Disney is releasing the new generation of MagicBands this summer, called MagicBand+. These bands will do everything that existing MagicBands do — like work as your ticket to the parks, your hotel key, and a method of payment — but they’ll also have some NEW interactive features.

We’ve already checked out these MagicBands (when Disney accidentally released some early last week 😬), but the new features didn’t debut with the bands since that release was premature. Now we’ve got a first look at the MagicBand+ in action! 

At a media event today, we got to see some of the new features of MagicBand+. First of all, we took a look at all the designs that Disney will be releasing for these bands!

There are some more basic bands in solid colors with Mickey on the front, or you can get 50th Anniversary bands, Disney Princess bands, a Minnie Mouse band with polka dots, a Star Wars band, and more.

Many different MagicBand+ designs will also be available!

Which one is your favorite? 😊#mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/wtEiLIAmPP

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

 

 Disney has said that these are the bands being released for now, so more designs are likely going to come later.

We put a band on to check out the new features!

We tried out the 50th Anniversary design, although the bands all have the same features.

Here’s a closer look at the MagicBand+ itself! ✨#mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/wDuqatrrSe

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

 

First of all, MagicBand+ works as your park ticket (like normal MagicBands), so you can scan it to enter the theme parks. When you scan with MagicBand+, though, it lights up with rainbow colors!

We are also getting a look at the new MagicBand+ in action‼️

Will you be buying one when they’re released (for real 😅)? #mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/hazZu3yOHw

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

 

 How pretty is that?

In addition, Disney said you can use MagicBand+ to interact with the gold character statues around the parks. We’ve been curious about how that works, and now we’ve finally got an answer.

You can walk up to a statue and wave at the character (with the arm that has your MagicBand+ on it), and the characters will talk to you when they sense “your MagicBand’s pixie dust.”

Another interactive feature with MagicBand+ is the ability to wave your ‘pixie dust’ in front of the 50th Anniversary statues and hear a sound or message from that character! ✨#mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/u7NTb7fQVl

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

 

We waved at Mickey, and he said, “Hello! It’s great to see everybody having so much fun!” We noticed that Mickey said different phrases to other people, so the character greetings seem to change.

Here is an example of how you can spread your ‘pixie dust’ with the MagicBand+ and receive a message from the big Mouse himself! 🎉

Each character has various sounds or messages so you won’t always hear the same one.#mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/xCVJLFueNx

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

With the Play Disney Parks App on your phone, you can also collect interactions with the characters by going to find them all in each park! (If you need some help with that, we’ve got the complete guide to finding all the 50th Anniversary gold character statues right here.)

By collecting characters, you can unlock Augmented Reality portals to see different characters’ lands on your phone!

The interactive character statue feature of MagicBand+ also has a quest element as you can collect the statues you have visited in the Play Disney Parks app and earn special achievements and AR portals!#mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/zstULHEeK7

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

 

In addition to the rainbow lights and character statue interactions, the new MagicBand+ bands can turn you into a Bounty Hunter in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

We’ve already taken a look at how this will work, but today we got even more details.

With MagicBand+ there will be fun games included like this Bounty Hunter Assignment activity! 💫

You will be on the hunt for a specific bounty that your MagicBand+ will help you locate and then you will earn Galactic Credits! #mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/2M0gD7b5r3

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

When you use your MagicBand+ with the Play Disney Parks App on your phone, you can track down virtual bounties throughout the land and collect them to return to the guild master. These bounties start out pretty easy to find, but they get harder as you continue to collect them.

We asked if you can collect all the possible bounties in a single day, and Disney told us that you would have to be very committed in order to achieve that. So it sounds like it can be done in one day, but practically, it’s more of a multi-visit experience.

Once you have located your bounty with the help of your MagicBand+ you will earn Galactic Credits based on how easy or hard your particular bounty was to find! There will be multiple bounties to hunt for 👏#mediaevent #DisneyWorld pic.twitter.com/hQRs7MC0kA

— Disney Food Blog (@DisneyFoodBlog) May 4, 2022

These features (and possibly more) will debut with MagicBand+ when the bands are officially released this summer. Keep following DFB for more updates on the latest Disney news!

The ONLY MagicBand+ Guide You Need to Read for Disney World

Are you going to get one of the new MagicBands when they come out this summer? Let us know in the comments.

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of MagicBand+. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ