Archives for March 2014

When we booked our March Disney trip back in November, we were excited to find out we’d be receiving the new Disney MagicBands! These are the all-in-one bracelets that allow you to enter the parks, manage your FastPasses, organize your dining plan, buy Disney merch, and so much more. Since we booked the resort package, we were able to pick out our band colors in advance and receive them in the mail weeks before our trip. It was such a tease to look at those bands every single day while we waited to go to the happiest place on earth!

Annabel wanted pink, Daniel green, Daddy picked blue, so I grabbed the yellow.  They even had our names written on the inside. You can reuse your bands for different visits, so try not to lose them! (More on that later…)

The first thing you need to do is register your MagicBands online at www.MyDisneyExperience.com. You can manage your entire visit on this website. It’s awesome. You should also download the My Disney Experience app to your mobile phone. Hubby and I had it on both our phones so we could see our dining and FastPass times the entire vacation. We navigated the parks using the app’s GPS-enabled map which also showed character greeting locations and event showtimes. It helps you stay organized and on time while you’re hanging out at the Disney parks.

(Tip: Make sure to sit down before your trip to download and organize all your FastPasses from the FastPass+ feature on the DisneyExperience menu. You can book up to three FastPasses a day. Once you pick your three rides, the website will assign you the times. But you can go back and change the times by clicking on each ride. It took us awhile to figure out the plan for our five days, but once it was done, we were all set. And we never had an issue with any of our FastPasses at the parks.)

When we checked in at the Wilderness Lodge on Thursday, we started using our MagicBands exclusively. You have to present a credit card for all the extras. The kids had a blast opening our resort hotel room door with just a touch of the band. No key needed. Hubby and I used our bands for the dining payment. All you need to do is present your band and enter the four digit pin number that you selected at check-in. It’s the same deal for any of the Disney shops. It can be dangerous, because they make it SO EASY!

When we had lunch at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in Magic Kingdom, we ordered our food from a standing kiosk. Then we sat down at a random table in Belle’s giant main ballroom. I wondered how they were going to find us to deliver our food and then, all of sudden, a waitress arrived at our table with our exact order. She said it was “magic.” Yep, these bands are pretty cool.

The bands are also great for managing all your Disney Park photos. You can present your band to the photographers and all your special park entrance snapshots and character meet-and-greet pics will show up on your Disney Experience account. You can place your orders from there.

We had a wonderful experience using the MagicBands to enter the gates, eat at the restaurants, and purchase treats at the stores. The best part was definitely the FastPass+ program which was easily managed on our Disney Experience phone app.

Note: Right now, everyone who books their trip at a Disney resort, or is an annual pass holder, will receive the band. A full rollout is expected by this summer. But there are no more Fastpass paper tickets. You have to go to a FastPass Kiosk in the park to register for a Fastpass on your entry card or your MagicBand.

(Tip: There were a couple of times when one of the kids opted out of one our selected FastPass rides. But we just switched bands and two of us could ride twice!  Daddy and Annabel did back-to-back rides on Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom and all the folks waiting in the long regular line were super jealous.)

The bands are adjustable for little wrists and we never had an issue with them falling off in the parks. BUT, my husband did lose his in the resort pool. The bands are waterproof, but we’d recommend taking them off for swim time. After searching the water and the entire pool deck, Hubby had to give in and get a new band at the resort guest service desk. It was not a problem to cancel out his old band and get a new one. But he was given the standard gray model instead of the fun personalized blue one. A small bummer.

I still have our four bands to reuse the next time we visit Disney. Right now they’re sitting on my desk as a reminder of the fun time we had. We definitely give the new MagicBands eight thumbs up! And Hubby is warming up to his new gray color.

Have you used the new Disney MagicBands yet? Comment below!

Update 3/25/14: There are now fashionable cover bands for your MagicBands. You can pick from Star Wars, Mickey classics, wedding/ celebration options, and more! Click HERE for more info on the cool covers!

And for Disney World Trip ’14: Frozen Meet-and-Greet click HERE.

Hi! We’re back from the “happiest place on earth” and it’s only understandable that we’re all a bit sad. Not only is Disney World so much fun, but it brings my family close together. We are LITERALLY close together in a small hotel room every night, but then we spend the day creating all these special family memories. My daughter woke up for school on Tuesday morning in tears. She missed Disney World so much. It made me sad, but it also warmed my heart to know that she enjoyed her time with her family.

Speaking of tears, I’m sure there were some flowing from the PARENTS’ eyes when they saw the line in Epcot to meet Frozen‘s Elsa and Anna. It was almost four hours long! You can meet them in Epcot’s Norway pavilion. It’s right across from Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. They are set up in the back of the gift shop and you can see a side view from an opening. There was a mini-line for that side view too!  I waited patiently for our turn to sneak a peek of the girls from Arendelle. I think the wait helped me convince Annabel that this was “Soooo coooool! Look! It’s Anna and Elsa!!  I’ll take a picture for you!!”  I was desperately trying to avoid the “But can we meet them?”conversation, because now that  line was “five hours long” according to the lovely Grandpa standing next to us.

(Tip: The Frozen girls are in the meet-and-greet area everyday from 9 AM to 6 PM. I would suggest you head straight there when Epcot opens and hopefully your wait will be under an hour. Another option is to book an early 8 AM breakfast at Norway’s Akershus Royal Banquet Hall so someone from your group can stand in line at 8:45 AM before the gates open.)

Annabel was fine with the side look because I quickly distracted her with the Frozen stuff. “Look! They have Elsa dresses!” Well,  they DID have Elsa dresses, but there were all the same size: Extra Small. Boo. There were no more Elsa T-shirts or barbie dolls either. There were no Olaf plushes. We moved through the rest of the toy section where I saw Moms grabbing some plush Anna and Elsa topsy-turvy dolls. I remember having one of those as a kid!  Mine was Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf when you flipped it upside down. The Anna/Elsa ones were starting to go like hot cakes, so I told Annabel that could be her one Frozen treat. Daniel found a Norwegian viking helmet, so he was all good. We waited in another line to pay for the treats and then off we went. I gave knowing looks to the poor parents still standing in the heat with their little girls. I said a little “thank you” to the Frozen Gods that I avoided that..for today.

(Tip: I also noticed they did not have any Elsa or Anna dresses left in Magic Kingdom’s Bibbidy Bobbidi Boutique. I was told that some days they have them, but they sell out so quickly. If you can find a dress in a store in your hometown, BUY IT. You can always bring it with you to the boutique and your little one can put it on there before the princess hair and makeup session.)

The Norway Pavilion also has a display of Norwegian items and photos that inspired Frozen and you can see them in the Stave Church. It was neat to walk through and see the real-life church and mountainside village that gave the Disney animators the idea to create the Arendelle setting. I think we are all a little more Frozen–obsessed now, if that’s even possible.

 Update on 3/21: It’s been announced that Anna and Elsa will soon move from Epcot to Disney’s Magic Kingdom!  Starting Sunday, April 20th, they’ll join some of their fellow Disney Royals at Princess Fairytale Hall, where the Disney FastPass+ service will be available! Yay!