Is the Magic Band+ Worth It?

Both Walt Disney World and Disneyland offer use of a Magic Band - a device you wear on your wrist that holds your ticket information so you don't have to carry around a paper ticket (though you can, if you want to). Magic Bands of all types also hold lightning lane reservation information so you can scan into the ride queue, room information so you can unlock your resort room door if staying at a Disney resort, and you have the option to load payment information so you can scan your band to pay for things in the park. It's incredibly convenient, and we are big fans.

There are two types of Magic Band. With the 50th anniversary celebration at Walt Disney World, Disney rolled out the Magic Band+, an improvement over the original Magic Band. Disneyland, which hadn't been using Magic Bands until recently, rolled out the Magic Band+ ONLY this year (you can't get an original Magic Band at Disneyland).

At Walt Disney World, you still have a choice between the original Magic Band or the Magic Band+, if you choose to use a Magic Band at all. Since the Magic Band of either type is ubiquitous at Walt Disney World, and the price point varies depending on if you go with the original, we are going to compare advertised price and features of both here, and then share some personal thoughts about our experience with the Magic Band+ for the first time after years of using the original Magic Band.

Features and Prices

Our Experience

We'll cut right to the chase. We don't think the Magic Band+ is currently worth the extra $20, unless you find a design you simply love and want to have it as a souvenir (ahem, guilty of this).

Disney does not lie about the functionality, but it is perhaps overplayed. While we didn't play Batuu Bounty Hunters, an interactive game in Galaxy's Edge that the Magic Band + seems to have been designed for, because we're not locals and we did not have tend to sink several hours or a day into this game, we did experience the other features such as the synchronous lights during nighttime shows, light up features on rides, and interaction with the 50th anniversary golden statues. But all of these features went down a little bit differently than advertised.

Interactive Statues

As advertised, you can use your Magic Band+ arm to wave at one of the interactive statues. When you did this, your Magic Band+ would vibrate, and the statue would say something cute or play some music.

This was cute, but also tricky. Unless you find a statue in a corner somewhere where it's just you and the statue, in our experience, there was almost always a crowd of people all waving at once at the same statue. Which would cause the statue, understandably, to "freeze up" and not say anything to anyone at all. Like a piece of software handling too many commands at once, the statue would just stop working. It took us a few days to recognize the pattern, and then we found ourselves in the position of orchestrating the gathered crowd "Wait! Wait! It only works if we wave one at a time. Here, this lady will wave. Yay! Now this person can wave. Ok, now..." etc. etc. What was funny was everyone understood the advertised functionality, but it resulted in crowds around statues all waving dramatically. I should have taken pictures because it was funny to see. What was disappointing that you're almost never at a statue alone. Everyone and their brother knows to wave at statues, and it rarely worked the first time.

Nighttime Show Effects

Our experience with this was mixed. For Enchantment at the Magic Kingdom, the lights were few and far between and didn't seem particularly well synchronized. Could it be that, like with the statues, we were among a crowd of Magic Band+ wearers on Main Street U.S.A. and the system was simply overwhelmed? We don't know. We had hoped to see a cool effect from the crowd as everyone's Magic Band+ lit up at the same time (like lighters at a concert, we envisioned), but it just didn't happen.

HarmonioUS on the other hand, was very well synchronized, down to the second and the color. We thought this was pretty nifty for the first several minutes, but the thing you soon realize about nighttime shows is that you want to be watching the show, not your wrist. So the bottom line is, yes, it was nifty, but it didn't really augment the show. It simply wasn't enough to significantly add to the experience. In fact, with the constant vibrations when it was well synced with a show, it was kind of distracting.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind ride plaza at EPCOT

Ride Effects

Upon entering a queue, riding, or leaving a queue, the Magic Band+ would sometimes vibrate and/or flash colors. Sometimes it would do this briefly, and sometimes for a long while. Since this was not a well-detailed feature, we didn't know when or why it would happen, and, again, it didn't really add to the experience.

I can remember it turning purple while riding on the Haunted Mansion. I also can remember it going absolutely ballistic upon exiting Guardians: Cosmic Rewind, vibrating and flashing colors for several minutes. "Yay! We saved the galaxy!" we said. It was amusing, but the ride in the exit queue did more to continue our excitement than the Magic Band+ effects.

So again, we found it distracting. Especially if you wear something usually like a Fitbit or Apple Watch, the vibration might have taught you that you need to look at your wrist right away to see who called or what text you got. So I'd look, only to find my Magic Band+ was lighting up for no reason I could discern.

The Designs and Availability

Let's talk designs because this is one place where the Magic Band+ excels. It's beautiful if you purchase the higher end fancy ones. For the 50th anniversary, several gorgeous designs were released. I got one with the Partners Statue in front of the castle on the face and I adored how it looked. My travel companion got one with a cool retro design that called to mind the first time we visited Walt Disney World in the early 90s. If you want to pay $20 for a design that's only available in Magic Band+, then that's fine.

If you don't want to shell out just for design, there are sites that make decals that you can wrap your normal Magic Band in. The time I visited prior to this, I had a regular Magic Band with a coral monorail decal. The face said Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas which is the Spanish version of "Please stand clear of the doors" always spoken on the Walt Disney World monorail (the Disneyland one, alas, does not speak this.)

Riding the monorail while a monorail passes with my monorail magic band decal on

But there's one other important factor and that is availability. Over time, Disney is phasing IN the Magic Band+ and phasing OUT the original Magic Band. At Disneyland, you can only get the Magic Band+. At Disney World, the Magic Band original is very limited with very limited colors and designs sold these days, whereas the Magic Band+ has increased availability and designs. I think we all know what this means. The original is on its way out.

But you can still re-use your original while it lasts, which it does last about 2-3 years with its internal battery. This alone is a big plus over the Magic Band+ which needs to be plugged in every night to hold a charge over the next full day. And yes, forgetting to plug it in each night was a source of mild anxiety to me throughout the trip.

What We WISH Disney Would Do with Magic Band+

Our verdict is that while the lights and vibrations, and sometimes interactive statues is a nice thought, Disney would do more with the Magic Band+, and we wish they would. Look, we love the basic features of the Magic Band. They are super useful and utilitarian features. We love to not carry physical tickets. We love scanning into lightning lanes without taking our phone out. We love that we can unlock the room, or not have to carry cards or cash in the park if we don't want to. And we love that it's waterproof.

We don't love that it can pop off. We had this happen a few times. This could be remedied with a better band.

We don't love that we have to charge the Magic Band+ every night, and that in order to do so, we need to pull out and plug in a charging cable. Disney could consider wireless charging technology and installing charge points in resort hotel rooms, and at places where people rest at parks (on the benches, or at dining tables). Losing the charge is kind of a big deal since the Magic Band is your ticket, room key, and cash. Disney could also have a sign on resort room doors that reminds you "Do you have your charged Magic Band with you?".

But rather than just fix existing problems, here's what we really want the Magic Band of the future to do, the most practical at the top:

• Vibrate when: my lightning lane return time opens, my ADR table is ready, or my virtual queue boarding group is called. THESE are the things I'd like to know without having to constantly check my phone.

• Find my (buddy's) Magic Band functionality. When your party gets separated, pull up the park map, click "find my buddy", and find linked magic bands in your party. This would be useful if you get separated, especially from a child, or drop your own Magic Band.

• For resort guests, next bus functionality. Double-tap or make some sort of gesture to have your Magic Band display for your the next bus times from your resort.

• External battery. I don't want to worry that my marathon day in the parks is going to run down my Magic Band. I want to be able to carry a small external battery with me. Theoretically, it can be done now (I used my external phone battery to charge my Magic Band+ using the cable provided), but I do not know if the voltage is optimal. Aside from which, since we know Disney geeks will buy anything, use this opportunity to put pretty branded designs on the external battery. People will buy them.

• The above, of course, means a clock feature. I'm not much for wearing a watch, but with the added functionality, I wouldn't mind seeing the time.

• Rain warning. Three short vibrations (or some other obvious signal) tells you that radar indicated rain is on its way in the next 10 minutes. This gives you time to gear up in your poncho, or find shelter, and avoid the chicken run that inevitably happens when the Florida skies open up.

• Pie in the sky (as if the others weren't), Find Your Way functionality. Use MyDisneyExperience to plug in a destination. "Hi, I'm at the front of the Magic Kingdom and I want to get to Seven Dwarves Mine Train". The band displays an arrow for direction to travel and flashes from cold to warm colors as you get closer. This means you don't have to have the map open on your phone all the time. (The warmer/colder functionality is already enabled for Batuu Bounty Hunters!)

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What has your experience with the Magic Band+ been? Did you play Batuu Bounty Hunters, and if so, do you believe that makes the Magic Band+ worth it? What features would you like to see in future Magic Bands? Comment on our most recent post on our Facebook page, where you can also like and follow us to see when new articles are posted each week. Until next time...