Magic Band Votes..

I'm a magic band fan. We had a pretty significant issue with Benn's MDE account and getting new bands to link to it. It started out fine and then as soon as he accepted my invitation to join in the planning, our accounts went crazy. All of our passes suddenly appeared under my name--as if I had two each of AP, MVMCP, etc. and Benn had none. It apparently had to do the fact that my dvc account had a user name attached to is instead of just my email address so I technically had two different profiles and when they started merging all of the disney property sites into a single user name and password, the linking on our account didn't work properly. When we added Benn's ability to plan into the mix, the whole system went bonkers for us.

BUT...that issue aside, I love not having to fool around with a plastic card ticket or paper fast passes that I was always paranoid about losing. The first trip was weird because I would pop out of the car and panic when I realized that I hadn't checked to make sure I had my pass with me. Then I'd look down at my wrist and be like oh...right. I like that it's a very visual system and you can see immediately if someone forgot their ticket instead of waiting until you reach the turnstiles.

I love booking FP+ in advance. I had made a comment several trips ago that I wish that you could choose any available return time on the FP machine. Sometimes you would walk up at 10am and the return time was for 3pm, but we were planning on taking a break that day and wouldn't be back i the park until 6. I love having the flexibility to book a time that will be convenient for me. I also like not having to locate my FP that is now soaked because I went on Splash Mountain and forgot to take it out of my pocket or something.

I love the touch to pay feature--once again, I'm not digging for cards to buy something. And as for Disney making more money off me, I disagree that this is the case. I'm an extremely disciplined shopper. I appreciate that I don't have to dig through my bag to find my wallet, which has floated to the bottom and wedged itself between the water bottles. I do wish that they would integrate the AP and DVC discounts right into the bands. That would be tremendously helpful.

Having the band act as a room key is super cool, too. I seriously want one of these for my house. Imagine coming home with your arms full of groceries and not having to root for a key!

The band is inflexible, so if you prefer to wear it tight, you may have a hard time getting it to fit properly, but if you just loosen it a notch or two, I find it perfectly comfortable.

Are they tracking us? Sure, but the more data that collect about how we like to vacation, the more than can tailor future offerings to add to guest enjoyment.

This will be my first trip with Magic Bands and I am excited about it.

I Love Love Love Love them!!!! me and my mam were excited about them from the minute they were announced and we had them for the first time last September and took to them straight away - this year ill be taking my blue one i have and there will be an orange one waiting for me but any of the other special edition magic bands i can get my hands on i will

so yeah I love them haha!!!

9 days from now will be my second time with the MB program - and I'm hoping that this time around will be much better than the last.

Let me set the stage...

I've been going to Disney for about 5 years now (first trip down when I was 21), and every time that I've tried booking through Expedia I have run into the same issue. I have a rather unique name, and as such I go by an abbreviated version, and have been doing so for years. When I booked through Expedia again (some think I'm a glutton for punishment!) they once again got the name wrong on my reservation. I had called Disney this time around to confirm that my name was correct, and they assured me that the name I'd provided via the phone did not match that of the reservation. I called Expedia and tried to sort it out, they assured me it was, but just to be safe I printed out our correspondence and was sure to bring all hotel confirmations and identification with me.

Two weeks before our trip it was announced that the Art of Animation Resort would be launching the MB testing along with several of the other higher end resorts. As we were booked into the AoAR we were insanely excited! We hopped online, got ourselves all set up for the bands (they only came in grey because we were so close to our trip) and happily went about booking our FP+ selections and linking our hotel and restaurant reso's as well! This is where I got my first hint that something might be funky...

Because I had set up the My Disney Experience with my shortened first name, and the hotel reservation was (at that time) until my middle name for some odd reason, the system set up two separate MB's for me. I called ahead and was assured that everything was fine on Disney's end, and that I could expect to pick up the one MB when I arrived, and it would have all my tickets attached.

Skip ahead two weeks, it's 5pm on a lovely Saturday afternoon in late September, and we're at the check-in counter at AoAR... My boyfriend and I go through the regular song and dance that I always do when booking through Expedia (finding out that despite calling my name is still wrong, despite my boyfriend and I having separate last name's we're now Mr. and Mrs.'s my middle name...) and we're finally presented with our MBs! Only mine has my full, legal name on it... Bad sign - but I don't think twice. I'm way too excited to be at Disney, all checked in, about about to sweep out to DDD for some dinner and dancing!

Now we move onto using the MB...

Getting into the room was a breeze. The new lock systems worked flawlessly, the bands got us in on the first try with no issues. Everything was roses! We went out to DDD, used them for dinner, and they charged back to the room smoothly and without issue! But then it came time to go to the parks... First stop on day one was MK, and with it being my boyfriend's first trip, we were both very excited.

We got to the new MB entrances, he went through, there was a DING, a green light, and off he went! Now my turn. I hurried to the pole, smooshed my Mickey face to the glowing Mickey face, waited for the DING... And nothing. Just a flashing red light and a sudden feeling of impending doom.

It turns out that the tickets I had purchased and linked to my MB had actually been linked to a different MB, one which had never existed, and which I did not have now that I was standing at the gates to the happiest place in the whole world... I was told by the helpful CM at the gate that I would need my paper ticket, and they could let me in... Well that was back in the safe, aaaall the way back at the resort. Poo. So back we went! We spent the hour getting back to the resort, running to the room, grabbing the paper tickets, running back to the resort lobby, and figured it would be worth while to stop in at concierge and see if maybe they could help me out.

We spent nearly 20 minutes in line with a very cheerful young woman and her iPad, attempting to sort it out, but having little luck. She eventually moved us over to kiosk and helped us to call into their support desk. To make a long story a bit shorter, they weren't able to sort it out. They did however help us to re-book the lunch that we'd missed while trying to fix the MB. We eventually headed back to the park with a promise that they would contact us later once the bands were fixed, but until then I should carry the paper ticket.

I spent the rest of the trip with the paper ticket in hand, taking nearly 15 minutes every morning to get into each of the parks while smiling CM's told me I should go back to the concierge and try to get it fixed, while I never did hear back from them... The MB worked amazingly well for our FP+, and my boyfriend had a breeze of a time getting in and out of all the parks - it seems it was just that little slip up with my name and made every entry into the parks a bit of a hassle.

All in all I really do like the MB system - and I have very high hopes that this time around I'll have a much better experience (didn't book through Expedia ). I'll let you know once I'm back though!

We got to use them back in September 2013. I thought I would not like them, as I don't care to wear things on my wrists, and I was sure I would hate the new FP+.

Turns out Disney knows me better than I know myself! Loved the bands, loved the ease of use for park entry, room entry, even the FP+.

I enjoy being hand-cuffed and tracked like a migrating animal. Next stage is that all guests will be shot with a sedative dart and while they are unconscious, they will be tagged with a homing device. But it's for our own convenience.

Now if only homeland security paid that much attention to who was coming and going in the good old USA.

LMAO!!! Too funny!