Magic Bands Life

Walt Disney World
1

How long to expeect Magic Band to work. Got a fancy one before the Pandemic then cancels two trips. Never got the chance to use.

2

I think they will last a few years or so… but others will have better intel I’m sure :wink: but if you just got yours w/in the last year they should be good to go.

3

They last forever for anything you tap. For the auto ride pics/videos you need the battery which should last at least 2 years. But our last ones were dead straight from the front desk. So no guarantees.

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4

Hmmm, I wonder if my band from 2018 will still work. I really love my Small World stickers on it.

5

This is correct.

6

I’d take it but definitely have a backup. The battery in the first version lasted a lot longer than 2 years but I suspect the newer one don’t.

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7

I got new solid color one’s for $5 a piece but am hoping our $20 one’s from 2 years ago still work. :woozy_face:

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8

Our 2018 bands worked a few weeks ago. For ride pictures and tapping.

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9

Excellent!!!

10

Yeah. Tapping will work forever. The technology used for tapping doesn’t require an internal power source (NFC). Instead, a magnetic field is generated by the tap point, which generates the electricity that causes the radio inside the Magic Band to transmit the necessary information.

So, this works for things like door key, tapstyles, and any place you use your Magicband to be scanned directly, such as photo stations when you get off Space Mountain, or the Photopass photographers, etc. But the “automatic” photos, and features where they detect you from a distance (like on Splash Mountain, etc), uses Bluetooth Low Energy. This requires the battery in the Magic Band to still be working. That is the part that, after 2+ years, is iffy whether it will still be okay.

If you have an Apple phone, Disney how supports Magic Mobile, which causes your phone to transmit the same data as your Magic Band using Bluetooth LE. So you can still use a “dead” Magic Band for tapping purposes, but use your phone for on-ride photos. This feature was also recently added to Android phones as well. Having said that, I haven’t heard whether anyone has tried it WITHOUT a Magic Band to confirm it is working. But make sure you enable Magic Mobile within the Disney MDE App.

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11

If you’re concerned about the long range photos but still want to keep your magic band, you can also change out the center puck from a new band!

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