Reuse of Magic Bands

[detroitdad]

We will be headed back to WDW in February. I have 2 Magic Bands that my son and I used when we went back in 2015. My Disney Experience still shows them as being active. Just wondering what your experience has been with reusing old bands. I'm all about recycling but I also don't want to spend the time linking my tickets, meals and fastpasses to a band that could potentially have issues when I get there. So reuse or just order new?

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I do both.

I allow Disney to send the new ones. They will be linked to your account in MDE.

And I use the old ones as well.

But I like to use different colors for different days.

Remember, the band is simply linked to MDE, NOT to each individual item listed on MDE. You won't have to spend time linking them to tickets, meals or anything else.

 

[Robo]

We will be headed back to WDW in February. I have 2 Magic Bands that my son and I used when we went back in 2015. My Disney Experience still shows them as being active. Just wondering what your experience has been with reusing old bands. I'm all about recycling but I also don't want to spend the time linking my tickets, meals and fastpasses to a band that could potentially have issues when I get there. So reuse or just order new?

Get the new ones.

 

[mar7967]

Get the new ones.

To further clarify here, the "short range" stuff (using the magic band to enter the parks or for FP, pay for things, etc) will still work, but the "long range" stuff (automatic linking of photos on rides like 7DMT) may not work due the the age of your band - this uses a battery which they say lasts 2 years. So I agree, get new ones.

 

[capegirl]

I totally agree with getting new bands, because we have experienced 'long range ' issues using older bands. However I want to issue a word of caution about the new bands used during our recent trip. DH and myself had our MBs well secured on our wrists; or so we thought. We returned to our resort after our first park day, and we noticed both MBs were gone, so we declared them lost. Our new bands were definitely not as sturdy, they are made from a more flexible material; that said, we never had this problem with our old bands.

 

[detroitdad]

Thanks for the replies! Good info all around.

 

[bumbershoot]

Our new bands were definitely not as sturdy, they are made from a more flexible material; that said, we never had this problem with our old bands.

Interesting. Many people, including me, have had the opposite experience.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

The thing that concerns me is even if you only had the band for 1 year who is to say it was not manufactured a year or more prior to that? I would hate to have my photos not link, so I won't risk it.

 

[capegirl]

Interesting. Many people, including me, have had the opposite experience.

Yes, it is interesting. All of our family members had difficulty with the bands staying put. I'm inclined to think the bands we had were just defective.

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

Interesting. Many people, including me, have had the opposite experience.

I agree. I thought the new ones we got were better made than the old style.

 

[Lanie]

If I have a lot of old MB, should I "deactivate" them? I find the extra people in my account that went on trips with us before but not the next one very annoying, but I<m not sure how to fix it...

 

[capegirl]

After doing a little research, I've discovered that we are not the only ones who have had issues with the new bands.
Many of the MBs are just fine, and do stay put, but there are also good number of people who reported problems with the newer bands falling off. I thought our particular bands were an 'isolated incident ', but I guess it can/does happen.

 

[OB1]

If I have a lot of old MB, should I "deactivate" them?.

YES - deactivate any that you will not be using. If you have a lot of bands on your account, it can slow down the processing time to get into the parks at the turnstiles. I just went through my account and did this for original bands issued the first year of MB.

 

[Fangorn]

... If you have a lot of bands on your account, it can slow down the processing time to get into the parks at the turnstiles.

I really have to ask: who did you hear this piece of blatherskite from? Was it a real WDW bus driver? or one of those fake ones masquerading as a Park Entry CM?

A Magic Band is merely a key that lets you access your account. It's a 1:1 (one to one) relationship going this way. One band sees one account. Not only does the system not need to look through your entire collection of bands to let you in the park, it can't possibly even know that there ARE other bands (keys) associated with your account at the point of entry. As messed up as Disney IT is for most things, even they would not want to do that (well, they could do it if they really, really, really tried, but they may not be that smart and to what possible end?).

Besides, deactivating old MBs doesn't do anything except prevent them from actually performing any transaction. They're still associated with your account, they still show up in MDE, and they can be re-activated at any time.

Now, are there other reasons to call Disney IT and get them to completely remove old stuff from your account? Sure. There are many, many reports of MDE accounts getting so overwhelmed with all the interconnected bits of data from every trip made since the inception of MyMagic+ that they completely crash and burn, never to function again. But the Magic Bands themselves since they have 1 and only 1 function - to be a key, aren't even close to being the cause of those problems.

Steve

 

[Shanti]

We will be headed back to WDW in February. I have 2 Magic Bands that my son and I used when we went back in 2015. My Disney Experience still shows them as being active. Just wondering what your experience has been with reusing old bands. I'm all about recycling but I also don't want to spend the time linking my tickets, meals and fastpasses to a band that could potentially have issues when I get there. So reuse or just order new?

I often reuse bands from the previous year's trip, then ditch them. They do well for a year or two- never had an issue. I'd be a bit hesitant to use the same ones for more than two years, though.

 

[DisneyMaleficent50]

Get the new bands. You can still use the the old ones so you have color options. Just make sure one person has a new band on each day so long range stuff like pictures links to account.

 

[tnolan]

To help hold them on your wrist, DH and I use Bitbelts, small silicone clips that will secure the end of the MB so it won't catch on something and pull off. It already helped me when I was getting on the bus a couple of years ago, the end caught on the edge of a seat and the band would have fallen off if I hadn't had the Bitbelt on it. You can find them on Etsy, just search for that brand name.