Hello Wilderness Explorers! Today is the debut of MagicBand+ at Walt Disney World. We are here at Animal Kingdom to buy a new MagicBand+ and see how it interacts in the park. We will be reporting on all of our findings as we test out our new band today.
Luckily crowds seem pretty low, so we are hoping it won’t be too hard to get our new MagicBand+ this morning.
We came to the park for rope drop, and by the time we made it to the Discovery Trading Co., a line had already formed outside the shop for the new MagicBand+. Many of the guests in front of us had been in the park for early entry and had formed a line waiting for the shop to open at 8 a.m.
The entire system they had set up was very organized this morning. As we waited in line, the Cast Members would allow one party at a time to select their bands. It looked like plenty of bands were available, and Cast Members were constantly restocking.
It was finally our turn to pick out our bands. There were many designs to choose from. You can see the full list of MagicBand+ Designs available here.
In addition to all the designs available, there were also plain colored bands available.
We decided on the Cinderella Castle 50th anniversary MagicBand+ and the Fireworks MagicBand+.
To do some testing, we picked the Cinderella Castle 50th MagicBand+. We took it out of the box and began linking it to our My Disney Experience App.
As we linked our band, we noticed there was an update already available for MagicBand+. As we tried to install the update, we were unsuccessful because the band needed to be charged at least 60%. We were disappointed to find that a band we had just purchased was already on a low charge.
After charging the MagicBand+ for 20 minutes with our external battery, it was at full charge and ready for the update.
After installing the update and updating our settings, the MagicBand+ was charged and ready to go.
When we started walking towards the 50th anniversary statues, our bands immediately started vibrating and lighting up. We downloaded the Play App and started playing the Disney Fab 50 Quest.
We wish there would have been better instruction or Cast Members out helping guests next to the 50th anniversary statues. Many guests didn’t know how to interact with the statues.
After playing the Disney Fab 50 Quest on the Play App, we decided to walk around the park and see if our band interacted with anything else. We were disappointed to find out that our band was on low power after only using it for a couple hours. This is something to keep in mind, and we recommend carrying a battery charger if you plan on using it in the parks.
As we walked by the Tree of Life, Kevin was wandering around greeting guests, and we couldn’t resist saying hello.
It was time to do a little shopping. In Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, a new Vault Collection water bottle arrived. This water bottle is part of the Balloon Vault Collection.
While in Chester & Hester’s Dinosaur Treasures, a new 15th anniversary Vault Collection had also arrived, including this 15th anniversary t-shirt.
There was a 15th anniversary drawstring skirt available featuring Mickey Mouse and Cinderella Castle.
This Mickey Mouse 15 years collection crop tee was so cute. We love these retro designs.
We had a great day testing our brand new MagicBand+. The only real issue we found was the battery issue. We can’t wait to continue to test the band in all the parks and see what else we can find. Thanks for following along!
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Any chance of showing how the Cinderella Castle and Fireworks MagicBand+ light up during the fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom? I’m curious if it’s more colorful than the MagicBand+ with just the outline of Mickey’s head since they look like there’s more surface area to light up. Thanks!