Disney World annual-pass holders and hotel guests used to get free MagicBands. Simply for joining the annual-pass program or booking one night or more at one of the company’s on-property hotels while also buying tickets to one of its four Florida theme parks, you got a free watch-like bracelet that served as your admission ticket, room key, and a few other things.

This neat perk kept park visitors from having to keep track of a physical credit-card-like ticket or to regularly pull their phones out. 

In January 2021 Disney discontinued the free Magic Band program. And it moved many of the MagicBand features to its mobile app.

That may seem like progress as it requires park and hotel guests to keep track of one less thing, but Disney has never addressed the challenge of keeping your phone charged during a long day at Disney World. 

The four parks have few places where charging a phone is easy or even possible. Guests run down their batteries by taking photos, checking social media, and doing all the other things they use their phones for.

In 2021 the company did not eliminate MagicBands; it simply stopped giving them away for free.

“Disney Resort hotel guests will still be able to purchase new MagicBands at a discounted price, and Disney says they will continue releasing new MagicBand colors and designs. These will continue to be sold at retail locations as well as online,” Disney Food Blog reported in 2021.

Now, Disney has a new version of its MagicBands, and as you might imagine nobody will be getting one free.

Scroll to Continue

Disney Is Selling MagicBand+

Disney has tried a variety of different ways to create app-based experiences to make its theme parks more interactive. These have not been overly