What Are MagicBands?
MagicBands are colorful bands that enable magic on your trip and eliminate the need to carry cards and paper. Guests wear them on the wrist. MagicBands look like to a bracelet or a sports tracker. Everyone traveling gets a band. Even the kids will need to use them for certain things during your park touring.
Essentially, MagicBands can
- Unlock the door of your Disney Resort room
- Enter theme and water parks (with valid admission)
- Check in at Lightning Lane entrances
- Connect Disney PhotoPass images to your account
- Charge food and merchandise purchases to your Disney Resort hotel room (only available during your hotel stay)
MagicBands are your link between you and your MyDisneyExperience account. However the only information stored on the bands is that connecting the band with the account. Guests cannot “load” tickets, money or credit cards to the bands. Rather, they connect to your MyDisneyExperience account information.
How Do I Get MagicBands?
MagicBands are available to purchase at a special pre-arrival price for guests staying at an on-site Walt Disney World resort up to 10 days prior to arrival. More information about ordering and customizing is on our MagicBand customization page.
In addition, special MagicBands can be purchased with themes and added to your MyDisneyExperience account.
How Do MagicBands Work?
MagicBands work with RF technology. A radio signal between the MagicBand and the device (door lock, Lightning Lane check-in, theme park gate check-in, point-of-sale purchase location) connects you with your MyDisneyExperience account.
In order to use the bands to open your hotel room door, you will need to have your Walt Disney World Resort reservation connected to your MyDisneyExperience account. In order to use the bands to enter a theme park or water park, you will need to connect your admission tickets to your MyDisneyExperience account. In order to use the bands for Lightning Lane, you will need to have the Genie+ reservations in your MyDisneyExperience account. In order to use point-of-sale purchases with the bands, you will need to have a credit card on file with your Walt Disney World Resort hotel reservation (provided at check-in).
What If I’m Staying Offsite?
For guests staying off property, Magic Bands are available at regular costs, however they are not required. Guests staying offsite will use plastic tickets for admission and Lightning Lane entrance. If you are staying offsite, you cannot use the MagicBands for charging. The charging feature links to your hotel room folio, and only Walt Disney World resort guests use a MagicBand for charging purposes.
What Do MagicBands Not Do?
There are some things that MagicBands cannot do.
- They are not a GPS, so they cannot tracking movement through the parks or locate fellow travelers.
- They cannot hold money on them, so you cannot “load” credit cards or gift cards onto a band.