Say good-bye to free Walt Disney World MagicBands

For those booking 2021 Walt Disney World vacations you will find one thing missing when arriving – a free MagicBand.

Starting with arrivals on Jan. 1, 2021, Disney guests can still purchase a MagicBand, but there will no longer be free options. If you decide to go MagicBand free, you’ll still be able to use your My Disney Experience App or a Key to the World card.

Disney is planning to introduce updates to the My Disney Experience app in the New Year that will allow smartphones to be used just like a MagicBand, Disney has said. While you can now use your smartphone to open up your hotel room and make reservations on your device, you can’t use it for your tickets, or FastPass (for when/if it eventually returns.) While you can charge via the MagicBand, you can use your phone for contactless payments.

MagicBands, which contain RFID chips, were first introduced in 2013 as part of the My Magic+ system. Though MagicBands are used by many guests there are still a large contingent who use RFID cards for admission.

Disney has not yet announced when, or what the specific updates will be to the My Disney Experience app.