Mine are from early 2014. In looking at a picture online of MBs,it’s definitely that first generation.
Yes. RIde photos make use of BTLE. Although, isn’t there a way to, after the fact, select your ride photo from a screen? (I haven’t done it.)
Keep in mind that BTLE can be operational on your phone without you having to turn on Bluetooth itself, depending on the phone. That’s because BTLE and Classic Bluetooth operate somewhat independently from one another. So the MDE app might use BTLE to act like a MagicBand without you having to turn on Bluetooth. (I don’t know if Disney is actually doing that.)
The NFC aspect of the band should still work without any issues.
As a comparison…my work badge, which also uses NFC, was given to me in 2010. It still works without issue because there is no battery/internal power source involved at all. Same is true of NFC in Magic Bands.
Ok, thanks. But I still need the pictures part to work! 
Also, I would need to find them.
Yeah. I’m sure it won’t work for the photos…at least, for automatically adding the photos. Again, if there is a way to look at the photos after you get off the ride, you can still do it that way…but the automatic part needs BTLE working for sure. Although, if they incorporate this BTLE into the MDE app on your phone, then the need for the BTLE working in a MagicBand is no longer needed as well.
We currently have a ridiculous number of MagicBands…and we’ve never actually even used ANY of them! Back in 2019, we bought MagicBands for ourselves because we were excited for our trip, and planned to stay off site.
Then, because of the pandemic, we booked on-site stays, so we were allowed to order MagicBands all around. Which we’ve done. And my wife and I have a split stay in December, so we can each pick out TWO MagicBands. This leaves my wife and I both having 4 MagicBands! It is kind of wasteful for Disney to just keep giving them away for free like this when there will be very little actual use for them.
I suppose it is possible to see it as a money grab. And I suppose, in a way, it might be (but Disney is allowed to grab money…they are so good at it!). But, as I said before, when Disney first launched MagicBand, it really was the only way to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish because of the state of other technology (that is, Smart Phones). But now, a smart phone can do everything, making the MagicBand obsolete entirely. Guests don’t need one like they used to. So, Disney figures why give them away free? It would have been a money grab before if they charged for them when they were required for the experience. But now? They are no longer required, which means choosing to have/use one is entirely optional…and opens them up for ONLY selling them.
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There are several attractions that don’t have the screen option. 7dmt is one that comes to mind.
I actually prefer magic bands over smartphones. If they do bring FPs back, having to use my phone to scan the 5 of us in will be a pain. Same when entering a park. The magic bands were easy. Each person scanned themselves and my kids could easily keep track of them. I also agree with the battery/WiFi issue.
If you didn’t want them at all, you could opt out before. Those who want them now have to fork out more money and it is a loss of onsite value, even if it is small.
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I can see, in retrospect, how it would have been blindsidey. The multiple mentions were in another thread. I should have been mindful of that.
As I said, I don’t have time or energy in my life for any anger that is not really necessary. No hard feelings from me!
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What did they do in the past if you didn’t have a magic band? Like offsite guests?
They didn’t get those pictures.
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Why you not using the free WIFI - no need for to pay for roaming charges unless you have an emergency.
If you have Memory Maker I know you can request them retroactively. A few of mine didn’t show up and I gave the date, time, and some descriptive facts and they were able to get them to me.
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oops wrong thread
I usually take a picture of the tv screens at the end. Then I have a record of my picture number and the photo has a timestamp. This has come in handy at Disney and Hersheypark.
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I don’t even really need a full MB. I just need a doohickey that attaches to my Garmin watch. MB magicness with all my watch goodness. I don’t really want to have to wear two armbands. Last time I carried my fitbit in a cargo pocket.
Can I at least get a deal due to less material? Or will it actually be double the price b/c nonstandard? 
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Photos are my only concern rides and anything else.
For what it’s worth, DS and I had new MBs, picked up at the front desk because they don’t ship to the UK, in August. One premium, one plain. And the Bluetooth long distance bit didn’t work. We always tap for our photos just in case, so we didn’t realise until we didn’t get our TOT video on day 2. We had to request that, our 7DMT pic and video, SDD and Pirates photos from the photopass team. And we did get them all, but it was a bit of a pain as over the course of 2 weeks we rode them a lot!
Okay. Then this confirms something I’ve been wondering.
If Disney had been me, I would have designed the bands so that the Bluetooth portion was not activated until the first time it was activated via NFC. The NFC could trigger enough power to turn on the Bluetooth portion. This would make the battery last much longer. (In fact, if it were me, I would have made it so that the Bluetooth portion would only turn on for a set amount of time…maybe 24 hours…but the timer would reset itself each time the NFC chip was activated. This would ensure Bluetooth wasn’t drawing power EXCEPT for when you’ve tapped into a park.
But, if the bands are running out of juice before you even pick it up, it seems that they are transmitting from the moment of them being manufactured…which is unfortunate for bands that may have been sitting around for a long time before it was given to someone. 
(Disney really needs to consult me on these things.)
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I’ve never heard of anyone else having this problem though. Which is not to say you’re wrong, I know nothing about it!
Oh, that’s good…because that would just be ludicrous! 
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You can do this with the puck. There are sellers on Etsy with different sized puck holders that slide on your watch/Fitbit/etc. band. It’s what I do - I hate wearing two bands.
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