Hi Ian, welcome to planDisney! Planning a summertime trip to Walt Disney World sounds just fabulous to me. I'm sorry to hear you have had issues linking a Disney Band - let's see if we can help get you fully set up in My Disney Experience.
Any Disney Band (known as a
MagicBand or MagicBand+ in the United States) that you have from a previous trip should automatically be linked to upcoming trips if they are all part of the same
My Disney Experience account. So any new tickets assigned to you should link to any previous Disney Bands and are valid for multiple trips. The only issue you might run into is the battery life (which may be the cause of the linking problem). Disney says the battery should last up to two years on a MagicBand, but I have some from 5 years ago that still work. Nothing is stored directly on the Disney Band itself - they are intended to access all of the information stored in My Disney Experience, like your Theme Park tickets and Resort Hotel reservations. So please also ensure that all this information is linked correctly in your My Disney Experience App. If you continue to experience problems, you could always
call the Disney Experts.
It's worth remembering that a Disney Band is not required to enter the Parks. Most features offered can be accessed through the My Disney Experience App. Should you need to make an additional purchase, Disney Bands have, in my experience, been readily available in various retail locations throughout Walt Disney World.
I hope this information helps Ian, and should you have any further questions, please let me know. Louise.