MagicBand Upgrade Options Coming Soon
If you’re a frequent Walt Disney World guest, annual passholder, or DVC member, odds are good that you have at least a modest pile of MagicBands somewhere around your house. It seemed like every time you’d log onto the Walt Disney World web site, they’d be sending you a MagicBand. (You get a MagicBand! You get a MagicBand! You get the idea.)
In the past, your options were limited to variations in colors. Then, once you arrived in the parks, stores would have what seemed to be an infinite variety of MagicBand designs–attractions, characters, events, limited edition versions. As Walt Disney probably never said, “If you can dream it, you can get it on a MagicBand.”
The challenge for Disney is that once you get to the parks, doing the up-sell to a decorated MagicBand may be a bit more difficult, because that purchase has to compete with all the other merchandise that you’d like to buy. Enter Disney’s new up-charge service to sell you decorated MagicBands as part of your “before you leave home” prep. Although you will still have the option to choose a regular MagicBand in a variety of colors, you will also be able to purchase one of more than 30 different designs at a $14.99 discount off the retail price (with estimated prices starting around $10). If you buy it more than 11 days in advance, the band will be shipped to you at home, otherwise your custom band will be waiting for you when you check in at your resort.
Of course this can save you money compared to buying the same MagicBand at full price in the parks, however if you’re looking to keep your trip costs low, it would be better to skip the custom MagicBand and go with one of the color-only options.
Preliminary details about this new offering can be found here.
Is this something you would take advantage of, or would you prefer to stick with standard (and free) MagicBand options? What would be on your dream MagicBand? Let me know in the comments.
And if you need help figuring out what to do with your old MagicBands, check out this edition of the Saturday SIX.
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As of writing this post, only 1/2 of the special design offerings they had on the 15th are still left. The popular ones are clearly sold out. Hopefully they get another supply soon. Time will tell…
I finally got mine to go through. It may take “several” tries, like 35 on my part, but it will work. Once you change from a complimentary one to the upgraded one – YOU CAN NOT change them back, at least not on the website. So choose carefully, this is a one time option. Pretty decent selection and all I could see were $10.00 each.
The site is going to take some time to be working properly. So many hitting the site at once and they are still working on the backend. I just got off the phone with Disney and they are aware of the crashes and are working to fix the site. I was assured that none of these are going to “sell out” anytime soon (they’re all open editions), so if your Walt Disney World trip is not coming up in the immediate future, you might want to hold off on ordering for a few days.
It the site is up an running, however, it has been crashing all morning. You will have to keep trying. I believe they are loading content and this is causing issues.
Great News! When it launches, the offer will be available for previously-booked and newly-booked Disney Resort hotel reservations, as long as that reservation is still within the pre-arrival MagicBand selection window and your complimentary MagicBands haven’t already shipped.
I think it starts today. In my Disney Experience It is giving me the option to upgrade ” New! You can now choose from complimentary or special pre-order prices on premium MagicBands. Order up to 11 days before your expected arrival date to have your MagicBands shipped to your home. Special pricing is valid online only.”
but stitch ate the page. Maybe later today
Has anyone seen any updated news? I was hoping they’d be released by now! 🙁
Wonder what time this launches today as I heard it begins the 15th. As of now, none of my trips booked this year already as showing the option. Will be so disappointed if they don’t allow existing reservations to take advantage of this!
I just spoke with Disney and I was advised the release date has not been announced for this. I am not sure where people we got the 15th because that is what I heard as well.
Other rumor sites picked the 15th as their best guess (possibly because they confused the release date and the discount off the price?). As Disney had stated that the 15th was not the release date, we opted not to publish the rumor. In the comments to their official blog post, they have officially said that it won’t release today, but will release “soon”. We’ll keep you updated when we hear something official. 🙂
Nope, I like our $6-7 vinyl wraps from Magic Your Band. We get so many compliments on them and how they don’t look like the ones you buy at Disney that cost much more. And you get 2/order, and can reuse your same band over and over. I got tired of having my pile and feeling wasteful! But this allows for a fun change for a very little cost.
Disney finally figured out they could tap into additional revenue by selling decorated Magic Bands. The person who suggested making some of them “limited editions” should be employee of the month.
I have a room booked for July. I have an annual pass that will be activated in July. I have not ordered my magic bands yet. Are you saying this option will not be applicable? This seems confusing to me. We thought having a unique band for the annual pass would be a fun idea. I will be waiting to see how this works out I think.
May 15th is the release date. However, at this time, only new reservations from that date on will qualify for this upgrade. I expressed my displeasure for any of us who book a year in advance. I was told that if there are enough calls, Disney may have to change the policy and allow those of us who already have chosen our magicbands. You should be able to use this upgrade option until your reservation is 11 days out of your stay. The video and info released is very misleading. I would keep checking the site. I was also told if you simple “choose to decline” that you will still only be presented with the same color options that were available when you booked. So best not to decline the free ones, but rather check back and see after the 15th – I am hoping that all the complaints may change how this goes down.Hope this helps, I had a very lengthy talk with someone who has been there for 20 plus years.
When I contacted them about this today I was told my trip in August and October would both qualify for it. Maybe they already changed their minds
Yes, I’d pay the $10 per band! Now that you can switch the pucks out for a new one, I’d love to have a Character band. I hear that the day it is debuting is the same day that I have to have my MagicBand selected by for my upcoming trip. Hoping I get a chance to try it out!
Yep, for $10 per person beforehand, I would have definitely done this for my recent big WDW. But no way I was going to pay $25 for an extra one while I was down there.