With the inception of direct check-in at the Walt Disney World Resort rolling out over the course of the last month, there are even more changes coming. Soon, the paper parking permits will be a thing of the past as Guests will be able to use their MagicBands for parking access.
It’s been rumored for a while and WDWMagic reported that it began today (March 18, 2015) at Disney’s Beach and Yacht Club Resorts.
It’s starting with those two resorts and will reach out to all the others in time. Guests will no longer receive the paper parking permit, but will simply have their MagicBands serve as the way to get them access to the parking lot of their resort.
Upon returning to their resort after initial check-in, Guests can go through the return line and touch their MagicBands up to the sensor to raise the gate.
Free parking at the theme park tollbooths will also be given via their MagicBands which will be scanned. RFID ticket cards can also be scanned if they don’t have their MagicBands with them.
For a while now, MagicBands have been scanned at toll plazas and resort entrances, but Disney is looking to condense paper usage and get rid of the paper parking permits completely.
There are no set dates for this process at the other Disney Resorts, but it is expected to happen over the coming months.
Join the “I’m So Disney…” group on Facebook to discuss this and many other Disney things with anyone and everyone.
[Image via Disney Photo Snapper]
Won’t this end up taking a lot longer though? With the paper, we just hold it up and get waved along. Even though we have annual passes, it’s been the faster way to go. Scanning a band at every car isn’t going to be quick.
Dealt with the Magicband band parking at Caribbean Beach last year and honestly the system is flawed.
Remember how it use to take 2 times to read your room key at the gate? Well try lining up the mickey head to the sensor late at night. If the transmitter was strong enough to read without direct contact then no issue, but contact must be made.
And if this is going to work with the parks also, then I hate to see the lines to get into parking now