Weekend(?) Update – MagicBands, Giveaway, Cool Links!

We’re in the midst of a quick weekend trip to Disneyland to check out its Halloween season offerings for the first time (note: this was scheduled to post on Sunday night but didn’t for some reason…hence the “weekend” update on a Tuesday…the weekend trip is now over) and to say goodbye to the Court of Angels. We’re also planning on doing a lot of eating while we’re out here, and should have plenty more Disneyland Resort restaurant reviews up soon. We’ve been hearing from a lot of readers recently who are planning first trips to Disneyland Resort (we whole-heartedly endorse this), so let us know if there’s anything else you’d like to see us cover with regard to Disneyland in blog posts. This actually goes for any articles you’d like to see–we can’t promise we’ll cover each topic readers suggest to us, but we try to be responsive to what you all want to read.

We won’t do a full post on this since our experience was limited, but thought it would be worth mentioning that we recently had a chance to use the MagicBands during their test phase. We weren’t too keen on being guinea pigs since we’ve heard about a lot of hiccups in the testing; however, when we checked in, they gave us the bands anyway, so we figured we’d give them a try. We’ll let other people address the datamining and privacy issues (people who share a lot of personal info about themselves on a blog and regularly use Facebook & Google probably aren’t the best judges of those concerns…), and just touch on the substance of our experience.

The MagicBands didn’t work well. Our Annual Passes showed as tied to the MagicBands in the My Disney Experience app, but we didn’t have the option of reserving FastPass+, nor did the MagicBands work for us to enter the park. The room charge function of the bands did work, but it was so awkward to try to contort our wrists to use this function that we quickly gave up and just used our Key to the World cards (which we had to carry anyway for Extra Magic Hours); I stopped wearing the band after the first day. It’s likely that the front desk or guest relations could have assisted us with the problems, but it was only a two-night trip and we didn’t feel like wasting time with that. We’ll reserve final judgment until the system rolls out completely, but we weren’t impressed with the test experience.

Giveaway!

Buena Vista Home Entertainment has provided us with a couple copies of Nashville: The Complete First Season (it’s a Disney/ABC Studios-produced show that airs on ABC) for giveaway! We don’t watch this show regularly (only when we are too lazy to change the channel after Modern Family) since we’re not exactly country music or soap opera fans, but it’s a very popular and well received show (“universally acclaimed” by critics per Metacritic) in those demographics.

Enter the giveaway by signing-up for our newsletter. If you are already signed up for the newsletter, you’re already entered to win. Simple as that. We will select two random winners to receive the DVD sets, and announce the winners in our October newsletter! Winners will have 48 hours to email us to claim their prize before we move on to the runners up. We reserve the right to disqualify from the contest anyone who signs up for the mailing list with multiple email addresses.

Tokyo Trip Report

Although updates haven’t been as regular as we’d like on the Tokyo Disney Resort trip report, it’s still in progress. Each of these trip report posts requires considerably more work and time than other posts on the blog, and we haven’t had a ton of free time as of late. We hope to get back on track later this week.

If you haven’t read it yet, click here to read our current installments of the Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report!

Floridian Fall

The argument could be made that October is the best overall month to visit Walt Disney World. Kids are back in school, the weather is nice(r), crowds are light, and you have special events in both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. We prefer early December, but October is probably a close second for us.

We know a lot of you are heading down to Walt Disney World this month to take advantage of the free Disney Dining Plan promotion or just to enjoy this nice time to visit. If you’ll be in Walt Disney World, we recommend that you read our articles on efficiently experiencing Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (if you’re attending the party), the best snacks at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival (if you plan on grazing the booths), and our restaurant reviews (if you…plan on eating meals of food).

News & Stuff

It has been a quiet couple of months in terms of news, with most of the rumors that were strong before the D23 Expo seeming to go cold. Hopefully things will pick back up once the new fiscal year starts on October 1, 2013. Here are some interesting recent posts and pieces of news, though…

Deadline.com reports that it’s unlikely Disney will attempt to prevent the release of Escape from Tomorrow. The armchair attorneys out there who argued about the film’s IP violations against Disney did so for naught. Consent, implicit in this case, carries the day…

Micechat first leaked the details of the new “Disabled Assistance Program.” Since, the story has been repackaged by several media outlets, often in irresponsible fashions with salacious headlines implying that Disney is turning its back on disabled guests. (Our take is that the system is an equitable solution that will weed out many abusers while still serving the truly disabled in a fair manner.)

TouringPlans shares a look inside the Disneyland Market House Starbucks location.

A Reuters release provides information about the American Adventure lounge for Chase Disney Visa Cardholders.

DisneyFoodBlog reports that Disneyland Resort will accept online dining reservations beginning October 3, 2013. We’ve never had issues with walk-up availability at Disneyland Resort restaurants, but this is great news for planners.

DisneyPhotographyBlog shared more details about Photo Magic 2013, an upcoming fan event at Walt Disney World. It looks like the team over there is putting on a fun event, and we really wish we could attend! Hope everyone who is going has a blast!

That’s it for this update! To follow our adventures, find us on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and Flickr!

Your Thoughts…

Have any comments about this update? Thoughts on the MagicBands? Any article suggestions? Share in the comments!

36 Responses to “Weekend(?) Update – MagicBands, Giveaway, Cool Links!”
  1. Dawn October 10, 2013
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