Digital Media Concepts/MagicBands at Disneyland

Magicband

The Disney Magicband is an all in one non-latex hypoallergenic wristband device that connects you to your vacation through your My Disney experience account. The Magicband contains radio frequency identification in a chip to help access all of your plans and to connect you to your My Disney experience account. The band itself is made of rubber and is water proof so that you can wear it anytime anywhere, enabling to leave your phone and wallet at your hotel. Through using your My Disney experience app, you can purchase tickets, parking, fast passes, hotel keys, photos, and more. You can access everything though using the band by tapping it at one of the Magicband stations throughout the park. If you are staying within Disney Property, you can add your debit or credit card to your account and use it for various things such as your hotel and restaurants. Rather than having to pay for everything separately, you can use your app to add your debit or credit card and then create a pin in which you can link with your band and then use our band to pay. Everything that you pay with your Magicband is automatically charged to your hotel room.

Development

The Magicband, formally called the xBand (x for experience), was an idea created by Disney executive John Padget while on a flight from Walt Disney Headquarters to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The band was developed with an app called My Disney Experience which enables you to have have have everything you need all in once place to help you have a more enjoyable time at the park. The band's original design was developed by a company called Frog Design in San Francisco. Later on the bands started being manufactured and produced by a company called Jabil Circut, Inc., the third largest contract manufacturer in the world.

History

The band came out in 2013. When it first came out it had eight colors that you could choose from. However, it was made with only one design and it had a battery life of only two years. Inside the band there were frequency arenas put in and a place where you could place a small battery. In 2016 they came out with the Magicband2 that had a different deign and a removable center piece which can now be placed into key chains and even onto your apple watch for convince so that you don't have to wear the band if you don't want to.