Hi Kate!
Welcome to planDisney! All the best gals are named Kate, right? I’m happy to hear you will be making a return trip to the
Walt Disney World Resort. Let’s talk MagicBands!
MagicBands are always linked to a Guest, and stay linked to that Guest permanently. They are not associated with a specific trip or resort reservation or even with a specific ticket. The MagicBand is associated with the Guest, and then tickets or other reservations are also associated with that Guest, and the MagicBand is just the means to access all those things by the Guest. Once you understand that part, the rest makes a lot more sense. So this means that for your upcoming visit, your MagicBands are all still linked to the same person from your 2016 trip, and so no additional steps or linking of the MagicBands to be done.
A word of caution however, because 2016 was quite a few years ago. The official word is that the battery in the MagicBands lasts approximately 2 years. Many Guests have reported that they have had success using MagicBands older than that, but while your 2016 MagicBands are still linked to your family members, they may not work simply due to their lack of battery power. Some Guests have also reported that while older MagicBands will work for some things such as opening a room door or theme park access, the battery power is not strong enough to link on-ride photos. I have heard of Guests using MagicBands that are more than three years old, but five years may give you trouble.
If you wanted to use MagicBands, you could consider ordering new ones before your visit. Guests of Disney Resort Hotels can pre-order MagicBands with a discount, or you can check out the selection on
shopDisney. You can also consider taking your old MagicBands with you and seeing if they work on arrival. If you find the battery is no longer in working order, you could then purchase new MagicBands at that time.
If you will be staying at one of the Disney Resort Collection Hotels, you can use your mobile device and the My Disney Experience Mobile App to open your room door, or you can receive a Key to the World Card to use instead of a MagicBand. You can also go to any Disney Theme Park Ticket Window or Guest Relations to receive your theme park tickets in card format as well. Soon, Disney will be rolling out
Disney MobileMagic that will allow you to use your mobile device or smartwatch in place of a MagicBand, but these new features will not begin until later this year.
Sending pixie dust for working MagicBands, Kate, or that you find the perfect, updated bands for your visit!
- Kate