15 Seconds of my year in Photographs

As you might imagine, I've taken a lot of photographs the past five years while living on the road.  Here are just a few iPhone images of my life on the road the past year with Max.  

Here's a 15 second glimpse of what we did...

15 seconds of my past year on the road from Alison Turner on Vimeo.

Disney Magic Bands: How to Customize your Magic Bands

Disney Magic Bands are a part of the new My Disney Experience technology which is currently being implemented in Walt Disney World.  At this time, Magic Bands are still in the beta testing phase, and only guests staying at select Walt Disney World resorts have been invited to test.  As this technology is continuing to change, it is important to note that this tutorial was written on September 13, 2013 and may quickly become outdated.

The resorts currently testing the Disney Magic bands are:

Disneys Art of Animation Resort
Disneys Pop Century Resort
Disneys Port Orleans Riverside
Disneys Polynesian Resort
Disneys Contemporary Resort
Disneys Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House
Disneys Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House Villas
Disneys Yacht Club Resort
Disney's Beach Club Resort and Villas

And resorts that are believed to be added for mid-October check-in:

Disney's Port Orlean's French Quarter
Disney's Bay Lake Towers
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
Disney's All Star Movie
Disney's Wilderness Lodge

Magic Bands are soft, rubber wrist bands that contain an RFID chip.  Guests will be able to have their credit card, resort key, park tickets, dining plan, FastPass+, and Photopass+ package linked to their Magic Band.  So instead of swiping your key card with a magnetic strip, you'd simply tap your wrist band against a sensor to enter the park or FastPass queue or pay for a meal.  You are not required to use the Magic Bands and may instead opt to use a traditional RFID-enabled Key to the World card (however, during testing, anyone who wants to use FP+ must use the bands).

These bands are waterproof and can be worn in the pool or at the water parks.  The band only comes in one size.  However, there is a portion of it which is removable so that it is a better fit for smaller wrists.  These bands are intended to be brought back to Walt Disney World for years and have a 3-year battery life.

When Magic Bands are first added to your My Disney Experience account (you will first need to add your Disney resort reservation to your account), they show up as basic grey.  Unless you go in to customize your Magic Bands, everyone in your party will get a grey band.



In the grey panel on the right-hand side of the screen, click on "Manage Magic Bands."



When I added my resort reservation, My Disney Experience automatically ordered four Magic Bands for me.  The first thing you'll want to do is change your shipping address.  My shipping address had automatically been set to Travelocity's address.... which meant my Magic Bands would've been sent to Texas and then who knows where?  Click "Edit Address" and enter the correct shipping information.



If you scroll down on the same page, you'll see the names of everyone in your resort reservation and a grey band beside each.  To change the color of the band, click "Customize."  You'll notice that I already changed the color of my band at the bottom, and that I have the option to "Update" to change the color again.



The current color options are green, pink, blue, red, orange, yellow, and grey.  I hope that they eventually add a purple.  Click on the color that you want your band, and it will automatically update the color of the band beside the name at the top of the screen.  You also have the option to change the name written on the Magic Band.  This is a good option for people who don't go by their first names.  For example, when I went to customize my Dad's Magic Band, his name was automatically entered as "Elmer," and I was able to change it to "Boyd" which he goes by.



When you're finished, the color and name on each Magic Band will appear beside their name.  You'll have the option to update the bands until they have been shipped.




Once they've shipped, you'll receive a tracking number for the package.

Click here to read my Disney Magic Band Review.

Disney Magic Bands: Linking Existing Reservations

So, I dropped the ball on Cruise Month.  BUT I have some very exciting cruise-related news which I'll announce soon.  In the meantime...

WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!

We are booked for Columbus Day weekend (also Rachel's birthday weekend) at the Beach Club Resort, and we are lucky enough to be able to test out the new Disney Magic Bands!

There are only a few resorts currently testing the Magic Bands.  At the moment, these are:

Disneys Art of Animation Resort
Disneys Pop Century Resort
Disneys Port Orleans Riverside
Disneys Polynesian Resort
Disneys Contemporary Resort
Disneys Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House
Disneys Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo House Villas
Disneys Yacht Club Resort
Disney's Beach Club Resort and Villas

And resorts that are believed to be added for mid-October check-in:

Disney's Port Orlean's French Quarters
Disney's Bay Lake Towers
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
Disney's All Star Movie
Disney's Wilderness Lodge

I've been on a few Disney message boards, and there's a lot of curiosity about the Disney Magic Bands and the My Disney Experience website and app.  After spending the past few days playing with it (and I'll admit, it's not the most user-friendly), I thought it would be helpful to do a few tutorials on how to use the My Disney Experience website.

Now, I think it's important to note that Disney is constantly updating their website.  This tutorial was written on September 12, 2013.  My family was selected for the beta testing of the Magic Bands in October because we are staying at the Beach Club Resort.  I anticipate that by the time these bands roll out officially to all resorts, there will have been significant changes made to the website and app.

How to Link Existing Reservations

Linking already existing reservations is something you'll have to do if you made your Disney resort reservation through a travel agent or outside booking website like Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc.  We booked through an Travelocity, so the first thing I had to do was link our reservation.

If you don't already have a Disney account (or account with ABC or ESPN), then you'll first need to register.  Otherwise, you already have a login for My Disney Experience.

After you type in www.waltdisneyworld.com, this is where you'll go:

If you click on "My Disney Experience," it will take you here:



Click on the "Link Existing Reservations and Tickets" link.



It will give you three options.  Obviously, you'll choose the type which correlates to the reservation you want to add to your account.

Now the tricky part!  If you booked through a travel agent, you'll get your reservation number from them.  If you booked online at a travel website, the confirmation number will probably be in the confirmation you received when you booked them.  We booked through Travelocity, and this is where I found mine -



Then you'll just enter the confirmation number and the last name of the person who booked the reservation.



Unfortunately, because I went back and did this after I had already added my reservation, I was unable to go onto the next step, which is naming guests.  Most likely, the only guest on the reservation will be the person who booked it.  There will be "guest" spaces for however many additional people are booked in the room.  You'll name each of those guests and confirm their ages.

And then, your reservation will show up under your reservations:



And if you're staying in a resort that is testing Magic Bands, you'll now be able to customize and order yours.