This time lets go and take a look at the long awaited MyMagic+ which is a group of systems that will better your experience at the Walt Disney World Resort. It includes: My Disney Experience, FastPass+, MagicBand, Mobile Lobby Experience and more. I will explain how it all works and as well a list of things that you need to do to activate all of these benefits. Lets begin!
My Disney Experience
First thing on our list is 'My Disney Experience'. What's that? Well 'My Disney Experience' turns out to be a website and mobile app that enables you to get additional information on all that the Walt Disney World Resort has to offer, from resort hotels to attractions, dining and even merchandise. This powerful app/website allows you, the guest, to totally customize and design your vacation. You will be able to plan as much or as little as you wish. You will be able to make dining and other reservations, you even can reserve their FastPass+ selections. As well as all of this, it allows guests to connect with family and friends to coordinate plans and even share photos!
FastPass+
FastPass+ can be thought of as an advanced or premium version of our current FASTPASS system. FastPass+ allows you to book attractions and entertainments experiences, via My Disney Experience. You will be able to book Fireworks and parade viewing areas, shows, Disney Character Greetings and more, as well as your favorite attractions. If you feel overwhelmed with all of the choices that FastPass+ has to offer, well don't worry Disney offers a narrowed down version of FastPass+ called FastPicks. FastPicks provides a set of three FastPass+ selections that serve as a starting point and gives guests the option to customize their selection. All of this sounds too good to be true, so you are probably wondering what kind of price tag this all comes with, right? Well guess what? It comes with your park admission pass. You don't have to pay a thing for it!
Great, now how does making a reservation work? Well for those of us that are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel, you can make reservations 60 days before arrival, plus 10 days(so basically 70days before arrival), similar to resort reservation dining. You can only select one park a day, and inside the park of your choice, you can pick three preferred experiences. As well you will be asked to pick a time period within the following 4 groups: early, mid day, late or all day. Every FastPass+ experience you reserved that day will fall within that time frame. If you group guests together on My Disney Experience it will enable those guests to all reserve the same FastPass+ reservation times, so that your whole party can enjoy the rides together. Return policy is similar to the current FASTPASS, in which you have to arrive within the time window.
You will be allowed to modify your selected park all the way up until you use your first FastPass+ that day, then it will lock down to the park that you are in. But you can modify your remaining FastPass+ reservations in that park. If you do not have a My Disney Experience account setup you will not be able to use FastPass+. Old non-RFID tickets can be converted and used but they will still require a My Disney Experience account. This will make it very difficult to resell partially used tickets.
MagicBand
What is MagicBand? Well MagicBand is a wrist band that allows you to tap into more Magic in your Disney vacation then ever. The band enables you to check into your room(room key), acts as your park admission pass, is your FastPass+, you can purchase food and merchandise with it, and on top of that it is your PhotoPass as well!
How does it work? Everything is touch enabled so all you have to do is touch the designated scanning area (Mickey Mouse's Silhouette) with your wrist band and it will complete the designated actions. So when checking into your room (much like the old room key) you just touch the Mickey Mouse Silhouette and it will unlock your room. When entering the park it works just the same, touch the Mickey Mouse Silhouette and scan your finger print. As well when you are purchasing something just scan your wrist band on Mickey's Silhouette and type your PIN number and that purchase has been charged to your room. You get the idea, everything will be just a tap away!
With all of these cool new features Disney has not forgotten to allow the bands to be customized to your exact need. Much like the old Key to the World Card(room keys for Walt Disney World Resort Hotel guests), you can customize each person’s card . For example, lets say you don't want your child to be able to purchase anything with his card , all you have to do is just program it to not be able to purchase anything on it. Or if you would like to put an expense cap on their card you can as well; so for example if you don't want your kids purchasing anything over $25 then just get their card programed to not be able to purchase anything over $25. The bands will also enable you to pay for your theme park parking.
Okay so now we know what it can do, but is it safe? Well the answer is yes! There is actually no confidential information stored on your band, it just holds a code inside of it which links to your account. In addition, when you purchase something you will still need to type in your PIN number(which is not stored on your wrist band). So even if you were unfortunate enough to get it stollen the person would not be able to purchase anything on it without knowing your PIN number. In addition when you are entering the park you are still required to have your finger print scanned so even if someone used your wrist band they would not be able to get in without your finger print.
Now we know what it is, how it works and that it is safe, but what does it look like? Well the bands are pretty thin, both in thickness and in width and they come in the following colors: red, blue, green, yellow, pink, orange, purple and gray(the standard color). They come in a kids version and an adult version, as well you can purchase band covers, sliders, and MagicBandits. (Here is a link talking about MagicBand accessories) The bands will be shipped to you 10 to 30 days before your date of arrival.If ordered inside the 10days, the bands will be shipped to your resort hotel. And if they are not shipped within 5 days of arrival then there are no color choices available and the standard gray will be shipped. Any replacement band will be gray as well. The bands are also water proof but do not float and they are equipped with a 3 year battery. In addition, each Magic Band can handle multiple ticket entitlements.
Mobile Lobby Experience
'Mobile Lobby Experience’ is a system that basically brings the lobby check--in desk to you. The cast members will be equipped with iPads that will allow you to check into your Walt Disney World Resort hotel from anywhere: road side curbs, bus stop, and any where in and around the lobby. It will eliminate wait time in lobby desk check-in line-ups!
Things You Will Need to Know as a Annual Pass Holder
Annual Pass holders will be able to take part in MyMagic+ system but it is currently in limited testing with some Annual Pass holders now who were randomly selected. Annual Pass holders are in three categories right now:
- AP holders who stay in a Walt Disney World resort and were given a MagicBand are still allowed to make advanced FastPass+ selections
- AP holders who were selected to test MagicBands are allowed to make advanced FastPass+ selections.
- If you are not in the above two categories then you are currently treated as a normal offsite guest, who can make 3 same day, same park FastPass+ attraction reservations.
- You will also be able to connect your credit card to your MagicBand so that you can enable ‘Touch to pay'
- The first replacement band will be free but any after that they will cost $50
- RFID cards are still required for discounts.
General Things You Will Need to Know
FastPass+
As some of you may be wondering what is happening to the old FASTPASS system, well it is being discontinued, they have already discontinued it at all of the 4 theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resorts: The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Everyone can us FastPass+ but there are some important differences between guests who are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel and those who are not. All Walt Disney World guests can make 3, same day, same park FastPass+ attractions reservations at the kiosk located in the parks(they cannot us ‘My Disney Expernce'), while guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel can make advance FastPass+ reservations(they can make reservation using ‘My Disney Experience).
List of Kiosk and their Locations:
Magic Kingdom
- Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Near the Diamond Horseshoe (in Frontierland), Near Peter’s Silly Sideshow (in Storybook Circus), Stitch’s Great Escape, and Town Square TheaterDisney’s Animal Kingdom
- Kali River Rapids, Primeval Whirl, Expedition Everest, Outside of Disney Outfitters, Outside of the service center located at Creature Comforts, and Kilimanjaro SafarisDisney’s Hollywood Studios
- Tip Board, Guest Relations, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Muppet Vision 3D, and Tower of TerrorEpcot
- Tip Board, International Gateway, Future World East breezeway, Future World West breezeway, Mission Space and Soarin'
List of Attractions That Are Available with FastPass+
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
- Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Primeval Whirl, Adventurers Outpost meet and greet, Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo the Musical, and It’s Tough to be a BugDisney’s Hollywood Studios
- Rock n Roller Coaster, Star Tours, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, The American Idol Experience, Disney Junior Live on Stage, The Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, 'Lights, Moors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show’, Muppet Vision 3D, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and FANTASMIC!Epcot
- Living with the Land, Mission: SPACE, Maelstrom, Soarin’, Test Track, Character Spot, Captain EO, IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth, Journey Into Imagination with Figment, Spaceship Earth, and the Seas with Nemo and FriendsMagic Kingdom
- The Barnstormer, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Town Square Theater Mickey Mouse, Town Square Theater Princesses, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid, (Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade was listened as one of the attractions so maybe Festival of Fantasy will have FastPass+ as well), Enchanted Tales with Belle, Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, Main Street Electrical Parade, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, and Tomorrowland Speedway Wishes.
What is FastPass+ Teir Groups?
Disney Hollywood Studio’s and Epcot group attractions into FastPass+ selections tiers. Their are two selections, selections one for group one and selections two for group two.
Epcot
- Tier Group 1 (one selection can be made)IllumiNations, Maelstrom, Character Spot, Soarin’ and Test Track- Tier Group 2 (two selections can be made)Captain EO, Journey into Imagination, Living with the Land, Mission: SPACE, Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends and Turtle Talk with Crush.
Disney Hollywood Studio's
- Tier Group 1 (one selection can be made)Toy Story Mania, Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster, Fantasmic!, and Beauty and the Beast- Tier Group 2 (two selections can be made)Great Movie Ride, Tower of Terror, Star Tour, Indiana Jones, ‘Lights, Motors, Action!’, MuppetsVision 3D, and Disney Jr. Live on Stage.
Okay this is quite a bit of information so here is a quick run down: MyMagic+ is comprised of 3 main parts: My Disney Experience, FastPass+ and MagicBand (RFID bracelet). My Disney Experience is an app/website that allowed you to customize and make reservations for your FastPass+. FastPass+ is an advanced FASTPASS system that allows you to reserve attractions, meet and greets, and shows ahead of time. And the MagicBand is a bracelet that is worn on the wrist and it is your room key, park pass, FastPass+, PHOTOPASS, and you can do room charging with it(or connect your credit card to it).
MyMagic+ is still in testing so when you book your next Disney vacation be sure to check back with me to see if it has left the testing stage and also call and ask Disney to find out if you can take advantage of MyMagic+. Hope you enjoyed this post! And if you have any questions feel free to comment and I will be glad to answer your questions.
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