One question that I have been asked a lot lately is What is Fastpass Plus and Disney Magic Bands and My Magic Plus? Walt Disney World is rolling out a new guest experience using RFID technology that is suppose lead to a better vacation and magical experience.
If you have visited Walt Disney World recently, you might have noticed the new turnstiles that have appeared at the entrance to the parks. These are part of the new MyMagic+ experience.
If you have noticed these same looking devices at the entrance to rides, they are part of the new Fastpass+ experience.
So how does this work? Luckily a Couponing to Disney reader recently visited Walt Disney World and was selected to test the experience and provided more information for us!
Right now, The MagicBand is currently being tested by guests at select resorts at Walt Disney World. If your party is selected to test the MagicBand, you will receive an email letting you know. You can then personalize your bands by color (you can see the color choices in the photo at the top of this post) and they will be shipped to your house with your name printed on the inside of your band. You can also elect to have the bands shipped to your resort and they will be issued to you at check in.
The MagicBand will be used in place of the Key To The World. Using the RFID technology, the band will hold your park ticket, room key, dining plan, dining reservations, Fastpass + reservations and much more. Instead of carrying a Key to the World card or tickets, you will just need to wear the MagicBand. When you see a Mickey Head receiver, like the ones at the turnstiles or on the credit card machines, you’ll just tap the 2 Mickey Heads together (your band and the machine’s) and it will read the information on the RFID chip. You’ll even be able to charge to your room with the MagicBand.
The most exciting part of the MyMagic+ is the Fastpass+. Before arriving for your vacation, you will be able to make Fastpass reservations for select attractions at the 4 parks. It isn’t clear yet how many Fastpass+ reservations you will be allowed when the MyMagic+ program goes live for everyone, but during the test it is 3 per park with a limit of 1 park per day. So when our reader chose to get Fastpass+ reservations at Magic Kingdom on August 10th, they were only allowed 3 reservations of their choice and they must all be made at Magic Kingdom.
MagicBand uses the My Disney Experience area of Disney.com and the My Disney Experience app. Here’s a look at what the experience will look like when you are planning your Fastpass+ reservations online:
When you log in, you will be prompted to start making Fastpass + Selections. Select a day to start making your reservations:
For this review, we are using Sunday, August 11th as our example.  You will then be prompted to pick which of the 4 parks you would like to plan to visit that day:
Once you select the park, you will be able to scroll through the attractions that are participating in Fastpass+ and have reservations available for your date:
Once you select your Fastpass+ reservations, you will see a screen with the Best Match for your reservations listed:
If that doesn’t work for you, you can select Option A, Option B or Option D to rearrange the Fastpass+ reservations until they work more for your family. At this time, the system does arrange it for you so you can’t choose a specific time slot or order if it is not listed in these options.
Once you select the best order for your family, your Fastpass+ Selections are confirmed! But don’t worry, if you want to change and rearrange them, you can! Plus during this test, they were giving a bonus Fastpass+ reservation to Haunted Mansion which was a nice surprise:
You can also check the list of your resort, Fastpass+ and Dining reservations:
To use Fastpass+, you visit the attraction during your listed reservation time. Just tap your MagicBand to the Fastpass+ reader and the Cast Member will see your name and reservation confirmation listed on their screen. You’ll be lead into the Fastpass entrance and you’ll be prompted to tap the Magicband to another  Fastpass+ reader at the end of the Fastpass queue to mark this Fastpass reservation as used.
So what if you are in the park and you decide that you no longer want to use one of your existing Fastpass+ reservations? Just bring up the My Disney Experience App and you’ll be able to change one (or more) of your Fastpass+ reservations as long as the reservation times have not passed.
Our reader changed their Fastpass+ reservation from Pirates of the Caribbean to Peter Pan’s Flight while they were in the parks on August 9th by using the My Disney Experience App on their iPhone.
Choose Fastpass+ from the Plan & Manage screen:
Select the park you have chosen for your Fastpass+ reservations for that day:
Select which Fastpass Plus reservation you would like to change and which members of your party will need their Fastpass+ reservation changed:
Select the new Fastpass+ reservation and confirm the changes:
You will then receive the confirmation screen that your Fastpass+ Changes have been confirmed:
And that is all there is to it! It looks pretty easy to manage!
If you want to learn more about the Fastpass+, be sure to check out the Frequently Asked Questions on the Disney website.
There will be a lot more information about the MyMagic+ experience in the coming months before it is officially launched to every Walt Disney World guest.
If you are considering booking a trip to Walt Disney World, here are tips on booking your package.
Learn more about planning your Walt Disney World vacation. Plus overwhelmed with all the planning? Destinations in Florida can help you plan your perfect trip.
The magic bands and fast pass system is so irritating and more time consuming than previous system. Also To avoid standing in lines is not a reality especially for the one major ride in the park. Toy Story – 60+min wait time if you are going directly to the ride at the opening of the park. Test track 60-70 min wait and as for The 7 dwarf mine train try 120+ minutes but if it says 90minutes which was the minimum time to wait according to posting it’s more like 60-70 min. Once you set up your three first fast passes at home you then have to redeem any additional passes at a kiosk with a cast member, which will be limiting to other rides that are not as popular. Then you have to keep doing this all day in order to get a fast pass since you will be blocked from editing or additions of fast passes from your smart phone. Have fun with out being frustrated is an understatement. As an annual ass holder and frequent visitor of the park this go round was more work than it has been in the past, I hope they hurry up and get the kinks out because for what they charge and little discounts that are available they may ne losing some frequent visitors. Wear your patience hat. May the force be with you.
The problem we found that non resort people staying with family were left out and having to,wait over two hours to get into some attractions we paid our money for entrance and had no option for fast passes all gone by 9.15 am. Willl give disney a miss after 25 years so sorry but we are not the only family I know.
I just saw a commercial for this & was wondering if it’s only for Disney World or if Disneyland will be doing this as well? We plan on staying at the Disneyland Hotel, so it would be awesome if they’re doing it too!
Hi Kristen. We just got back from WDW last week and loved the Magic Bands/FastPass+ system! We felt like we got access to the park much quicker as four “mickey globes” seem to take the place of one turnstile. Maybe this was mentioned and I overlooked it, but I wanted to note that some parks have a “tiered” system with their FastPass system, meaning you can only choose one popular attraction (Tier 1) and then schedule two lesser attractions. For example, we could choose Test Track OR Soarin, not both. Same thing at Hollywood Studios. We had to choose between Toy Story Mania OR Rockin’ Rollercoaster. We downloaded the app and were able to change our reservations on the go! Every now and then the system would go a little bonkers and freeze up or our FastPass list would disappear or reappear. I’m sure the hiccups will be worked out in the coming months and this will be a great new system for Disney to roll out to all guests!
This yet another way Disney is looking to handicap your choices. Please note that Disney limits you to One Park a day per guest. They also only allow your fast passes to three (3) per day. They then compound the problem by not opening up all your choices. Fight Disney complain and tell them you want as many fast passes as you can have a day.
If you use the Magic Band+ and pick your 3 fast passes at one park, are you able to get fast passes to other attractions at the same park? How about if you visit another park? Are you able to get fast passes at another park even if you have your magic band fast passes at a different park?
Currently you can still use regular passes as well. Yesterday I was able to get three plusses at two different parks, plus the regulars. Needless to say we didn’t wait in any lines this trip.
My son is autistic, there is NO WAY they will ever get a wristband on him. I hope they dont do away with the cards. We are going in december, I can see this is going to be a problem :-(
Elaine – As long as you have the wristband with you, it’s fine. You could wear his or put it on your purse. I am sure they would not have a problem with that.
Thanks Kristin for the reply! I know Disney addresses children with special needs very well, so I am sure they have a plan B, C & D ready for me :-)
Hi Elaine. We just got back from WDW last week and tried out the new wristband system. I saw a mom carrying her kids wristbands with her and she took them out and scanned them for her kids. Cast member didn’t seem to have an issue with it not being attached to the kids. Also, I was so worried that my kids would lose their wristbands and we would be without the rest of the trip. When we checked in they gave us backup cards that can be used in lieu of wristbands. Hope that helps!
For those who were picked….what resort are you staying at? I am going in October and I was told my resort isn’t participating!
We are going October 19th & saying at POP Century! We are able to get the magic bands & already have our fast passes done! So excited, good luck!
I was told the same thing. We are staying at AKL, but when I logged into My Disney Experience yesterday we had the option to customize our magic bands and select our FastPasses. Personally I am not happy with the time selections we were offered and there is no way to change them to later in the day. (For example, we are going to AK in the AM and then hopping to HS in the PM after dinner for Fantasmic. The only time we can get FastPasses for HS is between 1-5 PM. We will not even be in that park until 5PM.)
There is a way to change the time slots you are assigned to ones later in the day (if you’re not going to be in Hollywood Studios until after 5pm). I did it myself last month when I went (& participated in the My Magic Plus test). Please call Disney & ask for assistance if you can’t figure out how to change the pre-assigned times on their website yourself.
This post was so timely…thank you! We arrive at Port Orleans-Riverside Sept 5 booked thru AAA. We never received notification but reading the above comment, I checked My Disney Experience. We were picked for the MagicBands and if I would have been 1 day later, we would not have been able to customize them. I had to do a chat with a wonderful CM from Disney because we actually leave Saturday for a Cruise(non Disney) and if they would have been mailed, we would have missed them. She had me put the address to the resort. I am so excited and thanks again for this timely post!