Can I put a new battery in an old Magic Band?
No. Afraid not.
Recap from the OP…we had a lovely day at Epcot. After parking, we first went to a ticket booth. After a five-minute wait, the cast member at the booth quickly set us up with plastic ticket cards for the whole party, quick enough that we made it to rope drop with time to spare. Those cards worked great for entering the park, tapping in for photos with Anna and Elsa, and tapping in for Guardians of the Galaxy. Also, the app is showing my Guardians of the Galaxy photos, presumably because I also had MagicMobile set up and Bluetooth enabled. Very smooth.
So my conclusion is 1) cards are easier to obtain and use than MagicMobile, as long as you get there early while the ticket line is short, 2) there’s no harm, and perhaps some benefit, in having both a card and MagicMobile, and 3) if a card-free experience is important to you, getting a MagicBand is much, much easier than messing about with the phone.
An anecdote to demonstrate conclusion #3: we were in a standby line waiting at the merge with the Lightning Lane. We waited and waited. Finally, the cast member said to the next Lightning Lane party, “oh, four of you on one phone? Okay, please wait,” and then they let us through. In other words, the CMs know that the phone process is painful, especially when it’s multiple people on a single phone.
Random thoughts way too late at night. 
I hope this helps someone.
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Not sure if it better to revive an old thread or start a new one…
Going to WDW in October. Went to DLP/DCA last May. At Disneyland, we could just use the MDE app for everything (entrance, G+, LL, Mobile Orders) and it was nice.
Now I am reading these threads and it sounds like things don’t work that way.
- I can’t use MagicMobile as my phone does not support NFC
- I can’t get the cards at guest services as my tickets were paid for by family is a gift (i.e. I won’t have the CC w/ me)
Does this mean I am stuck getting a Magic Band???
Or could the free cards be ordered ahead of time?
Or can the passes that I see in my wallet still be scanned someway, just not tapped, at least for entrance? But I am going to be using G+/LL and Mobile Order, so that needs to be considered.
I don’t need them for rooms (staying offsite) or for memory maker.
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Sounds like a MB may be in order. You can get a cheapish one in shop Disney if you’re not staying on-site.
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I solved my own problem (I think). Hopefully this will help someone else in the future…
My oldest DD has a better phone than I do and it supports NFC / Tapping. We will be staying together for the WDW visit, so I had her log into my MDE & wallet on her phone and it looks like we are good to go - she can see the passes and has the tap symbol.
If you know if any reason this would be an issue, let me know!
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That should work. Keep a spare battery with you in case you run out of charge. Honestly I really think the MBs are so convenient and you don’t need the + version, but if you’re just wanting a solution that works, I think you’ll be fine.
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