Just wanted to check with someone who’s been to Disney how to use Magic Bands.
This is how I understand it works…
on arrival our Magic Bands are each loaded with 14 quick service meals, 14 full service meals and 28 snacks (middle dining plan)
on arrival I also give my credit card details to the hotel and this is linked with our Magic Bands for any other expenses (or is it only linked to the adults Magic Bands?)
on reaching the till at a quick service restaurant, each of us has to scan our Magic Band for our individual meals
if we wish to buy anything on top of the standard QS meal or want to pay for it instead of using a QS credit, we should tell the CM on the till and then I can scan my Magic Band only and it will be charged to my credit card.
Is that about right?
Technically, NOTHING is linked/loaded to your MB. The MB only advertises a unique identifier.
Instead, the MBs are linked to your MDE account. So, when you scan your MB, the identifier is used to look up which MDE account it applies to and charges accordingly.
To expand on that, your MDE account is loaded with all the meals and snacks for your entire party and they are not individually assigned. You do NOT each need to scan your magic bands to access the credits. One person can go to the till and scan their magic band and tell them how many credits of what kind you want to use and/or what to charge.
IIRC, you can go into MDE and determine which magic bands are allowed to make charges. I can’t recall if it was the same for dining credits, but anyone that has access to dining credits has access to them for the entire party.
You charge to the room, and room charges are charged to the credit card, technically. They used to do it when you hit the spending limit ($1k value, $1.5k mod, $2k deluxe) but now seem to do it every few days. Everyone will be able to charge unless you specifically ask for the kids not to be able to do it. But you also need a pin, either to charge to the room or use dining credits. You can set up your pin either in MDE before you go or at the front desk. So the kids can’t technically do it unless you tell them the pin. You don’t need to worry about them buying expensive souvenirs when your back is turned that way!
If you mobile order at QS on things not available on the dining plan, that does charge your credit card straight away, not a room charge.
If you want some things on the dining plan and some not, they have to do 2 separate transactions.
And 1 person can ‘pay’ for all the meals. You’re all just pulling from the pool of credits for your family. They’re not assigned to an individual.