decisions decisions

[Dznypal]

not sure how to plan this

we leave in 10 days and Im doing the on line check in
I know to do on line check in you have to put in a CC which then could have a hold put on but will drop off Im going pay with DGC every other day so nothing will be on the bill when we check out
I like being able to just go right to our room and not have to stop at the front desk to check in but last year our bands werent working so dh had to walk all the way back to the desk anyways not sure what to do for this
am I suppossed to do something with our bands so they will open the door I know I didnt do anything with the bands and they then had to be activated at the desk
thanks

 

[gottalovepluto]

Nothing you can do about the bands. If they need re-programing you won't know until you hit your room. Only way to prevent backtracking is to go to the front desk first with all bands and have them programmed prior to going to your room.

 

[bluezy]

not sure how to plan this

we leave in 10 days and Im doing the on line check in
I know to do on line check in you have to put in a CC which then could have a hold put on but will drop off Im going pay with DGC every other day so nothing will be on the bill when we check out
I like being able to just go right to our room and not have to stop at the front desk to check in but last year our bands werent working so dh had to walk all the way back to the desk anyways not sure what to do for this
am I suppossed to do something with our bands so they will open the door I know I didnt do anything with the bands and they then had to be activated at the desk
thanks

As long as you have all the bands linked to your MDE account profiles (which happens automatically if you purchase the bands through the link on MDE), they should work fine when you arrive. If you purchase the bands somewhere else (like the Disney Store, etc.) you will need to link the bands to your account yourself. I always do online check-in (months before we even arrive) and go straight to the room when we arrive. I'll say that 99% of the time all of our magic bands work fine for both charging things to our room and for opening the room door right when we arrive (without going to the front desk). I think there was 1 time that 1 of our bands didn't open the door when we arrived so we stopped at the front desk when we were nearby (no need to run down right away since we had other bands that worked and you can also use the app on your phone do open the door). I always make everyone try their MB on the door when we arrive and then we go have lunch at the resort and I make everyone pay for their own lunch to make sure their MBs work for charging. If something's not working, I want to take care of it before we head to the parks.

 

[fla4fun]

I have a question for you OP. Do you have a lot of active magicbands in your MDE account? I am asking because one time I had issues opening my resort door on check in and when I went to the front desk they said it was because I had too many active bands on my account. I go through the list once a year or so now to keep only the bands I am actually using active and haven’t had any issues since.

I agree with the pp who mentioned making sure your bands are linked to your MDE account prior to your visit. If your bands are linked and active you shouldn’t have a problem unless a band is truly defective, and that you wouldn’t know until you try to use it.

 

[Dznypal]

thanks for the tip on the bands never thought of that
which Im sorry to say brings up a few more questions
for me it shows 9 bands not sure how or why theres so many but there is
some say active others say inactive
the one I used last year my DD gave me its from the 50 anniversary and Id like to keep it for this trip so Im assume I just leave that one as active
so for the rest then I hit deactive for the rest.

do I have tht right
DH only had 5. His all the plain color ones.
I noticed there are numbers on the inside of the band. So do I deactivate all except for the one one he’ ll used
Making sure I match them all up by the numbers
Do I have this all right. Sorry for all the questions

 

[Dave006]

for me it shows 9 bands not sure how or why theres so many but there is some say active others say inactive
the one I used last year my DD gave me its from the 50 anniversary and Id like to keep it for this trip so Im assume I just leave that one as active so for the rest then I hit deactivate for the rest.

Nine (9) MBs are not an issue. The ones that show as Deactivated are most likely the original MB and Disney did a sweep the system and deactivated them as a group. You will be able to use your 50th Anniversary band for this trip as long as is it not Deactivated and if it is you are able to reactivated it now.

DH only had 5. His all the plain color ones. I noticed there are numbers on the inside of the band. So do I deactivate all except for the one one he’ ll used Making sure I match them all up by the numbers. Do I have this all right. Sorry for all the questions

Five (5) MB are not an issue. Again just make sure any MB he brings is showing as Activated in in MDE. Are the colors different, if so there is no real need to match up all the ID numbers. If he has duplicates do they have his name on the underside of them.

There are only 2 issues with reusing MB from previous trips. The batter on the original MB, and the MB 2 will die after a few years but they function for your resort room door, park entry, and LL use. Without a battery you can't get long range access to link any attraction pictures. And if your MB is deactivated it will not work.

There are a couple of edge cases where you may need stop at the Front Desk if your MBs don't open your resort door. But you can use your smartphone and MDE to open your resort room door and stop by the Front desk later.

Dave

 

[Dug720]

Nothing you can do about the bands. If they need re-programing you won't know until you hit your room. Only way to prevent backtracking is to go to the front desk first with all bands and have them programmed prior to going to your room.

This! After there was an issue with mine being linked before - even though I only had 2 and both had been purchased through the WDW site, not Disney Store, thus eliminating the two things mentioned on here as possibilities for them not working - I just plan on stopping by the front desk for them to check. It honestly doesn't take that long.

 

[gottalovepluto]

This! After there was an issue with mine being linked before - even though I only had 2 and both had been purchased through the WDW site, not Disney Store, thus eliminating the two things mentioned on here as possibilities for them not working - I just plan in stopping by the front desk for them to check. It honestly doesn't take that long.

I've even had Disney hotels pro-actively re-code my MB at the front desk when I check in. I swing by on check-in day for paying with gc's and the CMs will say "also lets just check/re-code your MB to make sure it will work on your door, you don't want to come back". The gc weren't de-activated or newly acquired, just some weird hotel coding thing that happens at the most inconvenient of times.