Goofy4TheWorld
10-23-2013, 07:15 PM
I wanted to start a thread which simply put out there the technical facts and experiences about this monster. I just returned from WDW, tested the MagicBands and FP+, and have taken that experience (including a chat with a CM that seemed to understand the mechanics of it all), plus the information scattered around the Intercot boards, and assembled the following information. It is long and probably boring to many people, so be warned.
Now, please move all the way down to the end of the row filling it all available space…
Everyone, whether they are staying on-site or off-site, have old non-expiring tickets they plan to use in the future, have tickets booked as part of a package reservation, or have Annual Passes (APs), are entitled to link their tickets to the My Disney Experience (MDE) account. Everyone will eventually be able to book FP+ reservations, but it appears only people who have a reservation at a Disney hotel get to book FP+ reservations in advance. In addition, you not only have to have a resort reservation, you also have to have a valid park pass linked to your MDE account to book FP+ selections in advance. It appears, based on Intercot postings, that “valid park pass” does not mean a voucher. If you buy a ticket (MYW or AP) and receive an exchange voucher for that purchase, you do not have tickets yet and so that voucher is useless as far as your MDE account. However, if you have the tickets placed at the Will Call desk, it appears whatever confirmation number you get from that transaction will work in the MDE account.
While all tickets can eventually be linked to your MDE (and thus open up your access to FP+ reservations if you are also staying on property), some old tickets do not have enough numbers printed on them that allow you to link those tickets to your MDE account yourself. My speculative observation is that if you have tickets that date back prior to the Magic Your Way ticket structure (which began in early 2005) then you cannot link those tickets at home, but you CAN link those tickets to your MDE account once you present those tickets to a Disney ticketing CM (The MDE website says “This ticket cannot be converted online. Please bring the ticket to any Walt Disney World Resort ticketing location for assistance”). I am sure there are some other types of ticket compatibility issues from 2005 thru 2009 tickets, I am just not aware of them. However, because the MDE website says “Don't see your ticket above? For tickets purchased before 2010, click here” I assume that ALL tickets sold in 2010 to now are MDE compatible and can be linked from the comfort of your home.
Now that we have the ticketing covered, the bands…
The MagicBands (MBs) are nothing more than a wireless serial number, the bands do not “have tickets” on them or “have charging privileges”. The bands have a 16 digit numeric serial number on them, and once you scan your band the magical MagicBand server looks up your information stored on either the resort information system or the ticketing information system (and also your PhotoPass account).
The resort information system contains your room number, your dining plan entitlements, and your charging privilege status, and so having your resort reservation linked in your MDE online account is what allows the MBs to open your room door, access your DDP credits, or charge to your room account. There are a few ways to link your resort reservation to your MDE account, but the easiest is to log on to your MDE account and follow the steps on the website for linking a resort using either your 12-digit numeric confirmation number for a room-only reservation OR your 8-digit alphanumeric confirmation number for a package reservation. While linking the resort reservation via the website is easiest, you definitely can have the Concierge Desk at your resort do it for you (but you have to wait in line to do it). I am not sure if the Check-In desk can also link the resort confirmation to your MDE account or not. I also believe that any Guest Services CM can link the resorts confirmation for you as well.
I had an issue with an “extra day” reservation where my new KTTK cards were accidentally deactivated by a CM, and that resulted in my MBs not opening my door either. I lack an explanation as to why the KTTK deactivation broke the link to my MBs opening the door, but it did, and was only fixed (after 3 trips to the front desk) when my KTTK cards were re-printed. I am just throwing that out there, since there is some back-door linking of KTTK cards to MBs, but the only way you can do it yourself is to use your resort confirmation number.
The ticketing system stores your park pass entitlements, and the MDE account automatically links your tickets from your resort confirmation IF you buy tickets from Disney as part of that resort reservation. If you buy your tickets elsewhere, you have to manually link them, as discussed earlier.
The PhotoPass photographers can now scan your band to store your tickets, but I am not sure how the systems are linked. The PhotoPass system somehow matches your bands to either your ticket data or your resort data (probably the ticket system now that I think about it), but I never did figure out the details of how that link occurred, but mine linked with no effort on my part.
So you have three independent systems at Disney (Resort, Ticketing, and PhotoPass) that continue to operate as independent systems, but the My Disney Experience system links them all together and then links that link to your MagicBands. Of course the MBs only work if YOU link the three systems together yourself (only reservations made on the Disney website are automatically linked in MDE).
So who gets a MagicBand? Who gets FP+? Who killed Roger Rabbit? All questions which remain murky, but my analysis is this:
Right now, you get a MagicBand for everyone in your party (even infants) every time you make a reservation at a participating Disney resort (which is about to become ALL Disney resorts at the end of October). Buying park passes of any kind does not get you bands, staying on property gets you bands. I see no technical reason that you cannot use a MB for multiple visits, the system allowed me to use the bands on 3 separate reservations over 7 days, so if it will let me do that I see no reason an AP holder cannot use their band over and over. Heck, if I understand it all correctly, I could unlink my band and give it to a friend to link on their MDE account and use the MB for their own trip to WDW where they are staying offsite and buying tickets from the OTC. That part is pure speculation (the part about moving bands to different MDE accounts) but the system definitely allows you to link multiple reservations.
The ticket component of the bands follows the same rules ticketing has always followed, so if you buy Non-Expiring tickets, those tickets (which don’t exist on the bands themselves, only on a Disney ticketing computer an perhaps the plastic card that your ticket originally came on) will work forever, and as long as you have those tickets linked in your MDE account, those tickets can be accessed using your band years down the road. If you have non-expiring tickets linked on your MDE that you do not want to use on your next trip, simply unlink the tickets from your MDE and then you can re-link them later when you actually want to use them (just don’t loose track of the non-expiring ticket’s NUMBERS!)
The benefit of a band for someone not staying on-site is that the band can be used at park entrances and at FastPass entrances. Of course the $64,000 question is….when do I get to book my FP+ experiences????
If you are not currently staying at a Disney resort, you cannot book your FP+ experiences until your MDE-linked ticket has been used for entrance to a park. So your bookings are made the day-of. This is true no matter what type of ticket you have, even AP holders.
If you are staying on Disney property, and you have linked BOTH a resort confirmation and a valid park pass, then you can book your FP+ somewhere around 60 days out. Once you have both room and tickets linked, the FP+ page opens up for you to select dates, but I am not sure what the restrictions are on what dates you have to use. However, what I do know is that the number of days equals the number of park days you have on your park pass, so even though I had a resort booked for only 5 nights, the moment I added a 6th day to my 5-day passes the MDE website allowed me to book those FP+ experiences for the 6th day. When I only had 5-day passes, I was limited to 5 days worth of FP+ selections. Something I noticed when my 6th day opened up, I was actually able to select dates well beyond the 6 days I was staying. I am not sure what the criteria is, but you do not have to book your FP+ on consecutive days, as I matter of fact the system allowed me to book FP+ selection at least 21 days apart even though my tickets would only be valid for 14 days from first use. So I speculate that you could buy 10-day park passes, stay on-site one night and get FP+ reservations for 10 days even if you stayed off-site the other 9 days. Nothing I saw with my use of the MDE app prevented me from doing that. But that part is PURE speculation on my part, and if true I am sure has some limit to how far away your FP+ reservation can be from your resort stay.
Finally, it was the Judge that killed Roger Rabbit, right?
So there you have it, for whatever its worth, my evaluation of the system. I am sure it is FILLED with typos and grammatical errors, and also probably contains a few facts that aren’t true at all, so everyone fell free to correct the record or call me an idiot, this can be our little MDE, FP+, NextGen Wikipedia page.
Now, be sure collect your personal belongings, exit to your right, and have a Magical Day!
Now, please move all the way down to the end of the row filling it all available space…
Everyone, whether they are staying on-site or off-site, have old non-expiring tickets they plan to use in the future, have tickets booked as part of a package reservation, or have Annual Passes (APs), are entitled to link their tickets to the My Disney Experience (MDE) account. Everyone will eventually be able to book FP+ reservations, but it appears only people who have a reservation at a Disney hotel get to book FP+ reservations in advance. In addition, you not only have to have a resort reservation, you also have to have a valid park pass linked to your MDE account to book FP+ selections in advance. It appears, based on Intercot postings, that “valid park pass” does not mean a voucher. If you buy a ticket (MYW or AP) and receive an exchange voucher for that purchase, you do not have tickets yet and so that voucher is useless as far as your MDE account. However, if you have the tickets placed at the Will Call desk, it appears whatever confirmation number you get from that transaction will work in the MDE account.
While all tickets can eventually be linked to your MDE (and thus open up your access to FP+ reservations if you are also staying on property), some old tickets do not have enough numbers printed on them that allow you to link those tickets to your MDE account yourself. My speculative observation is that if you have tickets that date back prior to the Magic Your Way ticket structure (which began in early 2005) then you cannot link those tickets at home, but you CAN link those tickets to your MDE account once you present those tickets to a Disney ticketing CM (The MDE website says “This ticket cannot be converted online. Please bring the ticket to any Walt Disney World Resort ticketing location for assistance”). I am sure there are some other types of ticket compatibility issues from 2005 thru 2009 tickets, I am just not aware of them. However, because the MDE website says “Don't see your ticket above? For tickets purchased before 2010, click here” I assume that ALL tickets sold in 2010 to now are MDE compatible and can be linked from the comfort of your home.
Now that we have the ticketing covered, the bands…
The MagicBands (MBs) are nothing more than a wireless serial number, the bands do not “have tickets” on them or “have charging privileges”. The bands have a 16 digit numeric serial number on them, and once you scan your band the magical MagicBand server looks up your information stored on either the resort information system or the ticketing information system (and also your PhotoPass account).
The resort information system contains your room number, your dining plan entitlements, and your charging privilege status, and so having your resort reservation linked in your MDE online account is what allows the MBs to open your room door, access your DDP credits, or charge to your room account. There are a few ways to link your resort reservation to your MDE account, but the easiest is to log on to your MDE account and follow the steps on the website for linking a resort using either your 12-digit numeric confirmation number for a room-only reservation OR your 8-digit alphanumeric confirmation number for a package reservation. While linking the resort reservation via the website is easiest, you definitely can have the Concierge Desk at your resort do it for you (but you have to wait in line to do it). I am not sure if the Check-In desk can also link the resort confirmation to your MDE account or not. I also believe that any Guest Services CM can link the resorts confirmation for you as well.
I had an issue with an “extra day” reservation where my new KTTK cards were accidentally deactivated by a CM, and that resulted in my MBs not opening my door either. I lack an explanation as to why the KTTK deactivation broke the link to my MBs opening the door, but it did, and was only fixed (after 3 trips to the front desk) when my KTTK cards were re-printed. I am just throwing that out there, since there is some back-door linking of KTTK cards to MBs, but the only way you can do it yourself is to use your resort confirmation number.
The ticketing system stores your park pass entitlements, and the MDE account automatically links your tickets from your resort confirmation IF you buy tickets from Disney as part of that resort reservation. If you buy your tickets elsewhere, you have to manually link them, as discussed earlier.
The PhotoPass photographers can now scan your band to store your tickets, but I am not sure how the systems are linked. The PhotoPass system somehow matches your bands to either your ticket data or your resort data (probably the ticket system now that I think about it), but I never did figure out the details of how that link occurred, but mine linked with no effort on my part.
So you have three independent systems at Disney (Resort, Ticketing, and PhotoPass) that continue to operate as independent systems, but the My Disney Experience system links them all together and then links that link to your MagicBands. Of course the MBs only work if YOU link the three systems together yourself (only reservations made on the Disney website are automatically linked in MDE).
So who gets a MagicBand? Who gets FP+? Who killed Roger Rabbit? All questions which remain murky, but my analysis is this:
Right now, you get a MagicBand for everyone in your party (even infants) every time you make a reservation at a participating Disney resort (which is about to become ALL Disney resorts at the end of October). Buying park passes of any kind does not get you bands, staying on property gets you bands. I see no technical reason that you cannot use a MB for multiple visits, the system allowed me to use the bands on 3 separate reservations over 7 days, so if it will let me do that I see no reason an AP holder cannot use their band over and over. Heck, if I understand it all correctly, I could unlink my band and give it to a friend to link on their MDE account and use the MB for their own trip to WDW where they are staying offsite and buying tickets from the OTC. That part is pure speculation (the part about moving bands to different MDE accounts) but the system definitely allows you to link multiple reservations.
The ticket component of the bands follows the same rules ticketing has always followed, so if you buy Non-Expiring tickets, those tickets (which don’t exist on the bands themselves, only on a Disney ticketing computer an perhaps the plastic card that your ticket originally came on) will work forever, and as long as you have those tickets linked in your MDE account, those tickets can be accessed using your band years down the road. If you have non-expiring tickets linked on your MDE that you do not want to use on your next trip, simply unlink the tickets from your MDE and then you can re-link them later when you actually want to use them (just don’t loose track of the non-expiring ticket’s NUMBERS!)
The benefit of a band for someone not staying on-site is that the band can be used at park entrances and at FastPass entrances. Of course the $64,000 question is….when do I get to book my FP+ experiences????
If you are not currently staying at a Disney resort, you cannot book your FP+ experiences until your MDE-linked ticket has been used for entrance to a park. So your bookings are made the day-of. This is true no matter what type of ticket you have, even AP holders.
If you are staying on Disney property, and you have linked BOTH a resort confirmation and a valid park pass, then you can book your FP+ somewhere around 60 days out. Once you have both room and tickets linked, the FP+ page opens up for you to select dates, but I am not sure what the restrictions are on what dates you have to use. However, what I do know is that the number of days equals the number of park days you have on your park pass, so even though I had a resort booked for only 5 nights, the moment I added a 6th day to my 5-day passes the MDE website allowed me to book those FP+ experiences for the 6th day. When I only had 5-day passes, I was limited to 5 days worth of FP+ selections. Something I noticed when my 6th day opened up, I was actually able to select dates well beyond the 6 days I was staying. I am not sure what the criteria is, but you do not have to book your FP+ on consecutive days, as I matter of fact the system allowed me to book FP+ selection at least 21 days apart even though my tickets would only be valid for 14 days from first use. So I speculate that you could buy 10-day park passes, stay on-site one night and get FP+ reservations for 10 days even if you stayed off-site the other 9 days. Nothing I saw with my use of the MDE app prevented me from doing that. But that part is PURE speculation on my part, and if true I am sure has some limit to how far away your FP+ reservation can be from your resort stay.
Finally, it was the Judge that killed Roger Rabbit, right?
So there you have it, for whatever its worth, my evaluation of the system. I am sure it is FILLED with typos and grammatical errors, and also probably contains a few facts that aren’t true at all, so everyone fell free to correct the record or call me an idiot, this can be our little MDE, FP+, NextGen Wikipedia page.
Now, be sure collect your personal belongings, exit to your right, and have a Magical Day!