Magic Bands - New Disney Tech

I just got home from Disney last week.  The unpacking and laundry took forever, so I haven't written anything since my trip, but get prepared for the motherload because I learned SO much!

In this post, I'm going to write about my personal experience with the new Magic Bands and what I know first-hand.

1. They are very convenient.  I left my purse in the stroller and headed to get my husband some free water at a counter-service restaurant.  After glancing at the menu, I saw a snack I wanted, but didn't have my wallet or purse with me. Enter the Magic Band - since I didn't take it off my wrist at all during the days we were in the parks, I could just swipe that and buy whatever I wanted to.  I was thrilled to not have to be digging around for my wallet in my purse full of supplies at Disney.

2. You can only select 3 fastpass+ selections for each park for each day with your bands.  So if you were spending the morning in Animal Kingdom and the afternoon in Epcot, it was great - you could choose 3 for each park and have a total of 6 for the day!  If you were staying in Epcot the whole day, however, we had used our 3 by 1:15 and couldn't get any more fastpass+ selections.  At this point, you are permitted to use your physical tickets for fastpasses, however, it's a bit of a letdown to run from Japan to Soarin' to grab a fastpass after you just did that with your phone and never had to take a step.  I think that after you have used all of your fastpasses, more should become available.  **Disney castmembers who were working at the Fastpass+ kiosks did tell me that the limit of 3 is a beta testing number and that that number may be increased after testing is over and the results can be calculated to dictate the best use of the technology. I hope this happens soon!**

3. Sometimes they got things wrong! The My Disney Experience app wasn't working for several hours while I was at the Magic Kingdom so I headed to a kiosk to figure out how to change a fastpass, but their system wasn't working either! So I couldn't change my fastpass selection. Bummer!

4. Fastpasses are now available for things that never had a fastpass line (or need for one) before.  Rides like It's a Small World and shows like Beauty and the Beast now have fastpasses available, but you really don't need them.  Wishes (Magic Kingdom's fireworks show) has a private viewing area for the fireworks that you can only enter if you have selected the Wishes fastpass+ and it was actually a great little spot.  I would recommend that if you don't want to stake out a spot 60+ minutes before the show.

5. The fastpass line was always short - I feel that Disney is catering to the fastpass users more than ever.  And I was assured that this would mean the regular line didn't get longer, but I felt like it did.  I walked right on to any ride I had a fastpass+ selection for, but waited (for what felt like) longer than usual in any of the regular wait lines.  It wasn't horrible, but I personally felt like there was a difference.  This being said, the lines that were never long before still weren't.  I pretty much walked on those rides (especially at the Magic Kingdom) such as the Carousel, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, etc.

6.  Sometimes they Magic Bands randomly worked on attractions that we hadn't selected.  My husband took our 2-year-old to Adventureland when I took our 4 and 5-year-old girls to ride Splash Mtn.  He didn't have a clue what fastpasses we had picked, so he tried it on the Jungle Cruise.  It worked! Afterwards, he asked me if I had selected that and I told him I hadn't.  This happened randomly several times.

7. The rider swap was given to us even though we were using fastpasses.  So my husband took the older girls on Soarin' and I rode Nemo with the shorty. Then we switched.  I ended up riding once, my husband twice, and the girls 3 times.  That was great!

8.  I didn't plan enough time for the newly updated Fantasyland - and I was there last year!  I could have spent one whole day just in Fantasyland with my3 daughters.  They loved the new Under the Sea ride and the Enchanted Tales with Belle attraction.  The new Fairytale Hall is open and it was lovely! We used a fastpass to meet Rapunzel and then waited in line to meet Cinderella.  The wait was great - icy cold A/C and it was gorgeous inside.  Definitely a must-see!

9. The My Disney Experience app is a phone battery drainer.  No shock here.  I have an iPhone, so I turned my brightness down a bit and when it got low, plugged it into my Duracell portable charger in my purse.  You can buy one like mine or there are several other models available.  I love mine and it's so easy to use.  http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-Instant-Charger-Includes-Universal/dp/B002FU6KF2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381861149&sr=8-2&keywords=duracell+portable+charger

10. If you are Robert Downey Jr. and you happen to be traveling with your dad (we'll asume he's Robert Downey Sr.) you may have problems with your magic bands.  We met a family who was there for a reunion and they were using the bands.  Their fastpass+ selections kept getting changed and there was nothing that the Disney concierge or the kiosks in the park could do to fix it! They did end up with 8 free meals, so we didn't feel too terribly bad for them, but let's hope Disney gets that bug worked out soon!!