It’s finally our turn! This month, Walt Disney World annual passholders are receiving invitations to customize and order their MagicBands. The resort has been testing its billion-dollar technology investment, called MyMagic+, for more than a year, but the test was limited to guests staying at Disney resorts.
So, annual passholders, if you’ve been waiting — patiently or otherwise — here is what you need to know about getting your MagicBands.
![disney-world-magicbands.jpg](/blogs/kristin-ford/disney-world-magicbands.jpg)
First, for those who aren’t familiar with the new vocabulary, a MagicBand is a waterproof bracelet with an RFID chip embedded in it that stores information about each guest electronically. Each MagicBand is designed to allow you to enter the theme parks with just a touch-and-go process; charge meals and merchandise to your account; open your hotel room door; make FastPass+ and dining reservations in advance and use them; and allow cast members to call you by name. (For a detailed explanation of FastPass+, please see my previous blog post here.)
Walt Disney World is issuing MagicBand invitations to passholders on a rolling basis in March, and the first bands will be shipped mid-month. To be considered, you first must create an online account at My Disney Experience and enter your current passholder card number. If you have more than one person in your family, link the members together. Then, check this Tickets and Passes page regularly. I did not receive an email notification, but rather discovered that my order was pending on the website.
![disney-world-magicbands-screenshot1.jpg](/blogs/kristin-ford/disney-world-magicbands-screenshot1.jpg)
When you are eligible to order your MagicBands — which are free, by the way — the top of the page will have a spot that states “MagicBand Order” and a button that says “Add Shipping Address.” To begin the process, click on “Add Shipping Address” and fill out that page.
![disney-world-magicbands-screenshot2.jpg](/blogs/kristin-ford/disney-world-magicbands-screenshot2.jpg)
Next, you will be allowed to customize each MagicBand that is being shipped to the same address. That means you have a choice of colors: red, yellow, green, blue, gray, orange and pink. Don’t worry if two family members want the same hue — a scenario that certainly could cause siblings to do battle — because each band is further personalized with a name imprinted on the inside.
![disney-world-magicbands-screenshot5.jpg](/blogs/kristin-ford/disney-world-magicbands-screenshot5.jpg)
![disney-world-magicbands-screenshot3.jpg](/blogs/kristin-ford/disney-world-magicbands-screenshot3.jpg)
Once you are happy with the colors and names you have selected for your family’s MagicBands, it’s commitment time. Hit the “Ship Now” button to get in the queue for deliveries. Once you have clicked “Ship Now,” no additional changes can be made.
![disney-world-magicbands-screenshot4.jpg](/blogs/kristin-ford/disney-world-magicbands-screenshot4.jpg)
Within a few days of completing this process, passholders gain access to booking their FastPass+ reservations online — even before they receive their MagicBands. Passholders are permitted to book seven days of FastPasses in a 30-day period. The days do not have to be consecutive, and the three attractions in one park per day rule still applies. Once an existing day is used, another can be booked.
Along with their MagicBands, Walt Disney World passholders will receive a special passholder slider for the band and a card to be used for discounts and parking, if applicable. Although these sliders are an exclusive for passholders, guests will find many accessories for their MagicBands, including sliders, covers and charms in gift shops throughout the property.
Finally, if you prefer not to use a MagicBand, which uses technology that can be read by short- and long-range readers at Walt Disney World, you can choose not to customize your MagicBands. Instead, ask at your hotel for an RF card, which cannot be detected by long-range readers.
We have 4 Magicbands from a previous stay at WDW. We are now Florida residents and three of us have annual passes and have used them already. If a one-day pass is purchased for the fourth family member instead of an annual pass, will her Magicband work when we all enter the gate?
KRISTIN: Yes, you can reuse her Magicband with the one-day ticket, but you will need to make sure you have linked the ticket to her in My Disney Experience to do so.
Hello I have a question.
I just recently bought my first ever annual pass for WDW and will be going a week after I bought it. How do I go about acquiring a magicband? I see your tutorial and it’s great but I can’t customize a magicband if I don’t have the number right? Do I take my certificate and show it to them and they give me one or will I have to go buy myself one and link it then? Will it be free of its my first magic band?
KRISTIN: You have to activate your annual pass and link it to My Disney Experience. Then, My Disney Experience will invite you to customize your free MagicBand and order it.
If you don’t want to activate your annual pass until the day of your first visit to WDW, you can use the card that represents your pass for admission and FastPass reservations. Once you have used your pass on the first day, link it to your account and you will be able to order your free MagicBand and it will after your first trip.
If you really want to have a MagicBand on your first trip and you do not want to activate your pass ahead of time, you can purchase a MagicBand in any of the stores and have it linked on the spot.
I just received my passholder magic bands and they did not come with passholder sliders. When I called I was told the sliders were limited quantity and had all been given out. Has anyone else been told this?
We received our bands and in the box they said they’d be shipping ours out to us in march when they received a new shipment. I need one my band came off on one of the rides. Thank goodness my friend saw it on the floor of our ride and picked it up.
I am a Florida resident and our family is planning on buying annual passes very soon. I plan on using Disney Gift Cards to buy the passes and purchase the passes at guest relations at Downtown Disney. Will I receive the magic bands when I buy the passes or will I have to wait for them to come in the mail then register on my magic?
KRISTIN: Free MagicBands for annual passholders are sent in the mail. You would need to register the annual passes (or vouchers) and then order your MagicBands. However, if you want them immediately, MagicBands are sold on property for about $13 each and can be activated right away at Guest Relations.
Hi, it’d be nice if these magic bands could be linked to a credit card, no? My teenagers run around the parks, and it’d be cool if they could just pay for food with the band. Of course, I’m talking about those of us who don’t stay onsite. I suspect a lot of us AP folks just take day trips. 🙂
Thanks so much for all of your helpful info. My husband and I already have magic bands and annual passes from our runDisney trip in January but our 4 children still have annual pass vouchers (from AAA). Based on your posts, I was able to understand that I can load my children’s vouchers to MDE we can all make fastpass+ reservations 30 days out but we will not be eligible to order the annual pass magicbands for them until they have activated them- correct? My question is… we are staying offsite at the end of May and onsite for our July vacation- could we use the July magicbands (if we receive them) as annual passes for our May trip or are they not active until check in to a resort? Not a major deal just know our kids will be jealous that we have magicbands to use and they don’t.
KRISTIN: I don’t think you will receive the bands for the July stay in time for your May trip.
I am a weekday select passholder and since I live fairly close to WDW, we never stay at a WDW resort. I went and ordered mine and my mom’s magicband but i was wondering if we can still get them even if we don’t stay at a resort?
KRISTIN: Yes, all passholders are eligible to receive MagicBands.
Do you know if Canadian Passholders will also start receiving them at home? We got ours at the resort, during the trial period, back in September 2013. It’d be nice to get a new set this year 🙂
KRISTIN: At this time, MagicBands are only being shipped to addresses in the United States.
How do they mail the MagicBands – USPS, UPS, FedEx, or?
KRISTIN: All of the above.
We used the magic bands in December 2013 while staying at the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. I customized online but when we got there my husband’s did not get the customized request of orange and the name Tigger. His was grey with his first name. My request was correct. Do you see any reason why his request wasn’t accepted?
As an annual passholder, how far in advance may I book the fastpasses? Thank you.
I received the email three days ago stating that magic bands were now open to passholders of which we have seven in our immediate family. I was only able to order two magic bands. I called about this, and they said the offer was closed already!
Since this is mentioned a couple of times, I thought I would just share my experience. My sister & I bought annual pass vouchers at the Disney Store last summer. Our first trip to WDW was in October. We stayed at POFQ & received our magic bands about a 2 weeks before our trip. We were unable to make any fastpass+ reservations on mydisneyexperience because it only accepted annual pass info and not voucher info. I spent hours talking to Disney IT folks and they just couldn’t be linked until they had been converted into an actual annual pass at the park. Once we had annual passes in hand, we had no problems. This might have changed since then.
KRISTIN: Thanks, Tammy. The cast member on the IT desk that I spoke with this week said it should work now. Hopefully that issue has been worked out in the 6 months since your visit!
Hi there! My child and I are coming to WDW at the end of May. We are planning to stay on-site.
Do we need to be WDW AP holders to take advantage of “My Magic+” and to receive Magic Bands in the mail in advance of our May visit?
Thanks!
KRISTIN: No, WDW hotel guests receive MagicBands, too.
I linked my annual passes to my MAGICBANDS from a past trip.What would be the advantage to changing them over to a new MAGICBAND when it is offered? Trying to be as GREEN as possible
KRISTIN: At this time, you cannot get the passholder sliders and discount card without ordering the MagicBands, too, unfortunately. Also, if you’d like to have a variety of colors, now is the time to order because annual passholders will only be offered new bands once a year.
We are going in September for 15 days at WDW parks and a few days at other parks in the area. Are we only able to book fastpasses for 7 of those 15 days as an AP holder? Will I not be able to get fastpasses at all on any day over our 7th day?
Thank you!
KRISTIN: At this time, you can only book 7 days at a time – if you are an annual passholder. Once you use one of the days, you can book another. If you’re staying at a Disney hotel, though, you can book FastPasses for your length of stay. Remember that FP+ still is in test mode, so this could change in the next 6 months before your visit.
If I purchase a voucher for an AP at the Disney Store will I be able to book fast pass+ on the My Disney Experience site before I get to DW and exchange them for the activated passes?
KRISTIN: Yes, I verified this is possible — with all WDW annual passes, no matter where they are purchased. There is a voucher number you can enter online to link the passes. This is NOT true of single and multi-day tickets not purchased at WDW.
We’re at the parks now and even though we don’t have Magic Bands (though I just ordered them for next time) starting yesterday if you put your AP number in your My Disney Experience you can choose FastPasses+ days ahead of time too! Working great so far!
We are DVC AP holders and used the Magic Bands during our trip to WDW in January. They worked well. Just be sure to touch Mickey to Mickey.
A cast member told us when we renewed our AP that they are sending a new Magic Band for every trip. That will eventually change and the Magic Band will be reused. She recommended getting one of every color while the opportunity exists.
How do we deal with multiple sets of Magic Band offers? Because we’re passholders and we have two different reservations for our upcoming trip, we have 3 Magic Band offers. Are they really going to send me three different sets of Magic bands? And if they are, does that mean that the passholder Magic Band is good at the same time as my resort band, and can I program them for different parks and that way get over the park hopping FP+ problem? I’m curious how Disney is going to deal with Passholder bands.
Will the magic bands allow us to use fast pass+? As an AP, I often got to DW on a whim but find I can’t get fast passes for the popular attractions since they are distributed in advance.
KRISTIN: Yes.
We purchased the annual pass this past Dec. & did not get the Magic Band cove, Can we get them now?
KRISTIN: What cover are you referring to?
Question: Once we have the MagicBands can we use both the cards we have now and the MagicBands interchangeably?
KRISTIN: Yes, you can continue to use the Passholder card until it expires.
Hi Kristen, I’ll be staying at Shades of Green and purchasing AP once I arrive. Will we be able to convert them over to Magic Bands at Guest Services since SOG sell vouchers that will need to be activated anyway.
KRISTIN: I spoke with several cast members and was told that this is not possible at Shades of Green. Your annual pass will, however, be linked immediately to My Disney Experience so you can book FastPasses at that time. Then, when you get home, you will need to order your MagicBands online.
We have APs as DVC members. We will be staying at a Disney hotel, so we’ve already been mailed Magic Bands. How do we get the sliders? Will the front desk carry a supply? Thank you!
KRISTIN: You will need to order the passholder MagicBands online to get the sliders and your passholder benefits/discount cards. I’m told they will not be available on WDW property. You can manage which MagicBands are active on My Disney Experience.
To answer a previous question, we have the Weekday Select passes and I was able to order these when I logged into my account.
I stayed on property back in January and got the Magicband at that point and had linked my annual pass to it so I’ve already been using it during my single day trips. Do you know if they will send the slider and the parking pass to those who already have the bands?
KRISTIN: I asked your question at Guest Relations and was informed that you will need to order the passholder MagicBand online to get the slider and your passholder benefits/discount card. You can manage which MagicBand is active on My Disney Experience.
Thanks for this info Kristin! I went online, and I had the invite for the magic bands too! As of today, they are ordered.
My husband and I had a linked res. in Dec.
for a room at the WLV using magic bands. We had a terrible time as they could not link the DDP for the entire
stay. Also the credits did not transfer over
to the 2nd phase of the stay even tho we were
in the same room. A lot of time was spent at
the front desk. Hope they resolve this issue.
Does this apply for seasonal passholders as well? Thanks.
KRISTIN: Yes, it does.
we are PAP holders from Pa. last year our family was selected to try the magic bands and they worked great. we have stayed off WDW and on and they worked the same at the parks. we were able to even use the Fp+ while staying off WDW. our visit in November 2013, we stayed at WDW FQ. the Magic band opened the gate to the resort and the room. when we entered EPCOT with the bands, a cast member came right over to us and knew our names and ask several questions on why we were not stating at a WDW resort. to get the discount on purchases, we needed to show our normal Pap card. if you drive in to the park and are staying off campus, you need to show your card for a entrance for free parking.
Any idea when AP holders will be able to book FP+ in advance? I was able to order our magic bands today. However we’re going down at the end of March and would love to be able to book FPs ahead of time. We’re renting a house off property so not staying onsite this time around.
KRISTIN: Try it now!
Can we use our nicknames on our bands or does it have to be our given names?
KRISTIN: It’s your choice!
Your last sentence didn’t have anything to do with this topic. An AP holder, like myself, would not be at a Disney hotel. I want to use my AP card as my all purpose media and not wear a magic band. How do I accomplish that?
KRISTIN: You are able to continue using your passholder card until it expires.
We love the convenience of MagicBands, but there seems to be one feature that would make it even better. Since MagicBands are linked to our Annual Passes, why doesn’t it automatically give me a 10% discount on applicable merchandise purchases when I use it? The cashier says I still need to carry my annual pass and photo ID and show them to get the discount. My band lets me into the park, so it “knows” I’m an annual passholder, use of it is protected by a PIN, so why doesn’t it automatically give me my discount?
On that note, I’m also a Tables In Wonderland member. It would make sense for Magic Bands to be linked to that as well. When the waiter comes to your table with the tablet, you touch your band and it automatically makes the 20% adjustment.
When will this be available for everyone else who is not an annual pass holder or staying at a Disney Resort?
KRISTIN: That has not been announced.
We plan to get Annual Passholder vouchers soon but will not activate them until our visit to WDW in Sept for the “Imagination Gala” pin event at Epcot. Will we be able to link the vouchers to our “My Disney Experience” account before actual activation of the passes in Sept? Thanks!!
KRISTIN: Yes, vouchers can be linked for annual passes purchased from Disney and third-party sellers. This is NOT true for single- and multi-day tickets, at this time.
Quick question: I logged into My Disney Experience to set up the account info for my trip in the fall- I had TWO magic band orders show up, one for an Annual Pass and one for my stay at Jambo House. Will I need two magic bands, one for my pass and one for my trip, or will they be able to use the same one and just update hotel information for each trip?
KRISTIN: Assuming you just want to wear one MagicBand, Disney says you should be able to “manage” both MagicBands on My Disney Experience to consolidate everything in one place. If you have trouble doing so, help is available at your hotel or at Guest Relations in the parks.
Thanks for the info about passholders getting magic bands! I logged into my account and there it was!
This will be our 4th set of magic bands. They’ve sent us a new set every time we’ve stayed in the park in the past year, starting in August. I guess they will eventually figure out a way to have the bands persist over multiple visits. The passholder bands would seem to be a way to do it, at least for that category of guest.
Thank you for this information! I checked my account and now we have MagicBands on order.
I appreciate the step by step screen information. It’s very helpful to know you are looking in the correct place.
MagicBands will make Fast Pass + so much easier than a card!!
Excited
I haven’t seen this addressed anywhere, but can an adult order a child-sized band? I have a super tiny wrist (regular watches don’t fit me) and think a child-size band would be a much better fit for me.
KRISTIN: MagicBands come in one size, which can be adjusted for a range of wrist sizes, from a typical 2-year-old up to plus-size adults.
Can my entire party receive a magic band even though I’m the only one with an AP? I’ll be visiting WDW soon and have all of my dining reservations and family members linked to “my experience”, however I’m the only one with an AP. Thanks!
KRISTIN: At this time, the rollout is only for passholders. If the other people in your party are staying at a Disney resort, they, too, are eligible for MagicBands. “Day guests” — those staying off property — have not been added to the system yet.
Thanks for posting this! I was able to find the pending order and customize mine, as well.
Do those annual pass holders for weekdays only get that magic bands as well?
KRISTIN: Yes, weekday passholders are included in this rollout.