I probably should do several posts on the feats of Information Technology that Disney pulls off in their parks.  And I’ve got a major rant about time management, time wasting, and the bus system, but I’ll spare you for now.  What I do want to discuss first is the new Magic Band system and some of the cool things it can do.

As part of our recent family vacation we spent two weeks at WDW.  With our admission, they shipped to our home ahead of time the magic bands for each family member.  Actually we got three each because we changed resorts twice during our stay (long story about timeshare bookings and wanting to see which resort is coolest). A Magic Band is a plastic bracelet in you selected color that is uniquely associated with you and your park admission.  The bands in a group can be tied together so permissions can be shared.  This allowed our kids to open the hotel room door and our pictures to be all shared, for example.  I’m guessing at this because I haven’t dissected one yet, but each band appears to have two RFID antennas- one for very close touch transmissions often used by “touching Mickeys” to activate, and another longer range antenna which was used automatically when a guest is on a ride which takes pictures.

Just to list a few of the ways and places where the magic band is used:
Preregistration – before your trip the band is associated with your account.
Park admission
Plan ahead fast passes
Pay for stuff in shops and food service (with pin)
Be Our Guest restaurant tables
Ride pictures
Memory maker pictures in park taken by Disney photographers
Hotel room doors
FP+ kiosks and app for more FP during the day.

One interesting money making aspect of the new bands was the decorations and colors available.  In most gift shops you could purchase the bands in a variety of colors.  Which I found odd because we got our bands in our choice of colors as part of our resort  package. So why would people be spending extra for them in the park? Our kids thought the add ons were fun so we bought one fabric wrap and one set of Star Wars “bandits”, then later a set of jewel styled Mickey shaped ” bandits”.  This proved to be a source of frustration, as the bandits were prone to popping off and getting lost.  But Disney is happy to sell you a replacement set.

For the most part, the bands worked remarkably well with the rides, except where the redesigned Test Track ride messed up.  I’ll spare you the rant about how that attraction is now designed to waste your time.  In a nutshell, take the single rider line or skip it entirely.