Reviews of MagicBand
Reviewed by trudeasm Review Date: 11/21/2013
Rating: (3) Not Recommended
Just got back from the World. We were staying in one DVC room, but traveling with another family staying in a cash room at a different resort. We had problems every day with our Magic Bands. First, we could not link our reservations so that we could make reservations and FastPass+ together. Many hours on the phone with tech support prior to the trip did not resolve the issue. Then when we arrived, the bands were all mixed up, even though the names on the inside were correct. They were actually mixed up across the parties, making a simple switch impossible. Again, Cast Members were unable to correct the problems. We were told to wait a few hours without eating or visiting a park! Um, ok. When we returned to the desk to pick up our new bands, we discovered that no one had even begun addressing our problems. More waiting. The subsequent days were repeats of the same: our mugs kept turning off (because we were "checked out" when we were not!), our park tickets wouldn't work, entitlements were wrong, the PINs would not work, etc. Magic Express reservations were incorrect and required several calls. Pretty much an epic fail. I also agree that those not using FastPass+ are almost completely shut out of the major attractions. Hoping that Disney works out the bugs soon! That's what a beta test is for, right?
Pros:
convenient for park entryCons:
many technical issues that cast members cannot resolveReviewed by joanne22 Review Date: 11/21/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
Works well, would do it again, but only got 3 fast passes a day. If I had a regular ticket, I could get as many as possible. This was not told to us prior to our trip.
Pros:
Worked great, no fumbling for a room keyCons:
You can only get 3 fast passes per day, where regular ticket holders can get more than 3. You are almost penalized for using the wristbandReviewed by genevieve Review Date: 11/20/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
We tested the bands during a split stay between AKL & Yacht this past Wine & Dine weekend (Nov 5-12 2013). Two adults and one baby (who did not need park admission but was still given a band and made for a cute tiny bracelet!). Linking our room reservation, park admission, dining reservations and Fastpasses was a breeze. Such ease to not have to carry ID and park media and room key & paper Fastpasses. We reserved Fastpasses 30 days in advance. We then built our day around those 3 must do's. No running around to get Fastpasses. We loved the experience and cannot imagine going back to the old system.
Pros:
easy, fun & free!Cons:
—Reviewed by elindros Review Date: 11/20/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
Just returned from a week at Disney World and using Magic Bands and MDE. First snag was not being able to connect annual passes to bands before leaving home. Seems there is a little problem with anyone who purchased their annual pass last year, had to go to Guest Relations where they had to reissue the annual pass and then connect to Magic Band.
Whatever you do - do not use hand cream or sun screen on your hands before entering the park - it creates a problem with the finger reader.
Having the band was great when coming back from the park to our room no fumbling through anything to find the room key card much easier to just put the band on the door to unlock.
They are also starting new rules for the FastPass+ for the more popular rides which should help more people being able to get the most popular ones easier.
I think once all the bugs are ironed out the Magic Bands will be a great addition to everyone's vacation.
Pros:
Makes everything easier from park admission to room entry and not having to carry credit cards when shoppingCons:
still have a few bugs to work outReviewed by miketp Review Date: 11/20/2013
Rating: (7) Recommended
It took 4 phone calls to Disney to get our bands linked tickets. I had a 10 day park hopper with no expiration date. I could not get My Disney Experience to accept ticket number but cast member fixed on first call. However, it took 3 more calls to get my wife's Premier Pass accepted. When we got to Magic Express neither band worked and cast member would not accept paper voucher. It took long enough to fix that we missed bus and did not get to resort until 1 a.m. Also we always have park hopper but Fast Pass+ is only good at one park a day! a major drawback.
Pros:
Ease of useCons:
No park hopper featureReviewed by shoprgal Review Date: 11/20/2013
Rating: (10) Recommended
We used the MBs on our trip to WDW in Sept/Oct. The issue we had was that we mailed the MBs to our resort, but they were not there when we arrived (or so we thought, even though I had received a tracking no.) We were issued gray bands. Three days later the original bands showed up in our room.....Here's what happened...I had made our original Disney Co. Reservation, picked out the MBs, linked reservations to MDE in advance of the trip - BUT a week before the original arrival date, I made an adjustment to arrive 2 days earlier....that date was not programed into the original MBs that had been mailed to our resort prior to the new, earlier arrival date. We had double the MBs for the rest of the trip!
Pros:
—Cons:
—Reviewed by 2SweetFlowers Review Date: 11/20/2013
Rating: (8) Recommended
These arm bands are amazing -- they contain all the information you need to board the Magical Express bus at the airport, open the door to your resort room, enter the parks, purchase food and merchandise, and get FastPass+ entry to attractions. At the Be Our Guest Restaurant, it even acted like a GPS so the servers knew right where to deliver our meal. When an attraction broke down minutes before our FastPass time, we didn't lose out on the attraction, but were able to return at a time convenient for us.
The downside is when the magic band didn't work. We repeatedly had problems with one of our magic bands entering the Magic Kingdom -- although it worked just fine at all of the other parks. The first time it didn't work, we needed to show photo ID and annual pass card (which we fortunately had with us). The second time, it was only necessary to show the annual pass card. The third time, we accidentally handed the cast member our Key to the World for the resort instead of the annual pass. Somehow, they managed to transfer our resort information onto the annual pass card, and vice versa. We were then sent to guest services to obtain a new annual pass card, which meant we had to update the info on My Disney Experience before changing or making any new FastPass+ selections. When the magic band worked, it was great...but there are still a few glitches to work out.
Pros:
Convenient -- no need to carry cards & passes!Cons:
When it doesn't work, still need to carry cards & passes!Reviewed by Susan C Review Date: 11/20/2013
Rating: (1) Not Recommended
Just got back from Disney. A group of us went and all had the bands. Our bands were so bad that for 3 of our rooms we were refunded a full night for our deluxe resort along with 3 anytime any park fast passes for the length of our stay. We went from the bands not opening our doors, to getting into the parks, reservations etc... To also our cards not working. It was so frustrating to constantly having to have them fixed. We wasted more time on them. I know it wasn't just our group because you would see others having to deal with managers trying to enter the parks. They need to do a lot more work on these before they have everyone using them. We did hear they are going to hold back rolling them out until spring 2014 instead of by the end of the year. I do have to say there were a number of great cast members who tried to help!
Pros:
NoneCons:
—Reviewed 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 kristy1992 Review Date: 11/19/2013
Rating: (9) Recommended
We tested the Magic Band system the week of November 10 and found it to be very good. It was very easy to use and easier than looking for your card to pay for items/meals/snacks.
Also having the FassPasses on it was wonderful! I was able to secure 3 FP per park/day. There were 9 in our party so I booked FP for everyone, yet if someone didn't ride something, like Everest, than we still had FP that could be utilized for a rider to go a second and in some cases a third time. It was wonderful. Several days I moved FP reservations to later times with no problems.
Do take a print out of your FP reservations with you though. We had one glitch with Soarin and luckily I had my printouts from My Disney Experience. The manager was more than accommodating and got us on the ride ASAP.
Even though I liked the system, the cast members we talked to about them did not. Most of the restaurants don't like the bands, as a matter of fact we couldn't find one waiter or waitress that was happy with the system. They all said it was more work.
