Not Getting Magicbands

[Drewmama]

What will I be missing out on or what might be a pain to deal with if I don't get magicbands?

 

[ILoveMyDVC]

Having to take your phone to the pool to open your doorupon return from swimming

 

[Marionnette]

What will I be missing out on or what might be a pain to deal with if I don't get magicbands?

Will you have a physical ticket? If not, you'll need to add Mobile Magic to your Apple Wallet or Google Pay on your phone. Then yank out your phone to enter the parks or to enter Lightning Lanes. If you have an Apple Watch, they work similar to a MB for LLs and park entrance once you have set up Mobile Magic.

 

[ltalley1]

I just prefer the magic band for all the touchpoint processes- park entry, LL entry, mobile order pick up, pool entry, room entry, etc. My phone seems to take too long when doing all these same things and it takes me longer to get to the correct screen on my phone and I always feel like I am holding someone up. I know some people may be better at it than me- but for me. Magic Band is better.

 

[Pooh12863]

What will I be missing out on or what might be a pain to deal with if I don't get magicbands?

What ever you decide don't be THAT PERSON holding up the lines while you dig your phone out of your backpack.

 

[Her Dotness]

You don't need to use a smartphone at all for unlocking room, pool gate, room charge for food/purchases, etc.

When you get to your resort or to a park entrance, ask for the good ol'fashioned KTTW (Key To the World) card. It's one of the few things still FREE.

It won't get you in-ride photos or videos but does the basic stuff.

I like to get one in case I do something brilliant like forgetting to put on my Magic Band. The KTTW lives in the back pocket of whatever I'll wear for the day. I'm not one glued to my phone and wouldn't want to have to juggle stuff I'm carrying to dig out my phone to get into the room.

Have KTTW, can do WDW.

 

[Drewmama]

Will you have a physical ticket? If not, you'll need to add Mobile Magic to your Apple Wallet or Google Pay on your phone. Then yank out your phone to enter the parks or to enter Lightning Lanes. If you have an Apple Watch, they work similar to a MB for LLs and park entrance once you have set up Mobile Magic.

No physical ticket.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

You don't need to use a smartphone at all for unlocking room, pool gate, room charge for food/purchases, etc.

When you get to your resort or to a park entrance, ask for the good ol'fashioned KTTW (Key To the World) card. It's one of the few things still FREE.

It won't get you in-ride photos or videos but does the basic stuff.

I like to get one in case I do something brilliant like forgetting to put on my Magic Band. The KTTW lives in the back pocket of whatever I'll wear for the day. I'm not one glued to my phone and wouldn't want to have to juggle stuff I'm carrying to dig out my phone to get into the room.

Have KTTW, can do WDW.

Agree. The KTTW will practically act like a MB - should be able to do most of the things you do with MB. We would never want to rely just on our phone and the app for all we do, but that might just be us. But we use the MB a lot for resort entry, room entry, to verify free parking at the theme parks when we drive, room charging, entry to the pools that require proof of being a guest, LL access, etc. The MB works best for us, but the key card works well, too. And don't get stuck needing your phone when the power runs out due to too much time taking photos and scheduling things through G+!

 

[erionm]

When you get to your resort or to a park entrance, ask for the good ol'fashioned KTTW (Key To the World) card. It's one of the few things still FREE.

It won't get you in-ride photos or videos but does the basic stuff.

If the ride has a photo display at the end, you can manually link the photo by touching a KTTW card to the appropriate reader on the display.

Ride videos (where available) and ride photos for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Haunted Mansion, Frozen Ever After and Slinky Dog Dash require a fairly recent MagicBand with working battery or MDE mobile app (app must have permission to use bluetooth). Auto linking of ride photos/videos using MDE mobile app is hit or miss.

 

[Vulnox]

Only thing I will caution about just using the phone is that not all the CMs seem to know what to do about it. I tried really hard to just use my iPhone/Apple Watch when we got there for our Feb 9th-13th trip, so not long ago at all, and I was able to unlock our room at Boardwalk using my phone, so good start, went to the Boardwalk convenience store and at first it didn't work, but she said they had to set a certain option for magic mobile. Tried again using my apple watch, and it worked! Thought things were going well. Our next day at Hollywood Studios I went to get some green milk and went to use my Apple Watch and the CM said it needs to be CC or Magicband, I said this is magic mobile, I was told there is just a different option, and she just went "No, no, no option", and I didn't want to be the guy holding up the line so I just used my magicband which I intentionally wore when we went to the park as I suspect something like this would come up.

I want to just have my AppleWatch, although it was anything but the end of the world having to wear both, but it became clear pretty quickly not all the CMs are trained on how it works (or maybe there really are stands that will take MagicBand/CC, but not MM).

In any case, I didn't try much after that. I don't like to be the cause of line delays and it became clear pretty quickly that it can be difficult than it should be to use MM in some cases.

 

[Her Dotness]

The KTTW might be preferable for kids--lots cheaper to replace than a MB that went on holiday from a kid's wrist.

You can get a lanyard with pouch to wear so the card is handy.

 

[Chuck S]

Do you have a magic band from a previous trip? No need to buy a new one, even if the battery is dead, it will still work fine on touch points. And the batteries should last at least 2 years, usually longer.

 

[LadybugsMum]

I just prefer the magic band for all the touchpoint processes- park entry, LL entry, mobile order pick up, pool entry, room entry, etc. My phone seems to take too long when doing all these same things and it takes me longer to get to the correct screen on my phone and I always feel like I am holding someone up. I know some people may be better at it than me- but for me. Magic Band is better.

This. I find the MB so much easier as I can just lift up my wrist to the touch point and I'm not constantly digging out my phone. Also, my kids are too young for cell phones and it's easier to have MBs for them for the room door, scanning into the parks, and lightening lanes.

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

The KTTW might be preferable for kids--lots cheaper to replace than a MB that went on holiday from a kid's wrist.

You can get a lanyard with pouch to wear so the card is handy.

That's my plan! So room, pool, CC all on key card. I have a physical card for park admission. But what about food in parks? Must I use phone to avoid hours on line??

 

[londonderrydisneyfan]

We just got back from a split stay at BRV/BCV and my son and I didn't have magic bands. Getting into the parks was easy w/ phones/Apple Watches but the phones didn't always work on opening the door. We both had to get backup room cards so we could always get in the room.

 

[Simba's Mom]

How do you use an Apple Watch? DH has one of those, and I have an old MB.

 

[CarolynFH]

How do you use an Apple Watch? DH has one of those, and I have an old MB.

He needs to set up MagicMobile in his MDE account - in the app, it's one of the items listed when you tap the 3 lines in the lower right corner of the MDE screen. Here are Apple's instructions for linking to his watch - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212870. I know there are videos online, but I can't find them just now.

 

[Sandisw]

How do you use an Apple Watch? DH has one of those, and I have an old MB.

It works great for entry in the park. It does not work for the door to the room.…but I heard that will be coming at some point.

 

[DVCSunDevil]

Convenience. That, IMO, is the biggest thing associated with MB. We just visited in late February and gave the phone thing a shot. Nope. No thank you. Having to dig out our phones for purchases, etc was a pain...not the mention worrying about my cell phone dying. My wife and I put our MBs on halfway through the first day. It was so much easier. Not to mention, you have to be on your cell phone so much now with Genie+ that it is great having an option that doesn't require you to be on your phone.

 

[Best Aunt]

But what about food in parks? Must I use phone to avoid hours on line??

After reopening (after having closed for the Pandemic), cast members were strongly encouraging Mobile Order for quick service restaurants. So strongly, in fact, that some cast members posted outside the doors of quick service restaurants told people (rightly or wrongly) to go away if they weren't able to use Mobile Order. I think that has let up a little bit, but you should be aware that it could be an issue.