End of Discount MagicBand+ for Disney World Guests
Walt Disney World has discontinued the discount MagicBand+ program for pre-arrival Walt Disney World resort hotel guests and Annual Passholders. With this, it’s another end of an era for the popular wearables; what was once a fan-favorite on-site perk when it launched has declined in popularity in the years since and is now quietly being killed.
For newer fans who are unfamiliar with this program (or anyone who wants to take a stroll down memory lane), this program launched back in May 2019 in celebration of the MagicBand’s 5th Anniversary. At the time, the upgrade portal offered the ability to upgrade from a free solid-color MagicBand to one of more than 30 new premium MagicBand designs featuring favorite Disney characters and designs at a special price reflecting a $14.99 discount.
Even once the upgrade program launched, several free MagicBands were still available for guests who choose not to upgrade. The new designs could also be shipped to guests’ homes (U.S. addresses only) if ordered 11 or more days ahead of arrival and can be personalized if done so at least 6 or more days ahead of arrival. At the time, most MagicBands cost $5 to $15 after the discount.
The pre-arrival program launched on May 20, 2019 and, like so many things utilizing Disney IT, had a rocky rollout. I would estimate that that approximately one-third of the 953 comments on our Guide to Pre-Arrival Discount MagicBands at Walt Disney World involve some sort of troubleshooting help. (Hence that being a major section of the post!)
The upgrade program eventually worked (more or less) as intended and quickly became a Walt Disney World fan-favorite offering. We saw a ton of reader interest in this topic, and we ourselves boughts several MagicBands with the pre-arrival discount. (I still fondly remember the slow release of resort-specific MagicBand designs in late 2019, which were a personal favorite.) It was a no-brainer when it was only $10 for a premium design!
I would hazard a guess that another one-third or so of the comments on that post came when Walt Disney World announced the end of the ‘complimentary’ side of the MagicBand upgrade program, effective January 2021. That was one of the proverbial nails in the coffin for MagicBands at Walt Disney World, even if it didn’t seem like it at the time.
That announcement actually flew a bit under the radar, as the MagicBand news was one of several ‘soft resets’ to the guest experience that was announced in Summer 2020 before the parks even reopened. Walt Disney World retiring the free MagicBand program was announced in the same press release as the Disney Park Pass reservation system and other health policy initiatives. This bombshell came only a couple of weeks after the retirement of FastPass+ and Extra Magic Hours, as well as the suspension of the Disney Dining Plan.
Suffice to say, it was a big, bad news month for Walt Disney World fans, and the end of free MagicBands was among the least consequential news. There were plenty of fans who were–and still are–upset, but Disney flooded the zone with negative news, and it was difficult to be equally upset about all of it. (“Challenge accepted” said the most dedicated WDW diehards.)
The next big blow to MagicBands was the introduction of the MagicMobile service at Walt Disney World via the My Disney Experience app. This roughly coincided with the sunsetting of free MagicBands in early 2021.
Around that same time, Walt Disney World announced the MagicBand+. The time from reveal to launch was a drawn out process, with the MagicBand+ first being announced long before it debuted, and a delay seemingly occurring somewhere along the way.
From the time it was announced, our fear with MagicBand+ was that it was going to be an expensive boondoggle. That Disney would invest a ton of money developing new wearable tech and push it as hard as possible to recoup those costs, only to see it flop with fans.
Judging by the thousands of MagicBand+ that were given away to Disneyland fans and how few of the devices we see in the WDW parks as compared to OG MagicBands only ~5 years ago, it’s safe to say that MagicBand+ has not been the success that Disney envisioned. Despite this, there has been no pivot back to the simpler days of the OG MagicBand.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the MagicBand+ when you boil the wearable down to its core functionality. It is fine. It can do all of the things that the OG MagicBand can do; it’s just a matter of ignoring the pointless bells and whistles, poor battery life, etc.
The problem is price. What was once free for everyone staying on-site changed to a charge. Not a huge issue at first, as there were still $5 to $15 options, which is minimal in the grand scheme of a Walt Disney World vacation. At least, when the OG MagicBand was still around.
That all changed once the MagicBand+ effectively replaced the OG MagicBand. The minimum cost shot up to $25 and there were upgrade options costing as much as $45 as of mid-2022. If you wanted anything other than a plain color, the price was at least $35. At that point, you were arguably better off just waiting for a sale at the Disney Store, which also has better selection.
And that right there is what doomed the discount MagicBand+ pre-arrival program.
It wasn’t the supply chain issues that plagued the program during the phased reopening, which Disney rebounded from nicely by last year (there were a record number of designs available at one point!). It wasn’t technology passing by the MagicBand, or the free MagicMobile service replacing the wearables.
If Disney continued to give away MagicBands, they’d still be a huge hit with guests. One of those “little things” that makes people feel good about the premium pricing that Walt Disney World charges, because they deliver a premium product and a commensurate guest experience.
Above all else, what led to the discount’s demise was the practical reality that the “discount” MagicBands stopped being a deal, and the cheapest MagicBand+ to get through the portal was routinely $35 or more.
This led to guest disinterest, which led to fewer updates from Walt Disney World, and so on and so forth. The writing was on the wall a long time ago, and it became patently obvious when Disney retained seasonal, annual, and celebratory inventory long after it was irrelevant.
Although some fans are going to categorize this as Walt Disney World wanting to increase revenue by charging more–a price increase by a different name–we’re not so certain that’s the correct characterization. If anything, I would hazard a guess that Walt Disney World is generating far, far less revenue from MagicBands than they were back in 2019. It’s a matter of volume, due to how they’ve bungled MagicBands over the last ~4 years. Decisions like this only exacerbate that, and are probably a net-negative, not positive, for revenue.
Walt Disney World has finally made it official with the sunsetting of the discount MagicBand program as of October 8, 2025. The order flow still exists to go through the motions and make a selection, there’s just no discount:
Updated MagicBand Order Process
This page mostly looks the same as before, save for the removal of verbiage referring to special discounted pricing being available for guests with an upcoming Disney Resort hotel reservation or Annual Passholders.
Above is the page we see for our first resort reservation. In typical Disney IT fashion, it actually took me a few times just to get this to display. Prior to this, I received an error message: “We are unable to display your MagicBands and cards at this time; please try again later.”
This happens about half the time, and it’s my understanding that this is a “me problem” because I have too many MagicBands and cards linked to my account. (Even though I’ve proactively removed them on my end, they still exist on the backend; every few years I have to have one of the “Avengers” Cast Members go through the backend and delete the dead weight so my whole account doesn’t constantly crash. But I digress.)
If you are wondering what the non-discounted pre-arrival MagicBand+ inventory looks like as of today, there’s your answer.
There are actually a few new additions since our last update on the designs in August, but that’s also not the purpose of this post. I’d estimate that at least 75% of these styles have not changed in the last year-plus. Over half are identical to what was here at MagicBand+ launch.
Most of these designs are now $44.99. There are about a half-dozen solid colors that are $34.99. There are a couple ‘color trends’ that are $49.99.
The best design is now $44.99.
I have screenshots from this exact same MagicBand when it was $34.99 after discount two months ago.
Now I regret not making the purchase, even though I maintain that this design is much better on a shirt, where it looks like Figment is bursting out of your stomach. It’s nice synergy with Alien: Earth, now playing on Hulu by Disney. (Subscribe now and save!)
The same MagicBand+ is the same price via DisneyStore.com.
Given how frequently DisneyStore runs deals, it makes very little sense to buy from My Disney Experience unless you’re doing so last minute and don’t care about the cost.
Honestly, even before today, this was pretty close to being the case. It’s just definitive now.
Are MagicBands Needed at Walt Disney World?
No. MagicBands are not required or even necessary at Walt Disney World. For room entry, park admission, Lightning Lanes, and charging privileges to the hotel room, Walt Disney World offers plastic Key To The World cards. This can be provided at the hotel front desk, and is how things worked prior to the debut of MagicBands several years ago. Alternatively, guests can receive standard ticket media and use that for park entry or using Lightning Lanes.
Additionally, MagicMobile service is available at Walt Disney World via the My Disney Experience app. This can be added to your Android, iPhone, or Apple Watch digital wallet once enabled. This works just like a MagicBand with most features working by simply holding up your smart device near an access point. It can be used to enter theme parks, connect Disney PhotoPass images to your account, enter Lightning Lanes, and more. Here’s how MagicMobile compares to MagicBands.
MagicMobile and Key to the World cards are two of four ways to access these features. The other options are the MagicBand+ and the regular ole MagicBand 2.0, as we’ll discuss below. Our brutally honest MagicBand+ Review: Good, Bad & Ugly should help you determine whether it’s for you.
MagicBand Discount Demise Final Thoughts
As suggested above, it was this chipping away at the pre-arrival MagicBand discount program that has led to its gradual downfall. Although the program is being officially retired today, Disney has been slowly letting it die for years. I guess to their “credit,” they’ve ensured that the backlash to this news wouldn’t be strong, as this one-time fan-favorite program long ago lost its luster.
For those who are curious, we do not view this change as a sign that Walt Disney World’s long-term goal is to gradually sunset the MagicBand+ device. There’s ample evidence that Disney is continuing to push the MB+ on both coasts and Disney Cruise Line. Just in the last 6 months, even Disneyland (where the device is incredibly unpopular) had a big interactive initiative for the 70th.
I do fear that Disney’s ongoing strategic bungling of MagicBands (and this is one example of that) will eventually lead to its abandonment. Not anytime soon, but perhaps within 5 years. I’ve written this elsewhere, but MagicBand+ reminds me a lot of Glow with the Show/Made with Magic. That was another wearable that Disney spent a ton of money developing and pushed hard–until they stopped. It was almost like flipping a switch, with it being deemed a failure and the decision made to pull the plug.
Like Glow with the Show, my suspicion is that there are internal advocates and critics of MagicBands within the company. A lot of fans act like Walt Disney World is one aligned entity with clear direction and consensus decisions. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Walt Disney World is like a bunch of businesses competing with one another. More guest spending on product X means less on product Y, creating an incentive for the team behind Y to view X antagonistically. This applies right down to the land-level at each park; you wouldn’t believe some of the stories about tensions within Magic Kingdom or EPCOT.
I don’t have any inside info with regard to MagicBand, but just in watching the incoherent strategy from the outside, I’d hazard a guess that it’s a polarizing product and the subject of strong internal politics. (Keep in mind that MagicBand+ isn’t even a “local” product to Walt Disney World; it’s a global one, so it’s probably under higher-level purview.)
I’m sure some Walt Disney World diehards will still be disappointed by this development. I know I certainly am. But this is more akin to learning that a magazine you stopped reading years ago is finally going out of print. You moved on long ago, and maybe are even surprised to learn it was still limping along.
But it’s nevertheless disheartening as the end of an era. You’re mourning what once was, and how the times have changed. That’s how I feel with regard to this.
In a bit of a full circle moment, today is another day that Walt Disney World has flooded the zone with negative news. Just like the when free MagicBands ended, this is hardly the most consequential story of the day. And yet, it’s the change that hits hardest for me, because it’s yet another little way that we’re fully and finally closing a chapter on the circa 2019 Walt Disney World guest experience.
At the risk of stating the obvious, no one is a fan of price increases. But honestly, most of that news today bothers me a lot less than this. Even though it’s a policy choice by Disney, pricing is largely a product of the market; it is what it is. But as we’ve pointed out, it’s not just price increases that have been happening since 2019. It’s those coupled with corresponding cuts, nickel and diming, and other ways the guest experience has been diminished.
Price isn’t the only, or perhaps even primary, concern. It’s the value proposition, which has taken hits in both directions. Walt Disney World has made a lot of positive decisions lately, and we don’t want to diminish any of that. In some ways, it really feels like Walt Disney World is turning a corner and getting back on track! But they still can’t help but get out of their own way when it comes to some of the “little things,” and as inconsequential as they might seem, they’re much more meaningful decisions than pricing policies.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of Walt Disney World ending the discount MagicBand upgrade program? Is it the end of an era for you, or do you not care? Will you be paying full price for one of these colors or themed designs? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We love our Magic Bands but most are the original and not + and those do not get Photopass ride photos anymore (they still work if scanned but not with if there is no where to scan for a ride photo). If we DO NOT want to use our phones for this and we no longer bring Magic Bands, how do we get ride photos where we cannot scan cards at the end of the ride????????
You have to make a request for Disney to find your photos through the app. I was missing a few last week (my Magic Band + from 2 years ago already stopped working) and they found them all within a day. Time of ride and picture of a rider in the outfit they wore helps. Ridiculous system but it “worked”
I love Magic Bands the most for kids, so I really hope they don’t phase them out. We go frequently with grandparents, and I was so much happier to send a kid off with a band than to have to give another person their physical park ticket to be able to tap in for a lightning lane. I also find Magic Mobile can be clunkier and drains the phone battery, especially when you use it so much for lightning lanes and wait times and such.
i used to love having a magic band. You didnt need to carry any money/credit cards, just charge it to the room. Didnt have to carry anything, cause it would be delivered to the room. And you could pay for your charges daily when you got back to your room, so you didnt have a huge charge at the end of the trip. It was great! And I cant even say it was COVID, cause when I went in 2019 is when the test “do you want money or mousekeeping?” started. After that, things started to change. When I went in 2021 after COVID, there was no longer able to pay it day to day (and the front desk said they would put a hold on my CC for $100 for EACH transaction i made), the mobile app could get you into your room and parks, no more resort delivery (which was a huge shame) and you could use touchless pay for stuff with your phone. #RIP magicband
This stinks honestly- mainly because I feel like it will be taken away completely. Sigh*
Another piece of magic gone….
I appreciate the lengths you go to protect your daughter’s privacy in this influencer driven world where children are exploited for views. But, don’t you think it’s a bit silly to blur her name when we already know it’s Megatron?
I would laugh at this (okay, I *did* laugh at this), but little do you realize that we still get a comment or email about once per week asking why we named our daughter Megatron.
And it’s never a polite one, respectfully pointing out that her rad name might cause problems later in life. It’s always angry! Almost feels like there’s some dude with a bunch of burner accounts who has made it his mission in life to badger us into renaming our daughter. We will stand strong.
Right?!? Any self-respecting parent would know that Galvatron was way cooler! (I know Megatron was a WR for the Lions.)
problems later in life? Only from people with extreme jealousy of all the awesomeness she’ll exude. Be strong little Megatron, team DTB has your back.
Removing a pre-order discount means to me they are either selling more than expected or don’t really care about the product. At least as an integral part of the park experience and not just another overpriced souvenir. Magic Bands are part of the bubble / experience for us. Sure, it can all be done with a phone, etc., but that has the same charm as airline check-in procedures.
I guess we’ll be using our not-so-new MB+ until they don’t work anymore. A size-able discount (pre-arrival / onsite / whatever) might tempt me to replace ours with a new look. But $50 a piece is a non-starter.
Well I will send you the opposite angry comment, Tom! I am appalled that Megatron is only the alias you use on your blog and that in real life she has a “normal” name! Megatron is an awesome name (even for a young girl who doesn’t live anywhere close to Detroit) and you should be ashamed that’s not the actual name on her birth certificate. 🙂
I kind of assume the MagicBands+ were meant to be an answer to the wands at Universal, but 1. They don’t do anything interesting and 2. The app was such a burden I still don’t own a + version, after watching family members having to spend time getting it working at guest services. If they had even put in some features that interested techies but no one else, it would have been worth it to see some of the guys in my family lose their minds over it. But the occasional light ups and musical statues that don’t really work is not a trade off for the much higher price and dealing with the app.
We still use the original free ones they used to send you before your trip. Since we no longer stay on property, we literally only use them to scan into the parks. Totally unnecessary at this point, but wearing them is another thing that makes us feel like “we’re back!” Plus, it gets some appreciative chuckles from long time cast members 🙂
Our original Magic Bands from 2019 still worked in 2023 and hoping they still do. Down to the battery life I know but we don’t wish to carry multiple phones to access parks, dining plan, etc
Just used it for Park Entry and charging at Resort although the WDWs stupid 100 USD at a time authorisation against my UK credit card and then refusal at the tills when this ran out made this an embarrassing time meaning I needed to carry a phone or wallet too as a necessity.
Shot of Disney fan as he drops to his knees.
Disney fan, head down.
Slow pull back as he lifts his head to the skies.
Shot from overhead as a low, slow building sound of deep emotional pain emits from from their tearful face.
“nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Ya’ll can say what you want about MB+. I am grateful for the many opportunities they’ve provided me with in Downtown Disney to wave my arm like an idiot in front of cardboard cutouts that are supposed to make sound but don’t. Long may they live.
Are they charging for shipping if you order them through the MDE site? (Trying to pretend that there is still some sort of discount/advantage.) I find myself very annoyed that the free shipping spend threshold has increased on the Disney Store site. I always felt that when they closed so many brick-and-mortar store locations a few years ago, they should have made it up to us by lowering that threshold and not raising it!
Thanks for the update Tom. When free magic bands were retired I was bummed but I still got them every trip we came (once or twice a year every year). I like being able to scan in at the pool, paying at the pool bars, buying a coffee a contempo grill or contemplating grounds and scanning into rides with them. I completely understand why they are fazing them out as we are living in the best technology boom in the history of the world and you can do everything you want with your phone as you can with a magic band, for free. That being said, we used them as our kids Christmas surprise one year to let them know we were going in the next month and I will always buy a magic band (or reuse an old one) every time we go as long as they are offered.
I have said this previously on this subject, I find the Magic Band as a better alternative to Magic Mobile. Unless WDW seriously upgraded their Wi-Fi, there’s tons of radio dead in the park. Yeah the newer ones need to be charged daily, so you pack accordingly to make sure you have provisions to charge them. Granted some newer and remodeled rooms if you are staying on the property have available USB ports in the room, so that might help a little.
My OG Magic Band broke a couple of years ago, and I have not replaced it. I am not interested in another device that needs charging. I just use my AP card to access the park now. It’s no big deal. We live in Orlando, so we don’t need a Magic Band to access our hotel room, for parking, etc. Most people I see in the parks are no longer wearing Magic Bands. I would not be surprised to see Disney phase them out in the future.
I agree that the MagicBands are like a major mindset, like a superhero getting into costume. Leave the world behind and be prepared to enter the Disney bubble. We put ours on the morning of, driving out of Georgia and into Florida. I preferred the simpler bands and would hate to see them sunset. I was sad they didn’t work in DL nor do they at Vero or HH. They were our kids first taste of freedom to buy things on their own, and they raced to be the first to open the room door. They’ve gotten too expensive to buy more, but fortunately we have enough to use as garland on our Christmas tree. I just hope the program will remain so that I can pick out which one I’ll wear next, turn on the Disney Playlist, and make the happiest drive south.
Try again next time you go to Vero Beach! They can help you at the front desk if they aren’t working. We’ve used ours there before.
I mean, talking in person with the MB+ reps at D23 back in the day, they also stated that this was their goal with MB+ itself – to phase out the disposability and waste of MB1 and 2.
Something rechargeable, usable for multiple trips, and would last a decade. I mean, my first MB+ is now nearly 3 years old, still holds a two to three day charge (especially with later FW updates), and always works passively.
Initial uptake seems harder now, and the absolute bungle of them at Disneyland (still not working at Parking or for hotel rooms/charging!) is a huge miss, but I still think they are a damn handy thing at WDW (especially for parking and room stays).
I think a big reason why initial uptake is more difficult is because they’ve priced themselves into a corner with the device. And part of the reason that’s happened, at least I assume, is because they spent so much on the initial development costs that they probably still haven’t recouped.
I don’t think Disney should’ve been obligated to take a per unit loss on the MagicBand forever by offering it for free or even $5, but it just does not seem like the upgrade to MB+ has been “worth it” (it being the higher cost and added functionality) for the average park-going guest. YMMV.
Hastin, thank you for that information! It sounds like the problem is that Disney added too many requirements to this generation to keep costs down, but too few benefits to guests to justify that cost increase. Maybe they should have dropped the sensors and just kept the recharge capability. I’d suggest it would be smarter to focus on “back-end,” software-based increases in utility, but as a wise blogger repeatedly said, “Disney is not a tech company” and “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”
Tom – I find myself continually fascinated by your insight and knowledge on all things Disney. Add that to your top quality literary skills and that why i look forward to reading your daily articles on the Disney Tourist Blog!!
Question – do you think this is a small step towards sunsetting the magic band product in its entirety? We were just at Disney World in September and my wife used her phone for everything instead of her Magic Band. I used my Magic bands tho – because I still love showing off my Mickeys 50th anniversary band or my POTC band with my DVC , Disney Cruise Line and AP sliders.
I do not think the goal of this decision and others has been to gradually sunset the MagicBand+ device, only the OG MagicBand. There’s ample evidence that Disney is continuing to push the MB+ on both coasts and DCL. So that’s good.
I do fear that Disney’s bungling of the MagicBands (more generally) will eventually lead to its abandonment. Not anytime soon, but within 5 years. I’ve written this elsewhere, but MB+ reminds me a lot of Glow with the Show/Made with Magic. That was another wearable that Disney spent a ton of money developing and pushed hard–until they stopped. It was almost like flipping a switch, with it being deemed a failure and the decision made to pull the plug.
I doubt MB+ would ever have that abrupt of an end since it serves a practical purpose, but there are other parallels.
I agree with your first paragraph very much!
I also really hope the MBs don’t go away. It’s one of the treasured parts of the Disney Experience to me! I don’t have any MB+ because I could never trust about spending that much on it but I really love my traditional ones and want to keep using them. Wish I could buy more of the non-lite-up ones.
This is very sad for me to read. I am a strong advocate for Magic Bands and I feel like I am constantly defending them in Reddit threads and Facebook groups. I know my apple watch can do the same thing? But guess what my 6 and 8 year old don’t have watches yet and they LOVE tapping in to everything at Disney. Whether it’s the room door, lightning lanes, or checking out at restaurants/stores they LOVE having the authority to do it themselves. Taking that away from kids and moving it to the adults responsibility makes me sad. I purchased MagicBand+ bands for my family when I was in Anaheim for a work convention in February 2023. We had a trip planned for summer 2023 and I knew another one was likely on the horizon. We used the same bands for our May 2024 trip and my husband and I used them again for our short trip (again work conference in anaheim) in February 2025. We are going back in March 2026 and intend to use the same bands.I feel we have gotten our moneys worth. I know that many think the light up features of the MagicBand+ are pointless but when you are waiting in a line and it randomly lights up and everyone’s start blinking different colors it’s really fun. My kids faces LIGHT up. I feel like this is really taking away the magic for children and being short sighted for what adults find convenient.
We enjoy them, too. I have an Apple Watch, but having a MagicBand is part of the bubble for me, and I’ve double down on that this year, with two WDW vacations, a cruise, and a stay at Aulani, plus we bought direct and resale contracts this year. I know some people are pulling away as the bean counters get their way and prices go up as entertainment and other value-adds go down, but it’s still the best game in town, so to speak, and it’s worth it to us. We’re basically all-in on Disney (I know I already said we doubled down) and the bands are part of giving ourselves over to that. I’m not big on merch; for me it’s a few t-shirts and my Disney Dad, DVC, and 2 other MagicBands (3 out of 4 also purchased this year, along with 2 for my 6 yo and 1 for my wife). When I put the band on I’m sorta getting “into the zone,” if that makes sense, and I love the simplicity of scanning it everywhere. But I am glad I bought most of ours while they still did the sale prices!
We are not AP, DVC or even stay in Disney resorts. We are a family of 6 and it financially smart to stay at a timeshare resort nearby where we have more room, a kitchen for 2 meals a day, and a much lower price. But we do visit once or twice a year and hit a park whether it be AfterHours or just a good ol’ day in the park. I for one have been turned off by how much you need your phone walking around the parks and love the fact that the family can just walk by the touch point one after the other and not worry about scanning a card or phone. We get about 2 years out of the bands before we replace them. Although the discounted program never pertained to us, I am hoping they are not going to get rid of them all together.