Make a DIY Disneyland ticket wristband?

[Cindylieu]

I am a Disney World semi-expert and am comfortable with the MagicBand system. We are going to Disneyland in June and I am thinking of making DIY ticket wristbands for this trip. I have some hospital wristbands that are waterproof when sealed up. They are white with a clear plastic coating. I can color them any color I choose before sealing them up. I can add disney stickers if I want to. I am thinking of printing off our printable ticket barcodes, placing them into the wristband, and sealing them. Then when we are at the parks we can scan the barcode for entry and for fastpass entry. That way we won't have to constantly be on the phone, bringing up the app. Also, it will be harder to lose the tickets. We will have some replacement barcodes back at the hotel if one gets lost or ruined, so we can always use a backup if needed. If the family get tired of wearing a band, they can cut it off and revert to the printable code on a card.
I can't see anywhere on the web where others have done this. Do you have feedback? Ideas? Think this would work?

 

[Malcon10t]

I don't know if this would work for FPs.I know a friend who had issues using FP on her phone when she had a battery pack on her phone. I don't know if you could get your wrist under the FP reader.

 

[smartlabelprint]

https://wdwnt.com/2018/09/photos-disneyland-introduces-new-fastpass-scanners-that-combat-sunshine/That’s a good point. Look at this photo.

You could use lanyards for all of your tickets.

 

[Cindylieu]

Nevermind. I went to the link and can see now that the computer generates a new barcode for each individual fastpass. I was thinking that your ticket barcode was all you needed to scan, but I see that you need to scan each new fastpass code. SO......I'll just use the phone screen as they intended. Ah well....

 

[pharmama]

Nevermind. I went to the link and can see now that the computer generates a new barcode for each individual fastpass. I was thinking that your ticket barcode was all you needed to scan, but I see that you need to scan each new fastpass code. SO......I'll just use the phone screen as they intended. Ah well....

This is not the case. You can use your ticket to scan in for FPs, in fact that is our preferred way of doing it vs. messing with the phone. People fiddling with their phones and flipping through on their devices to scan multiple fastpasses create huge holdups at the FP scanners- sticking in the paper ticket or AP is so much faster.

That said, I don't think the wristband would work very well because, as mentioned above, some of the scanners aren't really designed or set up in a way that's conducive to sticking your wrist in/under.

 

[rwhistler92]

I would just use a lanyard- Your ticket bar code will change when you enter the park for the first time and you have to put your ticket in a slot when you enter the line for the ride-

 

[Cindylieu]

OK, now I am officially confused. So, I have the printable tickets that I downloaded. I have the papers printed out. When we arrive, we go straight to the gate and scan them to get into the park(s). Are you saying that those paper barcodes are then changed? Do I get a different paper ticket at that time?

 

[BadPinkTink]

OK, now I am officially confused. So, I have the printable tickets that I downloaded. I have the papers printed out. When we arrive, we go straight to the gate and scan them to get into the park(s). Are you saying that those paper barcodes are then changed? Do I get a different paper ticket at that time?

You take your print out with a barcode to the entrance turnstile
The CM will scan it, take your photo, keep the print out and give you the regular park ticket. These are paper tickets the size of a credit card. The barcode on the paper ticket is the same as the barcode on your printout.



I then put this paper ticket into a lanyard pouch.
The lanyard pouch fits into the Fastpass return scanner

 

[rwhistler92]

My bar code on my paper ticket was different then the barcode on my print out.

You take your print out with a barcode to the entrance turnstile
The CM will scan it, take your photo, keep the print out and give you the regular park ticket. These are paper tickets the size of a credit card. The barcode on the paper ticket is the same as the barcode on your printout.

View attachment 448204

I then put this paper ticket into a lanyard pouch.
The lanyard pouch fits into the Fastpass return scanner

 

[TikiTikiFan]

A lanyard will be much easier. Hot Topic has tons of affordable Disney ones- same with Amazon.

 

[BadPinkTink]

A lanyard will be much easier. Hot Topic has tons of affordable Disney ones- same with Amazon.

This is the rose gold Minnie lanyard I bought in Hot Topic this year. I put my ticket with the barcode facing out and it fit into the Fastpass return scanner very easily. It was much easier to scan and go and bypass all the people faffing about with their phones trying to get their digital tickets on their phone screens.

 

[az4boys]

I always assumed that the barcode on the initial printout was different than the barcode on the ticket that you receive at the gate, but now I'm wondering. Maybe it is the same.

When MP was introduced we tried one or two trips where our family of six had a copy of our barcode in a lanyard. I color coded the paper backing the barcode so I knew which person the barcode belonged to. (I didn't include names, just the barcode.) Functionally it worked great. One CM was upset that it wasn't the actual AP but the rest didn't care. Eventually I became comfortable that my kids wouldn't lose their lanyard and we just put the original AP in there. I think the wristband idea would work IF the barcode is the same, but you might get a CM that doesn't like it.

 

[Cindylieu]

Thank you to everyone for clearing up my confusion! I am now going to HotTopic to look and think and dream!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

After you go through the turnstiles and receive your "official" ticket and before putting everyone's ticket in their lanyard, take a moment to take a photo of the back of each ticket. Make sure to get a clear image of the barcode and the numbers code. Title each photo with each person's name so that you know whose ticket you're looking at. Keep the photos on your phone and email a copy to yourself and another safe person. In an emergency (tickets lost/stolen/destroyed by water ride/etc.), these photos will help you get your tickets replaced easily and quickly at Guest Services.

 

[RedVines2001]

I think the bigger problem with the wristband idea is that your wrist won't fit in the scanner as Malcon 10t mentioned. Just got back yesterday and the FP readers all have slots about an inch tall and three inches wide and and you have to stick your ticket pretty deep into the slot to scan the barcode which is on a corner on your ticket. Your best bet is the lanyard plus ID holder

 

[az4boys]

I think the bigger problem with the wristband idea is that your wrist won't fit in the scanner as Malcon 10t mentioned. Just got back yesterday and the FP readers all have slots about an inch tall and three inches wide and and you have to stick your ticket pretty deep into the slot to scan the barcode which is on a corner on your ticket. Your best bet is the lanyard plus ID holder

I think some of us might be talking about two different things. To GET a FP at a kiosk, I think you would definitively need your actual ticket to put into the slot. If I remember correctly, even a plastic pouch is too thick to fit. However, to USE a FP to enter a line, I think a wristband would work just fine.

 

[pharmama]

I think some of us might be talking about two different things. To GET a FP at a kiosk, I think you would definitively need your actual ticket to put into the slot. If I remember correctly, even a plastic pouch is too thick to fit. However, to USE a FP to enter a line, I think a wristband would work just fine.

There is a mixture of FP return scanners. Some would work with the wristband but others also have a "slot" as others have described on the return scanner (but not as small as the credit card type slot on FP distribution machines), especially ones that are in areas where the sun was interfering with the more "open" scanners. The blocked link above has a picture of an example. If you google the article title/blog post you can locate it.

 

[Cindylieu]

I have a lanyard plan in place. Thanks to all for your advice!