MagicBand Upgrades (Now Unavailable?)
Premium MagicBand upgrades are available for pre-arrival Walt Disney World resort hotel guests and Annual Passholders. In this post, we’ll walk you through the process via the My Disney Experience app and DisneyWorld.com with screenshots–and show you all of the 40+ themed designs that are available when the inventory is restocked. (Updated March 20, 2020.)
The new upgrade process just appeared in My Disney Experience, and gives guests the option to upgrade from a complimentary solid-color MagicBand to one of more than 30 new choices featuring favorite Disney characters and designs at a discounted price.
Walt Disney World started with a total of 43 paid options, but new options have been added to the inventory since then, while others have seemingly vanished. Most of these cost $10, while others are $15-20. We’ve now updated this post a few times with screenshots of the new MagicBands, plus info, and troubleshooting tips for what has proven to be a frustrating process…
March 20, 2020 Update: Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Walt Disney World is currently closed through at least the end of the month–likely longer. Consequently, Disney has issued a new advisory regarding MagicBands, which is as follows:
If you have placed an order and received notification that your MagicBands have already been shipped to your home, you will still receive your order.
If you have arranged for your upgraded MagicBands to be delivered to you at your Disney Resort hotel for an arrival date between March 20 and March 31, 2020, your order will be automatically cancelled and you will receive a refund of the amount you paid for the MagicBands.
While the Walt Disney World theme parks and Resort hotels are temporarily closed, we are not currently accepting new MagicBand orders linked to Walt Disney World Annual Passholders or Disney Resort hotel reservations. If you have a scheduled Resort hotel arrival date after March 31, 2020, please check back later for updates.
We have a resort reservation booked for after March 31, 2020 with the option of selecting MagicBands. As such, I decided to go through the motions of preordering, just to see if the system would stall at any of the steps.
It let me get all the way through to the checkout screen and was by far the smoothest the process has ever been. I opted to stop there, both because I don’t actually want these MagicBands and because I don’t want to hassle with having my order cancelled but not refunded or who-knows-what-else that could potentially go wrong. Even if you have the option to order, it’s probably a better idea to similarly better to hold off and save yourself from potential headaches…
With that said, here are our troubleshooting tips, for future reference…
TROUBLESHOOTING
It’s hard to believe, but the MagicBand upgrade option went live almost one full year ago. Part of the reason that it’s hard to believe is because MagicBand inventory remains hit or miss. The system is also frustratingly glitchy, with problems requiring private or antiquated browsers, plus errors throughout the process–even after submitting payment.
We assumed the kinks would’ve been ironed out by now, but sadly, that is not the case. (How naive of us given the constant issues with My Disney Experience years after its launch.) Unfortunately, beyond this troubleshooting advice below coupled with persistence, there’s no good resolution. If reader reports are any indication, contacting Disney is unlikely to yield favorable results. (We’d love to hear your experiences in the comments!)
We cannot stress enough that this system is still having a tremendous amount of problems. If you’re having trouble completing the selection process, or getting this to work, we’d recommend using the desktop site instead of the My Disney Experience app or mobile site.
Additionally, if the desktop version of DisneyWorld.com won’t work for you, try private browsing, incognito mode, or a different browser entirely. Usually, we first try private browsing on Chrome, and that resolves the issue. However, a couple of times we’ve received a message that we do not have access to a certain page, or that our payment couldn’t be processed–both of those issues can be resolved by time-traveling back to Y2K and using Internet Explorer. (Don’t worry, you won’t have to use AOL or dial-up, too.)
We’ve found that this process gets hung up on several different pages, including on the selection and checkout process. Having a ‘clean’ browser will often resolve these issues. It’s not foolproof, but if you’re finding that things become unavailable right after you select them, that’s one explanation as to why.
If you’re having issues with inventory…there’s no great solution to that. We’d recommend watching the site, checking each morning at around 8 am for the day’s restocks, and ordering your MagicBands when you see a ‘good enough’ selection of MagicBands that appeal to you. Additionally, people are reporting issues with their orders actually shipping, but this seems to be a sporadic problem.
If your Walt Disney World vacation is not in the near future, we’d recommend being patient and waiting for a design you actually want. Now that Disney has a more accurate understanding of demand, they are (hopefully) more likely to increase the inventory to an adequate level to satisfy the incredible demand.
This could take some time, but anyone traveling in Spring 2020 or later should be fine to wait and save yourself the headache. We’ll keep you posted as more options come back in stock.
While we aren’t huge into Magic Bands, this will undoubtedly have collectors and character fans excited, as it means acquiring a new design for what amounts to $15 off. If you liked unique designs and already have a drawer full of the ‘standard’ colors from past Walt Disney World trips, jumping at the up-charge certainly makes sense.
Personally, I’ll probably just stick to the single, solid blue MagicBand that I’ve been using for the past several years…which itself replaced a different blue one that had to be “retired” because it was too dirty.
Not that you care about that. Anyway, here’s how the process works…
After clicking the “My MagicBands and Cards” link below the My Disney Experience drop-down on DisneyWorld.com or the “Choose MagicBands” button on your resort reservation, you’ll see the above screen.
As you can see, there’s a message on the screen indicating that the new upgrade options can be shipped to guests’ homes (U.S. addresses only) if ordered 11 or more days ahead of arrival. They can be personalized if done so at least 6 or more days ahead of arrival.
Once you click the “Choose My MagicBands” button, the above screen appears…once. I started this on my phone and continued via desktop (where I didn’t see it again), which is why it’s the only mobile screenshot here.
This is what appears next, and once you hit “Select” the screen scrolls down on the same page, revealing all of this:
Through the magic of Photoshop, I combined every single page into a single view, so you could see each character and attraction-themed MagicBand.
Above is closer look at a single page, along with what you see when you hover over the MagicBand you want to select.
No Country Bear Jamboree, but ya can’t win ’em all. Hopefully, over time new designs will be added as part of special promotions, seasonal events, and that sort of thing. (I presume the ‘best’ designs that Walt Disney World believes will sell to collectors and enthusiasts will remain exclusive to stores, where they can be sold at full price.)
If I were going to order anything, it’d be this Spaceship Earth design. It goes nicely with my collection of ~372 grey Magic Bands.
Once selected, you arrive at this complete purchase screen where you can change your name. From there, you’ll enter payment info, a shipping address, and finish the checkout. Assuming the system works!
One of the upsides is that a range of new MagicBand choices are also being added on a regular basis. Newer options include a chic voyageur Mickey Mouse design for Disney’s Riviera Resort, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Toy Story Land, Figment, Spaceship Earth, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, and various movies.
In addition to these MagicBands, we’ve seen a variety of other options coming in and out of stock. On a “good” day, there are around 30 options in stock. These include it’s a small world, Disney Vacation Club, Haunted Mansion, and a variety of other movie and attraction designs. If you don’t see options you like and you have plenty of time before your Walt Disney World trip, keep checking back!
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 the new MagicBand upgrade options? Will you be paying the $10 to $20 premium for one of these themed designs? Any specific design catch your eye? Do you cynically think this is just a lame cash-grab? 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!
){kind=link}
So my trip will be cancelled because of the virus. It is in April. I have my bands. When I reschedule, hopefully on website, do I need to reprogram my bands since all my plans will change? Or does it just match to my Disney experience when it is time for my trip? Will they still work in the next year? I would hate to go on phone to call! I know people have other concerns now, I I hope all stay healthy. This planning is mental health for me to stay positive, it is not that I don’t have health of all on my mind.
The band is linked to your MDE account and you can continue to use it (and any other bands you link to your account interchangeably) on future trips till presumably the battery dies.
We have four separate bookings right now, and ordered for one last week. However, as of today, no further orders can be placed *IF* you go to the Magic Bands from the drop down menu under My Disney Experience – My Magic Bands and Cards. There you will see a notice that states:
“Important Update Regarding OrdersImportant Update Regarding Orders
While the Walt Disney World theme parks and Resort hotels are temporarily closed, we are not currently accepting new MagicBand orders linked to Walt Disney World Annual Passholders or Disney Resort hotel reservations. Please continue to check this page for additional updates. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience during this time.”
HOWEVER, if you go further down to a resort reservation, there is a link to “Choose Your Magic Bands” and that will let you pick out bands and place an order. I did so, all the way to the check out screen. I didn’t complete the order because those aren’t the bands we want. I can provide screen shots if you email me.
I checked every few days to see if what was available for us was a “wish list” one. My daughter wanted descendants, so we had to wait for that one to be available with Thanos. We hit our “magical day” and immediately ordered. They showed up just as the world closed down. A little excitement in these dark times.
If you are in the UK and have access to a VPN then try switching to the US website (should be disneyworld.disney.go.com) via VPN as the UK site hasn’t worked in months. You use your normal booking number and password to logon.
Also clear all your Disney cookies and cache or better still a different browser.
Just checked stock is very limited, only 16 to choose from, 8 are just colors. Other 8 not worth paying for an upgrade.
It’s great that everyone emailed; maybe enough complaints will cause some movement. The choices finally changed about a week back, but it looks like there will only be about 5 at a time–if this is the trend. The ones out there now and for a couple weeks have been Fancy Nancy, Star Wars, Descendants, Castle, Minne Polka Dots and Vampirina. It’s not a great selection. Sadness. 🙁 They need to listen!
This is a most unmagical process. I have been trying for the last 6 weeks to get a premium band. I have picked one and gotten through the customization and confirmed my purchase at least 5 times only to come back later to My Disney to see that my pick is now sold out.The last one I picked was ok for at least a week. It would be nice if you got a notice that is sold out and you needed to pick a new one.
Agreed. I can’t believe they have been only able to supply standard colors with a couple disney jr and star wars options throughout January. I did email guest services per the suggestion by Susan below. Unfortunately the reply was they have no visibility to the Magic Band stock and to keep checking back. I do agree though, if enough people keep asking maybe they’ll improve the process/add some optons.
It seems like it would be a better process if you were able to choose a few different designs you would be interested in if one or any of them would be sold out. Sort of a first, second, third choice per person going on the vacation, it may lead to fewer guests having issues going back in to select a different design and would still be a surprise to the guest when they receive their magic bands in the mail?
We had some good options before Christmas, but since after Christmas it has been the same 5. The people on chat/phone don’t think anything has happened. But something has. Maybe if enough people send an email to guest.services@disneyworld.com they may respond in some way.
We did get a couple versions of new ones in the last 6 months and it worked fine. But, it certainly hasn’t been a good roll out. And continues to be confusing.
That’s a great idea! I will contact them now, thank you!
Good morning Jennifer, By the way, it might take a few days or a week to hear back from this email. But, I always hear back from either a phone call or email. Good luck!
Yes . I just emailed them also.
Update to everyone, there are about 4 new magicbands that showed up today. These are the first in weeks. So maybe the inventory is moving now. But, it’s really unlikely that your family will get all the ones they want. I’ve focused on my kids. 😉
I’ve been checking since January 2nd, the same 13 all the time. 8 standard colored ones & 5 upgrades. We are not going until August 14th, hopefully they add more.
I could have got ulcers over this one but when it became too frustrating, I took a step back, decided infallible Disney had created an enormous mess, excuses or not and damaged its brand more than the damage it caused me.
I made the mistake of asking my grandkids which ones they wanted and then spent hours trying to get them all in one fell swoop, which is necessary. And that’s not the half of it, even if you could find them all at the same time. I’d try at every conceivable time and repeatedly.
Then I woke up! You still have to pay for the fancy ones, so by the time you calculate your effort spent (and likely to no avail), you’re not saving much compared to everything else. I promised the grandkids their three, So I’m going to order the free ones for our party of seven including the grandkids and then have shopdisney deliver the three they want at full price to our resort. I still have time to order but now when I check the site, I feel okay that I have a backup plan. It’s a disgrace that for mere pennies from Disney’s point of view, it would be irresponsible by offering something it can’t deliver.
I suppose if you’re only party of one or two, it is easier but from the online stories I’ve read, that’s probably a nightmare, too.
Bad on Disney. I’m so disappointed as I’ve been naive enough (at seventy) to have previously held Disney in the highest regard for true customer care. This is shabby and then some.
Is there anywhere I could find a full list of the options? Our trip is not until August and I would love to make sure I find the best one since we have so much time.
I’m in the same boat! My dad wants to order the bands on Thursday of this week, but I feel like the options could change drastically in the next few months and would be bummed if I could have had a different band.
Don’t bother. If you find ones you like and preorder with a credit card, when you go back to check a month later, your choice is gone, and your order says sold out. This has happened to us so many times,that we’ve given up.
You can’t “pre-order” … You have to complete the entire order and submit it.
Has anyone sen an actual selection? They only show 4 or 5 different ones and nothing else. Of course, of the selection offered my family is interested in none of them. And I’ve noticed over the past few weeks, the selection changes by one or two every now and then. Does anyone know the secret code to see the giant selection that Tom has shown above?
As far as I know they only had that huge selection available the day they rolled this program out. Since then it has been about 4-5 different ones each day and those are not always actually in stock (once you click on them and try to check out it says, sorry, not available). Almost a year later and Disney still hasn’t been able to get its act together with this.
All I keep seeing are a white castle one, riviera, galaxy’s edge, princess and minnie ones. I’ve been checking regularly but it’s just those ones with a few random ones appearing every now and again. I think I’ll probably end up just getting a standard one at this rate. It seems like such a silly way of doing it and I feel so bad for people with big families, it must be a nightmare!
I ordered one for me and my husband got the regular band. This was a NIGHTMARE!!!!! We went to Disney 16 months ago and didnt have any problem getting our bands, but this time because I upgraded the system really screwed up. They sent it to my address from over 16 years ago because the system was having glitches with past addresses. It took 8 calls/emails and the response for most of them was, sorry, you’re out of luck. I had to have a friend go pick up our bands from the people living in our house (180 miles away) and she brought them to us. I would NEVER recommend getting them, because Disney wont replace because it is a third party vendor.
I liked being able to get special ones for the guests in my group rather than just different colors! I also have an incredible number of grey ones myself and am glad to get different designs without a lot of cost. It made me chose one for each of us all at the same time though. I could not get one and then go back and get others for the rest.
I wonder why they aren’t offering a Snow White magic band? My daughter would love it!
After I settled and ordered 1 I wasn’t excited about, is there a way to order another 1 and just link it to my ticket on the app? Even if I have to pay full price, it doesn’t seem to let me even shop for 1 in the my experience app.
You can purchase them at shopdisney.com
So every time I do this, I only come up with a total of 8 to 10 I can choose from. Is this common or am I doing something wrong?
I recommended this over and over starting in June, when we realized it wasn’t working so well. It’s been suggested, but they don’t seem interested. I’m not sure I understand their strategy.
They should limit guests arriving 2-3 months or less out to order the upgraded bands. There is no reason for someone coming in 12-18 months to order now. Disney has no clue how to control inventory if every single reservation for 18+ months out is available for the special ones. By reducing it to closer in reservations, they can manage inventory and provide more bands and newer ones to those arriving at later dates. It is basic supply and demand.