I got exciting news this weekend...

Let me first start off with the bad news, I have bronchitis. I am miserable and spent the weekend not wanting to do much. Luckily I was able to see my doctor on Friday so I was able to start medicine before the weekend. I seem to be getting a little better but not quickly enough to make me happy.

Now for the exciting news. I logged on to the Disney website yesterday and when I went to the my Disney Experience tab, guess what was there..... my magic bands!! I am beyond excited. I feel like a 12 year old girl who gets to see Justin Beiber in concert. I had been worried that we wouldn't get to do the test for them. When I checked last week, my resort (Caribbean Beach Resort) wasn't included in the test and we had all come to terms with the fact that we wouldn't get to play with the new toys. So, it was a great surprise to see a choice that said customize magic bands. 

We went ahead and customized our bands by choosing our colors and what names we wanted on them. Xander and I almost changed my moms band from "Beth" to "Mammie" just to see if she would wonder how the cast members know that we call her Mammie but decided against it. I changed mine from "Malinda" (my given name) to "Mendy." The colors we picked were: red for Xander, orange for Eve, pink for Mammie, but I am not sure what color to get for myself. I have changed it a few times and I have until Sunday to make my final decision because they will be mailed then. 

After customizing our bands we worked on the Fastpass+ part of the process. Basically you choose 3 rides/shows/experience and the computer will give you Fastpass times. They give you 3-4 choices and you pick which would work best for you. We were having trouble because we are only going to be at Animal Kingdom for half of a day and the choices weren't reflecting that. We chose one and I figured we would have a cast member help us once we arrived but then I found an option to help us under the Fastpass+ tab. One of the options was to change your Fastpasses. I thought I would try it and I was able to change the times of all of them to reflect when we would be there. 

Once you get everything on the computer, if you log into the app you can see all of your reservations and ride times. Here is a screen shot of my times at Animal Kingdom before I changed them.

Screen shot of the app before I changed my times.

I basically spent most of my Sunday playing with this stuff. I don't know why I am so excited to wear something on my wrist but I think it's the excitement with something new. Also we are not going back next year so I didn't want to miss out on it. 

I guess these things get you on Magical Express, let you in your room, let you in the parks, use for Fastpasses, and you can link it with your credit card (with a PIN number). 

Once I figured out we were chosen I Googled the colors so I could see them and I ran into a blog that made me laugh. The blogger was dead serious so I held back from commenting (that and I just didn't want to be super rude). First she said that her family was the "very first family" chosen to wear the Magic Bands, which was not the case, the testing had been going on for about a month at the time of their vacation so they were not the first ones. She also said that with the bands you get to the "front of every line." Now, I realize that she said it was their first time going to Disney World but you don't get in the front of every line, you get 3 Fastpasses with your band. And Fastpasses don't take you to the front of the line, it's pretty close but I have still waited 30-45 minutes before in the Fastpass line (Toy Story Mania). 

I will update more with this experience as it happens. My bands will be mailed on Sunday so I will update with some pics after they arrive next week.