Apple Watch en lieu of Magic Band? Glitchy for LL?

[MamaMouse0920]

With the Magic Band shortage we seem to find ourselves in....... I am wondering peoples experiences with using their Apple Watch en lieu of a Magic Band. We are staying offsite this visit so I am more so wondering about Lightning Lanes and park entry (not so much opening hotel doors or making purchases since that won't apply to us this go-around).

Thoughts? Experiences? Does it slow you down? Or work exactly the same as a Magic Band? Make an already glitchy program even glitchier?
Any & all advice is welcome!

 

[nikem3]

I use my apple watch and phone all the time, never had an issue. Just be careful with your watch screen and putting it up against the sensors. Don't want to scratch it.

 

[CarolynFH]

We didn’t have any trouble using our Apple Watches in place of MBs on several visits now.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

I use my apple watch and phone all the time, never had an issue. Just be careful with your watch screen and putting it up against the sensors. Don't want to scratch it.

That is an excellent point - thank you! I assume hovering an inch or so away is sufficient?

 

[BamaGuy44]

That is an excellent point - thank you! I assume hovering an inch or so away is sufficient?

When I used my Apple Watch on our trip in May, most of the time the watch needed to touch the sensor to register. But honestly I think it would be pretty hard to scratch the face on a LL sensor. Just a gentle touch is all it takes. As long as you're not sliding the watch around and you'll be fine.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I will say from our trip the one slowdown we saw was when 1 person had an entire groups tickets on their phone or watch and needed to tap and scroll through a number of tickets while everyone stood at the entrance waiting.

On more than one occasion a CM would wave us over to the second tap machine and we’d quickly tap through with our MBs and then have to make our way through the clump of guests associated to the 1 person with the watch/phone.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'm local and visit the parks regularly. I pretty much always use my apple watch for tapping into the parks. I also don't worry about scratching the glass face since the apple device is pretty sturdy and you just touch it, you don't move it to scrape it.

 

[nancipants]

I'm also local and use my phone. Husband uses his Apple watch. We've never had a problem at the tapstiles or LL entrances. We use Apple Pay instead of credit cards whenever we buy anything.

 

[sponica]

I will say from our trip the one slowdown we saw was when 1 person had an entire groups tickets on their phone or watch and needed to tap and scroll through a number of tickets while everyone stood at the entrance waiting.

On more than one occasion a CM would wave us over to the second tap machine and we’d quickly tap through with our MBs and then have to make our way through the clump of guests associated to the 1 person with the watch/phone.

I feel like this was the most frustrating part of my trip. I always got stuck behind someone who had like 5+ tickets on their phone or device.

 

[MamaMouse0920]

Thanks everyone for your input! Thankfully in our particular situation, we all have old Magic Bands that we can use and only one person would be using the Apple Watch so it shouldn't slow things down too much. Definitely want to be mindful of the people in line behind us!

Thanks again, folks!

 

[keh422]

We just got back from our most recent trip, and I was amazed by how easy it was to use my Apple watch. It was just like using a magic band. My husband and two older kids used a combination of phones and watches, and then we had our youngest use a magic band to avoid the slowdowns mentioned above. We, too, ended up behind many parties using one phone for alllll of the tickets.

 

[ajfd]

I feel like this was the most frustrating part of my trip. I always got stuck behind someone who had like 5+ tickets on their phone or device.

It's always either the group directly in front of me that blocks BOTH touchpoints while they deal with their issue or the group two in front of me that stands at the first touchpoint leaving the second open and the group directly in front of me not wanting to "jump the line" (from their perspective) to the second one.

 

[philharmagic fan]

Thanks everyone for your input! Thankfully in our particular situation, we all have old Magic Bands that we can use and only one person would be using the Apple Watch so it shouldn't slow things down too much. Definitely want to be mindful of the people in line behind us!

Thanks again, folks!

THANK YOU!

 

[Tew154]

I use my apple watch and phone all the time, never had an issue. Just be careful with your watch screen and putting it up against the sensors. Don't want to scratch it.

I can’t wait to try this for my next trip!

 

[CanucksRock]

I wear both my Apple Watch is on my left arm, and when I first setup fingerprint - pre Apple Watch ..I used my right finger. So I tap in with my Apple Watch now. I use which ever is closest when tapping into LL.

 

[ChrissyLovesFigment]

Apple Watch has worked perfectly for me. I used to wear both, but I lost my MagicBand and decided not to replace it when I realized that my watch would work!

 

[bluejasmine74]

Someone tried to tell me that the Watch has to be a 5 or newer is this true bc I have a 3 but latest iOS and so use it to tap and pay everywhere else just fine

 

[OKW Lover]

Someone tried to tell me that the Watch has to be a 5 or newer is this true bc I have a 3 but latest iOS and so use it to tap and pay everywhere else just fine

Doesn't sound right. I don't know why a 3 wouldn't work. But I have no actual experience with an older series.

 

[mwmom]

Someone tried to tell me that the Watch has to be a 5 or newer is this true bc I have a 3 but latest iOS and so use it to tap and pay everywhere else just fine

As of today, the Apple website has information stating to update to the latest OS which is Watch OS8. It also states OS8 is compatible with Apple Watch Series 3 or later and Apple Watch SE. I would check closer to your vacation date and look at the current requirements. We don’t go until December, so there could be an updated operating system by then and I don’t know if it will still work with my Series 3. I am definitely not an IT person, so I can only go off of the official website information, but at least Apple is keeping its website updated with this information.
From this link, you can click on ‘watch os’ to see the compatibility information. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212870

 

[ChrissyLovesFigment]

Doesn't sound right. I don't know why a 3 wouldn't work. But I have no actual experience with an older series.

Mine is a 3 and works fine. I did just do an update a month or so ago, so I'd suggest updating it before you go.