What exactly are these “Magic Bands” and what is all the
hullabaloo about?
Depending on who you talk to or what you read, Magic Bands
are either the worst thing to hit Disney since the latest price increase or the
best thing to happen to Disney since Uncle Walt first thought it up!
I personally think it is somewhere in between.
Currently they are still in testing phase, so all reports so
far are based on test data. Disney
thinks they are going great, with little or no problems. Those haters of all things new are less than
enthusiastic about them, pointing out that in limited use it is hard to get
real data.
So, let’s start with what we do know.
Disney has (or is in the process of) changing all their media
over to RFID. (Radio-frequency
Identification) When we were there in
June, they had already changed over the room keys, charging privileges, and
access to the gates over to the RFID. I
can tell you they were much easier to use than the old cards were…If your arms
were full when you got to the room they opened the door easily…and when
driving, it was so easy to get those security gates to open…ONE try and poof
they magically opened for us!
The ultimate goal seems to be to have everything, including
tickets, dining plan, photopass info added to the RFID. Being a busy mom, I can tell you, fewer
things to keep up with in the park is a good thing.
Last June, we took our youngest two and our oldest granddaughter
to Disney to celebrate my youngest daughter’s 13th birthday. Between grabbing our tickets for fast pass,
grabbing our photopass, and pulling my phone and camera out of my bag about 20
times a minute, I managed to lose my Grand Daughter’s ticket. At first it was not a big deal …as we were
leaving Magic Kingdom heading back to Coronado Springs Resort for a swimming
break, it hit me…we were coming back to the park for the dessert party! We had no ticket for her to get back in with!
A trip to the concierge desk solved our problem, but it
taught me how important it is to have a streamlined list of things to carry in
the parks.
Now, true, there are kids that may have problems wearing
these things on their wrists all day.
Some Moms and Dads will not want to have their arms get sweaty…and I
have heard of the “Farmer’s Tan” aversion.
I have also heard people that have actually used them during the heat
say they weren’t that bad.
And if your child is too young to understand why they have
to wear the bracelet…are you really going to let them go off by
themselves? Are they really going to be
riding at Disney without you? If you don’t want a “Farmer’s Tan” then clip it
on your belt loop, or attach it to your bag.
Some people will complain about anything new. I however, am anxiously awaiting my trip in
61 days and 20 hours…I have customized my Magic Bands and can’t wait to see how
they work! (Stay tunes for a complete
review once we get back!)
My Disney Experience showed our bands were available for
customization a few days ago. It was
really cool to let each kid choose their color and what name they wanted to be
on the inside of the band. While my 13
year old was upset that her favorite color, purple, was not available she was beyond
happy that she could change it to her nickname. We are all anxiously awaiting
for them to ship the end of October!
Now, if you want to read some more about the bands from
someone who has actually seen them, here is a good blog post that will give you
some more of the technical insight, as well as some of the options for further
customization.
blog.wdwinfo.com/2013/06/20/magicband-accessories-revealed/
Next post will be about that bothersome Fast Pass +.
See Ya Real Soon!
