Hey there, hi there, ho there! We headed down to the Disneyland Resort to get our new MagicBand+, which debuted today for Magic Key holders, Disney Vacation Club members and Cast Members. We stopped in to Downtown Disney to pick up our band, and then headed into Disney California Adventure to try it out. So join us for this most recent photo report from the Disneyland Resort.
Downtown Disney
The former ESPN Zone building is now being used for a pop-up shop for MagicBand+ sales. Guests must show their affiliation (Magic Key, DVC membership or Cast Member ID) at the door to gain access to the shop.
Once inside, there are 20 different styles of MagicBands to choose from. Take a look at all of them right here.
Out of the 20 designs, five of them are exclusive to Disneyland. There is even a new Limited Release MagicBand+ featuring Black Panther.
Whichever design is chosen, this is where most guests wind up immediately after — pulled over on a trash can, park bench, set display, stage, or any other flat surface where the unboxing and pairing begins. Take a look at our full guide on pairing the new bands to your phone.
Disney California Adventure
Since we already had our band from Downtown Disney, we were able to try out the park admission scan on our way to check out the other shop in Disney California Adventure. The Cast Member at the turnstiles taps their phone onto our band and viola! It’s the same as scanning the barcode on the phone, but with none of the “futzing for screen brightness” trouble.
During this preview week, the MagicBand+ sales are limited to the ESPN Zone building in Downtown Disney, the Starcade in Disneyland and Super Store featuring Avengers Campus here in DCA.
The entrance to the separate pop-up shop is back in the corner of the building, rather than in through the normal doors.
The back corner of the store is taken over for the pop-up shop.
The area is roped off and the MagicBand+ sales are through Mobile Checkout only.
In addition to park admission, the MagicBand+ can also link your Lightning Lane reservations, if you’re willing to pay the ever-increasing price for Genie+.
And it can also link your PhotoPass media from the photographer’s phone to your account with a tap.
Disneyland may have the Batuu Bounty Hunters game, but we wanted to see how the Avengers were set to interact with the new bands. The Disneyland app, in its MagicBand+ information section, mentions that there are “surprising magical touches” to be found in Avengers Campus. Unfortunately, none of the half dozen Cast Members we spoke to seemed to have any knowledge of what those were. So we decided to find out for ourselves. We watched the Amazing Spider-Man show, but the MagicBand+ didn’t react.
It’s still always a good time if you’re watching Spidey swing into action tho, with or without a MagicBand+.
We just walked around tapping our band on anything that was round and waiting for a reaction. Nothing happened anywhere.
Well, nothing except Iron Man thinking we’re really cool because of the new tech. Thanks, Mr. Stark!
We decided to take a spin around the whole park and see if maybe, somewhere, there was something to interact with the MagicBand+. You can see our full overview video and our walk around the park in our YouTube video. And to see a full roundup of all the details on the new MagicBand+ that has come to the Disneyland Resort, check it out here.
Well, that’s it from us here at Disney California Adventure. We’re glad you rode along. Be sure to leave a comment below, letting us know what you think of the photo report. We’ll see ya real soon!
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