Hiya Kathy,
Welcome to planDisney! As a Star Wars super fan, it gives me great pleasure to say May the 4th be with you! Visiting the Most Magical Place on Earth during such an important holiday for the Star Wars fandom will be an out-of-this-world experience. Last year there were
special festivities to mark the occasion, and I anticipate the same this year. Keep an eye out for the intergalactic news.
So on to your questions, first the good news! My family and I have a box full of
MagicBands, and we love to interchange ours for each trip since they are all active. It doesn’t matter when you got your MagicBands; as long as they are active (they will remain active until you deactivate them) and linked to your
My Disney Experience account, you can use them for your vacation. If you wanted to, you could go to the Theme Parks on May 4th with your active MagicBand from 2014 and immediately scan into the parks (as long as your Theme Park tickets are also linked to your My Disney Experience account. Now on to the not-so-magical news, if you did not select to have physical Theme Park ticket cards sent to your house when you initially purchased your Theme Park tickets, you will have to either use your MagicBand, Disney
MagicMobile Service, or head to Guest Services to pick up physical ticket cards for your trip.
If you want to save a trip to Guest Services, use your MagicBand or Disney MagicMobile Service. Disney MagicMobile Service, allows you to utilize your mobile device instead of a MagicBand or physical ticket card. For this, you will need to ensure that your Theme Park tickets are linked to your My Disney Experience account, and then you can create MagicMobile passes for your trip. If you are an Apple Watch wearer, this option is fantastic. One tip for using MagicMobile, though, is to make sure you pack your portable charging bank with you for your trip. You will want your device to be fully charged throughout your day so that you can use it to enter the Theme Parks.
I hope this was helpful, Kathy, and I cleared up your confusion. If not, please feel free to write my fellow panelists or me back so we can provide additional clarification. A trip to Walt Disney World Resort should be magical, and if there is anything we can do to make that happen, we would be honored to do so.
Happy Planning,
Ashley F.