Magic Bands and Fast Pass Plus Review

34 Comments

1. I was trying to roll with it. I could get onboard with the bands, it took a bit to adjust to the idea of only 3 FP’s but I thought maybe we could just hit rope drop like normal and use the FP’s for afternoons when we hop…but then they started tiering them. Nope. Hate it. So, at DHS and Epcot, they have them tiered now and you can ONLY pick ONE FP for the top tier…the 2nd tier has rides you don’t even need a FP for! Muppets? Spaceship Earth? Are you kidding me? So for all intensive purposes, it’s now ONE FASTPASS a day. ONE. *sigh* AND, we are staying at Pop and they have stopped giving out the KTTW cards, so no pulling FP- for us either. Luckily I will be on cloud nine from running the PHM and the magic will wash away all this FP+ nonsense. Right?!?!? :p

   1. Right! I see such potential and it wasn’t terrible, but it was fristrating.

2. Yeah, the fastpass+ leads much to be desired. Their android app was even worse then the website. It was annoying having to wait till I arrived to be able to link up the 3 day passes we purchased through Disney Sports. The other big thing I would have liked to have seen was the ability to chose an arrival time to the park to begin my fast passes. We were heading to DHS one afternoon and would have liked fastpasses there. With no way to chose a starting time, I couldn’t book them in the AM and by the afternoon, they were unavailable

   I like the idea of them linking the pictures to the magic band, kind of like a cruise line does. Only test track showed up on our photopass. Wish more had shown up on ours. I didn’t realize until I read this page https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/my-disney-experience/privacy-policy/ that they even could be read from longer distances

   As an analyst and data junkie, it will be interesting to see what they can do with this technology in the future. I was a little surprised to hear they stopped the key to the world cards already after they had an issue on Friday night of W&D weekend where the magic bands were not reading

   1. Oh, the technology is amazing! And I dont have a problem with privacy at WDW- I know they know just what I’m doing at all times! But it was a creepy surprise. I agree with choosing your arrival times- on Monday I kept getting FP for the afternoon only. I was leaving at 1pm. So Monday I was not able to choose any FP+

3. The concept of this just doesn’t do it for me. I’m not really a bracelet person, and I quit wearing a watch years ago. I don’t want a big, thick piece of plastic on my arm. I’ll take the paper ticket and go on my merry way.

   1. I didn’t think the bracelet was a big deal, but I wear my Garmin as a watch- lol. You will probably want to get an alternate option.

4. We haven’t had a chance to test the magic bands or FP+ quite yet. We are AP holders, and we have a 5 year old, so right now, parks are toured pretty much primarily by what little man wants to do and has the energy to do. We are also pretty committed rope droppers so we get in, get our TSMM and Jedi Training sign ups, and get out of dodge before the crowds start coming in at lunch time. I can’t believe I’m going to say this but I am a planner, very type A and OCD, with all sorts of backup and contingency plans, but FP+ just seems like a little TOO much planning (and work) for me. At some point, especially with younger ones, you just have to let go and go with the flow. Maybe if it was just Mr PugRunner and myself, it would be more desirable (but he’s a spontaneous thing and has a hard enough time with dinner reservations, let alone ride ressies). I don’t know. And that is creepy about the pictures showing up.

   1. I didn’t have the kids with me, so I can’t say for sure, but I suspect it would be a bit more challenging. Especially the linking up and coordinating everyone! We tend to go in a group of 15 family members in 4 different households- this would be a huge challenge for the planner (ME) to work out.

5. If you are creeped out now, I think you have a lot more in store. It think we have just reached the tip of the creepy iceberg (so to speak…) Hopefully things will get more streamed line and it will eventually be looked at as a convenience more than a burden. Great review Patty!

   1. I know that’s what Disney hopes- and I dont think they are totally wrong. But the way it is now, kinda bites. 🙁

6. So… I didn’t seem to have the same problems you did. We had a HECK of a time getting my husband’s park tickets linked to his band. Read about 2 hours standing with a cast member. Since he has his own Disney Experience account, until he got his tickets linked, we were stuck and not able to access FP+. The good news was that we received actual cards for the parks (in addition to a KTTW), so we could still pull regular FP. So maybe the answer is to buy the tickets from a Disney Store so you have a physical ticket to pull a regular FP.

   Once we got his card and band in line, using the app was easy. We actually booked all of our FP+ attractions in Town Square in Magic Kingdom. Took about 5 minutes (each of us took a day and a park) and then we were good to go. The app worked flawlessly for us because I had studied and knew what I was doing, but I saw A LOT of families who each had 1 FP attached to their bands instead of all the members having the same 3 FP.

   Dining was fairly simple with the bands. I was upset that a lot of places AUTOMATICALLY charged my room for drinks and anything over what was included in the dining plan when we specifically told the servers that we were paying with cash. I suppose we could have charged it to the room then went and paid in cash, but I think next time I’ll set it not to allow charging so we don’t have that problem in the future. We were also staying at Caribbean Beach and trying to get to the main house then back to a bus stop to get to the parks is a hassle.

   In the end, I hate that we are limited only to 3. My hubby and I weren’t HUGE FP users before (mostly because we go when the parks are dead and the longest line we wait in is maybe 15 minutes. I also HATE the tiers. However, I am an obnoxious planner. I have our days completely set and ready 6 months in advance. I have the park schedules, extra magic hours, and dining reservations set in an excel spreadsheet that rarely changes after the 6 month mark. I LOVE the planning ability that FP+ gives me. I personally wish they weren’t extending FP+ to people not staying on property because I pay big bucks to stay and it should come with SOME perks… like 3 FP+ and regular FP, right? Oh well. I like the technology and it was infinitely more pleasurable to wear the band than to try to carry the KTTW.

   1. The linking of tickets worried me! I heard about people in line for HOURS trying to get it worked out. Guest Services line at Epcot was incredibly long the 2 days we were there. No. Way.

   2. Yeah it was ridiculous. They first sent us to City Hall. After waiting in line, they decided they couldn’t help us and sent us over the the Theater. There were only 2 people working there and once I got someone to help (about 20 minutes) I said “Can we just issue him a new ticket with a new number, deactivate the old, and try linking it?” She pretty much ignored me. Tried 50 different things first, then activated a new card that actually worked! Talk about irate. I have a friend who wants to run the W&D next year and I’m hoping they have all the kinks worked out. I wanted magic and this trip fell far too short of my expectations.

7. Okay, yes – VERY creepy. I mean, I knew that was at least half the point of MB – to track our every move – but to see it actually happen? Yeah, creeptastic. ~shudder~

   I’m not a multi-FP guest. In fact, we often skip FPs altogether. A perk of being local(ish) I guess; we’re pretty happy to go in, ride a couple things and get out. BUT, I complained loudly about the one-park and 2-per-day limits when surveyed because that really doesn’t not work well for a whole lotta visitors.

   And don’t get me started on the multi-MBs… I’m looking at a collection of 7 by the end of Feb. SEVEN!
   -V.

   1. I have 3 of them! HA! And another one on the way!

8. 3-per-day. Sorry, my fingers aren’t awake yet…
   -V. Again.

9. I’m waiting to see how this thing works in action before I make a judgement. So far, I’m not thrilled about the pre-programming Fast Passes. While it’s a great idea in theory, it would not let me book both Soarin’ and Test Track, which are the only rides I’m truly interested in, and it made me book other rides that I don’t even want to go on. I’m also not going to link my credit card to it. There’s no need for that.
   On the creepy angle, I think it’s kind of funny that people are horrified at the idea of the government being able to listen in to cell phone conversations, but don’t have much of a problem with a huge corporation like Disney tracking their spending habits and even their location in the park…but that’s just me.
   Having everything centralized does seem like a good idea though. I’m sure once you get used to it, there’s a convenience factor there.

   1. That’s the biggest complaint about the FP from my point of view- I dont want the limits of TT vs Soarin. I used to have both! And I love both. Don’t make me choose Disney! Waaahhhhhhhhh

      There’s a huge convenience factor!

10. Its in testing which is why I still can’t judge. I spent way too much time on the phone trying to get mine fixed and it never linked up…did work for the room, but that was it.

    1. I thought that’s how it ended up for you. I know it’s in testing, but it’s happening to every park goer on property and Pop doesn’t have the fall back Keys to the World anymore. That’s not a test anymore- it’s implemented for them!

11. My husband and I got to try out the magic bands on our October trip for the TOT 10-miler. The band was great to use for room key cards, purchasing, entrance to the parks and such. However, this fastpass thing it has going on needs to be changed – I could probably talk about this for a while but I’ll save that for an actual blog post lol! Bottom line (IMHO), the fact that fast passes now have to be used for shows and that their internet bandwidth was sooo slow to try and schedule things day-of was ridiculous!!

12. Questiona: 1) Once you linked your AP with your MB… can you link it with another MB? Or are you stuck carrying that MB regardless of what color MB you get for your next trip? 2) If you can link AP with a new MB, what’s the incentive for holding on to the other MBs you got? If you get a new one every time? You said you have three with one on the way… why not toss them?

    1. I think the plan in the future will be 1 MB that lasts up to 2 years. But currently- for no explainable reason- they are sending a new one out for every resort stay. Split stay means multiple bands. My AP was linked to all 3 bands that I have!

13. Ah, FASTPASS runner…the good old days! I’m trying to keep an open mind about these suckers. Wine and Dine Half weekend was no bueno with our Magic Bands and tickets and FP+ selections, etc. Luckily I was just rolling with it. I may not be in such a generous mood the next time though.

14. We will have Magic Bands for Princess weekend; I hope that gives them more time to work the kinks out!

15. Thanks for posting this review. We just got our Magic Bands for a trip to WDW in two weeks. I’ve been dying to try them out. Hopefully they live up to the hype!

    1. I like them but hate what the represent. lol Which for me is much more complicated and less satisfactory use of the FP system. I feel like in the future I’ll be getting less attractions for the money at WDW. Or less “good” attractions for my money. Sure- I can ride Maelstrom! lol But that one never had a line and I never had a problem missing it. But I am bummed about missing Soarin this trip.

    2. I think you will be disappointed. It limits fastpasses to three a day, so you will ride less and spend more time in lines. So they can get more people in the parks. I was very disappointed.

16. Just came back from WDW, a week vacation. This was my 10th trip, so I am quite used to fastpass, and used to be a big fan.
    Fast pass plus is a disaster. Only three fastpasses just increases the amount of time spent in lines, and decreases actual ride time. It also decreases time for eating and shopping, which will hurt Disney somewhat, since you are spending more time in lines than ever before. It seems to be a consequence of Disney’s ever increasing guest load – they do not stop adding hotels and DVC buildings, which keeps overloading the parks around the clock and the whole year. Even the monorail is suffering a lot given the additions to Contemporary and Grand Floridian. Disney is trying to get more people in the parks even if that means a lot less time having fun or actually on the rides. This might be spelling the end of my years of fun at Disney.

17. I fully agree with your review of the Disney Magic Bands. I have been a pass holder for many many years and will probably not renew. I can’t believe it has come to this but I almost want to mail my Magic Band back to Disney. In the past when we arrived at the parks, we had a chance to go on all the rides we wanted with minimal wait. Sometimes we arrived too late to get a FastPass to one of the highly sought after rides, but if we wanted it bad enough, we could get there on time. Now, once you choose one ride in a tier, you can’t get another. My kids love Test Track. I can’t ride it because of a back issue. I love Soaring. They like it too but not love it. Now, we have to choose one or the other because they are in the same tier. Sure, I could go on Soarin alone but try to explain to a 5 year old that Mommy is going on a ride without him. That certainly would not make for a fun day at the park. The other day we were at Hollywood studios. There were no more fastpass plus passes for Toy Story Mania. Our remaining choices were Rock N Roller Coaster, Fantasmic, and Beauty and the Beast. I have two young boys and we were leaving before Fantasmic so that and Rock N Roller Coaster were out. Boys! Boys! Beauty and the Beast is not Fastpass worthy with boys. There were no options and what made it worse, there was a 70 minute wait for Star Tours and the Fastpass distribution area was showing availability for an hour from then. Had we been using the old system, we could have gotten more passes. Since we had already been on the ride, we were not permitted to sign up for it again. Between my husband, mother, and whomever else was with us, we used to get our boys on Star Tours, their favorite ride, multiple times. Now, once. This is awful and not worth the money for annual passes or the 1 1/2 drive for a day at Disney. So disappointing! I can’t believe I have already been pricing out other theme parks for annual passes when these expire. I never thought this day would come. Just not worth it.

18. We just cancelled our plans for Disney in August. We are pros at the traditional fast passes and are always able to get on every ride we like at least 3x before park hopping to another park. Guess those days are over! We calculated it out and if we follow their new fast pass system, we will be paying over $300 per ride per person per day. Looks like our annual Disney trip is no more….

19. We have been a regular Disney World for a while but after experiencing Fast Pass + this February 2014 I don’t think we will return, at least not as often as we use to. My problem with Fast Pass + is:

    Fast Pass + forces families to spilt up!

    With a limit of 3 fast pass per person there is no way to experience the parks as a family together, especially if you have a family with kids different ages (we have 2 teens and 2 under 6) I’m sure the situation would apply to families that have both girls and boys. For example in our vacation our teens wanted to ride Space, the younger kids can’t ride that ride and wanted to ride Peter Pan, young kids can’t ride the rides alone (obviously) so the parents are forced to forfeit a Fast Pass to ride the kid ride. I know, you’re thinking “just get a riders swap for the big rides” Problem with that is we were denied rider swaps a couple of times, the Disney workers would say “we aren’t giving out swaps at this time, the wait time isn’t long enough” (what does the wait time have to be to get a rider swap?) While the wait wasn’t that long when I asked for the swap by the time 1/2 of our family went through the ride and came out the wait times had increased significantly. At Big Thunder we were given a rider swap that was for ONE person <– like anyone wants to ride the ride alone after waiting with the small children while the family rode the ride. Back to the Peter Pan ride — my teens would have loved to ride that ride with their younger siblings and us to have that bonding experience unfortunately the teens couldn’t because of the 3 Fast Pass per person limit.

    Fast Pass + doesn’t make anything better or easier on the customers. The limit of 3 passes person and the tier system doesn’t help Disneyworld Guest at all. Disneyworld is too expensive to have a family vacation where the family is forced to spilt up.

20. Fast Pass Plus may be Disney’s worst creation ever. Long lines to make your 3 selections. I used to have 3 fast passes long before lunch. It is a major step back from the old system.

21. Three fast passes a day is not enough. We are a family of six. There is no way to do a park in one day. This is clearly about money and forcing people to buy extra days. What a disaster Disney! I’m a long time fan who is absolutely disgusted. Shame on you. Your website sucks. The rides and general maintenance is suffering. And cast members are frustrated and kinda rude – probably from listening to everyone complaining all day long. FIX IT!!!!!!

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