We haven’t been to WDW since magic bands began. Do most people use the colored bands provided for free, or do people tend to replace them or use skins? Do DIY people decorate their bands?
Short answer: yes.
The majority of people just wear what they get for free, I think, but plenty buy fancier ones and lots decorate them either DIY-style or with accessories you can purchase at WDW.
We’ve just come back from 2 weeks, and we decorated our bands. I didn’t see a single other decorated or special band the whole time we were there. Obviously I didn’t spend my whole time looking, but I was taking notice as I wanted to see what other people had.
I’ve never bought a skin but I’ve always considered buying a character/printed Magic Band. However, I found out a few days ago that the RFID chip in them only lasts about 2 years. From what I understand, it’s only the long distance chip that goes out (the one that scans automatically for on-ride photos, etc) but still makes me second guess buying something like that considering you get one free and I’d probably only get to use it twice at the most before the long distance chip went out.