01/27/2023
I promised a longer post on Magicband+. I got sick on my trip, so follow-up was delayed.
I said my vote was Yea. You will see a lot of mixed reviews of Magicband+ for Disneyland. Most people will say Nay. And I acknowledged in my initial post that they are definitely not necessary. But here is why I say yea:
They're fun! The bands react to rides (red heartbeat-pulsed light exiting the Haunted Mansion, for example) and shows (all sorts of colors and patterns during Mickey's Mix Magic!!!) They're just fun to have on and to see what they react to.
They're faster for Lightning Lanes, park entry, and PhotoPass photos. If you want to not be on your phone constantly, having a Magicband+ means your phone can stay in your pocket or purse most of the time. Once it's connected to the app, you can scan yourself into the park, get photos and just have the photographer touch your Magicband+, pull out the phone to get a Lightning Lane, and then right back into your pocket, because when it's time to scan in, just touch it to the scanner. We even had a cast member at Space Mountain say to us as we approached the LL scanners with a gaggle of people standing around trying to get their passes on their phone, "Oh, you have Magicbands! Come on up... so much easier. SO MUCH EASIER." He was right... we got in front of like 12 people trying to pull up their passes on their phones and scan them while we just breezed right past with a quick touch of our Magicbands.
Finally, if you need a more altruistic reason to spend $35 for something that isn't (technically) necessary, consider the people behind you. I am generally a pretty patient person and not much bugs me. And if someone is struggling with the Disneyland app and where to find things in the app, I'll be the first to jump in and help them figure it out. But when you approach the gate with your multi-generational family group of 10 people and don't have your tickets already up on the phone of the one person who is scanning in all 10 people... you're holding up the line for considerable amounts of time that you don't need to and really irritating the people behind you. A bit of time spent in the hotel room getting people's Magicbands connected to their tickets, and even the smallest members of your party can scan themselves in with a touch. Each person scanning themselves into the park and into Lightning Lanes rather than having one person do it for a large group would make the lines go a lot faster for everyone, including your own group!
