Hi Stephanie!
Welcome to planDisney! I’m glad you stopped by with your question, because this is something that I think can be confusing, and I hope I can help explain how it works.
MagicBands are associated with a Guest, and once they are associated with that Guest, they cannot be unassociated or transferred to another person. It sounds like you went on a trip with your parents, and you created your mom and dad as Guests that you managed in your
My Disney Experience Account. Let’s call them “Mom” and “Dad.” They have MagicBands associated with them as “Mom” and “Dad.” If your dad then created a new My Disney Experience Account in his own name, let’s call him “Mickey,” and we’ll call mom “Minnie,” then My Disney Experience considers them to be completely different people, and has no way to know that “Dad” is “Mickey” or that “Mom” is also “Minnie.” For this reason, their MagicBands will not work on their upcoming trip, nor can they be unlinked from their old personas or linked to new ones. Of course, their actual names on both accounts is probably the same, but My Disney Experience sees that as two different people who happen to have the same name.
For future trips, I recommend each adult, or at least one adult from each household, have their own My Disney Experience Account, and then link via Family & Friends to the Guest who is organizing the trip, rather than have the organizing person manage everyone else.
Mom and Dad can purchase new MagicBands before their trip if they like. If they are staying at a Disney Resort Collection Hotel, they can purchase MagicBands with a discount right from dad’s My Disney Experience Account. They can also order
MagicBands from shopDisney, or they can purchase new ones on arrival and then link them through the
My Disney Experience Mobile App. If they have smartphones or smartwatches, they can also use the new
Disney MagicMobile to access their park tickets, and open their resort room door. If they prefer not to use either of these options, their Ticket Card or Key to the World Card will also work just fine.
I hope this helps explain the answer to your question, Stephanie. Please let me know if you have further questions I can help you with.
Have a Magical Day!
- Kate