Why I Like Disney's Magic Bands

I saw a blog post this morning about all the Disney resorts going to be Magic Band only by the end of this month. There is a lot of information out there about Magic Bands, some of it not very true, so I thought I’d share my experiences with them for our trip this past October.

When my travel agent emailed me to let me know that we would be getting Magic Bands I was very excited. I had heard a lot about them and I had hoped that we would be able to take part in testing. We got our Magic Bands customized. I got a green one, Emily got pink and Todd got blue. Sadly, purple, which is Todd and Emily’s favorite color, is not one of the options for the Magic Bands.

They arrived really fast in a cool box that had Mrs. Incredible on it. Magic Bands are one size, but the outer part can be taken off to fit smaller wrists. We all tried them on when they arrived and then they went back in the box. They sat in my office until it was time to pack up for our trip.

Once we got to Disney World and were checking in, they activated our bands. We arrived in the morning and our room wasn’t ready yet, so we did other things. Once it was time to get our room, our Magic Bands did need to be readjusted. That took a couple of minutes but that was the only issue we had with them.

I had heard horror stories before the trip about the bands falling off. But when we checked in, we got a free Magic Band holder that said 2013 on it. It helped keep the bands securely on our wrists and none of us had problems.

The Magic Bands had our room key, our park tickets, our dining plan, Fastpass + and our Photopass. We did get a Key to The World too but we never used it once. It was so easy to use the Magic Band and it was especially nice to be able to open our hotel room with arms full of stuff or child just by taping the band.

Now there has been some concern about tracking information on the Band. We didn’t hook a credit card up to our Magic Bands because we knew it would be too easy to over spend. So the only information that the Magic Band got from us was what parks we went to and where we ate. That’s not any information that I care about anyone having but I’m not too fussed about anything tracking me while on vacation.

We were able to wear our Magic Bands everywhere, even in the pool. Emily did get sick of wearing it after a few days but I just put it in my fanny pack to be used for getting into the park and Fastpass +. We didn’t ever lose them and they never were even loose.

The only snafu we had with the Magic Bands took place after our vacation had ended. Most of our photopass pictures were linked to the Magic Band though we had used a card the first few days. Our pictures showed up on the photopass site right away but a few weeks after our trip, they disappeared. I emailed support and they did get them back. Plus they gave me extra time to view / purchase the pictures. So that turned out ok in the end.

All in all, I loved the Magic Bands. They made our vacation easier and now we have a cool souvenir!

Disney Trip 2013 - Departure Day and Final Thoughts

This is the final post of my Disney Trip report – click for  post #1, post #2, post #3, post #4, post #5, post #6, and post #7!

We got up early on our departure day. We had to be out of the room by 11 and needed to do most of the packing. Emily and I went to the car to load some things up and I got some pictures of her in the resort which was really beautiful.

We had some credits left on the dining plan so Emily and I got some breakfast. Todd wasn’t hungry because he was a bit sick – he thought he might have gotten food poisoning though Emily and I were fine.

Todd finished up loading the car while I amused Emily in the arcade since we had some credits left. We got checked out and then went to the food court to spend the rest of our dining plan credits so we could have snacks for the drive home.

The drive home was pretty uneventful and we got back late that night. I was sad to go but it was nice to be home.

Emily and I want to go back to Disney World as soon as we can, though Todd is less thrilled about going back. We are tentatively planning on going back in 2016, probably in September.

I thought the trip went really well. We didn’t see everything but we had a pretty relaxed time with taking afternoon breaks. It really helped Emily be able to keep going by taking a nap in the afternoon.

The new Magic Bands are great! They work for everything from opening the room, to the dining plan to Fast Pass +. I was really intrigued when I first heard about the Magic Bands and I’m really glad that we got to try them.

I also loved the new Fast Pass +. We never used Fast Pass that much before, and we still didn’t for a lot of things. But it fits our style of touring which is laid back. I didn’t mind scheduling our Fast Pass + selections in advance. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to print out all our Fast Pass + selections for each day so I wouldn’t have to try and fiddle with the My Disney Experience app.

All in all, it was a pretty magical first trip for Emily. I asked her last night what her favorite things to do at Disney were. She said that she loved meeting the characters and riding Dumbo and Star Tours. Hopefully she’ll still love it once we go back in a few years!