What Do You Do With Old MagicBands?

@Nicky_S 's post on the new MagicBands got me wondering what does everyone do with their old MBs. I’m getting quite the collection. I don’t trust them to work properly after even a year, so I always get a new one to be on the safe side. On our last trip, we booked through MVT, and, out of necessity, had three reservations to cover our entire stay, so we each got three new MBs. (I know we could have declined the extras, but we wanted different colors to match what we were wearing.)

So, what do you do with your old MagicBands?

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I’m hoping to get enough to make a really tacky garland to go on my Christmas tree. =)

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I know this topic had been thoroughly discussed, but I have a little different take because of what a CM told me a year ago or so when I called and asked how long I could use an old MB instead of ordering a new one (was just trying to be frugal on my part at the time). They said, “You may as well get a new one as long as they are still free.” When I questioned if they were saying that there would be a charge for MB’s soon, they simply responded, “I’m just saying …” That silly little discussion has always stuck with me, especially now that I see WDW has brought out a new line of “upgraded” MB’s for a fee.

Given that and the rest of the money grab WDW has embarked on in the last year, I’d always get a new MB when I can and take an old one with me as a back up. And frankly I’ve misplaced some around the house as it is. Last year I used a 3-year old one on our visit just to see if it still worked. It did. :astonished:

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I cannot see Disney doing a money grab on the MBs for on-site guests. I can see them having limited options as free ones. But the fact is, their entire infrastructure, including all the meta-data they obtain, relies on as many people as possible using Magic Bands. It helps them save money. If they start charging for them, I think a lot fewer people will end up getting them as they suddenly become “optional”. Sure, plenty will use them, but it jeopardizes the kind of valid data and efficiencies they get with them to do so.

The fact is, it costs them VERY LITTLE to manufacture them, so it isn’t like a huge loss. When they sell special ones for $15 or $20, they are making probably 95% profit on those things. So, the key will be for them to offer more/better options that people would be willing to pay for in upgrading, while keeping the bad band free.

When we were shopping for Magic Bands for our trip, I was kind of disappointed at their choices. Very few of the bands are something we’d really WANT to wear. But I found TONS of these cheap sticker overlays you can buy on Amazon, etc., that are SUPER cool looking. Disney needs to offer more options like that.

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