Magic Band first entry to park

I’ve been to Disney World a few times however this year is the first year I will get to experience the Magic band.

We are staying on property (Animal Kingdom Lodge) and as we will receive our magic bands when we check in as they are not sent to us as we are in the UK. So al good.

Next we go to our first park and use our first day of our 14 day day ticket which is already linked to Mydisney and our Magic band…what happens next.

  1. Is there some type of intial registration of the user/guest that takes place on first entrry. Like they used to do with the previous ticket system which also required photo id, carry passports and finger print scans etc.?
  2. Do we just tap in, and finger print scan and off we go?
  3. Do we just tap in and no scans no id no thing else?

Anyone who has stayed on property, would be great to hear from you what the process is when you enter a park for the first time/day of your vacation.

For park entry you will tap in and do the fingerprint scan. When you arrive at the hotel they will make sure your magic bands are all set and also ask you to set up a pin to charge items to your room through your magic band if you would like. The bands will also open your door to your room.

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Thanks for the reply jlyn.

That’s great for park entry it’s just tap in and finger print scan.

Is there any photo id needed for first time use at the parks?

We did not need it for park entry.

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So I’m kinda curious what if you are like my wife whole has virtually no finger prints on her fingers due to a skin condition and in the past has had real issues with the finger print scanners at Disney World.

What happens in this situation with the new magic band system? Does a cast member simply override the system and let you through with just a tap in?

That’s a good question but is likely one that is handled on a case by case basis. The band will identify her by name so I would probably make sure she has a photo id on her, but likely would not require your passport.

The finger scan isn’t of the prints. It takes a bunch of measurements for size and shape of your fingertip. Just remember which finger you used, because after the first scan (it measures and stores info on the first one) you’ll have to use the same finger each time after.

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Is it different than the iPhone finger scan? My prints aren’t great and it’s super annoying on the iPhone!

I think it’s different than the touch screen scans. I learned all I know from reading biometrics section of the UG. I’m not a techie person though, so maybe someone else will chime in.

Edited to add: @rcbarker knows a lot about the technical aspects of magic bands.

@SallyEppcot Thanks for the compliment. I don’t see this as really an magicband issue. I’d expect the fingerprinting to be exactly the same as it was before magicbands. I’d also expect CM behavior to be the same as before regarding fingerprint problems… So, whatever they did for you previously, expect that to continue.

Also, my understanding is that the scan is taking information about your fingerprint, it just isn’t saving an actual scanned image of your fingerprint. The scan looks at various features of your print (swirl locations, distances between swirl points, etc) and puts those elements through an algorithm to generate a profile that differentiates you from probably >95% of the rest of the population (as evidenced by differentiating one of your fingers from your other fingers).

I would guess that it is very similar to the iPhone finger scan, but I don’t know that.

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