I’m trying to understand what the upgrade is and if they are worth purchasing?? Not much detail at all on the site 
If you are staying onsite, you’ll get a magicband for each person in your party, no need to purchase. My understanding is the battery life on the bands is not very long so old ones may not work.
Do you know the difference between first and second generation? We all have personalized bands we use every trip that are first gen and I decline new ones. Wondering what new features are on the 2nd gen.
I just googled and found this article.
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Its not features so much, it’s the style, although the Mickey head can be removed on the new ones - if you have a teeny tiny screwdriver. And as @Kkerr76 said, the battery will run out on your old ones eventually. Though even when that happens, they will work for stuff like park entry, FP etc where you tap. They just won’t work for long range stuff, like the photo on Pirates that just shows up.
I think the technology is better in the MB2, allowing for better long range scans and stuff… but you won’t really notice it. Buy MB2 only if you really like how they look or the character on them. And I’d accept the generous upgrade if staying onsite @nwhicks, if only for a newer fresher battery.
I am curious as to the technology of Magic Bands. I deal directly with wireless technology in my job (Bluetooth, etc). The MagicBand usage is really no different than the kind of badge businesses use for entering buildings, etc. They use RFID with near-field technology. As such, they require no actual battery. They are powered in the moment by the magnetic field generated by the scanner. There is no reason why MagicBands couldn’t do the same.
But they don’t use such technology. Instead, they use something closer to Bluetooth Low-Energy. The thing is, such technology does require power…but it also generates a signal that could be detected up to 500 ft in some cases. Now, I don’t believe they are actually using BTLE, but it does make me wonder if the Magic Bands actually provide Disney with the ability to actually TRACK the physical location of folks if they wanted. Not necessarily as an invasion of privacy type of thing, but to gather data on flow patterns, etc. They could use it, for example, on tracking the rate of the lines rather than handing out those little cards on lanyards they use to calculate the standby wait times.
Who knows if they actually are. But based on my experience, it is all possible. Which means they could also then dynamically change the way they are running rides to balance out crowds. If, for example, they are sensing more people are trending toward Tomorrowland, and AdventureLand is kind of slow, they could shift some ride operators over to give those rides in Tomorrowland a bit of a boost.
The fact that they have the scanners, however, does imply SOME level of near-field activation. But as I mentioned, if they just used badge-like technology, they could last indefinitely. (My current work badge, for example, I’ve had for 8+ years. It will likely never go bad since there is no battery involved.)
I think we all agree that they can use MBs to track our every move, and very possibly do. I believe they said when MBs first came out that the battery would last 2 years. Of course, that may have been a lie intended to persuade people to buy new ones.
When I moved on from IT as a primary occupation NT 4.0 was still king and the ink was still wet on the 802.11 standard, so I am in no way an expert. But I seem to recall reading that magicbands use both passive and active technology. The powered signal is there to improve things like automatically linking ride photos or other applications where a stronger signal is needed to guarantee performance. As I understand it, a magicband with a depleted battery will still work at touch scanning locations like entry and fastpass kiosks, but performance cannot be guaranteed for other applications. I can’t cite my sources, so take it for what little it’s worth.
The first time I read about the magicband I thought it would be fantastic for locating lost children. I’m kind of curious why they haven’t developed and pushed that as a feature. Seems like a good way to convince non-resort guests and day trippers to pony up for a magicband.
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Yes you’re right, when the battery runs out it’s only the long range stuff that won’t work. Anything you tap for will be fine.
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Are we talking about the same IT peeps that are in charge of making sure their outward servers are running efficiently? Perhaps they are putting more work into keeping this technology working than they are to keeping the web servers running at peak efficiency. That would explain a lot.
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