Prior to a friend’s recent trip to Walt Disney World, I was asked if there was anything else she needed to take care of before her vacation. Her traveling partner and herself had already booked their resort, flights, dining reservations and bought their tickets. It sounded like everything to her, until I asked about MagicBands. Instantly, she had questions  mostly focusing on “if she really needed them” and if so, how to get them. Later she admitted that everything about it seemed so overwhelming that she just wanted to push it off as much as possible.

And that’s totally understandable.

The fact that the MagicBands are designed to take so much stress off of guests while they are visiting the parks can often have the unfortunate effect of stressing out a guest before that said visit. Therefore, today I am here to hopefully give you a very quick overview of the basics that you need to know.

What are Magicbands anyways?

Simply put, MagicBands are colorful bracelet type objects that EVERYONE going to Walt Disney World Resort gets for free. All of them have an RFID chip inside of them and it’s used for a multitude of functions. Basically, it allows you to attach your park ticket, Fastpasses, Disney resort room key, dining reservations and credit card information to it. Additionally, if you are using Magical Express to get from the airport to your Disney resort, you can attach your passes for that on it too. Simply put, the MagicBands are designed so that once you make it to your vacation, all the things you have to carry with you start disappearing.

How do I get them?

If you are staying on Disney property or are a passholder,  you can select and customize your bands online up to 10 days before your trip. Otherwise when you arrive at an on-property resort, you’ll be given a standard one upon check-in. If on the other hand you are staying off property, you can receive your Magicband when you purchase your tickets.

Will I actually use them?

Let me answer with a resounding “yes!”.  At the very least, with little to no effort put into these bands, you’ll have to at least use them to enter the parks. From there, it’s up to you.

They seem so plain, can I decorate them?

Again, the answer is yes. There are lots of sites out there actually revolving around these bands. You can buy all sorts of stickers/vinyl and other options for the bands to spice them up a bit. On top of that, feel free to add your own stickers and cover them with clear nail polish to seal them in. Another option to keep in mind is that Disney actually sells more unique ones online and in the parks. For instance, during the 2015 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival I got myself a limited edition Magicband that made the Magicband readers glow in rainbow colors when used at a Fastpass line or when entering EPCOT. Plus it was super cute!

Anything else I should know?

I’d say after understanding the basics of the Magicbands, a whole new world seems to open (like what I did there? eh eh?).  There’s the My Disney Experience tab you’ll find once you create a Disney account online. Then there’s a MyDisneyExperience app that let’s you do the same from your phone. And let’s not forget that this technology is relatively new. It’s yet to come to Disneyland but you can bet that’s probably only a matter of time.

So there you have it! As you can tell, there is a lot to these little guys but hopefully this will give you a good starting point to work off of. Expect to see more detailed articles about the MagicBands at a later time.

If you are interested in learning more about the technology behind the bands and just what a game changer they are to not only Walt Disney World but the future as well, here’s a great article featured in Wired all about it. It’s long but totally worth it!