Will our magic bands from 2015 work?

[vickitoria10]

We're looking at staying offsite at the end of August and wandering whether we'll need new bands?

I will be buying park tickets direct from the Disney site so won't have any physical tickets, do I exchange them somewhere or do I just go to Disney springs on the first night to buy some and they link them? Or just link them if the old ones work?

[hollypop]

The battery has a limited life - 2 years is the maximum estimate, I believe, so you'll probably need new ones.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by hollypop

The battery has a limited life - 2 years is the maximum estimate, I believe, so you'll probably need new ones.

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the battery is only needed for long range operations, such as having the ride pictures automatically added

contact operations (put mickey to mickey) will continue working even if the battery has died
so it will work for park entry and FP+

if the battery is dead, OP will need to tap their MBs under their pictures at the exit of rides
and they'll need new MBs if they want the Frozen and 7DMT ride pictures and videos.

but their old MBs will still work fine acting as a ticket (entry and fp+)
of course this is assuming that they're assigned to the same MDX, and are still active (see magic band and cards)

[vickitoria10]

Thanks a lot. It's the same people going so that's no problem. How much are new bands? And can it all be done at Disney springs? Thinking of going down that first night to get them linked.

[hollypop]

Originally Posted by chmurf

the battery is only needed for long range operations, such as having the ride pictures automatically added

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Ahh interesting, thanks. You learn something new every day.

[Bal]

Originally Posted by hollypop

The battery has a limited life - 2 years is the maximum estimate, I believe, so you'll probably need new ones.

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2 years is the stated battery life. That suggests it's a minimum, not a maximum FWIW.

[stan_the_man]

Originally Posted by hollypop

Ahh interesting, thanks. You learn something new every day.

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Yep, the close range stuff works the same as any access-type card, it is passive RFID chipped so needs to be next to the sensor to be read, but doesn't actually 'emit' anything (which requires the battery) so as said, long range scanners can't 'read' your band

[samnbaz]

Our bands from 2014 worked last year even with ride photos x

[galaxyflorida]

Originally Posted by vickitoria10

Thanks a lot. It's the same people going so that's no problem. How much are new bands? And can it all be done at Disney springs? Thinking of going down that first night to get them linked.

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$12.99 each plus tax for the plain colours, I think it was $22.99 for the special designs - we bought them in MCO and linked them ourselves to MDE, very easy thing to do.

[Rbecking]

Presume there is no way of knowing or testing if battery is ok 2 years on?