grey, not the red we chose. But we've already got all our bands. Cast member mentions that they've see isolated issues of additional bands coming through the system.
We head to our room and my son tries his band on the room door. Bingo! How cool. So of course now my daughter has to try hers...success as well. We head to Artist's Palette to grab some snacks before they close for the evening. I had linked my cc to MB for both me & DW. I go to pay for our items and band doesn't work. No biggie, I'll figure it out later, dig for cash. Head back to our room and I tell the kids daddy wants to try his band and...door won't open. All other bands in our party worked fine. So I head to concierge the next morning. They try a couple things...re-format my band...15-20 minutes later, they give up and code a new band for me. Grey...not the blue I chose. Eh...not the end of the world. But I was assured all my other res & tix info is okay and I encountered no other issues with my band for the rest of our trip. Yay!!
With only a 5 day stay and the grandmas along, we only hit MK & Epcot on our trip. At both parks the MBs didn't work for the kids. I made sure to bring along the paper tickets so entry was no problem. At Epcot I spoke with a very friendly & helpful cast member. DW's employer had given us several complimentary 1 day park tickets that I had linked to the kids' MBs. Cast member advised that paper tickets such as we had will not link correctly to the MB. Plastic tickets will encounter no problems. Offered to take us to Guest Relations so they could do the link but it was our last day in the parks so no need.
So even though we encountered one fairly significant issue and some glitches, we all thought the MB was a great idea. Grandmas were just amazed at the technology, kids loved the room key aspect and I gave them charging privileges so they were able to pay for pins, snacks etc. I'm confident Disney will refine the process and work out all the kinks
Pros:
Convenience; techie aspectCons:
Problems with linked park tickets; FP+;Website/AppReviewed by DuncanTaylor Review Date: 11/13/2013
Rating: (6) Recommended
Just returned after using the wristbands for 2 weeks. They were presented at check in as customised previously online. Sometimes a little difficult to press Mickey to Mickey depending on orientation of the reader. The main problem was that sometimes, if they catch on something, they fall off. Something we constantly had to watch with our 6 year old. I kept the wristband in the larger format for him so that I could wear it when we felt he was at risk of losing it. I lost mine briefly as it dropped off in a suitcase. It was good to have the back-up of a key to the world card while mine was missing. (Presumably these will be phased out though - a mistake!)
In general, they were better than a key to the world card or paper ticket, room key etc.
Pros:
Always to hand, easy to use.Cons:
Sometimes drops offReviewed by featheredbuddy Review Date: 09/02/2014
Rating: (7) Recommended
The band seemed to take longer than the cards to get in the park and made the fast pass line take a little longer. Some of our partys' bands registered fast others took a long time. My wrist broke out in bumps from the band so I just kept switching arms during the visit. They will probably be great when they work out all the glitches.
