My husband and I loving our MagicBands during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!

My husband and I loving our MagicBands during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party!

On a recent trip to Walt Disney World, December 11-14, 2013, Tiggerific Travels Blog Writer Amber Johnson got first hand experience using Disney’s all-new MagicBands to enhance their Walt Disney World Vacation. Check out her review!

Walt Disney World has been busy creating and testing a new service for resort guests to make the Disney magic even more seamless called MyMagic+. The key item that makes all of the MyMagic+ features work together seamlessly are the all-new MagicBands. Introduced at the end of 2013, with the flick of the wrist, guests can enter the parks, purchase food and merchandise, use Fastpass+ and enter the room at their resort using their MagicBand. New technology can sometimes be confusing and overwhelming but with the help of a Tiggerific Travels Agent, we can help make using MagicBands easier!

The first step to using Disney’s MagicBand is to download and set up the My Disney Experience app. This can be found on any smart phone and all Apple products. You can also access My Disney Experience on the Disney website. My Disney Experience allows guests to keep track of resort and dining reservations along with making Fastpass+ selections. I love how Disney has found a way to keep everything together and organized!

My husband and I ready to use our MagicBands for the first time to board Disney's Magical Express.

Ready to use our MagicBands to board Disney’s Magical Express.

60 days before your Magical Walt Disney World vacation you and your family will be able to customize your MagicBands. One for every member in your party! When customizing your MagicBands, you can choose from a variety of colors including red, blue, green, yellow, pink, orange and gray and also includes adding your name which will be located on the back of the band. Even if you pick the same color as another member in your party, you’ll be able to easily tell them apart!

Also starting 60 days before your arrival at the Walt Disney World Resort you can begin to plan your visit to the Walt Disney World theme parks by making your Fastpass+ selections. This is my favorite part! Fastpass+ allows Walt Disney World guests staying at Walt Disney World resort hotels who have also purchased tickets to preschedule three Fastpass+ selections per day in the park of their choice. Magic Kingdom and Disney’s Animal Kingdom allow you to select any three Fastpass+ selections. However, they cannot be during the same hour. Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studio is on a Two Tier System. You may make one selection in Tier One and two selections in Tier Two. For example, at Epcot, Test Track and Soarin’ are both in Tier One, which means you can Fastpass one and use standby for the other. For help with your Fastpass+ selections, you can always ask your Tiggerific Travels Agent for advice.

Thirty days before your arrival, Disney will ship out your customized MagicBands. We were beyond is excited when this package arrived! Each band is labeled with the names of your travel party. I loved seeing my name in the box with my MagicBand!

Our MagicBands have arrived!

Our MagicBands have arrived!

Make sure to pack your MagicBands! You will use these everyday! It is your park ticket, dining plan, charges to your Walt Disney World Resort account with a card on file, room key and Fastpass+ selections! Do not be worried about your room account being attached to the MagicBand, a pin code will be set up when checking in at your resort which will allow you to securely make purchases using your MagicBand.

My husband and I both complimented and loved these MagicBands throughout our four day Walt Disney World vacation. We loved not having to run around collecting Fastpasses, especially my husband who was usually the runner!

Paper Fastpasses - a thing of the past!

Paper Fastpasses – a thing of the past!

Plus, with the My Disney Experience App along with free Wi-Fi in all the Disney Parks and Resorts, you can make changes at any time to your Fastpass+ selections. On two different days, we were running late to the park and were going to miss our first Fastpass+ selection. On the bus to the park and the during breakfast – we simply opened the app and were able to easily select a later time for the Fastpass.

Another fantastic addition to MyMagic+ is the new Memory Maker service. This program, which replaces the PhotoPass Plus service. With Memory Maker, your whole family can be in the picture at Disney PhotoPass locations—plus select attraction and dining locations—throughout Walt Disney World Resort. All of the photos you take are magically yours forever, like memories of your family posing together in front of Cinderella Castle, screaming down Splash Mountain, hugging Mickey Mouse and so much more. Memory Maker allows unlimited downloads of all your photos taken on your vacation. The Memory Maker photos are linked to your MagicBand and you no longer have to worry about losing your PhotoPass cards either! Best of all, you can save $50 by adding it on to your trip ahead of time. Just ask your TiggerificTravels agent for assistance.

MagicBands are a great way to harness the power of all of the magical additions that Disney has made with its new MyMagic+ program. They link all the pieces of your Walt Disney World vacation into one seamless package that you always have at your fingertips and on your wrist.

For help planning your amazing Walt Disney World vacation and for all your questions about MyMagic+ and MagicBands contact a Tiggerific Travels Agent.